His Unsuspecting Eternal Love

Chapter 3 The Chase is On

(Aine POV)

I hid out for as long as I reasonably could from work. But work was a necessity that could only be avoided for so long. I came in Monday morning bright and cheery, hoping against hope that Xander had moved on. Yeah, no such luck. I just sat my bag down and headed to the coffee machine to pour me a cup of be nice and David walks over to me. Uh oh, this can’t be a good thing as he typically never comes to see me first thing. He does have the forethought to wait until my coffee is in hand, and I’ve had my first sip. “What’s up Boss?” I ask…. Hoping it’s a lead for a new client. “You have a dinner meeting on Wednesday at the steakhouse” he casually tells me. “Ok, with whom may I ask?” He replies, “a big customer you need to real in.” “No other information?” I ask “Nope” he says, popping the p.

Ok, so that was weird, but at the same time my inner self is freaking out. I have a suspicion of who this “big client” is and if I’m right then I’m not gonna like it. I push it out of my head for the time being as I really have some lost time to make up for with pretending to be sick. Apparently hiding from the world does not make it go away.

I get through all my back log of work; I appreciated this as it kept my mind of the impending dinner shenanigans that are sure to come. Finally, it’s time to go home and my inner self is doing a happy dance. I get home, get my heels off and put down my bag when the doorbell rings…… I answer the door to see a delivery guy with flowers. They are even my favorites of yellow roses, white Shasta daisies and sunflowers. Um, sweet but creepy as I have no boy friend or any real friends, so to speak of. Maybe my mom sent them? But it's not my birthday or anything special. So….. I take the flowers and see that there is a card. I cannot wait for Wednesday. P.S. You won’t be able to run this time. Well, shiitake mushrooms. No signature but I do not need one to know who it is. It’s him. Mr. Stubborn who can’t take no for an answer. Damn it.

Wednesday arrives and I’m dreading tonight. I’m so wrapped up in my thoughts that I didn’t even notice my boss standing in front of my desk. “So, I just wanted to let you know you are required to stay the whole of dinner with the client. No conveniently getting sick this time.” He states. “I’m not gonna get sick, I promise” I say with a pout. He smirks and states, “no getting out of it either. You must attend and must sit all the way through.” Well damn. I swear the universe it against me here. “What is so important about this client that I am given rules?” I ask. David answers, “Mr. Cozadini has decided to support our newspaper in exchange for the right to get to know you. Since you are stubborn…. Don’t give me that look, he and I have decided the best course of action is to frame it as work meetings.” I give David my best innocent look I can muster and say “what look? I wasn’t doing anything” “Uh huh” he dead pans. “Besides” I say “why me? And why did you let money persuade you?” “Money did not persuade me, but I will say it’s a motivating factor with today’s economy. Besides, you wanted to make friends and this is me helping you make friends.” Bastard, I think. My boss is being an ***hole right now. What is it with the men in my life thinking they know better than me? Uh!

I am now standing in a dress and heels at the steak house. I’m just giving my self a pep talk before walking in or at least trying to. Just breath Aine, I think. All you have to do is sit, enjoy a free meal and smile. Just get through this and it’ll be over before you know it. Ok, here we go……

I walk in and speak with the hostess to see where Xander is seated. I am taken to a private room. Of course, his love of private rooms is getting to be annoying. Like why can’t we sit in public view? It would so help keep me in check to remain polite and friendly. Ok, so maybe not friendly but close enough.

And there he is, in all his breath-taking glory. Xander rises to greet me and all I can do is think damn daddy. He’s in crisp black slacks, a deep green shirt that so brings out his eyes…. I could drown in them. He even left the top couple buttons undone and I see glimpses of some chest hair peeking out. I swallow, hard. My mouth has become dry and my heart starts speeding up. I cannot help but like what I see. How did he get his hair in that just messy enough to be sexy fashion? And, damn, those muscles that his shirt is barely concealing are mouth watering. I just wanna run my hands up and down his arms to feel them. I want to feel them wrapped around me as he holds me close. Wait! Back-up. Where in the world are these thoughts coming from? I know he’s really handsome and all but I never have thoughts like this.

Xander just smirks. It’s as if he knows exactly what I am thinking. But that smirk doesn’t hide the fact that I watched him run his eyes from my head to my toes and back agin. His breath hitched as he took me in. Not sure how….. I mean, I’m so not skinny, good looking or anything to behold. I’m fat. I know it and know for now I have to accept it. I’m boring. Why is he looking at me like he wants to eat me?