Alexis' POV
Quinn was standing before us, a smile lighting up his handsome face. For a moment, his eyes traveled to my hands around Harper's waist and I saw the questioning crease of his brows but it was gone as soon as it had appeared.
"Am I interrupting some…"
"Not at all, Mr. Quinn," Harper responded, pulling away from our warm embrace. "Alexis, meet my boss, Mr. Alexander Quinn,"
"We've met before," Quinn interrupted her and her eyes shot to mine, holding a questioning look but I only grinned in response. "She's a regular at my gym and I'm her personal instructor," Quinn added, winking at me. Harper wasn't lost on the heated look he gave me and I could see her pupils narrowing to slits. sShe stared at me, silently asking how long it's been going on, but also I could see her inwardly screaming that she now understood the reason I've had that goofy smile on my face for weeks now.
"That's… interesting," Harper finally said, taking her attention back to her boss. Just then, her phone beeped and she stared at it before returning her attention back to us. "It was lovely reuniting you two, but our Uber is here,"
I inwardly rejoiced at that, knowing it was a quick escape from Quinn. Although I'd told myself I wanted to know more about the man, I wasn't mentally prepared for it. Scratch that. I wasn't even physically prepared. His presence had me all jittery with nerves and with the way his eyes were lingering on me, my stomach was in knots, but not in a bad way_in the way I should probably run away from, but I was also curious to explore.
"About that…" Quinn started. "I was wondering if you'll be able to get dinner with me, Alexis,"
"Umm… I-I…" I stammered in a quivering voice, totally caught off guard by his sudden question.
"Of course, she's available, and she'd just mentioned she was starving," Harper filled in for me, her eyes darting to mine with a mischievous glint in them.
"Did I?" I asked out loud with wide eyes, but it seemed my opinion was useless at that point as both of them had already concluded for me.
"Then I came at the right time. Come on love, have dinner with me?'' Although he framed it as a question, it was obvious he wasn't asking, with the way he possessively wrapped his large fingers around my wrist, tugging it gently, until I was standing beside him, with our sides pressed together. "Harper, thank you for all you did today. I'm truly grateful and I appreciate your effort and hard work. Please remind me to give you a raise?"
"That'll be lovely, Sir and of course, working for you is a lovely encounter, and I enjoy my job," Harper smiled genuinely, but her phone beeped again. "I'm sorry but as much as I'd love to let this moment stretch on, I've got a ride to catch. Have fun, you two, and you have permission to do the things you shouldn't do," she winked at us, before strutting away, with a smile etched on her face.
"Back to you baby," Quinn released a breath, turning to face me until we were just a breath apart. My heart resumed thudding, at how close we were and from the way his intent eyes were eating me up, but like a moth drawn to a flame, I couldn't look away from all of that attention. His fingers tucked a stray strand of my hair behind my ear, using that medium to caress my cheek, with his thumb tracing my bottom lip. "You look so beautiful tonight, love," he stared at me as though he couldn't believe his eyes. Slowly, he leaned into me, until our lips were barely grazing, his hot breath mingling with mine. At this point, my heart was beating so fast that I was sure he could hear the sound. "Have dinner with me,"
"Okay," my voice came out smaller than I'd expected, in a mere whisper.
Pulling away, he linked his fingers to mine, leading me to an SUV parked at the corner of the parking lot. On getting to it, he opened the door to the backseat, letting me in before climbing in after me. He instructed his driver, a younger man behind the wheels, of his destination, before sliding the partition in place.
"You okay?" he asked, as the car roared to life, pulling out of the parking lot. In response to his question, I nodded, not trusting myself to speak out coherent words. Our closeness was doing things to not only my body but my brain_things I wasn't ready to admit nor give in to.
His hand sought mine out, and once again, he linked his fingers to mine, placing our joined hands on his thigh, with his thumb continuously caressing mine. My gaze was focused on the window, staring at the city and different buildings as we passed by them, all in an attempt to avoid his intent gaze, but the man wasn't having any of that.
"Alexis," my name left his lips in a smooth drawl, his husky voice caressing my skin and sending shivers down my spine, igniting my nerve endings. "Baby, look at me," but I didn't give in to them. Slowly, he tugged on our joined hands hard, pulling me to his side and lifting me to sit on his legs. A gasp of shock escaped my lips at the sudden movement, my eyes flying to his.
He rested his head on my shoulder, inhaling my scent and drawing it into his lungs like a starving man.
"Do I make you feel uncomfortable?" he murmured, his lips nipping at my neck, with his hands wound tight around my waist like he was preventing me from escaping.
"N-yes…"
"In a bad way?" he stopped his ministrations on my neck, his deep blue eyes meeting mine.
"N-no, it's not in a bad way," I confessed, in a shaky voice.
"That's good then," he smirked, placing a wet kiss on my neck, before opening the car door. I'd been so lost in his presence that I didn't realize we were already at our destination.
Hand in hand, we walked into the fancy Italian restaurant with him leading the way. He found a perfect spot for us and pulled out a chair for me, waiting on me to take a seat before settling into his. He smiled at me just before the waitress arrived to take our orders. I watched as he studied the menu that was written in Italian before going on to interpret it for me, and also suggesting some of the best meals available. Trusting his suggestion, I ordered the same meal as his, and he also requested a bottle of wine. Thereafter, the waitress left to get our meal.
"You're so fluent in Italian," I mentioned, recalling how well he read out the menu and interacted with the waitress.
"I took on a language course while I was in college. I have a natural love for the language,"
"You make it sound really nice and interesting when you speak it," I complimented, biting down on my lips to prevent myself from phrasing my words in the exact way I'd thought about them.
This man made Italian sound sinful in an interesting manner, but I wasn't going to tell him that. It was obvious I'd been feeding his alpha male ego for the most part of the night already.
"Yeah?" he arched a perfectly shaped brow and I smiled in response.
"I'm not open to learning new languages, as I don't see myself leaving the US anytime soon, but I'd love to learn it, if you'd teach me," I made eye contact with him, smiling coyly. I realized if I was going to spend the evening with him, I should as well enjoy it and make it interesting, and that included letting down my guard for the duration of our time together.
"I'd love to have you enrolled under me, Miss Chapman," his eyes held mine, with his irises glinting under the slightly dim light of the room.
The waitress chose that moment to reappear with our meal, interrupting the moment. After serving us, she waddled off to the next table, while we dug into our meal. At the first spoonful of the unknown Italian dish, a moan slipped out of my lips from how good it tasted, my eyes shutting to savor the heavenly goodness melting into my mouth and indulging my taste buds.
"Alexis…"
A broken plea from Quinn had me opening my eyes, as they landed on the man sitting across from me, his eyes completely riveted in mine, his lips slightly parted. His tongue flicked out and gilded between his plump pink lips, his eyes darkening with each passing second.
"It's very tasty," I murmured, breaking the trance, and reaching for the wine to take a sip.
"It is," he responded in a low guttural voice, but something told me he wasn't referring to the food.
For the rest of dinner, we chatted lightly, discussing my plans for the future after all I'd learned at the conference and what I'd be doing with all of the opportunities that were now awaiting me. It was very refreshing to put the chemistry brewing between us aside and get to know more of each other, and also, I loved talking to the man because he was a great listener, and also had a lot of advice to give out that I most definitely will be using in the future.
At the end of the night, he drove me back home to the apartment I shared with my friends. As we got out of the car and he walked me down to the doorstep, I realized I'd made a mistake that would make it harder to get rid of the man. I let him know where I lived.
"Thank you for being the highlight of my evening, Alexis. Have a wonderful night," he leaned into me as he said the words, and my heart resumed beating erratically, at thoughts of him kissing me, but at the last moment, he pulled away. A feeling of loss and disappointment settled over me, as he raised our joined hands to his lips and brushed them over my fingers, but I told myself it was best that we didn't kiss. Yet, that didn't make me feel any better.
I watched him return to his car and get in before going in. I stepped into the living room and was greeted by silence. A sigh of relief escaped my lips, my shoulders sagging, as I rejoiced, knowing my best friend was fast asleep already. I was too tired to get stressed by her as I knew she'd want to know all of the details concerning how I'd met Quinn, her boss.
A smile stretched my lips and I shook my head at the coincidence. Carefully tiptoeing to my room, I shut the door and began to prepare for bed, with thoughts of my evening with Quinn still fresh in my mind.