Chapter 10

*Tina's POV*

I stretched as I made my way to my seat. My back was freaking killing me. This was again another new week. But the joy I had was my weekend. I spent it at my family home away from the city. It was great to see mom and dad again. Of course there was the usual questions of work and my relationship. I answered the first question with eagerness and happiness and took my time answering the second. My mom nearly three a fit when she found out about my breakup with Mike. I wouldn't go into much details but there were some obscene words accompanied with the word 'castration.' My dad on the other hand was calm about the matter and comforted me, telling me to focus more on work and when the time to meet someone who truly loved me would come, then it would come. Parents. What would we do without them?

But resuming this morning was already taking a huge toll. It looked like a mountain of work was waiting for me during the weekend. A mountain higher than Everest and I was just at the base. I had several proposals to properly scrutinized and send out to some potential clients. And then there was the preview of a new product. Let me not mention the email list.

Sighing, I pulled out the chair and was about to take a seat to relax a bit.

"Hey, Tina," Kelly called from beside me. "You need to take some files to the V.P"

"Come the hell on!" I groaned, flailing my hands about.

"I'm really sorry, babe." Kelly patted my shoulders sympathetically. "Tim brought the files earlier but you weren't around then."

I grumbled and picked up the files she handed to me and stood up.

"Sorry." Her eyes held genuine pity. "Don't worry, I'll make you feel better later."

"I hope it involves food," I replied as I walked away.

"Girl, hasn't your fat ass reached its limit?" I heard her call behind me. "You do realize that's were all the food you eat goes, right? I don't want you competing with Kim Kardashian."

I raised a middle finger at her.

"I don't swing that way!" she laughed.

I shook my head with a chuckle. As I made my way to the elevator, I couldn't help but wonder about something.

I hadn't seen Alejandro since that incident in his office last week. That was strange. Alejandro was always active and busy. If he wasn't making a worker miserable, then he would be rushing about for meetings. But he had been keeping a low profile. This was even before I left town.

I pressed the button to the elevator. As it dinged and opened, my heart nearly stopped. Speak of the devil and he would appear. I just had to think of him and there he was. I fucking hate the universe.

Alejandro stood inside the elevator with a briefcase, looking serious. As soon as his eyes landed on me, he raised an eyebrow.

"Are you going to keep standing there or will you come in?" he said.

I quickly stepped in before the elevator could close. As it made its way upwards, so did the movements of my heartbeat. Just my luck. Why has mother fortune made it possible for both of us to always meet in unexpected and awkward ways possible? Can't she give me a freaking break for once in my life? There was a painful silence as the movements of the elevator seemed to choose that moment to take centuries. I glanced sideways at him. His eyes were focused on the buttons. He turned to look at me and I quickly looked away.

"You weren't home during the weekend," he said.

My eyes widened. He was at my apartment again? Could this spoilt brat be any more of a creep? Why does he keep doing that?

"I went to see my parents," I replied.

"Okay." He nodded and adjusted his collar.

"Did you come to my apartment?" I questioned him.

He turned to face me, his look giving me the obvious answer.

"Seriously?" I folded my arms. "Is this supposed to become a habit now? And even if it is, the last time I checked, there are things called cellphones."

The blank stare was back on his face. That annoying stare that masked his emotions and made it impossible to decipher his thoughts.

"I'm aware of that," he said.

"So why didn't you at least call?" I said. "What am I even saying? Why would you even want to come to my place?"

He didn't answer. Instead he leaned towards me. I backed up a bit as his face was inching towards mine.

"M..Mr Gonzalez?" I stuttered. I could now smell his cologne. The scent nearly drove me wild. Was this really happening right now? I felt my heartbeat multiply by ten, if that was even possible. Moments earlier, I had been upset with him but now I found myself inclined to do the unimaginable. In an elevator for that matter. His nose was close to mine. Against my will, I shut my eyes and slightly puckered my lips.

Instead I heard a ding.

I opened my eyes to see him press a button. My face flushed as I realized that was why he leaned forward. The elevator doors opened. My face flushed in embarrassment as he passed me.

"Get to work, Miss Campbell," he said as he stepped out. Before the elevator closed, I could have swore I saw something in those devilish green eyes of his.

I nearly tore out my hair as I returned to my seat moments later. Kelly saw the look on my face.

"Are you okay, dear?" she asked.

The image of Alejandro's face filled my vision, reminding me of my embarrassment again.

"Y..yeah." I sat down.

"Well, you don't look like it," Kelly said.

I groaned and put my head on the desk. I felt her rub her hands over my back.

"You know the best way to take off all this stress?" she said.

I pulled my head off the table and looked at her.

"Unwinding in a bar." She grinned.

***

"Remind me again why I allowed you to convince me to go clubbing?!" I yelled over the loud noise of music in the bar.

The bar was so noisy and clamped. One couldn't move without touching bodies with another person. And what would make it worse was if the person was sweaty and icky. Yuck.

"Because I am very persuasive!" Kelly yelled back with a grin. "You should have known that by now."

True.

She picked up a glass and downed the contents. This was her fifth drink. This woman had an iron stomach. I stared at her incredulously and she gave me a perplexed look.

"What?" she asked.

"You have an extraordinary stomach." I shook my head.

"Thank you, love." She bowed in mock fashion and i giggled.

I looked around the bar. This wasn't my kind of thing and I hated being in clamped spaces with too much people. I could see some couples dancing wildly and grinding on each other. At another corner was a drinking contest. Two men were surrounded by their friends who were chanting away. So far they had taken two glasses each. I smirked as I knew Kelly would give them a run for their money.

Speaking of the redhead dame. She squealed and bounced up as a new song played. I flinched at the excitement in her eyes. It was like watching a kid excited at seeing candy.

"This is my shit!" she piped and began to bob her head to the music.

Some random guy who was passing by stopped by and was intrigued by her movements. He moved towards us with a smile on his face.

"Hey, you wanna dance?" he asked.

Enamored with the music, Kelly looked him over and a smile appeared on her face. He wasn't bad looking though.

"Sure!" she yelled and he led her away.

"If you need me, I'll be over here!" she called over her shoulder as the man steered her through the crowd.

"Yeah, getting wasted!" I yelled back.

She gave me the thumbs up sign and began to dance with the guy. I shook my head. This woman was such a character. The song wasn't my thing and I wished it would just stop. Instead the DJ increased the volume and began to bob his head to the music like a deranged lunatic. Someone kill me now.

I turned and spotted someone by the far corner. My eyes widened. Was that who I thought it was? He sat down by a table and his silhouette looked very familiar. Curse that area for being so dark. I squinted my eyes and peered harder. The person was dressed in a coat and had a scarf over his face. But I could see a hint of green reflecting by the club light. Those eyes. I made to move but suddenly felt a slight grip on my hand. I glanced to the side and saw a guy smiling at me. He was a foot taller than me and had facial hair around his face and also had an air of mischief around him.

"Hey there, do you need some company?" He smiled.

I looked away from him to the that dark corner hoping to catch a glimpse of that person. The seat was empty. The person was gone. I turned around to glare at the guy who ruined that moment. He was waiting for an answer.

"No thanks," I said in a dismissive tone.

"Come on, I insist," he persisted, his grip tightening around my wrist. "A hot woman like you shouldn't be here by yourself."

"Hey, back off!" I yelled, my eyes blazing with fury. My cry attracted some onlookers to us and the guy noticed.

"Okay, okay." He pulled his hands away and walked off.

"I'll see you around, sweetheart." He paused and turned around, winking at me.

"In your dreams," I muttered in disgust.

This was why I hate crowds. Damn Kelly for her annoying gift of persuasion.

The party went on for more hours and I was starting to get angry and when I spotted Kelly walking towards me. Her footsteps were far from graceful and she looked disoriented. Her hair was wild and her eyes unfocused. Verdict? She was drunk.

Well, that was a first.

I guess she isn't so invincible after all. My guess is she must have taken about twenty shots.

"Is it just me or is the floor spinning?" She giggled like a maniac.

I sighed and held her just as she was about to fall.

Minutes later, we were outside waiting for a taxi. A taxi that took it's sweet time coming. I was getting angry and tapped my foot on the ground impatiently. The burden of Kelly literally on my shoulders wasn't helping matters. I was just about letting out a few round of curses when I heard some footsteps behind me. I turned around and gasped.

It was the guy who tried to hit on me from earlier and he was with another guy much bigger than he was. I now realized the situation I was in. I was outnumbered and to make things worse, I was holding a now passed out Kelly.

"I told you we would meet again." He smiled wickedly as they both approached. Their movements reminded me of a pack of wolves surrounding their prey. Which at this moment happened to be me. And possibly Kelly.

"Back off!" I yelled, my eyes filled with fear.

The two men advanced even further. Their eyes now had predator gleam to them and I was helpless. Screaming for help was out of the option. We were the only ones on the road and it was very late. The idiots inside the bar wouldn't even hear me over the loud music As the two men reached out to me, I heard a thud. The other guy fell face flat and behind him stood Alejandro. My eyes widened and I lit up in glee. I was right. He was at the club earlier.

"Taking advantage of a woman, amigo?" He glared at the other guy. "Low."

The other guy made to hit Alejandro but his movements showed he had to ouch drink in him. Sloppy. Alejandro caught his fists and in one swift move, knocked him out.

He turned to me. "Let's get out of here."

He led us to the car and opened it. We placed Kelly at the back seat and we entered the front.

The drive to my apartment was painfully silent. I could see Alejandro clench his fists around the steering wheel and ground his jaw. He was angry.

We got to my apartment minutes later and I opened the door while Alejandro held an unconscious Kelly. We both carried her to my room and dumped her on the bed. Her gown rode up, exposing a lot of thigh. Alejandro's eyes roamed over her thigh and I saw him swallow hard. I frowned and pulled down her thigh and he blinked himself back to reality. He saw the look on my face and coughed, excusing himself out of the room. I shook my head and got to work. After stripping Kelly, I covered her with a blanket and made out of the room.

Alejandro hadn't left. He stood by my window staring out into the night. I joined him and there was silence.

"Thank you," I finally said.

He nodded without a word.

"I never knew that you were good in hand to hand combat." I made an attempt to lighten the situation. Instead a deep frown appeared on his face and he turned to face me. I gulped.

"You think this is funny?" His voice nearly neutralized my hearing. "What were you thinking? Partying on a work week late into the night? And look at the mess you got yourselves into."

"Hey, it wasn't my fault. I could handle myself," I defended.

Not to mention it was his fault I was even at the bar in the first place. If he hadn't acted weird in the office earlier in the day, I wouldn't have to unwind.

But I sure as hell won't tell him that.

"You could handle yourself?" He raised a bemused brow at me.

"And why were you at the club too?" I tried to divert the focus.

"I'm the CEO, remember?" He folded his arms in arrogant fashion. "I can afford to come late if I want."

The truth of his statement stung hard. I pouted and folded my arms as silence filled the living room again. We both stared out of the window again.

"Why were you really at the bar?" I asked, turning to face him He turned to look at me with confusion.

"Were you following me or something?" I added.

I waited for an angry look, but I didn't get it. Instead he looked concerned.

"No, I wasn't," he said.

I gazed intently at him trying to determine if he was lying. It was hard to. The art of masking his emotions was something he must have mastered for long.

"I go there sometimes if I want to get my mind off things," he said. "Me being there today at the same time with you was merely a coincidence. And a good one at that. Heaven knows what those rascals planned to do to you."

My heart lurched at his statement. I turned to face him and discovered he was now staring at me in concern. I also noticed we were now standing closer than usual.

"This is just too weird." I shook my head. "Can we go back to just disliking each other?"

"Who said I disliked you?" He tilted his head sideways. This was the first time he did that and it was so cute!

"Well...You...I..." I couldn't form words. "The way you act towards me at work. One minute you're dismissive and one minute you're nice. I don't get it."

He didn't say anything.

"And then coming to my house uninvited," I said. "What's going on? Is there something about me that interests you?"

Again, for a longer while he didn't say anything. Then he did something I never thought he would do.

He smiled.

My heart almost escaped my chest when I saw the smile and then I flushed red when I saw dimples on his cheeks. Jesus freaking Christ, he had dimples! I was a sucker for those. Could the universe surprise me anymore.

"What interests me about you?" He caressed my cheek to my utter shock.

"You are quite a character." His smile widened. "I've never met a woman like you. Sometimes, you drive me loco. Then other times you intrigue me with the way you talk. Your intelligence could be an added bonus."

I closed my eyes and shivered as I felt his hand part my hair to the side.

"You should get some sleep," he said and walked towards the door. "Goodnight, Tina."

"Goodnight." I smiled at his back. "Alejandro."

He paused, obviously from surprise as I used his first name. I saw his shoulders flinch a bit then relaxed. Turning around he gave me a small smile and shut the door gently.

I placed a hand over my chest, staring out the window.

Cupid, you'll fucking pay for this.