Acquiring Hearts (2 page)

He stood up and looked at his watch, it was quarter after one. He decided he better start to head back to the office since Rachel mentioned she was going out to lunch. If it was up to him, he could sit there all day.

As he turned toward the exit, he literally almost walked into Rachel. She explained that she was there to get some books about Abraham Lincoln for her sons’ summer school reading project. “That’s okay, take your time. I have everything covered at the office until you return”.

That is when he saw her - A radiant beauty standing behind Rachel. Bradley couldn’t help but wonder who this goddess was standing before him. This had to be Rachel’s sister. He wanted to ask but decided against it.

“
Well, I’m going to head back to the office. I have so many calls to return.” He was trying to run away. For what reason, he had no idea.

“Hold on a minute. I want to introduce you to my sister Giovanna. Giovanna this is Bradley Roberts, My boss.” For a moment, no one spoke. It was as if there were fireworks going off at a Phillies game. They were in complete awe of each other and remained speechless for a moment.

She extended her hand and he took it into his. “Um, Hi, I’m Giovanna, but everyone calls me Gia.”

“
Gia, it’s so nice to meet you, I’m Bradley, and everyone calls me Brad.” He then dropped her hand rather quickly.

Noticing something weird going on, Rachel said, “They do?”

“Yeah, only my close friends and family, except for my mother. I have to really go. It was nice meeting you, Gia. See you back at the office, Rachel.” Then pushing through the doors, Bradley took off, not looking back.

What the fuck just happened there? I felt like I was just tasered. I need air desperately.

Chapter Two

The hot sun was blazing on this June afternoon as it hit the city pavement, but Gia couldn’t get rid of the chills that swirled throughout her body. “Your boss seems like a nice guy.”

Rachel gave her a weird look. “He’s a very nice guy. He just gets miserable and moody some days and I have to work with him.” Rachel changed the subject and asked where Gia wanted to eat lunch.

“I don’t care, we can go anywhere. Let’s go to Salad Works on Market Street.”

Gia needed to pump Rachel for more information. She couldn’t get Bradley out of her mind. (She had never been affected by a guy like this after just a simple handshake. When their hands touched, she felt things that no other man ever made her feel. She wondered if he felt the connection too. She was probably just delusional.

Once they were inside the restaurant, Gia thought about how to bring up the subject of Bradley, or Brad as he said to call him. “Why didn’t you tell me that your boss was hot?” asked Gia bluntly, as a smile crept onto her face.

“Because I don’t look at him that way, I’m married with two kids.”

“Rach, you’re forty, not dead. There’s no way you can sit here and tell me that you don’t think he’s hot.”

Rachel looks like she is about to have me committed.

“I never said that he isn’t hot. I just said that I don’t look at him that way. Remember, this
is
my boss that we’re talking about.”

Gia decided to change the subject and move on to other topics. Obviously Rachel was uncomfortable with this one.

“
What’s wrong with you lately? You’ve been acting so moody and short with me.”

Although Gia and Rachel were twelve years apart they were as close as any two sisters could be and the best of friends. If something was wrong, Rachel would definitely tell Gia.

“I have nothing going on. I just have a lot on my mind.”

Of course Gia had to push the issue, what sister wouldn’t? “You know you can tell me anything. I love you and will always be here for you, no matter what.”

Rachel knew this about her sister but she just didn’t feel like talking about it and wanted to get back to work.

“I know. I’m fine. What are you doing tonight?” Rachel asked nonchalantly. Since it was Friday night, Rachel knew Gia probably had plans.

“I have a date with that new lawyer I was telling you about from the firm. After turning him down four times, I finally agreed to go out with him, but only under one condition. We had to go on a double date with Maria and Carson.”

Maria was Gia’s best friend. They lived on the same street growing up and went all through school together. Maria and Carson had been together for five years and were planning on getting married next year. Gia and Maria were both twenty-eight years old and lawyers but their looks were completely opposite. Where Maria had short cropped blonde hair and green eyes, Gia had long black hair that flowed to the middle of her back and blue eyes. Sometimes she wore it wavy and other times she wore it straight.

“That sounds like fun. It’s a good thing Maria will be there.”

What’s her deal? She can be so sarcastic sometimes.

“I have to get back to work. I’m probably going to get done early today to get ready for my date. I’ll call you in the morning around nine, to tell you all about it.”

“Ok, have fun. Talk to you tomorrow,” Rachel said as they kissed each other goodbye and went back to their jobs.

* * * * *

Gia rarely went out on dates anymore. She hadn’t felt like she had a connection to anyone enough to go out on a date with them. She probably wouldn’t be going out on this date if Maria hadn’t convinced her to go.

“
You’re twenty-eight. He could be
the one
. Just go out with him one time and see how it goes. How bad could it be?”

Gia thought it was easy for Maria to say. She had a fiancé and wasn’t out there in the dating world. It was horrible and men only wanted one thing.

As she sat there and waited for Tom to pick her up, she thought about what it would be like to have a family and settle down. She thought that maybe Maria was right and that she should start to give people a chance. It wasn’t that she was afraid of commitment. It was more the thought of getting hurt.

She’d been in a relationship for five years that began when she was in high school. During her second year in college she found out that her boyfriend, Jesse, had been cheating on her for about a year. She was furious. She blamed herself because she’d been so focused on school. After they broke up she vowed that she wouldn’t date anyone until she was established. She needed to move on and forget about Jesse. That was so long ago.

She thought about the gorgeous guy, Brad, that she met today, her sister’s boss. She wasn’t sure why her thoughts kept going back to him throughout the day, but she still felt this connection with him that she’d never felt before. She needed to forget about him because she was out of his league and Gia didn’t want to get hurt. She was sure that because he was a CEO, he had a reputation. They always did. He probably went to fancy balls and had butlers. She was just a simple woman who worked her ass off for a living. Plus, when would she even see him again?

The knock on the door brought her back to reality. “Well, here goes nothing.” She hesitated, then, opened the door to reveal Tom’s weird cheerful face.

“Hi, Gia”, He exclaimed, clearly over-excited for the date.

Why’s he so eager? He’s not getting anything in return for this date.

“Hi Tom, How are you? We better get going because we have to pick up Maria and Carson before we go to the club.” Gia ushered him out the door before he got any ideas about coming into her house and trying something while they were alone. Tom agreed and they walked to his car.

Ok, so he drove a Mercedes and opened the door for her. That didn’t mean anything. You needed attraction too and she just didn’t have it for him. She decided that she would try to have a good time anyway.

There was nothing but silence in the car on the way to pick up Maria and Carson and then Tom spoke. “I’m so happy that you finally agreed to go on a date with me. I really like you and hope that you find this evening enjoyable.”

Gia responded as honestly as she could. “Yeah, we’ll see how it goes.”

More silence.

The drive was weird and awkward, as Tom kept giving Gia sideways glances at every stoplight. Gia rolled her eyes. Finally, they arrived at Maria and Carson’s house and they jumped in the back of the car. They headed to Casio, a new downtown club. As they all piled out of the car, they were mesmerized by the amounts of people waiting to get into the place. The line was wrapped around the corner. You could literally hear the club’s music system pump out the bass from the sidewalk. That’s how bumping this place was. Thankfully, Tom’s cousin was the bouncer and he let them right in.

Gia was thinking that she probably wouldn’t have waited because it was so frigging hot outside. She had on a black strapless dress that came to the middle of her thigh and black open toe heels on and she was still hot. It was still ninety degrees out… at night.

They entered the club and Gia had to admit that it was amazing. There were circular bars in four different locations. Even the VIP section had its own circular bar. Purple and black lights outlined the entire club ceiling.

The club was packed wall to wall with people. Tom asked Gia what she wanted to drink as they made their way to the closest bar. She wondered what she could get in a place like this, and settled on a White Zinfandel wine. She wanted to make sure she didn’t get drunk. Two gentlemen gave up their seats to Gia and Maria at the bar, so they sat and talked a little bit while enjoying their drinks. Since they all worked together, of course Maria wanted details.

“So, do you like Tom?” she whispered.

“Not really. He’s so not my type, but I’m having a good time.”

Maria just wanted Gia to be happy because she was tired of seeing her alone and working so hard. “Yeah, looks it. Why don’t we go dance?”

“That sounds good to me.”

The dance floor was packed like sardines, not to mention, there were a bunch of creepy guys dressed in open Hawaiian shirts and gold chains. If that wasn’t bad enough their fake tanner was sweating off from their erratic dance moves. They couldn’t take their eyes off of Gia. She didn’t care and didn’t have any problems telling a guy where he could go, if it came down to that.

From afar, she could see Tom and Carson standing at the bar deep in conversation, probably talking about law stuff. Looking at him, she knew at that moment, this would be the last date that she would have with him and she had to find a way to tell him. She felt really bad because she didn’t want to hurt his feelings but she also didn’t want to lead him on.

Gia and Maria danced well into the night. They didn’t even realize that it was almost one in the morning. A couple of their friends from high school happened to be there also, so they were having the time of their lives. Carson and Tom occasionally came out onto the dance floor but then retreated back to the bar.

After another half hour passed, Maria started to get tired

“I’m heading to the bar to sit with Carson for a few minutes.”

“Ok, I’ll meet you back there. I’m just going to run to the bathroom real quick,” Gia called out to her. The line to the bathroom in their section of the club was ridiculously long so she decided to go use the other bathroom in the back of the club near the VIP section.

She was hoping she didn’t get lost because the place was gigantic and crowded. When she finally made it to the other bathroom, she still had to wait in line but it was not as long as the first bathroom.

What the Frig, I’m going to pee myself. This chick in front of me doesn’t look like she has to go that bad. I should ask her if I can cut in front of her. Nah, She’ll think I’m nuts. I’ll just wait it out.

“There’s another bathroom that you can use in the back, which is more private.”