Dancing in the Gray (2 page)

Once Elise’s company took off, she
bought her mom a brand new townhome and took care of her
financially. Elise also bought a townhome in the same development
so she could split time between New York and Virginia, which was
where she grew up and where her mom lived. It was just the two of
them, so Elise always made sure that her mom was taken care of,
even if she left town for a few nights.

“Make sure the new assistant knows
about what she needs to do with my mom and her
finances.”

“I’ll take care of all that Elise.
Please go pick up your luggage and head to the airport. I have a
car service waiting downstairs for you as we speak.” Ashley gave
her a hug then wobbled to the office door and opened it. “Go Elise.
Have fun!”

“Bye-bye doll! See you in a week!”
Jeremy kissed her on each cheek.

Elise ran out the door and down to the
car service before she changed her mind. She was excited to finally
go to Paris and actually enjoy it. No business meetings, no buyers,
no work – just fun.

~

“Did you see her face when you said
Rixby’s name?” Ashley looked up at Jeremy who was standing right by
her as she was seated behind Elise’s desk.

“Yep. Not good.” Jeremy shook his
head.

“It’s been six years.” Ashley breathed
out a huge sigh. “When will he not have that power over
her?”

“When Elise finally lets him go. She
needs to open herself to another man like she did with
him.”

“She’s dated tons of guys since him.”
Ashley spoke in Elise’s defense.

“But she hasn’t allowed herself to be
the Elise she was with Rixby - the crazy, fun, wild Elise…the Elise
that you and I instantly fell in love with.”

“I know but she’s not the same person
she was six years ago! None of us are. We’ve all grown
up.”

“It’s not about growing up. It’s about
that beautiful brunette girl that carried herself so confidently
that she grabbed the attention of a man, who was the center of
millions of people’s attention. When everyone’s eyes were on him,
his were on Elise. That’s the girl I’m talking about. I just hope
she finds that girl again. Maybe with the buyout she will allow
herself to let go again. At least she’s making the first step in
the right direction – she’s finally taking the trip to Paris that
she wanted to.” Jeremy truly wanted to see Elise happy again.
“Anyway, so back to finding her an assistant.”

Chapter 2

Elise arrived just a little late to JFK
International airport. But, by the time she got through security
and checked her bags in, she was literally running to find her gate
because her flight was scheduled to depart in 15 minutes. Once she
raced to her terminal, the British Airways attendant saw her
running and yelled, “Are you Elise DePaul?”

“Yes, I’m so sorry.” Elise called out
nearly out of breath.

“That’s quite alright, Ms. DePaul. Let
me scan your boarding pass, and you can take your seat in first
class.” The nice young lady calmed Elise’s nerves. She was sure she
was going to miss her flight. “Ms. DePaul, there are only a few
passengers in first class so your trip won’t be too
crowded.”

“Oh, that’s great to hear.” Elise’s
trip was already starting out in the positive.

“Ok, well I think we have all we need
here. Please go ahead and board. And Ms. DePaul, have a wonderful
time in Paris.”

Elise smiled sweetly at the young lady
and headed down the jet way to board the aircraft. She knew she was
seated on Row 1 Seat E. When the flight attendant welcomed her
aboard, Elise noticed that there were only about five people
including her that were sharing the eighteen seat first class area.
The young lady wasn’t kidding when she said there were only a few
passengers. There was an older couple that was seated towards the
back of the first class area, one gentleman that was seated on Row
1 Seat C, and another gentleman seated right next to her on Row 1
Seat D. Of course, in an almost empty section there would be
someone who was sitting right next to her. UGH!

The first class section of the plane
had two seats on one side of the plane, a single row of seats down
the middle of the plane, and another two seats on the other side of
the plane. There were aisles on both sides of the middle row single
seats. She barreled through the aisle to her window seat and
buckled in getting ready for her nearly eight hour flight. Elise
purposefully schedule her flight to leave in the evening knowing
with the distance and time change she would be in Paris early the
next morning. She figured that she would take the time on the
flight to sleep, and she could start her French vacation off as
soon as she lands.

It wasn’t until Elise had been seated
for a while and the plane was taxying down the runway that she even
looked over to her left to see the gentleman that was sitting next
to her. He was a pretty good looking guy. He must have been over
six feet tall because he filled out the first class seat. She
couldn’t imagine this poor guy having to travel coach. His long
legs were stretched out in front of him which is the exact reason
why Elise tried to get Row 1 any time she flew – the leg
room.

He was dressed in business attire, but
it seemed as though he was trying to get comfortable for the
flight. His suit jacket was off and it was laid over the back of
his seat. His sleeves were unbuttoned and rolled up and the top
button of his shirt was unbuttoned. There must have been a tie
around somewhere that he just took off. Elise tried not to stare,
so she kept looking over at him in her periphery.

He had dirty blond hair that was cut
short and styled in this sexy faux hawk, and he had light eyes,
either blue or green. His nails were manicured to perfection, and
he had a nice golden tan. His facial features were very manly;
square cut jaw, cleft in his chin, and what looked like five
o’clock shadow growing out on his face. He also smelled wonderful.
His cologne was very familiar, and she figured by the end of the
flight she would recognize it. He was reading an article in the
Times and had little square frameless glasses on. He hadn’t looked
up from the article since she got there.

The captain came over the intercom and
gave the details of the flight and told everyone that they were
next in line and should be in the air in a few minutes. Elise heard
her phone go off which reminded her that she needed to turn her
BlackBerry off. She reached into her purse, and she saw a couple of
envelopes wrapped together with a red bow. She pulled the bundle of
envelopes along with her BlackBerry out of her purse with one hand
at the exact same moment that the airplane started racing down the
runway. The force caused her to loose grip of her BlackBerry which
landed in the lap of the gentleman next to her.

The guy next to her was startled by the
impact of her phone on to his junk and lifted up his newspaper to
see what was going on. The next few moments were very poor lapse in
judgment on Elise’s part, and she quickly realized that she did the
stupidest thing EVER! While her eyes were bugging out of her head,
she started apologizing profusely for dropping the phone on him
then proceeded to retrieve the phone herself.

“Oh my God! I am so sorry! Let me get
that!” Elise reached into his lap and grabbed more than her cell
phone.

“Jesus, LADY!” The gentleman yelled at
her, but he had every right to. Elise totally went to second base
with the dude, maybe even third. She noticed the guy, who was
sitting in the single row seat that was to the left of the
gentleman she just groped, motion to get up and unbuckle his seat
belt, even though the plane just took off and the captain did not
turn off the fasten seat belt sign.

“Holy Shit! I did not mean to grab you
like that. I was just trying to get my phone. I am so...so…so
sorry.” Elise put her hand over her mouth.

Mr. Second Base motioned to the dude in
seat C that he was ok, and the guy sat back down and buckled his
seat belt again.

“Are you the Air Marshal?” Elise
addressed the guy in the middle row seat. “I didn’t mean to grab
him like that. I promise that I will not cause trouble on the
flight. Do you need to give me a ticket or something? I totally
take accountability for being totally stupid.” Elise was trying to
make things better but she just kept digging herself deeper and
deeper into a hole.

“Just, stop. He’s not the Air Marshal.
He’s my security. And, please just forget about it unless there is
anything else in my crotch that’s yours that you need to retrieve.”
Mr. Second Base was now looking down at her smiling.

Elise’s heart started racing. He wasn’t
pretty good looking – he was gorgeous. His smile was perfect and
white. His eyes were crystal blue, and Elise felt short of breath
each time her eyes were brave enough to look into them. His lips
were full and his mouth was curled up in the sexiest half
smile.

Elise decided to actually say
something, but unfortunately, it probably was not the most
appropriate thing to say. “I totally grabbed your penis, didn’t I?”
And … there went the sexy smile.

“Unbelievable.” He closed his eyes and
shook his head then turned his body back so it was facing
forward.

“I guess that’s a yes.” Elise whispered
in his general direction but finally decided to take the hint and
keep her hands and her thoughts within the confines of seat
E.

A few minute passed before the flight
attendant came around for drink orders. Elise asked for a white
wine in hopes that it would help her forget what just happened. The
gentleman next to her ordered a ginger ale. Lightweight!

Once she received her wine and took her
first couple sips, she turned her attention back to the envelopes
that were held together with the bow. She opened the first envelope
and found two front row tickets to the Foo Fighter’s concert at the
Bercy in Paris.

“Holy Shit!” Elise was talking to
herself…out loud, but she didn’t care. Ashley! She loved her best
friend.

“Holy Shit!” Mr. Second Base was now
gawking at her tickets. “Are those for this weekend?”

Elise searched the tickets for the date
to see what night. “Yes, they’re for Saturday night.”

“Wow! Those are pretty hard to come by.
They’ve been sold out for a couple of months.”

“Really? My best friend must have done
all this.” Elise picked up the envelopes.

“Well, she is a great
friend. And you must be, too.” There was the sexy half smile again.
Suddenly Elise heard Jeremy’s words resonate in her head ….
Go to Paris….see the city…..fall in love ……. or
have an affair

“Thank you. That’s really sweet. I
think we got off on the wrong foot and since I will be sitting here
for the next seven hours, I should introduce myself. I’m Elise. And
I am sincerely sorry for accosting you earlier.” She extended out
her hand for a handshake.

Mr. Second Base reached out and grabbed
Elise’s hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Elise. Please, let’s just
pretend none of that actually happened.”

“Ha! Yeah, right!” Elise started
laughing.

“It sounded like the right thing to
say, but that’s not really realistic, is it?” Mr. Second Base was
smiling and shaking his gorgeous head.

“Not at all! At least your security guy
didn’t have to intervene.” Elise laughed and grabbed his arm as a
casual gesture and felt his rock hard bicep. She pulled her hand
back quickly when she saw him look down at her hand for a split
second. “I’m sorry; I didn’t get your name.”

“Trey. My name’s Trey.”

“Well Trey, it was really nice meeting
you.” It really was.

~

It had to be one of the most
unconventional ways to meet a woman, not that he was even looking
to meet one. He didn’t even really notice her until she grabbed a
handful of his crotch. He was about to lose his shit on her until
he looked up and saw her. She was beautiful.

She had long, dark brown hair and amber
colored eyes. Her face was stunning with its most robust features
being her high cheekbones that slenderized her face and her huge,
full lips. She was wearing a white silk shirt that was see-through
with a camisole underneath it. She had a long necklace with a
couple of gold pendants that hung off the chain and dipped into her
shirt, sitting right in between her full breasts which continued to
grab Trey’s attention.

Trey watched her as she spoke to
Ronald, mistaking him for an Air Marshall. He referred to him as
security instead of Secret Service because Trey hated the attention
that those two words drew. Ronald had been with Trey for over five
years, since his father started campaigning for the Presidency. His
father was in his second term, so Ronald was going to be a fixture
in his life for a few more years. They had a great working
relationship, and he had become a friend and confidante to
Trey.

Elise obviously had no clue
who he was, which was fine with him. He hated the attention that
the media gave him about being single. Most women were looking for
a place in the spotlight next to him or a meal ticket. Trey wasn’t
interested in being either of those things to anyone. He was very
successful in the world of finance and was about to embark on his
own political campaign to represent the 10
^th
District of Virginia. He was
all business at this point in his life and wasn’t looking for a
relationship or even companionship. But, something about this woman
sparked his interest, and it was a bonus that she had no clue who
he was.