Searching for Moore (21 page)

“That’s where I’m definitely going to need your help. We’ll really need to do some feasibility studies because I don’t know the city at all. I don’t know the personalities and demographics of each of the neighborhoods. And I really want to see what my new agency thinks about expansion to the east coast.”

“Oh, who are you working with? Are you one of Scott Morgan’s clients?”

How fun was this, Mia thought, to be all tangled up with Schooner, feeling his hard cock pressing against her and brainstorming business. Mia was excited on so many levels.

“No. He’s a dirt bag.” Mia laughed at Schooner’s accurate assessment of Scott. “No, we’re going to be joining the client roster of a little boutique agency here in Manhattan. I have a personal relationship with the owner and I know we’ll get the personal attention that I demand,” he pressed against her, watching her eyes widen.

“Are you a demanding client?” She asked, throwing her leg over Schooner and pressing his ass with her foot, his cock sliding deep into her. She gasped, biting her lower lip, but maintained eye contact with him.

“I’m a very demanding client,” he thrust into her hard and deep, “I expect 100% attention on me at all times. Can you accommodate that?” He grabbed her ass and rammed into her. “Do you think you can keep me satisfied?”

“Absolutely, because unlike the large conglomerate agencies, who will sell you a bill of goods and stick you with underlings, you will always get attention from the very top with us,” she pushed him on his back, straddling him and smiling down at him.

He thrust up into her. “Will you commit to personally handling my business?”

She reached back and fondled his balls, “I think I can commit to that. I’m very hands on with my clients,” she squeezed his cock and balls at the same time, “I will commit all my resources to you.”

“How do I know you’re not just selling me a bill of goods?” He pressed up into her, causing her to gasp.

“What can I do to convince you?”

“I’ll require a contract,” she looked into his clear eyes, silently asking with her eyes, “Are you asking me what I think you’re asking me?”

“I’d be very happy to solidify this relationship with a contract,” she squeezed his cock tight.

“Good,” he grabbed her hips and thrust up into her, “consider it a done deal.”

“I like the way you do business,” she smiled down at him.

“I like giving you the business,” he held her hips tight, grinding his cock into her.

“That’s good, because I want all of your business.”

“I’m willing to give you every last inch of it.”

“I can handle it.”

She laughed… Seth was going to tease her relentlessly about pimping herself out for business, but this new business was truly going to be a labor of love.

“Good morning, Sunshine.” Mia singsonged, as she breezed by Seth’s desk, depositing his favorite Starbuck’s latte in front of him.

She put her latte on her desk, hung up her coat behind her door and proceeded to unpack her laptop from her vintage leather Ghurka bag.

Seth appeared in her doorway, latte in hand, watching her every move. She pretended to ignore him as she plugged in and booted up her laptop, took her phone out and got settled at her desk.

Then, she looked up at him, smiled and said sweetly, “Is there something I can help you with?”

“Don’t you hold out on me, BBC!” She laughed and he continued, eyes narrowing, as he looked at her. “You seem to be a happy BBC this morning. One might even say a glowing BBC. Frankly, I was expecting a sad, pining BBC today.”

She shook her head, “Nope. Happy BBC.”

“Aren’t you sad that he left?” Seth made a sad face.

“Who said anything about leaving.” Mia looked like a Cheshire cat.

Seth gasped, “He’s still here?”

Mia smiled and nodded.

“Oh my God!” Seth clapped his hands together, “Why aren’t you home in bed, fucking his brains out?”

Mia laughed, “Because I don’t want you eating cat food, Princess!” Seth looked at her with a “tell me more” look and Mia continued, “He’s working out of the apartment this morning and he’ll be here this afternoon. We’ll be using the conference room. Is Kami in yet?”

“Yeah, she’s in her office dialing for dollars trying to find new clients. He’s going to be here today? How do I look?” Seth immediately began primping, pulling at his collar, straightening the neckline on his argyle cashmere sweater.

“Please let her know I’d like to see her.”

Seth stood, “You are holding out on me.”

“All in due time, my little princess. Now go get Kami.”

“Wicked Witch BBC,” he called over his shoulder. Mia laughed.

Kami Townes, knocked on Mia’s open door and Mia signaled her in.

“Good morning. How were your days off last week?” Kami asked, all soft southern drawl.

Mia smiled, “Exceptional.”

“I’ll bet they were!” They heard Seth yell from the outer office. Both women shook their heads and laughed.

Like Seth, Kami had been with Mia since before the agency. She was Mia’s go to person and the staff member to which Mia entrusted the most important business. Kami was brilliant, driven and approached business with both left and right brain sensibilities. She was also very loyal. Kami and Mia had seen each other through personal hardships and some very wild, very hazy memory times, including an impromptu trip to New Orleans that was never, ever discussed.

The two women balanced one another out well. While Mia was a what you see is what you get, balls to the wall New Yorker, Kami was the epitome of Southern Belle. Raised in Birmingham, Alabama, Kami was the daughter of a prominent cardiologist and a member of local society. She was a southern debutante whose pearls never came off — ever. Like any accomplished, good southern girl, Kami could insult you right to your face with such smooth grace and finesse that you never really knew what hit you… until later.

“We’ve got a really exciting opportunity,” Mia began, “and I want you to be the primary on it. I’m going to be totally hands on, beside you on this baby — but you are going to be breathing, sleeping and eating this.”

“I’m excited, what is it? Can you talk about it yet?”

“Have you ever heard of a California outfit Level 9 Health Clubs?” Kami’s face lit up and Seth came running into the office, parking in the chair next to Kami.

“No you didn’t!” He screamed.

Mia laughed, “Oh, yes I did.”

“My friend Shelby Lee, the lawyer for Universal, is a member at their Studio City property. I went there with her last time I was in LA. Amazing facility. We have nothing like it here.” Kami was intrigued.

“The first thing we’re going to work with them on is finding the space for their first New York City location and we will handle everything — the launch, marketing, advertising, PR. Everything — this baby is ours.”

Kami sat there with her mouth open and Seth started to squeal. Mia sat back and smiled at them. It was so nice to deliver good news.

“Your main contact is going to be their CMO, Yolanda Perez. She goes by Yoli. We have a conference call with her this afternoon. Their owner, Schooner Moore, will be here with us on-site for the meeting.”

“Oh my God, I’m so excited he’s coming here.” Seth swooned.

Mia nodded, “He’s coming here. And we have lots to do this morning to get ready for that meeting. We need to start pulling competitive data, look at where competitors are located. Let’s make a list for Yoli of things we’ll need from her. I want to see what their West Coast agencies have been doing.” Mia pulled up their website on her laptop. “Slick site. This is beautiful.”

“How did this happen? If you don’t mind my asking.” Kami inquired.

Mia smiled and she could see that Seth was bursting at the seams. “You want to tell the story? I’m sure you’ll tell it so much better than I will.”

Seth turned to Kami. Mia knew this was going to be dramatic and sat back in her chair, smirking. He looked down at his iPad and typed something in, then sighed and turned his iPad toward Kami.

Her pretty blue eyes shot open wide, “Hottie Toddy!”

And Seth continued, “That is Schooner Moore. Schooner James Moore, our new client and owner of Level 9 Health Clubs. Isn’t he beautiful?” Kami nodded vigorously, “Well, it appears our little Miss Mia has been holding out on us all these years. This gorgeous man, who let me state for the record, I am in love with, was Mia’s first love. And the bitch, broke his heart. Left him. Heartbroken,” he turned to give Mia a mock glare. “Last week, Mr. Moore tracked down the evil tart who broke his heart and flew here to see her, hence, her time off from work last week. Clearly their reunion was a happy one because he is still here in New York and did not leave at the end of the weekend as was planned and is now opening a New York facility and we are their new agency. And there you have it.”

Mia clapped, “Very good. You did it justice. And succinct too, I might add.”

Kami put both hands up to her forehead with her thumbs on her cheeks, a common gesture she made when thinking or processing information, then she looked up at Mia. “Did he just make that sound incredibly romantic or is this incredibly romantic?”

“Look at that shit-eating grin on her face!” Seth hit Kami in the arm playfully.

“So, what happened Mia? C’mon don’t leave us with just Seth’s synopsis,” urged Kami.

“I don’t even know where to begin.” Mia put her palms up, “The man was the love of my life and turns out he is still the love of my life,” she looked at Seth, “and you will love this… he’s serving CJ with divorce papers today.”

“Noooooooooooo”

Mia nodded, “Yes!”

“Oh karma is such a bitch.” Seth was preening. He turned to Kami to fill her in, “CJ is like this Real Housewife of Orange County and she purposely sabotaged Mia and Schooner when they were in college and that is why BBC over here left this beautiful man. She’s evil, pure evil. Tall, blonde and evil,” he turned to Mia, “I can’t believe he’s divorcing her!”

“He’s flying up to Providence tomorrow to talk to his daughter.”

Mia reached inside her Ghurka bag and pulled out an envelope. “I have something to show you,” she was smiling as she handed them the photo of Schooner at Victoria Falls.

“He was so beautiful, Mia.” Kami actually gasped taking in the image of nineteen year old Schooner smiling his real smile for Mia. Mia just nodded, feeling suddenly overwhelmed and emotional.

Seth was staring at the picture and then looked up at Mia, serious for the first time. “You deserve this, you know that.” Mia nodded, her eyes filled with tears. “It’s your time, Mia.”

He stood, picture still in hand, “I’m going to go get a frame for this.” He smiled at Mia and left.

Mia was brimming with pride as she gave Schooner a tour of the agency. This was her baby, and the look on his face and in his eyes when he saw what she had built and met her staff, made her beam. The sleek, trendy space screamed New York cool with its warehouse look and exposed brick walls.

“Get that off of your computer right now!” Mia hissed in a whispered tone into Seth’s ear. His new screensaver was the picture of Schooner sleeping on Mia’s couch. She backhanded him on the side of his head.

After a very productive hour and a half phone session with Yoli, where she and Kami seemed like they had worked together for years, Mia brought Schooner back into her office and closed the door.

He sat on the edge of her desk smiling, “Come over here.” He held out his hand to her. She took his hand and he pulled her to him, between his long legs. Her hands were in his hair and she just looked into his beautiful eyes, smiling. She kissed him, softly.

He took her face in his hands, “Do you know how much I love you?” He asked, searching her eyes.

She smiled and nodded. There was stress in his eyes. She could see it, feel it.

“I talked to CJ this morning,” he began, “it didn’t go well. She’s not going to make it easy, Mia.”

“Does it matter?”

He thought for a second, as if that question had not yet occurred to him. “No, actually it really doesn’t. I was concerned that it might matter to you.”

“Me? How so?” Mia played with the locks of hair falling on his forehead, making him look nineteen again.

“That I’m still going to be legally married to another woman. She’s going to drag this out.”

Mia smiled and leaned forward, kissing the tip of his nose. “So, let her. The only grief she is going to cause is to herself. I don’t want you stressing over that, Schooner.” Mia stopped and thought for a second and then looked at Schooner with her devilish grin, “I’m a concubine!” She announced and they both broke into much needed laughter.

“My concubine,” he staked claim, kissing her.

“Damn right,” she hugged him and then pulled back to look at him, “Seriously, as long as we are together and things are good between us — that’s all I need. I’m good, really.”

“Yeah, but I want to give you more,” his eyes were serious again.

She took his face in her hands and shook her head. “I have everything I want, Schooner. Everything. The rest doesn’t mean anything without this. And I have this. So seriously, I don’t want you stressing over it. The rest will be great when it happens. Trust me, if she sees she can stress you out, she’ll step up her game even more. If you don’t give a shit, then it’s no fun fighting with you and she’ll stop.”