Bad First Impression

She nodded, stifling a smile, and turned back to look at the plane that had slowed down as it was coming to a stop. “Gotcha.”

“How do you not know that? You reserved one for him just a few hours ago.”

Ha? Talia turned to Joe a little shocked. This was the first she had heard of it. “I did?”

He nodded slowly with an even more incredulous look on his face.

She definitely didn’t, but she was sure it was one of his army of assistants. She sighed, an army she was now an honorary member of.

“Well then, at least we’re sure he’ll like it.”

She made a little cheer when the plane came to a stop around a hundred feet away from them. After a few minutes, the door opened, and a step of stairs appeared as it lowered. Someone who looked like a pilot stepped out first. Following close behind was a man holding something in his arm pressed against his chest as he descended the steps.

“What are the chances he came alone?” Talia asked as she watched the man approach them.

“Not a chance. From what I heard, he travels with an entourage of around ten people. But judging by the size of the plane, probably five.”

Right, because all groupies knew how their object of obsession travelled. Talia just hoped the one who’d been planning for their arrival before the responsibility had suddenly been thrown on her lap knew this. The bosses said everything had been taken care of and, considering she had no idea a yacht had been reserved, she really hoped they were right. She didn’t even know where he was staying. She really hoped Joe did. She couldn’t believe how clueless she was.

“Joe,” she began as the figure drew closer, “you do know which hotel they are staying at, right?”

“You don’t?”

At the risk of sounding unprofessional, she admitted, “No. I had already clocked out when they called about our guest here.”

He nodded. “Me too. But yes, I do know.”

She sighed her relief. “Good. At least one of us does.”

She pulled out her phone from her pants right pocket and tapped on the screen. Nothing yet. Peeved, she opened her mail app and quickly shot out another email to the executive secretary asking for the full itinerary, copying all the bosses who had been on that conference call appointing her tour guide. She didn’t care who she woke up. If she was awake at this devil hour of now two thirty in the morning, standing in this cold windy airport, the least they could do was share the information that even the driver had and she didn’t.

“Ms. McKenna?”

Talia looked up at the heavy Italian accented and clearly tired voice. The man looked haggard and even more tired than he sounded. But he was certainly not Rafael DeLuca. She was sure every woman with a pulse knew what the shark looked like. He was an office obsession. More than a few women had him as their office PC screensaver. Lucky him all pictures available were of him in a suit. This man was around half a foot shorter, definitely half his size and blond.

“Yes, and you are?” she asked, holding out her hand to him.

His brows pinched in clear distaste, but he took her hand in a short rough shake before he dropped it. “Enzo Romano.”

Okay, someone was offended.

He looked past them. “Is that the car?”

“Yes sir,” Joe answered. “Joe—”

“What kind?” he asked, cutting Joe off as he was about to introduce himself.

One with wheels, the snarky remark popped into her head. The man was either not a people person or he clearly didn’t get any sleep on the flight over.

“Cadillac Escalade,” Joe answered.

“What make?”

“Huh?” Talia blurted out. He couldn’t be serious.

“2013 Hybrid,” Joe answered, not missing a beat. Enzo nodded his approval, stepping closer to Joe.

What? Was DeLuca’s royal ass really too preciously selective about what he would dare ride in?

Calm down Talia. You’re tired and sleep deprived. Just don’t say it out loud.

It was moments like these that she missed her friend Carrie. Now she didn’t care who heard. When someone was being ridiculous, she called them out. Talia smiled to herself, admitting this was probably why the bosses didn’t want her to bring Carrie along for this. She would have bitched about everything from the time to the cold and especially to this ‘what kind of Escalade’ question. It was a Cadillac Escalade for crying out loud!

“Pull the car closer to the plane,” he instructed Joe. Then he turned to Talia and said, “You can leave.”

Talia’s head reared back in shock. “Excuse you?”

Joe chose that moment to run and do as he was told, leaving Talia with Mr. Polite.

“Is there another car, or is that the only one?” he went on like he hadn’t heard her.

Testily, she responded, “It’s the only one.”

He sighed, closing his eyes. “Any chance of getting another one?”

“Why? Is one not enough?”

He opened his eyes and with a raised brow asked, “How am I to get to the hotel?”

“We,” she started, stressing on the ‘we’, “were meant to ride together to the hotel, where I was to help you all check-in and meet you when the sun was out at a reasonable hour to escort you to the office.”

He sighed heavily again. “That won’t be necessary.”

Damn, he was starting to sound like a Catholic school headmistress. She looked at her phone again, wishing someone would wake up and send her the stupid itinerary already!

“He won’t be coming in tomorrow—today but tomorrow—the day after,” he stated, looking as confused as he sounded.

She looked at her wrist watch. “It’s two forty in the morning. So he will be resting today?” One more thing that would have been nice to know sooner. Just like it would have been nice to know her presence wasn’t required. “And coming to the office tomorrow?”

“Yes?” he responded, sounding unsure.

Talia folded her fingers into her palm in a tight fist. She could have been sound asleep right now. “Why do you need another car if you are going to the same place? How many are you exactly?”

His eyes pinched again and his mouth twisted in a half sneer. “Shouldn’t you know that already?”

Talia forced a tight smile on her lips. There was a lot she should have known before rushing home, showering and changing into her new suit to welcome the great DeLuca but, alas, here she was, a snarky comment away from getting fired. She chose not to respond, instead she just stared at him and waited.

“It’s just Signore DeLuca and I.”

So why not ride with him? What, was three a crowd?

“And no, we are not going to the same place.”

As if to reiterate what he said, their only ride out of the blasted place pulled away from the plane and sped off towards the exit. Talia huffed an irate laugh, rolled her lips into her mouth to keep in the curses bouncing eagerly at the tip of her tongue and took a very deep breath.

After she was sure she’d held her temper in check, she said, “I’ll call us a cab.”