“I don’t have an appointment and I know he’s extremely busy. But I was hoping to just grab a moment of his time, if possible,” she begged.
Nancy was a very nice older woman, probably in her mid-fifties, who smiled broadly at Zoe’s excitement. “Mr. DiAngelo mentioned to me last week that you were to be put through to him no matter what was going on.”
Zoe was both charmed and terrified of that information. But she didn’t have much time to think about the meaning since Marco came out of a conference room right at that moment. Zoe had a few moments to watch him and was impressed all over again. He was surrounded by a large group of men and women, most of whom were older but all deferred to his judgments as they asked him questions walking down the hallway. He was also much taller than the men while several of the women looked at him with secret longing, but most were too professional to let their feelings show through, at least to him. Apparently emotions weren’t exclusive to the women. Several of the men had signs of jealousy on their faces as well.
Marco had the patience of a saint, answering their questions with authority and confidence. She had no idea what they were discussing, the business terms and amounts they were tossing about were way out of her league, but Marco knew exactly what they were discussing and didn’t show any sign of being irritated despite the fact that the meeting had already ended.
Until he saw her standing in the hallway watching him and in that instant, Marco’s face changed in a not so subtle way. The people surrounding him also noticed and looked her way, all of them curious to see what had created that kind of reaction. When several pairs of eyes were looking at her, she felt her face heat up and couldn’t do anything to stop it.
With a firm nod, Marco dismissed the group of people, none of whom dared to ask even a short, quick question as their boss walked away from them, heading down the hallway with purpose.
Without saying a word, Marco pulled her into his office and closed the door. Crossing his arms over his chest, he looked down at her flushed features. “To what do I owe this honor?” he asked, one eyebrow raised in question and a bit of cynicism.
Zoe had to think hard to remember why she’d come by. But when she did, all the excitement and sheer bliss of that one phone call this morning shone through to her brown eyes. “Oh, Marco! I’m sorry to disturb you. But I really was just too excited and wanted you to be the second person to hear the news.”
“The second?” he asked, interrupting her. “Why not the first?”
She stopped and thought about it for a moment. “Well, actually, I guess you’re the third, since I was really the second. Debbie was the first.”
Marco chuckled but shook his head. “Regardless, what’s the wonderful news?”
“My designs are going to be featured in WWD!”
The other eyebrow went up as well. “I’m guessing this is important?”
She grabbed the lapels of his jacket and shook him slightly. “Don’t you know what WWD is? How could you invest in a fashion company and not know this? It’s one of the preeminent journals that comes out each week, describing the news of fashion. Everyone in this business has a subscription in order to keep up with the latest news.”
“So this is important.”
“Yes! It’s wonderful. And amazing! And it’s all because of your invitation last night and I can’t believe how incredible this is! I just wanted to thank you for the introductions last night. They’re the only way this could have happened.”
“Are you sure it was the introductions and not simply the incredible design you wore last night? I’d love to take credit for this event, but maybe it was just your sparkling personality and great fashion sense.”
She laughed and hugged him, her excitement overwhelming her good sense to keep some space between them. “Even if that’s true, I wouldn’t have even been there if you hadn’t brought me so it’s still your wonderful influence who has provided this breakthrough.”
“I’ll take the credit,” he said softly, a small smile on his face as he looked down into her lovely features. Marco felt like he’d had his own breakthrough. By her being here, telling him the news and wanting to do it in person proved that she at least considered him to be a good partner. If only professionally. And seeing her like this made his investment completely worth every penny. She was practically vibrating with her excitement and she was touching him of her own volition, not even caring that his hands were on her hips and she smelled incredibly good.
Zoe realized how intimate their position was and thought about pulling back. But something in his eyes stopped her. Actually moved her forward. With her heart beating frantically, she lifted her head, moving closer to him. He was too tall for her to kiss without help, but when she moved her hand from his jacket to his cheek, he cooperated by bending his head down. The first, tentative touch was from her as she tasted, tested and experimented. But after several moments of that teasing, Marco took control and pulled her closer, his mouth moving down to more thoroughly kiss her, his tongue plundering her mouth while his hands pulled her closer.
“Zoe,” he groaned and pushed her backwards. She didn’t know what was happening until she felt something solidly pressing against her back. With him in front of her and the wall behind her, she didn’t care any longer what was safe or reasonable. All she wanted was his touch and his taste. She thrilled to feel him pressing her closer and her arms lifted to wrap around his neck.
When she felt his hand against her skin, a part of her mind realized that he’d slipped his hand underneath her turtleneck sweater but didn’t care at all. In fact, she pressed her body more firmly against his hand, thrilling to his touch and wanting more of it, needing him to move his hand higher. She whimpered when he did exactly what she wanted and touched his neck, almost furious that his collar hindered her hands from touching more of his skin.
The phone ringing in the background slowly worked its way through her desire-fogged brain. “Phone is ringing,” she whispered.
“I don’t give a damn,” he said and she felt his other hand slip underneath her sweater. At that point, the whole building could be burning down and she wouldn’t care.
But when the knocking sounded on his office door, that was a bit harder to ignore.
“Someone is trying to interrupt us,” she groaned.