Her Untamed CEO

Chapter 12

Alicia’s hand was shaking when she heard the lift doors open, and she took a deep breath before stepping out of the kitchen.

Mrs. Bartlett has given her a key to the penthouse for the night, so she wouldn’t have to go all the way back to her apartment and just enjoy the evening. Alicia still can’t understand why they were being so nice about her going on this date with Liam.

When she looks up, she sees his broad shoulders and back towards her, and her ears start to sing with the rush of blood to her face.

She sees him talking to her, but she doesn’t hear a word he is saying, guessing that he probably asked if she was ready.

“Yes,” She smiles out of breath.

Those grey eyes completely intoxicating her, she slides her arm in his and they climb into the lift.

“I’ve made a reservation for us at an Italian place. I hope you like Italian food.”

Her senses finally returning, she smiles at him.

“A bit cliché, don’t you think?” She comments only to realize she actually said it out loud, and her eyes grow wide.

“I’m sorry! I didn’t mean…”

“No, no, come to think of it, you’re right.” He smiles at her. “What would you like to do?”

“I’m sorry, we can go to the restaurant. I’ve never been to…” She blushes bright red.

“Okay,” He grins at her.

Now she really feels like a lamb going to the slaughterhouse! Pinned underneath that grey stare of his!

They walk into the restaurant, and the hostess immediately takes them through to a booth in the back corner. She takes Alicia’s coat, and then Liam’s, and smiles way too friendly at Liam before telling them that their waiter will be along in just a moment.

They sit down, and he looks at her. Oh no! She didn’t think about this part! What is she going to say?

***

Seeing her hands shake slightly before she moves them off the table and onto her lap, he grins on the inside.

“So, Alicia, tell me about yourself.”

“There’s not much to tell. What would you like to know?”

“Let’s start with how you ended up at Bartlett.”

***

Noah tries to put weight on his leg and feels that the pain is a lot less. Damn doctors! They told him to stay off it for six weeks! He doesn’t have six weeks. Life is continuing without him.

He takes a step and feels a dull pain, but he can walk on his leg. Dropping the crutches in the hallway closet, he decides to get cleaned up and call Gab. He needs to get out of here. He needs a night out!

Nobody will see his leg when it’s covered by his pants.

***

Walking into the club with his best friend by his side, he grins from ear to ear. His friends receive him as if he’s a hero and give him a shot before he even starts to greet everyone.

“NOAH!!” Melinda comes running up to him, giving him a huge hug, and when she aims to kiss him, he turns his cheek.

“Hey! What’s wrong?” She pouts.

“Nothing. I just want to say hi to Joy.” He smiles at her.

He walks over to Joy who smiles seductively. He knows how Melinda feels about Joy and that, according to Gab, she told Joy to back off, so this would be his interim solution to keep Melinda away until he can get around to asking Alicia out.

Joy is a lot more fun than he ever realized, and the evening goes by too fast, so he invites the group over to his place where he has a stocked bar, and they can party right through to the next night if they feel like it.

***

After a glass of wine, her nerves start to calm down, and she relaxes more and feels she can have an easier conversation. They talk about how they both grew up and their parents. He tells her how he built his business, and she tells him about her studies and how hard she had to work to pay for them herself.

She let him order for her because she couldn’t really decide, and the food was incredible. Enjoying the evening a lot more than she ever thought she would.

He calls for the cheque and pays not even looking at the hostess who clearly seems upset that he keeps looking at Alicia.

“I guess I should get you home.” He sighs.

“I’m staying in the Bartlett penthouse tonight. I can take a taxi.” Her eyes quickly widen at the thought of Liam seeing her apartment or possibly thinking of taking her to his place!

“You will do no such thing! I will take you.” He insists, and she nods.

Damn…

***

Liam was right, the evening was interesting. She is more intelligent than she lets on, and he isn’t ready to let go of her yet. He will have to take it slow with her and not rush her, or she will definitely run… But if he takes his time, she might just be one hell of an adventure.

The valet pulls up in front of the restaurant, and Liam opens the car door for her. Pulling out all the stops to make her feel comfortable with being in his company. He pulls up in front of her building and notices her hesitation.

“Thank you for a beautiful evening.” He says then jumps out of the driver seat before opening the door for her.

***

Alicia bites her bottom lip. Should she invite him upstairs for coffee? What will he expect? Her thoughts ran wild on the drive home. But he has been such a gentleman.

“Would you like to come upstairs for some coffee?” The words flow out of her mouth before she realizes it, and her eyes open wide at the realization of what she just asked.

“That would be very lovely.” He smiles at her, and she feels her cheeks turn red.

Holding out his arm for her, they walk into the building, and the doorman greets them. The ride up to the top floor gives her too much time to think, and she wonders if she just made the right choice. Hearing the lift ding, they step out of the lift, hearing music.

She looks from one side of the passage to the other. Mrs. Bartlett told her it’s unit B, but before they turned to walk in the opposite direction of the racket, the door opened and Noah stepped out with a girl hanging around his neck.

“Noah!”

“Hello, Noah.” Liam smiles.

“What are you doing here, Phillips?”

“Escorting miss Moonvalor after our date.”

“You’re what?!”

Alicia notices that this might be a difficult situation and puts her hand on Liam’s arm.

“Good night, Noah.” She smiles sweetly and starts walking in the direction of the door when she feels an arm slide around her waist.

She looks up to find Liam brightly smiling at her. For a second, she can’t help smiling herself. They reach the door, and he takes her face in his hands, leaving a soft kiss on her hands before looking deep into her eyes.

“It’s late. I had a great time, and I hope you enjoyed it.”

“Thank you, Liam. It was a lovely evening. Don’t you want to come in?” She asks feeling a bit nervous.

“Maybe next time.” He kisses her again, and she can’t help but slide her arms around his waist.

When he breaks their kiss, he turns around and walks away to the lift. She opens the door with the key card Mrs. Bartlett gave her, and as she closes the door, she sees Noah glare at her.

“Oh, damn!” She’s never seen him that angry.

Quickly closing the door, she leans back against it and sighs. This evening was nothing as she expected it to be. It was the complete opposite of a cliché! Or was it the epitome of a cliché… She doesn’t know, and at the moment she doesn’t care. She had a beautiful evening with a handsome man, and tomorrow she will return to her normal life and no longer be Cinderella.

Going to the bathroom, she quickly brushes her teeth, taking care to hang up the dress and coat neatly. She knows Mrs. Bartlett said she can keep them, but she intends on giving them back in the morning.

Sliding her legs underneath the incredibly soft covers, she puts her head down on the pillow and falls asleep with the image of grey eyes looking at her as if she was the most precious thing he has ever seen.

***

Liam wipes the lipstick off his lips as he watches Noah’s glare from the other side of the passage. He enters the lift and can’t help but chuckle, thinking that for once he had something Noah would never get.

Alicia isn’t the girl he normally dates, and if it weren’t for Noah’s death glare, he might have seduced her, spent the night, and moved on in the morning. But seeing the rage in Noah’s eyes made him decide to reconsider and take miss Moonvalor out again.

***

Noah slams the door shut after Liam seems to kiss the uptight, beautiful Alicia. She looked drop-dead gorgeous in that dress, and if it weren’t for her striking green eyes, he wouldn’t have recognized her!

Liam is interfering with his plan, and he has to move quicker than anticipated if he is to get rid of Melinda and her advances.

“OUT! EVERYBODY OUT!” He shouts, and they all look at him as if he has just lost his mind as silence falls over the apartment.

“Dude, what’s wrong?” Gab walks up to him, and the music continues.

“I’m done for tonight!” Noah gruffly says.

“Okay, but there’s no need to spoil everyone else’s fun. Let’s get you to bed, okay?”

He watches his friend wink at someone behind them and then feels a pair of feminine arms wrap around his waist. They let go and Gab helped him to his room. The room spins the moment they put him down on the bed, and Gab closes the door behind him when he leaves.

“Hey, baby. I’ll take good care of you.” He knows that voice.

Who is that?!

His head feels too heavy to lift and look at the girl that is undressing him. When she starts playing around his crotch area, he groans. He would love to get it up right now, but he’s just too tired and clearly too drunk.

“No!” He shouts and she gasps.

“But Noah!” He looks up to find Melinda staring at him.

“YOU!”

“Who else did you think it could be? I’m your girlfriend…” She looks grief-stricken.

“Melinda, I thought we had an understanding.” He tries his best to sit up, resting his upper body on his elbows.

“Honey, you are just drunk. Tomorrow you will feel better. We don’t have to if you don’t want to.” She stalks him with her swaying hips suddenly smiling.

As if a switch has gone off in his head, he finds her voice irritating and her body, not the one he wants.

“Get out, Melinda!”

“What?!” She looks at him with wide eyes.

“You heard me.”

“Are you actually being serious? Is this because of Joy? Baby, you don’t want a girl like her…”

“I don’t want either of you! I want Alicia! Now get the hell out of my room! No, get the hell out of my life!” He shouts, seeing the tears form in her eyes before she grabs her dress and runs out of the door.

He falls back down on the mattress, hearing the thumping sound of the music that is now making the headache he developed worse. He can’t deal with this right now. Stomping out of his room, he chases all of them out of his apartment, even Gab.

Claiming that he is feeling sick, most of his guests seem to understand and don’t put up much of a fight, but Gab looks angry and storms out without even so much as a "are you okay".

Noah slams the door shut when the last person leaves and walks back to his bedroom, flopping down face first on his bed, he cries out in pain when his leg hits the side of the bed.

It’s probably his punishment for being such a bully. He thinks to himself before passing out.