CHAPTER 10
Ember
Ember had actually never been inside of a limo before since she and some friends squabbled some money together to rent one on prom night. But it was nothing compared to this one. Zander’s limo was huge, it was like a miniature living room on wheels with a huge sun roof, a stacked mini bar, and seats that resembled leather sofas.
He slid in beside her and she scooted over just slightly. She liked being close to him, feeling his warmth against hers. It was comforting and it turned her on more than just a little bit.
“Did you say penthouse?” Ember asked. “I would have thought you had a big mansion or something. I’m a bit disappointed,” Ember teased.
“Oh, I do have a mansion, but it’s a ways outside the city. Tonight, we are having fun right here in Manhattan.”
“That sounds interesting,” Ember said. “Are you taking me out on the town?”
“I actually thought we would stay in tonight,” Zander said. “I am a bit tired. It’s been a long, fun week at work.”
“I’m relieved, I have to say. I’m also beat,” Ember said. “I think mostly I wore myself out stressing about the auction. I was sweating so bad onstage that I thought for sure everyone could see.”
Zander laughed. “Nah, you were just fine,” he said. “With all of those bright lights no one could really see anything. Besides too many people were watching your smoking body in that dress. It should be registered as a deadly weapon. You are going around giving people heart attacks.”
Ember laughed. “You are too much. Don’t you know if you give a girl too many compliments it goes right to her head?”
“Well, that’s just fine with me,” Zander said.
He grabbed a couple small bottles of flavored vodka and handed one to Ember. “These are delicious,” he said.
Ember took a few drinks and smiled at the fruity flavor. “Wow it would be so easy to just chug these way too fast. You aren’t trying to get me drunk, are you?”
Zander nodded. “Well, if you play your cards right that sort of thing could be arranged, if that is what you are into. But I prefer you sober, just not soberer than me.”
“I have a feeling you can handle your alcohol pretty well,” Ember said.
Zander smiled. “So, tell me more about your interests, hobbies, and so forth.”
“Oh, no. Is this the interview part of the date?” Ember asked.
Ember had always done this since as long as she could remember. She would take something that most people ignored the truth about and just call it out point blank and make you focus on it. It would have embarrassed most people. But Zander did not even blink. He played right along.
“Absolutely,” Zander replied. “This is the part where you tell me all about how you grew up on a small farm upstate, and your pony, and you tell me how you used to be a cheerleader and wanted to become an actress but somehow it just never added up for you.”
Ember was bursting at the seams now laughing, almost choking on her last bit of vodka.
“Was I close?”? Zander asked.
“Not really,” she replied. “I was raised by a single mother, never really knew my father because he left when I was two. I’m an only child and I think being an only child made me very selfish and strong willed.”
“Were you spoiled?”
“Absolutely! My mom gave me the world and anything else I asked for. Looking back, it probably wasn’t a good thing.”
“Yeah, but a lot of parents spoil their kids. I think I was definitely spoiled rotten.”
“I can see that in you,” Ember said with a smirk.
“Very funny,” Zander replied. “So, tell me do you think your mom spoiled you to make up for your dad leaving?”
“Yeah, she did. I understand that she kind of tried to make up for it, but she also made sure that I did not take anything for granted. I had to work hard for my allowance as a kid and she made sure that I hit the books.”
“Great mom,” Zander said.
“Yeah, she is. How about your family? Are close with them?”
Zander thought a moment. “Well, as close as I can be I guess. My dad was a high school teacher and my mom was a nurse, actually she would still be a nurse if I didn’t give her way too much money to make it totally not worth her time. But my mom is a saint. She is one of those people who has to keep busy doing something, so you will often see her volunteering her days away to this cause or that cause. She is part of the reason I donate so much to charity.”
“Wow, I never would have guessed,” Ember said.
“Oh, you thought I was just some cold, hard nosed businessman who didn’t care about anything but money?”
“I didn’t say that…”
“But you were thinking it, and you would be right in a lot of ways. I do have my hang-ups and flaws like anyone really. Most of mine have to do with an extreme love for money.”
“Where did that love come from?”
“Well, I remember as a small kid my parents gave me like five bucks to buy something cool with. I’m not sure why they gave it to me exactly. The best I can recall it wasn’t a special day or anything. Maybe they just wanted to see if I understood anything about money. I must have been four or five years old.”
Ember was leaning in now closely, hanging on his every word. She was enjoying hearing about even the very mundane things in his life. Well, at a lot of people would have considered them to be mundane.
“Anyway, I immediately blew it all on some toy. I played with the toy for five minutes and then I was bored with it. When I saw something else later that week I wanted my parents told me to use my own money to buy it. I didn’t have any money left and of course they knew this. That’s how they taught me how quickly money is spent and how far it really goes. So, I decided right then that one day I would have enough money to do with whatever I wanted.”
They arrived at the Backwoods Gardens building and Zander escorted Ember inside after telling Ben to take the car home and pick him up at six a. m. sharp.
The building was like a palatial hotel like she’d seen in the movies. Everything appeared to be covered in gold or silver, gleam was everywhere. She felt like she’d just walked into some place she was not really allowed to be in; there was too much shiny, expensive stuff around that she might tarnish by her mere presence. Her mind was starting to trip just a little bit.
Zander said high to the doorman who allowed him to pass without any hesitation. He guided her to the elevator and then selected the top floor button. It was twenty stories up, perhaps the longest elevator ride she’d ever been on. The entire time she was nervous and did not say much. Ember kept thinking that if he really wanted to kiss her then this would be the perfect time to do it.
But Zander remained mostly silent. He just stood beside her glancing down at her every now and then. His body language was strong, self-assured. He was very much at peace with the entire world right then she could see.
Ember was another story. She was going up to his home. The two of them were going to be alone and she was not sure that if one thing started and led to another she would be able to resist or say no. The man had too much of a hold on her. She didn’t understand it at all, but she felt it deeply in her bones. She had to be with him. This was not going to be some passing fancy. But how could she know this? How could she know that her feelings were this deep for a man she barely really knew and had just met a few hours ago? The concept was ludicrous. Was this what had happened to her mother? Did she fall for a guy she barely knew and then ended up raising a child by herself? Was that what really happened? She knew that her mother would never say that. She would never speak ill of Ember’s dad, even though it was obvious that the very thought of the man pained her terribly.
But wasn’t this a bit different? She met Zander at a dating auction. He’d just paid her for her time. No matter how hard she tried to not think about it the fact was that a part of her buried deeply inside felt a bit like a prostitute, especially if she went forward and actually slept with him.
Although it was not the same if she really had feelings for him, was it? She would have wanted him whether he paid for her or not. In fact, before he even knew who she was or that she was a part of the auction, he made it very clear that he liked her. The chemistry the two of them had was instant, as if they were meant to find each other.
Ember shook those thoughts away. She was sounding like some love-struck teenager. But it was how she felt. As much as she tried to fight this because it was happening too fast and it was bound to end in heartache she couldn’t. She just had to continue the path and see where it led her; for once she was going to follow her heart completely and let it lead her blindly. If she fell then she was going to fall hard, but she was willing to accept the consequences of those actions.
As they exited the elevator they were greeted by a hallway with a large door right in front of them. This was a bit different than anything she’d ever seen before, but she was now very intrigued. It was like there was only one apartment on the whole floor. As he opened the door she quickly realized that was in fact the point…
His place was the penthouse. And it was massive. You could have fit five of the house she grew up in just inside the living room of this massive mansion apartment. Ember tried to hide her shock and awe; she did not want to seem less cultured or that far beneath where Zander’s station in life was. For some reason, she wanted to remain a bit aloof and give him the impression that she was actually not overly impressed. At the same time, she did not want to be rude.
“So, is this the place where we conduct our business?” Ember asked, fully aware of the double entendre she was putting on it.
“Our business? Wow that is blunt and very descriptive,” Zander laughed.
“Well, what else would you call it? I mean you did pay for me. So, I guess I’m yours to do with what you will,” Ember joked saying the last sentence in a very phony sex voice.
Zander looked at her and he was a bit serious. “I didn’t pay money for you for sex.”
“Oh, so you don’t want to have sex with me? Why not?” Ember pretended to be hurt.
Zander was now laughing. She loved that she could make him laugh and occasionally even embarrass him.
“Because we haven’t had dinner yet,” he said.
“Dinner? Wow, I didn’t know I was going to get that lucky. Are you going to order room service? Do they have a good menu?” Ember joked. She had a feeling the liquor was starting to make her say things.
“Nah, I’m not in the mood for room service,” Zander said. “I thought we might just order a pizza.”
Ember laughed. “The richest guy I’ve ever met and you want to order a pizza?”
“Yeah. Rich dudes eat pizza. Hell, I hardly ever eat anything else. It’s disgusting really. I have a typical guy’s diet.”
Ember started laughing uncontrollably for a minute. She could not envision him down at the local pizza parlor ordering his daily pie, carrying it out because he was in a hurry as usual, and getting in his limo with it.
That image just stuck in her head as majorly funny.
“What is pizza not good enough for you? You wanted some rack of lamb perhaps? Or filet mignon or whatever rich people are supposed to eat?”
“For some reason, I thought you’d have a fridge full of tofu and a bunch of health stuff or that you’d be a vegan.”
“That is such a lame rich stereotype. That only applies to Hollywood actors and fake musicians,” he joked.
“Actually, pizza would be fine with me.”
Thirty minutes later they were sitting on his Italian leather sofa eating pizza and working their way through a six pack of beer. There was something about that wonderful one two punch of pizza and beer that just went together perfectly.
“So, you are actually going to invest in the club?” Ember asked.
Zander had just finished telling her about his reasons for going to the club in the first place that night. He hadn’t even thought of really bidding on any of the girls there. It was mostly just to see the place on the off chance that it might be something he wanted to get involved in.
“Yeah, it’s an interesting concept. Although, I hate to admit that Harrison has done something right for a change,” Zander said grabbing the last slice of pizza and lazily shoving it into his mouth.
Ember shook her head in marvel. She’d eaten three slices and been stuffed, but Zander must have been on his fifteenth slice. She wondered why he ordered two larges. Was he trying to impress her with is eating ability? She’d read somewhere that was something guys subconsciously did when they were with women; they tended to eat a lot more than they normally would, usually off the woman’s plate after she got full.
“So, what happened with you two guys? You said you used to be great friends?”
“No, we were never great friends. I’ve never liked him that well, but we seemed to work well together. I don’t know why to this day.”
“So, what happened?”
“He screwed me over on a deal and backstabbed me. I don’t want to get into the specifics but he did something really dirty handed and I haven’t spoken to him since. At least not until he called me yesterday completely out of the blue.”
Ember found the more time that she spent with him the more she wanted him. She had never felt this relaxed, this comfortable and normal with someone that she was so attracted to. This was turning out to be one of the best nights she’d ever had. And to think she had almost backed out and not gone. If she’d stayed home she and Liza would have eaten ice cream until they puked. This was so much more fun.
Liza was probably wondering how everything was going. Ember was dying to tell her everything, but she was not about to excuse herself to make a phone call. But then again in a place this big she could probably call Liza from the bathroom and he would never have known.
“Do you think you can trust him?” Ember asked.
“No,” Zander joked. “I know I can’t trust a word the guy says. He is one of the most dishonest people I’ve ever met. I’m hoping that somehow, I can faze him out. He gets tired of these little pet projects and just lets them go or dumps them on someone when he is bored.”
“That’s wishful thinking,” Ember said.
Zander finished the pizza and disposed of the box in the trash. He grabbed two more beers from the fridge for them and sat back down. He seemed even happier now, as if the tremendous amount of pizza he just scarfed down had given him a lot of energy.
“How do you stay in such great shape if you eat the way you do?” Ember asked.
“Oh, I work out a lot,” Zander replied. “I do cardio and weights first thing most mornings for about two hours. Then I stay active on the weekends with racquetball, golf sometimes, pickup games of basketball, and I go to martial arts three times a week.”
“How in the world do you get so much work done? I mean, running all of those businesses have to be time consuming.”
“Well, most of the work is done up front, getting the thing off the ground and building a machine that works to keep the business running. That’s the best way of describing it. You can produce a lot of stuff faster with machines, but first you have to build the factory, then you have to build the machines to do the work inside of the factory. It’s the best metaphor I’ve been able to come up with. And yes, it does take a lot of work, but I love what I do and I love to stay busy.”
Ember smiled. She was in absolute awe of this man at times.
What was going to happen now…?