Rachel Valentine stepped out of Heathrow airport with her patched duffle bag slung over her back as she scanned the streets for a taxicab. Her long dark brown hair fluttered in the icy afternoon breeze and tried her best to tame it as she ran her free hand threw it.
She looked almost jealously at the numerous couples that were reuniting joyfully or sharing tearful goodbyes. She barely noticed when a bright yellow cab lightly dusted with snow pulled up to the curb in front of her; she was busy surveying the busy couples in the crowd.
When her mind finally cleared of the thick blurry haze, she reached for the icy cold handle of the car only to dump roughly against something that felt like a marble statue wrapped in a fisherman's wool sweater and scandalously blue eyes and thick wavy dark hair.
"Excuse me," He said roughly, but neither of them released their hold on the handle of the taxi. Rachel shot him a slightly bitter look as she gripped the ice cold handle harder, the coldness almost burned her hand. Mark Allen looked down at the graceful woman with long legs and a mouthwatering expanse of bare back.
She juggled with her heavy duffle bag, but her hand never left the door handle. "You certainly are excused," She said coolly, but this is my cab" Mark shook his head and vaguely wondered how in the world she would wear a black tank top in the middle of November. "Well then maybe if you had been paying attention you would have gotten into it instead of just standing by"
Rachel shot him a toxic look from her misty hazel brown eyes and her Cupid's bow mouth turned up slightly into a sneer. She tried to wrench the door open but at the same time Mark pushed is weight on it and it shut again. "There are million other cabs, just pick one" She said, her temper bubbling closely to the surface.
However, Mark was just as adamant about it as she was. She fingers where still curled tightly around the handle of the cab and the driver was getting more fed up then either of them. "Just both get in the cab!" The driver said furiously and both Rachel and Mark turned to the driver "No!" They said in an equally frustrated voice.
The driver rolled his dark eyes and revved the engine before driving off from the curb, almost pulling Mark and Rachel with him as he zipped back off into the traffic. "Look what you've done" Rachel steamed at Mark as she stepped back onto the icy curb. "What I've done? You're the one who just wouldn't give up" Mark shot back to her.
Rachel shook her head in disbelief as she hitched her duffle bag higher up on her shoulder and glared at him from under her long inky black lashes that were void of any make-up, they didn't need any. Even though that Mark was close to hating her already, he was a little amazed that someone who looked so young could learn such a womanly look.
"You should have just picked another cab, there were a million others why did you need to take mine?" She asked as she picked up her purse and tapped her foot on the iced sidewalk. "I ask tell you the exact same thing, I could also tell you a lot of other things, but I'm mature enough not to" Mark shot back to her and she scoffed. "Yeah sure, well you go ahead and get your taxi, I'm going to go ahead and walk, I wouldn't want to get a stomach like yours" She said coolly as she eyed him closely.
Mark watched her walk down the pavement and disappeared around the corner, her hair still whipping in the chilly breeze. Mark shook his head as he stretched his hand out in the air to hail a taxi and then thought about what Rachel had told him and he looked down at his stomach and quickly put his hand down angrily and began walking the other direction from the way that Rachel had gone.
He was still thinking bitterly about her as he pulled open the door to his art gallery and shut the door quickly against the biting wind and pulled the heavy sweater over his head and smoothed out the wrinkles in the white shirt under it, as the gallery was unusually warm that day.
His pretty friend Mia, who was busy lounging into one of the cushy armchairs, neatly picking dirt from under her manicure, greeted him. "You're late" She said smoothly as she rose and kissed him softly on the cheek and slide past him to look at one of the numerous pictures of naked women hanging on the walls. "I thought you got rid of these last year"
"You never get rid of art," Mark said defensively and rushed to it as he to protect it. "Besides it's not my fault I'm late, I promised Peter that I would see him and Juliet off at the airport" He ignored Mia's raised eyebrow and repeated that he had promised Peter. "Oh yeah, they left for Liverpool today didn't they?"
Mark nodded bluntly and continued. "Anyway I got in a fight with this girl over a cab back and so I decided to walk back to the gallery" As if she hadn't heard anything else that he had said, Mia spoke up "You got in a fight with a girl?" She asked incredulously. "This wasn't just a girl, some stubborn American if you've ever seen one. Probably coming to London to get her kicks"
Mia shrugged and picked up one of the little raspberry sponge cakes that were arranged on a pretty silver platter and dug into it, licking the fluffy whipped center from her fingers with slow exaggeration. "Oh Mr. Kipling you're practically orgasmic" She moaned softly and made Mark laugh. "You keep eating his pies and that's the only orgasm you're ever going to feel if you weigh 600 pounds" He said, but Mia continued to happily eat the little cake, all the while watching him closely with her sparkling bright blue eyes.
"Was the girl pretty?" She finally asked as she polished off the petite cake and caught Mark a little off track. "What?" He asked. "The girl, the American, was she pretty?" She asked again as if she were talking to a slightly slow child. "I don't know, I don't care" Mark replied gruffly and began to flip through the gallery date book.
Mia laughed softly and rose from the seat gracefully and placed a determined kiss on his firm mouth. "I'm meeting your sister to go shopping today, Barnaby's if you feel like coming by and buying us things" It brought a smile to his face "No, I don't think I will, but please remind my dear darling sister about what will happen if she buys another pair of shoes that are worth more then her life won't you?"
Mia winked as she pulled the door open and left a gust of exceptionally cold gust of air into the arm gallery and wrapped her pink and white scarf around her slender neck and then left Mark alone in the gallery. He filled in appointments into the books, but found his mind occasionally drifting back to the golden-eyed woman in front of the airport.