Alexi looked up at the man who had just paid for her by check at the charity auction, her fate now in the hands of the man who had won her.
She had been the third one up on the block wearing a Vera Wang gown and dark Chanel heels and underneath, pricy lingerie from the exclusive Victoria Secret collection. The whole thing had been for some charity organization that built medical clinics and hospitals in the poorer neighborhoods in town and when Lucy Coe, the chair of the fundraising committee had hit her up to put herself up for bid, she hadn't been able to say no.
Not that she could say no to the first person to have begged and pleaded with her to help out for a worthy cause…not when she needed to raise over $500,000 to build a new women and girls' health clinic for poor folks on the waterfront.
So she had volunteered, she had worn the clothes donated by the various designers and those she could keep, if she managed to achieve a bid among the minimum set of $10,000.
Thrown in would be the diamond necklace around her neck…simple in its elegance it was still worth a few pretty pennies. She had spent the afternoon getting massages donated by a posh day spa and her hair washed and styled by Vidal Sassoon protégés. Manicures and a pedicure to spiff her up, before she put on the lightly studded thigh highs underneath her gown…she wanted to look her best because all the local press would be there covering the charity auction. It'd be great press for her opening a new law firm near the clinic on the water front.
She'd submitted her resignation letter to Sonny in person and hadn't stuck around to listen to his reaction to it. Though as she walked out the door, she had heard the petulant cry of a five year old accompanied by shattering glass in the background. No moll to pick up after him either since Olivia had dumped him and was now shacking with Ned.
A perfect occasion for her to forget about the events of the past month including the loss of her house on the lake and her boyfriend Julian. The two events being intertwined of course. In one felled swoop, she'd lost everything. Her house where she'd raised her children, kept her clothes including her two favorite blue dresses. The one that Julian had removed the first…second time they'd had sex and the second…best not to think about both of them being reduced to ashes along with her favorite belt the one that Julian…
No, no, no. She couldn't do this. She and Julian were over. She'd put a down payment on her new penthouse overlooking the harbor and Dianne had taken her on a whirlwind trip to New York City to help replace her wardrobe. It'd been Dianne's idea after all to participate in the auction. She thought she might end up having a dinner with someone like Ned, or Kevin, the nice guys that she was supposed to be dating to live up to her image as the one woman pressured to do the right thing when it came to men. Carly, Olivia, Liz and even Sam could date, sleep with and even wed men on the wrong side of the law and no one questioned them on it let alone pointed a finger at her, yelling hypocrite and making her wear a scarlet letter of shame.
So it'd be just a boring night out with men she was supposed to have sex with quietly rather than the one she craved down to her marrow right now even though they were history.
She just had no idea that Julian would show up at the Metro Court Hotel…let alone to bid…and god, on her…to catch the final bid before the final tapping of the gavel by the auctioneer. Since he'd beaten out a drunken Scotty Baldwin just before the final bell, she'd been spared from more groping by Scotty in between him regaling him with explicit details about his current threesome with Bobbie and Lucy. But then threesomes or at least talking about them were all the rage in PC right now.
Must be something in the water, that couldn't be blamed on her ex Jerry Jacks this time. After the auctioneer announced the winner, she looked out at him, nearly hidden in a sea of bright light. But then again, she could always find him.
He looked smashing in his Armani suit, his black tie and his rugged looks untamed by his genteel outfit. But then Julian looked good in any item of clothing from white blousy business shirts to black sleeveless polos which showed off his biceps. He looked better out of his clothes. It was getting warm in here.
Damn him. Damn him to hell for that and other sins like being the cause of this irresistible pull she still had towards him.
The bidding had started out slowly until she saw him enter the room and stood in the back, nursing a drink. His dark eyes were on her in an instant but it was always like that between them.
She stood up on the block as the auctioneer essentially combined both her professional resume and her body measurements in one breathless spiel, as if both mattered equally. Perhaps in this barbaric ritual they did judging how fast and furiously the bids had come on a medical assistant with the body of a model.
The bidding picked up the moment Scotty left the bar and swaggered over. She wanted to roll her eyes at him. Disgusting Lothario, hopefully his drinking tab and gambling losses had left him with little cash for bidding. Ned flanked by a doting Olivia had thrown a bit or two out there and for a moment she'd hoped he'd win. Dinner with Ned would be familiar and safe with no expectations attached. He might chide her more about her relationship with Julian but then Ned was always quick to pick out imperfections in her and advise her on how to fix them.
Oh with the right amount of wit attached, but his words still stung. She'd been aware of her imperfections her whole life beginning not long after birth. For most of her adult life, she'd chosen men who always belittled her or punished her for not living up to their expectations.
Julian didn't bid at all, but Scotty threw quite a bit of money on the board, with several others including Ned with him giving her a knowing wink.
All three of them pissed her off. She had to restrain herself from ripping through her dress and going full blown Natasha on all of them. But she reminded herself she was doing the right thing for a great charitable cause.
"$10,000…"
Her ears perked up. Ah the magical minimum in which she'd be able to keep what she was wearing. Even with her new wardrobe, this would supplement it nicely. But she glanced over at Julian now standing with his arms crossed just watching the bidding play out. She didn't trust him at all.
Scotty slurred his speech as he raised his bid and she cringed. She really didn't want to do the obligatory date with him. Still, keep an eye on the prize. New equipment for the health clinic. Lucy would surely remind her of that, but looking over at the host now, she saw her gritting her teeth.
Oh yeah, Lucy had some weird thing for the drunken DA who pocketed bribes and had cheated on her with his old fling Bobbie. Alexis was more than happy to let the two of them fight over such slim pickings wrapped up in packaging layered with slime.
Ned backed out of the bidding, and he shrugged at Alexis before heading with Olivia to the refreshment table where a sumptuous buffet awaited those who didn't have to fit in these gowns tonight.
Scotty tugged on his tie and grinned at her. She almost threw up a bit inside of her mouth. Which was silly because she wasn't going to have sex with the man who won her at auction. Just a dinner date at some eatery like the MC though if Scotty won, she might push for lunch instead.
Julian?
He stood in the back clearly sizing her up…judging by his posture. The lights had been dimmed and the spotlight turned on her as she walked the ramp like a model, swaying her body a little because after all…if she got the bidding crowd of men worked up…more money for bidding on her…and more money for charity so that Sofia could meet her fundraising goal. She inwardly swore that no matter how Lucy, begged, cajoled and pleaded her she would never put herself through this again.
"25,000!"
She blinked her eyes at the familiar voice and watched as Julian finally sprang into action and put a considerably higher bid out there. The strategy clearly being to shock and awe the competition into dropping out of the race.
It worked as even Scotty waved his hand in surrender after lurching into the arms of a not so shocked Felicia there watching.
Alexis licked her lips as she watched him come and claim his purchase after he had whipped out a check for…$25,000. Wow, she thought, as the audience cheered and applauded the bid and the winner. She tried to look nonchalant as he approached her. After all they were still broken up, kaput, finished with each other.
Suddenly it didn't feel so over and done with not when he looked at her like that. The familiar scent of his cologne made her heart skip a beat. But if her body betrayed her a bit, her mind never would waver from its decision to walk away from him.
Her mind would win out but now they were face to face dealing with the technicality that he'd cast the winning bid at the charity auction. She glanced at Lucy who had a dutiful Scotty standing next to her now and then back at Julian.
"I guess you won me…"
He studied her face for a long moment…his eyes not leaving hers and she felt if she weren't careful…then he reached forward with a couple of fingers and caressed a lock off of her face but not before tugging it gently.
Possessively.
Damn, she was in serious trouble here…already. He studied her as if he were really looking at her for the first time…taking in her attributes…almost as if he were touching them. But then he always looked at her like that even after they'd been together several months.
"I knew I would."
She furrowed her brow a bit. Then tried to keep it casual and light.
"So how do you show a woman a good time?"
He tilted his face.
"I think you know Alexis…"
The way the sound of her name rolled off his tongue made her knees weaken but she recovered. She threw him a piercing look.
"I mean our date for the auction," she said, "Nothing has changed between us and the $25,000 that you threw at this charity isn't going to change that."
He conceded that.
"Yes but you still owe me what I paid for and that's a date with you."
She looked down at one her French manicured hands. She had to pretend that his words didn't hit the mark because though the man's aim was deadly, she was more so in deflection. Being a Cassadine after all.
So she shrugged.
"Oh I was thinking maybe lunch at the MC when I can fit it in my schedule."
He grabbed her wrist so quickly she didn't have time to flinch.
"I was thinking of something more…private tonight."
She grew haughty.
"Like what?"
"You'll see…but tonight I'm just Julian…I'm not the man who you walked away from…I'm the one…"
He bent his face to her ear.
"I'm the one who's going to fuck you."
Suddenly Natasha emerged from her confinement and took over. She shot him a look that would have dropped an asp in its tracks and slapped him.
Hard.
If he was shocked, he didn't react that way. That half smile of his that both endeared her and infuriated her depending on the context…and right now, her hand still itched.
"Was that as good for you as it was for me?"
She nearly fell off of her heels as she looked at him with that smug expression on his face. Irritation flooded through him at him and his attitude. Actually no, mostly at her because she felt herself falling for him again. No, after the way he had lied to her, the way his choices wound up leaving her homeless and with only the shirt on her back. The same shirt that he of course ripped off of her when he'd tried to seduce her out of breaking up with him at his sister's place.
That's what she told herself but that hadn't been it. He'd just proven to be just like all the men who'd come before her putting her second in their lives.
Well at least this time it hadn't been another woman.
She'd succumbed to his seduction and it had blown her resolve apart. For one moment in time, she thought she could make it work. He'd been that good she thought and the fact that he came in a finely honed package sculpted by muscle hadn't hurt.
Still while he'd used her weakness towards him to keep her, she'd used his against him to walk away.
"Speechless Alexis?"
She focused back on the present and the man in front of her. Just how would she handle this mess now? Damn she should have never agreed to take part in the auction.
"I'm leaving now. Look I'll have my assistant call your assistant tomorrow and maybe we can set up lunch together.
He shook his head.
"No. We'll be having dinner and dessert and I'll pick the spot."
She put a hand on a hip, narrowing her eyes.
"It's not going to be at your sister's place. Julian we're not together anymore. You made your choice and I made mine. That doesn't mean we can't fulfill the obligations of this charity auction and do lunch…in a public place."
"Lunch…in a private place of my choosing."
She just rolled her eyes at him.
"Honestly Julian you're not making this easier..."
He folded his arms again.
"That's not my job. I paid $25,000…"
She glared at him.
"Mob earnings no doubt."
He shook his head again.
"No, part of a large deposit I got for finally selling Crimson, which is part of my legit and very successful business empire."
"Oh…well it's a great tax write off to donate it to charity."
He leaned a bit closer into her space.
"Yes it is. So it's now lunch and I pick the spot."
She threw up her hands and started walking towards the elevator.
"I said my assistant will get back to your assistant."
His face hardened just enough.
"No middlemen, this is between you and me."
She couldn't respond to that because when he put it that way in that tone her resolve weakened. Her tight hold over it slowly unraveling. She took a deep breath, exhaling it, more than determined not to keep him tugging on that thread. So she kept her focus on reaching the elevator. He walked alongside her.
The doors opened and they got inside and she knew when those doors closed, they'd be confined together during the twenty seconds it would take to reach the bottom floor.
What could happen in that few seconds? She leaned against a wall and waited for the doors to shut and the car to jolt into movement before gliding down the shaft.
She gazed at him, not knowing to expect because he seemed like an animal caged…and not for the first time either. He turned toward her and touched her diamond necklace, the fabric of her gown.
"Nice…beautiful even…but not as much as you…"
She knew a line when she heard one but she asked flattered…it wasn't too hard because even with all his intensity, he could be a charmer. She'd like to think he'd meant it when he said he'd left the business for her when in reality he'd been using her ex-husband's death to angle himself a leadership position. Now her ex was the scum of the earth as far as she was concerned but Julian...she thought he'd meant it when he wanted to be a better man to build a better life with her and his family.
She could play it cool now that the elevator lurched into motion.
"I bet you say that to all the women you buy at auction…"
His eyes darkened and he took one step closer, which she anticipated. He was all about getting into her space.
The elevator started its glide and she looked away from him at the ceiling silently counting down the seconds of descent.
Until it lurched to a stop. She glanced around her and didn't see the familiar "L" light up on the panel. She threw a withering look at the man across from her.
"Julian you didn't…"
He looked at her innocently.
"I did and we're not moving until we agree on this date we're required to do as part of the terms of the auction."
She sighed.
"I told you, this isn't a big deal Julian. We can do lunch at the MC and be done with it."
He shook his head.
"You forgot dessert."
She bumped the back of her head against the wall of the elevator. Damn he was being obtuse. She knew why but she knew she wouldn't play that game. Not after he'd played her so well when he pretended to leave the mob.
He said he'd done it to protect his family just like he admitted he'd killed Mickey as payback for what the mobster associate of his had done to her.
Those words had stirred something deep inside her. Primal but long buried, pushed aside by trying to survive in a word without vendettas.
She hadn't only been moved she'd been turned on and she didn't know what to do with that. But now she was starting to get ticked off with him.
"The MC has a wonderful dessert tray," she said, "Plenty of good ones to choose from."
He growled slightly.
"What I want isn't on their menu."
She shivered, remembering how he liked his dessert. She forced a smile on her face.
"Well then you can hit Kelly's on the way home and pick up some pie for yourself."
He paused.
"That's not what I mean."
She knew what he meant and she wasn't going there.
"Julian I think you need to get the elevator moving again. We'll settle this over texts."
Her muscles tensed just from being so close to him inside a box suspended on a cable that wasn't moving. Her skin tingled and her hands…she kept them close to her. It'd be too easy to succumb to his flirtations, or whatever you called it when an alpha male came onto his female when she was in heat.
She had to remember her promise to herself. As long as he was in (the mob not her), she was out.
It had been her mantra for nearly a month now. But fate had been kind to her for once and their paths hadn't crossed.
Much. Once, twice maybe three times but always there had been their daughter and grandson and the ultimate cock blocker Molly to keep the boundaries set. They hadn't been alone together.
Not until now. He smiled at her again, in that way of his that made her want to jump him and smack him at the same time. She'd gotten the slap out of the way so…no she had to remain strong. She had to remember why she'd left him without looking back.
"No this will be settled here and now, not later through texts, twitter or FB."
She bit her lip.
"Julian we can't do it that way."
He didn't back down.
"Why?"
"Because we're not together anymore secretly or otherwise. Everything changed when you lied to me about wanting to change your life."
When he'd told her he was who he was, she'd bent her head, the tears threatening almost before she could pull them back. Those tears were cried out by now and she just looked at him, her heart thudding where he couldn't hear or feel it.
"I don't know what to believe Julian," she said, "I feel totally played by you because damn it you're good…if you can pull the wool over the eyes of a Cassadine."
She kept just enough edge in her voice to cover her other emotions. His eyes were on her face, scrutinizing every eye movement, brow raise and any signs from the lines in her forehead to the curve of her mouth that her resolve to stay away weakened.
"I know how to read people and I'm very good at it…"
He hadn't lied about that.
"Alexis I never lied to you about I feel about you, how much I want you in my life along with other places."
His mouth curved into a hint of a smile when he said that and his eyes gave meaning to those words.
She could imagine herself standing naked in front of him in a couple of those places, her nipples hardened and maybe only wearing her heels as he kissed her on the mouth, taking ownership of her at least for the night. The thought of him holding onto her waist while his lips traveled down her body, flickering on her nipples, darting in and out of her navel and when he got down lower…his mouth and his tongue made a few body parts hum…while she arched her back from the pleasure.
After all she had perfected the body slide onto the floor off the back of a chair, a sofa, a table…and if she weren't careful an elevator wall.
But she knew where that had gotten her and she wasn't going back. No, she couldn't go back. Her gaze turned frosty.
"It doesn't matter Julian. You made your choice and it isn't me. It's not the first time a man chose the mob over me. But it will be the last."
Anger lit up his features and she knew why. She didn't care. She'd been the fool who thought that if she could love a man enough and tell him that through words, it'd be enough for a man to give up the life. Shawn had tried lying that he was clean and Julian had just done the same thing. Fool me once, shame on you, she thought, Fool me twice, shame on me.
"So if you'll just get this elevator moving again…"
She saw angst in his features now pushing side the arrogance and charm. Some new tension in his shoulders.
"It's better this way Julian."
He didn't move away from the console.
"I will if you agree to dinner with me at a place of my choice."
She shook her head.
"Julian then move out of the way so I can push the damn button."
He didn't budge. Damn him and his alpha male attitude. Damn her for feeling the stirrings of her instinctual response to men like him.
"There's other buttons you can push."
She was losing patience, then she felt her purse vibrate and realized it was her phone.
"Excuse me while I take this. It might be Sam or Molly."
After glancing at the caller ID she realized it was neither but someone "unknown". The text buzzed an alert. Nikolas wanted to talk to her right away, deliver some news but wouldn't do it over the phone.
Something had happened.
She put her phone away and looked at Julian.
"I got to go see my nephew, so I need to get out of this elevator."
A sense of foreboding had hit her when she saw the texts. Something didn't feel right here. A vibe she hadn't felt in over a year suddenly rang bells in side of her. Julian picked something up too.
"What is it?"
She looked at him for a moment.
"Nothing…maybe something with Cassadine Industries but he needs to talk to me so I need to get out of this elevator and on my way."
"If you agree to dinner at…"
"Lunch at the MC Julian. That's my final offer. Anything else would be dangerous."
His brow arched.
"Dangerous?"
She fixed her eyes on his face.
"You know what I mean. Like I said, I do want you but I can't have you."
The angst in her voice all those emotions, some of which weren't driven by her heart threatened to overwhelm her. She couldn't let that happen, not while still trapped in a confined space with the man who triggered so much inside her.
He reached out to cup her chin in his hand.
"Yes you can…"
She heard the urgency in his voice and felt a charge in the confines of the car which seemed to grow smaller.
"How will that work? Any time anyone threatens or tries to hurt Sam…Lucas…Danny or me you'll take them out with a bullet?"
His face hardened.
"If that's what it takes. How many men have killed to keep you safe Alexis?"
She frowned, knowing the answer.
"But you put my life in my danger…to stay in the mob."
He sighed.
"It's not like that at all."
Anger bubbled up to the surface that she'd been keeping buried since she'd walked out. Her voice turned icy.
"So what was it like?"
He stepped closer to her, grabbed hold of her, and pushed her against the side of the elevator wall.
She felt the wind knocked out of her as he pressed his body hungrily against her own and damn, he felt hard, his muscle tensed and she could feel the power held in check inside of him…waiting to explode.
No, she couldn't let it happen. Her own resolve was hanging by a thread. If it snapped she'd slide back into a life where she'd be living with a mobster, something she swore she'd never do.
"Julian…"
His lips claimed hers in a quick movement that shocked her with its stealth, but she wrapped her arms around him as he flicked his tongue lightly caressing her lips before he seared his mouth against the soft plumpness of her lips. Oh god, the manner that he took her with just his mouth, what a turn on jolting her like a live wire. Her body shivered even more as he didn't give her an inch to move as he took her mouth as she knew he'd take her body if she gave him the chance.
The man who could be decisive even ruthless in controlling a business merger or taking out an enemy brought some of that flavor to his bed…or against the wall of an elevator. That part of him intoxicated her, drawing her closer to him even as her more rational side tried to pull away.
"Oh Alexis…"
He groaned and she knew that she drove him to it…not sure how long but he pushed against her more insistently, his hands pressing into the wall on either side of her as his body held her fast. She tasted his mouth with her own tongue tentatively even while telling herself not to and then her mouth began to explore his and when he pressed against her mouth with his insistent tongue, this time she let him breach her mouth and stroke the inside of it.
Just like that she fell back into his arms.
The taste and texture of his mouth sent delicious chills through her. She started working on pushing him away enough to make it clear to him she wanted some of his clothes off of him…the jacket first…which he shrugged out of him leaving his silk shirt. She rubbed her hands against it over his chest and felt his muscles beneath it. His breath quickened. At least she had some power over him like he did over her.
He moved his hands to unzip her gown and she heard the zipper saw through the dress material and she felt a jolt of excitement as a feathery draft of air caught her bare skin on her back. He pushed the sleeves off of her dress and it fell to her waist, exposing her black lacy bra.
His eyes widened as she stood before him half dressed.
"I've got to see them…"
He kissed her again while he palmed her bra in the front and her creamy colored breasts with rosy nipples tried to spring out and in front of him. She knew he wanted to taste them, to suck on them and she groaned at the vision that came to her, at the sensations which would rock through her body.
She gasped, as she felt the wet heat of his mouth penetrated the lace to her breasts and her knees buckled. So she reached for his shirt and started unbuttoning it, more than one button at a time until a couple of them went flying, ricocheting off the walls. She pushed him away enough so she could skim his shirt off over his shoulders and onto the floor.
He grabbed her lower jaw again and pushed her against the wall, kissing her wildly now on her lips, the corners of her mouth, her chin.
This was getting out of control very quickly. She didn't want to be reeled in so skillfully by a master at it back into his life.
She needed to get out of here She needed to keep her family safe not from him but the violence in response to his choices.
But she couldn't reach the start button. Damn him, damn his mouth that was doing delicious things to her right now.
The floor lurched out from under them and they realized the elevator had started moving. Perhaps complaints about it not working led to a manual override. The two of them broke apart and just stared at each other.
"It's moving," he said.
She sighed, fidgeting with her dress.
"Obviously and we don't have much time before we're on display in front of anyone who's waiting."
He nodded and drew closer to her. She pulled away.
"Just going to zip up that dress unless you want to flash the lobby."
She shrugged.
"Fine…"
Just his fingers trailing up her back, stroking bare skin, she closed her eyes. When he finished, she fidgeted with her hair a bit.
"Your shirt…"
He picked it up and slipped it back on, working the buttons that were still left. Alexis picked up his jacket where it'd scattered and handed it to him, her fingers brushing the back of his hand.
"Alexis…"
She shook her head.
"Don't say it."
He put his hands up.
"What? I'm still waiting your answer on that dinner date."
She just looked at him in disbelief. She also knew she couldn't do it. She reached into her purse.
"Here, I'll reimburse you for your bid," she said, "because I don't think this is going to work."
He stopped her.
"I don't want reimbursement and it's just dinner. "
She shook her head.
"It'll never be just dinner and I can't do the rest…not right now."
His eyes sharpened and she knew he'd heard the opening she'd given him. But right now all she wanted was to get out of here.
The doors sprung open and before he could say anything she walked away from him. He watched her go smiling to himself before stepping out of the elevator.
This was far from over.