It was five minutes to eight, and Serena and Mina were giggling and were getting excited for their double date. Serena was dressed in a silk black dress, with matching strappy heels, which made her appear to be much taller, and made her legs look leaner. Mina was dressed in similar attire, but chose to be less conspicuous and was wearing a one shouldered red dress that clung to her toned body.
"God, Mina! You're so hott!" Serena oogled at her best friend, who was spinning circles around the kitchen, then striking a pose.
"Oh will you shut up, Sere! You're hott too! Malcolm's going to love the dress!" Mina said, taking Serena by the hand and twirling her around with her. They giggled together, until a couple of minutes later, they heard a buzz at the door. They stopped their twirling, and quickly fixed their hair, shook off the nerves, then walked to the door. Serena opened it and smiled at the blonde haired man in front.
"Hey," she said smiling. Then she noticed the dirty blonde man behind him. "Andrew?!" she said almost surprised, but happy at the same time.
"Hi, Serena. I hope this won't be weird tomorrow morning." He said laughing, his brown eyes sparkling.
She smiled, "Of course not, as long as you keep teaching me." He winked at her and smiled as Mina came out to join them.
"Hey, guys!" She said smiling a bright smile.
"Wow, Mina you look gorgeous." Andrew said, handing her a rose. She blushed and took the rose.
"You too, Serena, you're stunning." Malcolm said handing her a rose as well. She laughed and accepted the rose, as they headed out to dinner.
Malcolm escorted Serena to his car, as Mina went with Andrew to his. The ride to the restaurant was a pleasant one. Serena could easily talk to Malcolm, he had a warm gentle smile and he seemed genuinely interested in what she had to say. They were laughing and talking like they had known each other for years.
Mina and Andrew were having a similar car ride, and as they got to the restaurant, they were joined by the other couple. They were seated together and had one of the most care-free and energetic dates that any of them had ever had. The four of them got along perfectly, like they were made to be together. However, as the date went on, Serena would have glimpses of her dark boss, making her shudder a bit. He had such a strong effect on her, that she couldn't get away from, and she contemplated that she had no urge to get away from it all. She couldn't fully understand why, when she had the chance to date an amazing guy like Malcolm was turning out to be; why she would pine for such a grouchy, married man. Her heart must have gone a little haywire after all those years being out of commission.
Andrew noticed how even though Serena was a midst the conversation, she was thinking about something else, quite possibly somebody else. He had gotten to know her facial expressions very well over the four months they had been working so closely together. He could tell she was thinking about Darien, as weird as he thought about the two, he had noticed Darien wasn't sleeping around anymore, not that Darien himself had really noticed it. As much as he liked Malcolm, Darien was his real best friend,and if push came to shove, he would quite obviously take his side, or maybe even push her in his direction. But, it wasn't his place to interfere. Mina, being Serena's best friend, also noticed the way she was off in some other land thinking about something. She made a mental note to ask her about it once their evening was over.
They finished out their dinner and continued their date by going to the park and just running around acting like children. Serena was really enjoying herself and her laugh was contagious to the other three surrounding her. Mina hadn't seen her friend so happy before, there was something about these guys that brought the best out of her. Unfortunately, nobody but Serena knew what she was truly thinking. Things were getting bad in her mind, she was imagining that it was he, Darien, with her instead of Malcolm, and she couldn't pinpoint why. 'Sigh, life couldn't get any harder, could it?' she pondered to herself.
Malcolm drove Serena home after a great evening, and they were still talking and laughing as they had done all night. When Malcolm reached her apartment building, he insisted that he walk her up to her door, so she let him. She hoped that things would not go to far with him, she wasn't at all ready for things like that.
They reached her door and she turned to him, smiling. "Thanks for such a great night, I really do appreciate it. I had so much fun!" It wasn't a lie, she did have a great time, even though she had wished she had been with somebody else.
Malcolm smiled his gentle smile and his green eyes twinkled. "I'm glad to hear it, I had a great night too. Maybe we could do something like this again?" He said hopeful of a second date.
Serena laughed, "Sure, why not?" Malcolm smiled at her and nodded his head. "Good answer." She smiled as she went to unlock her door, when he took her hand, and stepped forward. She had been wondering if this would happen. To her surprise, he kissed her cheek, as he had done that night at the club, winked at her and walked away. He was a gentleman and wanted to treat her as a lady. She was thankful for his sincerity and walked into her apartment, closed the door, and ran to her room. She threw herself onto her bed and began to think about her night. She smiled at how great Malcolm had been to her throughout the evening, but somewhere deep she knew it wouldn't be what she wanted. She got up and showered again, before changing into her satin night gown and going to bed. She wanted to be well rested when she saw Darien again in the morning. She fell asleep, having dreams about a dark haired man who would sweep her off her feet.
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Darien arrived an hour early the next morning. Andrew had called him the night before telling him about the double date he had been on with Serena, and his previous-to-their-date good friend Malcolm. It didn't make sense to him why he was so angry that the petite blonde had gone out with one of his friends. I mean, she was obviously a gorgeous girl, and had probably dated numerous guys. He was married for god's sake, and he was thinking about dating a young woman. 'What? Since when was I thinking about dating her?' He brushed it off and walked out of the elevator and onto his floor. He wasn't really expecting anybody to be here so early, it was 7 am, and nobody really showed up until 9. He was very comfortable with the quiet in his office, it was the only place where he felt like he belonged. He was startled to see the petite blonde, sitting at her desk, lightly tapping her foot reading over files. She looked so serene, with her hair falling into her face, her bright blue eyes darting over the pages. It seemed like she had a nervous habit of biting her bottom lip, in what to Darien was a very seductive move. He didn't really know how to break her out of her contemplative mode. She breathed in heavily, and let out a sigh. He smiled a small smile and cleared his throat to get her attention.
Serena scrambled together and stood up as she looked at the towering man above her, he had a trace of a smile on his usually stern face. She smiled nervously at him.
"Good morning, sorry I'm here so early." She said trailing off. His presence seemed to make her uncomfortable, probably the opposite way that Malcolm made her feel. He mentally cursed his friend.
"No, its okay, I just couldn't get much sleep last night, so I just decided to come in. It's so peaceful this early, it helps calm me." He said, absentmindedly giving her more information than he intended to. Serena looked up at him.
"Really? Neither could I." She said looking up at his deep blue eyes. She smiled warmly at him, and he grinned. It was nice when he smiled, it lit up his dark eyes, and it made her weak.
"Well, since neither of us could sleep, let's get to work. Which files were you reading? Since Andrew isn't here, I'll help you." He said hoping for a chance to get closer to her, she confused him in a way that he had to understand.
"Really?" She said her eyes wide, twinkling with excitement. "I mean, it'd be amazing to have the Darien Shields teaching me about the business industry. People would kill to have this chance." She said with a smirk. He liked the smile she gave him.
"Ahh, yes. I'm sure every man would love to be in my shoes too. I'm just the king." He said with an arrogant smile. Serena's heart fluttered, as Darien moved a chair to sit next to her. Darien knew that the woman had no idea what kind of an affect she had on him. He placed his chair next to hers as she sat back down.
They spent the next three hours working together on the files she had pulled up on one of his most recent acquisitions. Serena marveled at the genius that Darien was when it came to the ins and outs of the market. Even all the time she spent with Andrew, she had picked up some great advice from Darien. She was starting to feel really comfortable with him; the heat that radiated off of his body was something she wished she could have every morning.
Andrew was watching them from his office door, they had barely noticed him when he had walked in about an hour ago. They seemed to be in their own little world. Andrew could see the sparks flying in their eyes. They had been laughing and going over the notes, and he hadn't seen Darien nearly this happy in years, back in their childhood. Andrew smiled and went back to his desk. He would confront Darien about it later.
"Well, you really are a quick learner." Darien said to the smiling girl in front of him. She turned to him and flashed a bright smile. It was a great thing to get a compliment like that from the man who was on top of the business ladder.
"Thanks," she said brightly. "That means a lot coming from you."
"Yea, it does, doesn't it?" he said as he leaned back into his chair, flashing Serena an arrogant smile, stretching out his long, lean body. Serena couldn't help but admire his broad chest, and strong arms. His chest led to his torso, which she was itching to unveil from the button up shirt, and blazer he was wearing.
"So arrogant." She said at the man whom she was feeling things for, rather unnecessary things. He laughed at her, and she wished he would do it more often. His whole face would light up and he'd look years younger, making her heart ache even more.
"So, is there anything else you'd like to go over with me? Or can I go back to my job now?" he asked. Serena laughed at him.
"I'm much more fun than a quiet, cooped up office, I'm sure."
"Not even close, blondie." He said laughing at her as he got up. She rolled her eyes at him and gathered up the papers they had gone over. The rest of the day passed with minimal excitement. Serena had a great day, and usually walked into both offices and said bye for the evening. She went into Andrew's office first. It had been the first time she hadn't spent the entire day working with him.
"Hey, stranger, you ditched me today, I'm very hurt." Andrew said clutching his heart, and pouting at her. She smiled gently.
"You know you're my favorite guy to work with here." She said shaking her head, laughing at his sarcasm.
"Is he really? And all this time, I thought we were bonding this morning." Darien said as he slid into the room, and sat down in the chair in front of Andrew's desk.
"Oh, I mean, yea we were. I mean, uhh, it was really nice being with you this morning. I mean, you know, going over the files." She finished awkwardly; she could feel the blood burning in her cheeks, full of embarrassment.
Darien reveled in seeing Serena blush like that. He wished he could make her blush like that all the time, for various other reasons. "Don't sweat it, Andrew is always the favorite. I've gotten used to it."
"No point in fighting, eh?" Andrew laughed. "Well, Serena we will see you tomorrow morning."
"Good work today, Andrew has really taught you well." Darien threw her a handsome smile, and she blushed again. He laughed silently to himself, 'this girl is so funny.'
"Yea, thanks. Good night, don't spend too much time in here tonight. Get some rest." She said, her motherly tones kicking in.
"We'll rest when we're dead, too much to do around here to waste time on that." Andrew said, winking at Darien. Serena laughed as she headed out the door. 'Men,' she said to herself as she walked to the elevator and to her car.