Chapter 7 - Stony-Faced Accomplice
It took two weeks before Eli spoke to her again voluntarily, which made work somewhat uncomfortable since their desks faced each other's and they frequently were required to share information for their jobs. Alex had kept their conversation professional and Eli would respond with the perfunctory answers as required. When his self-imposed moratorium appeared to be over, he took baby steps in engaging with her again, keeping topics light and avoiding anything regarding her social life. This had been perfectly fine with Alex.
Spring had finally ended and the hot, sticky summer in the city began in full swing. It had been nearly a month since the party at the Waldorf-Astoria and Alex had returned to her previous uneventful schedule of work, downtime at home, yoga classes, and the occasional dinner and drinks with friends. It was the kind of monotony that brought her comfort.
Sitting at her desk, the phone rang. She could see it was Jillian's extension. "Hey! How was the conference?" she exclaimed when she picked up the receiver. Jillian had spent the first part of the week in Philadelphia at some "Gathering of the Geeks" as she called it.
"Riveting. Hey, I need you to come up here as soon as you can. Take the South elevator."
Alex looked at the geological survey on her desk. "Does it have to be now? I'm right in the middle of something."
"Yes, now. Remember, South elevator."
"Okay, bossy much? Be there in five minutes."
Alex made her way to the appropriate elevator and pushed the button for the 51st floor where Jillian and the other aerospace engineers worked. The elevator music was a mixture of classic rock and 80's metal, a favorite genre for Tony Stark. Alex found herself humming along to Bad Medicine by Bon Jovi.
When the doors opened, she exited and turned left, walking by a bank of glass-walled conference rooms. She almost stopped dead in her tracks when she saw several people huddled in one of them — a group that included Tony, Thor, Loki, and Jane, all engaged in a very animated conversation. Dear God, there he was, looking as though he had just stepped out of the pages of GQ magazine. Did the guy even know how to dress down, she wondered. Stark was in t-shirt and jeans while Loki had on a three-piece suit.
As she walked by, Alex stared at Loki, barely able to refrain from waving to him. He was so ridiculously good-looking that she swore her mouth started watering at the sight of him as if he was a meal for her to devour. She saw him glance up at her, make eye contact, and...then… Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Not even a hint of recognition had crossed his beautiful features. What. The. Fuck. Alex was crushed. Feeling demoralized, she pulled her gaze away and slowly kept walking toward Jillian's desk.
Jillian was perched on top, swinging her legs, grinning from ear to ear. Since she was so petite, she loved wearing ultra high heels and was currently flaunting a pair of nude platform peeptoes that were truly fetish worthy. "Well? Did you see who's here?" she screeched.
"Yes," Alex replied weakly.
"You don't seem very excited. Why don't you seem excited?" Jillian narrowed her eyes at Alex.
"We just made eye contact and he looked right through me as if he's never seen me before. Hardly the kind of reaction that breeds excitement," Alex commented.
Jillian appeared unfazed. "Well, he's in a meeting for God's sake. What did you expect him to do — jump up and run out to embrace you while orchestral music swells in the background? Get real."
"I would have been happy with just the slightest hint of recognition or acknowledgement. A wink. A nod. Something," Alex pouted.
Jillian jumped down from her desk and sat down in her chair, turning her back to Alex. "Well, I just wanted you to know that he was back," she said dismissively.
"So now what?" Alex asked.
Jillian turned. "Well, now you parade right by him again and don't pay a bit of attention to him. You go back to your desk and sulk the day away."
"This was your master plan?" Alex asked incredulously.
"No. My master plan involved you being elated at the sight of him and then we were going to formulate the actual plan to get you two together again. Cuz' quite frankly, you were super fun to hang out with for about a week or so after you got laid. Now you're back to being morose most of the time and I want you to snap out of it."
"Jesus, keep your voice down!" Alex said, looking embarrassingly around the room. No one, fortunately, was paying a bit of attention to them.
"But since you're all butt hurt because he didn't acknowledge you — while he was in a meeting — with your boss' boss' boss I might add — then I really don't have an alternate plan that's going to meet with your unrealistic expectations."
"God, could you be any more annoying!" Alex exclaimed to which Jillian batted her eyelashes in response. "Now I'm humiliated because I know he caught me staring at him."
"Well, if he truly has no idea who you are, then that shouldn't matter. He's obscenely gorgeous and probably gets stared at all the time," Jillian pointed out.
"Okay. You're actually making sense. I'm just going to quickly walk past, head down..."
Jillian interrupted, "No head down — that just shows a lack of confidence. Head up high but no eye contact, got it? If it's all a big act, your lack of eye contact will spur things on. Trust me."
"Whatever. I've got to go back to get some work done."
"Remember, no eye contact this time!" Jillian called to her as she was leaving.
Alex walked back toward the elevators, this time keeping her eyes straightforward. As soon as she pushed the down button, she heard a group of people walking toward the elevator and her stomach dropped as she recognized their voices.
The doors opened and she stepped in, realizing that they were too close for her not to hold the elevator car for them without appearing obvious that she was trying to avoid them. The group entered and Jane Foster squealed, "Alex! Oh my Gosh! It is you! How nice to see you again." Jane gave Alex a hug and Alex smiled warmly at her, despite the butterflies wreaking havoc in her stomach.
"Alex, I want you to meet Thor. Thor, this is Alex. Alex, Thor."
Thor took Alex's hand and raised it, bowing his head slightly as he said, "A pleasure to meet you, Lady Alex."
Jane was beaming as she introduced her boyfriend to Alex, who was more than just a little starstruck at meeting the God of Thunder. His hand was enormous in comparison to hers and she could feel his strength humming just beneath his skin. She looked into his handsome face with nothing less than complete awe.
"And this is Loki. Loki, this is my friend, Alex. Alex, Loki."
Alex's breath caught in her throat as she turned to face Loki. Just as Thor had done, Loki took Alex's hand and raised it. Her skin felt electrified by the sudden contact with his and she pulled her hand away reflexively at the shock.
"Nice to meet you, Alexandra," he said, appearing as though he was vaguely bored with the situation and merely being polite. But the tone of his voice betrayed him and the fact that he had called her by her proper name made her realize that he indeed remembered her.
Tony looked quizzically between the two of them. "Alex, you need the 28th floor, right?" he asked, his finger poised and ready to push the button.
Alex was surprised that he knew what floor she worked on, considering they had never really exchanged any words beyond a greeting shared in passing. "Yes, that's right. Um, thanks." Turning to Jane, she asked, "So, when did you get in?"
"About four days ago. We just kicked off this long-term project. We're here for two weeks and then we'll be back and forth alternating a few weeks on a few weeks off for at least the next year or so — however long it takes. Did Jillian tell you what we're doing? It's so exciting!"
Before Alex could respond, Jane exclaimed, "Oh! You, me and Jillian should do lunch next week while I'm here and catch up!"
"That would be great. Happy Hour would be even better," Alex suggested.
"Brilliant idea! I think I'm going to need a break from all of this testosterone at some point. No offense, honey," she said as she playfully elbowed Thor in the ribs. "We were here about a month ago to arrange all this, but it was a quick trip. I didn't see you at that party Tony threw at the Waldorf-Astoria. It was for the work that your division did, right?"
"Yes, it was. I was there," Alex replied, apprehensively. "The place was packed. I... uh...ended up needing to leave early so that's probably why you didn't see me."
Tony was openly staring at Alex now and then looked at Loki, who was just looking up at the numbers of the floors counting down. After what felt like an eternity, the elevator finally stopped on the 28th floor, much to Alex's relief.
"Guess this is my stop. It was so great seeing you, Jane. Just coordinate everything with Jillian and I'll be sure to be there. And...uh...nice meeting you, Thor and Loki. See you later," she said as she was exiting.
"I'll be in touch soon about lunch and happy hour," Jane called out.
As soon as the elevator doors closed behind her, Alex felt as if she could breathe again. She couldn't believe the prick had pretended like they'd never met. She knew from his greeting that he absolutely recognized her. Did he really think she was so stupid that she wouldn't catch on, she wondered. She didn't know what exactly she had expected from him, but this certainly had not been the reunion she had was hoping for.
Fuming, she went back to her desk and started reading the report she had been reviewing before Jillian's call. She could barely concentrate on the words in front of her and reread the same paragraph six times before she slammed the document down on her desk.
Eli peered around his monitor and asked, "Are you okay?" Alex nodded. "Hey, did you get a chance to read Carl's email about the Susquehanna River..." Eli's mouth froze in mid-sentence as he looked past her.
"Alexandra," came an unmistakable voice behind her that made her jump in her seat and then sent shivers down her spine.
She spun her chair around to glare at him. "Pardon me, have we met before?" she asked snidely.
"You are angry with me," Loki noted.
"You really are a genius, aren't you," she said turning her chair around so that her back faced him once more.
Eli stared at the both of them, wondering about their odd exchange. Because his work area faced hers, he was completely within earshot of their conversation. Loki glanced over and immediately recognized him from the party. It irritated the god to no end that the insufferable dolt worked in such close proximity to her. The lack of privacy for their conversation irked him even more so. In an unmistakably imperious tone, Loki demanded, "Could you give us a moment?"
Eli's first instinct was to flip Loki off, but he was intimidated as hell and so he grabbed his coffee cup and stalked away. Alex began typing on her computer. "And you're still here because?" she said sarcastically, still facing her monitor.
Loki walked over and leaned against her desk so he could better face her. She turned her head towards him, prepared to give him her best stink eye, but the stark beauty of his face simply caused her breath to hitch in her throat. She wondered if it was creepy that she could be perfectly content to just sit and stare at him for hours. His long hair was tied back and she began fantasizing about running her fingers through it like she had that night they met.
"Alexandra, I did not think it was prudent to act quite so familiar with you in front of your employer. I would have thought you would have appreciated my discretion. I assure you that my feigned lack of recognition was for no other reason."
She turned away, blinking. It was just too easy to get caught up in him when she was looking at his face, and she needed her wits about her. "Fine. So what do you want?"
"Isn't it obvious? I want you."
The insides of her belly did a flip. His voice was so captivating that she was having difficulty remembering that she was pissed or even why. Shit. It was bad enough that he was so damn over-the-top hot. Did he have to have that voice to go along with it? She looked over at him again and immediately regretted it.
Must. Not. Forget. Forget what again? Then she remembered. "Oh really?" she snorted. "What?After four days of being here, did you finally run out of women to bang in New York City?"
He knitted his brows, looking perplexed, and then his mouth widened into a broad smile. It was not at all the reaction she was expecting. "What are you so damn happy about?" she snapped.
He folded his arms across his chest in smug satisfaction. "Your anger pleases me because it proves that you are not indifferent. You were irate because I did not outwardly acknowledge having met you before, even though my intent was to shield you from any embarrassment. You are even more vexed by the fact that I have been here for the better part of a week and have not come to you until now. Clearly, you want me, too."
Her mouth gaped open for a moment at the truth of his assessment. "You are so unbelievably full of yourself."
He smirked at her. "I won't deny that there is some truth in that. But we both know that I'm right. So, how about we dispense with any more pretense and spend the evening together?"
God, but she was so tempted. But deep in the back of her mind, she hated that he thought of her as a sure thing. It didn't matter that the end game all along had been to get him back into her bed for at least one more night. She wanted him to work for it. "I'm busy," she snapped.
"Now come, Alexandra. You don't think that the proclaimed God of Lies can't tell a lie when he hears one?" he asked, his voice as smooth as silk.
Alex scowled at him and turned to grab the phone. She dialed Jillian's extension. As soon as she heard Jillian answer on the other end, she barked, "We're going out tonight. Dinner and drinks at Momofuku."
"Uh...Do I have a choice?"
"No! I'll meet you in the lobby after work." Alex hung up the phone a little too forcefully. Glaring at Loki, she remarked, "Like I said, I'm busy tonight."
He chuckled a low, rumbling laugh and Alex felt her insides flip again. Smiling, he got up from her desk and whispered in her ear, "You know you're just delaying the inevitable, don't you? And fair warning — delayed gratification is something I know a great deal about. I look forward to showing you how good I am at it."
She was practically panting with desire as he walked away.
Three hours later, Alex was huddled in a booth with Jillian and drinking sake and downing ramen.
"I can't believe you're sitting here with me when you could be getting your brains fucked out right now with the God of Multiple Orgasms," Jillian said, as she slurped up a mouthful of noodles.
"He hasn't given me one of those," Alex clarified. "Yet."
"I really don't understand you," Jillian said as she waved her chopsticks at Alex. "I mean, I'm no big fan of the guy, but I thought it was classy that he tried to keep your little tryst on the down low in front of everyone. And then he tells you that he wants you, which is like your sex fantasy come true. So what the hell else do you want him to do before you let him get back in your pants?"
"I don't know, okay?" Alex frowned. "Denying him seemed like a good idea at the time. I didn't want him to think I was so easy."
Jillian gave her a look. "Alex, you screwed him within an hour of meeting him. I think it's a little late to be worrying about that."
"God, I know! But that's not me. You know that's not me," Alex pointed out, taking a sip of her sake.
Jillian poured more into her own cup. "Honey, who cares? You either want him or you don't. Stop overthinking it and stop analyzing everything to death. You had no conversations with him about ever seeing each other again. I would have thought you'd be overjoyed that he wants to see you."
"I know, right?" Alex shook her head. "I guess I was thinking that if I just gave in, that I would be establishing some sort of precedent. That he'd think that whenever he was here, I'd just drop everything to have sex with him whenever he wanted."
"Like an intergalactic booty call," Jillian remarked, shoveling in another mouthful of noodles.
"Exactly!"
Jillian set down her chopsticks and wiped her mouth with her napkin. "Alex, if you want to fuck him — and I know you're dying to — then fuck him. But do it on your terms. Set whatever ground rules you need and be honest about it. It's the only way you're going to feel good about this. And if he doesn't want to play by your rules then kick him to the curb. But do him at least one more time so you can tell me about it first."
