Chapter 3

She'd noticed him the moment she walked in to the Long Bar of course. Hard not to – the place was almost empty, he was sat in the middle of the room and he was beautiful. She hadn't looked directly at him, but she knew he was there and could tell she needed to check him out discretely later on. She waited a few minutes after she'd got settled in her booth before she looked at him. He was very handsome and had the sexiest hooded eyes she'd ever seen and she loved his suit, a three piece – nice, it was well-tailored and obviously very expensive, but most importantly it fit him beautifully. These high flying New York men really did know how to look after themselves and how to dress she thought.

'Focus' she told herself. She was here to work not to admire the locals. The wi-fi was out on the top floors of the Westley Hotel. She was staying in her usual suite and so was without an internet connection. She had work to do so had to go downstairs to one of the hotel's bars to pick up a signal. She loved the Long Bar, it was tucked away from the main lobby and the other bars but more importantly; it felt like a small piece of home. The wood panelled room felt so British and old school – she loved it. They also had an amazing selection of scotch. Not the most obvious drink for a woman, but an enjoyable night cap. This evening's drink of choice was a large glass of wine though – it had been a busy day!

After about an hour and a half she had caught up on her emails and calls and done all the work she'd wanted to get through. So she leaned back, picked up an auction catalogue, kicked off her shoes, let out a big sigh of relief and set about finishing her glass of wine.

That's when she felt those eyes on her, his eyes. She'd been so involved in her work she hadn't given him a second thought, until now. Until she could feel him staring at her. She looked up and was right. He was staring at her. Damn, those eyes! They looked at each other for what felt like an eternity, but was only a few seconds in reality. He smiled a sexy, knowing smile and lifted his glass to her in acknowledgment. She smiled back and did the same. Just then their moment of whatever it was, was interrupted as his phone rang. Harvey cursed whoever it was silently. It was Jessica. She wanted to know how his meeting had gone. Harvey explained it went fine and the client was happy and just needed some advice on something. He said he had to go and would speak to her at the office tomorrow. He had more pressing matters to attend to.

Harvey walked over to the booth where she was sat. "Hi, you look like you could do with another drink, can I get you one? I'm Harvey by the way".

Harvey prayed she would agree. He had to get to know this woman. He'd almost felt nervous coming over. Harvey Specter did not get nervous, not about women. He stood with one hand in his pocket, one hand holding his scotch and his head tilted to the side with raised eyebrows as he waited for a response.

She gave him a wary look, she clearly did not usually agree to accepting drinks off men she didn't know. As if reading her mind Harvey added "Don't worry, I don't do this often," 'you liar' Harvey thought to himself. "I just finished a business meeting and you looked ready for another drink".

"Well, ok" she said after thinking about it for a few seconds. "I don't usually accept drinks from strange men but I could do with another and you seem respectable enough!"

"I am. Very respectable. Harvey Specter, nice to meet you" he said reaching out his hand.

"Alexa Smith, you can call me Alex" she said returning his handshake. They both secretly noted that the other had a good firm handshake. There's nothing worse than a bad handshake they thought collectively.

As Harvey took a seat at the booth he got a closer look at the catalogues on the table. He could see they were auction catalogues for diamonds and jewellery. He motioned to them as he asked Alex what she did for a living.

She explained that she was a diamond merchant and fine jewellery dealer and that she was here in New York for some auctions, hence the catalogues, and some consultancy work. She bought and sold diamonds and specialised in rare ones. She also acted as an advisor for people who were investing in fine jewellery. She did business with all of the high end jewellers on Fifth Avenue and loved what she did. He could tell. She was so passionate about it. He liked how animated she got when she talked about it and the sparkle it put in her eyes.

In return Harvey explained that he was an attorney at the city's top law firm and that he was a senior partner and had his sights set on being made a named partner. He always achieved his goals and so it was only a matter of time before he achieved this one. She noted that he was treading a fine line between ambition and arrogance; luckily he pulled it off as ambition. Just. But for once, Harvey was far more intrigued by someone else's story than his own and pushed Alex for more information. With her British accent (which he loved), she clearly wasn't a New York native.

Alex explained that she split her time between New York and her home in London, although most of her time was spent in London, maybe a 60/40 split, she did love it here. The Westley was a home away from home as she used to stay here as a child. Her dad is British and her mom (or mum as she calls her) is American. They met when her mom went to school in London. They fell in love and set up home in England. Her dad was also in the diamond trade so they had frequent trips to New York all through her life and this is where they'd stay. She kept that tradition and continued to stay here today. She explained about the wi-fi situation and her love of the Long Bar.

They exchanged stories over casual flirty chat on where they went to school (Harvey over here to Harvard Law, Alex over in London to study business), their careers (both very successful), their interests (music, food, travel, design, running, scotch!) and they hardly noticed the time fly by until Harvey's stomach growled. It was 9:30pm and he was hungry.

"So Miss Smith, I know we haven't known each other very long but I'm a pretty good judge of character and think I can trust you to behave yourself. I'm starving and I know a great little Italian a few blocks away – would you like to join me for dinner?"

"To be clear, I wouldn't normally accept a dinner invitation from a strange man…who approached me in a bar…only a few hours prior. But, there's something about you Mr Specter. So, yes – against my better judgement, let's go for dinner"

Alex was intrigued by this man. Not to mention he was beautiful to look at. To be honest, she didn't really have much free time while she was here as she had to cram so much in. She had friends here that she needed to make time for, client meetings and dinners and industry events but if he could provide some entertaining company during the little free time she had, like tonight, then that was fine by her. It wasn't like she was ever going to see him again after this dinner, was it?

This was my first fanfic so I'd really appreciate any feedback and reviews.

I'm tweaking/perfecting this again for 2019 and posting chapter by chapter (lots of you requested that so you could review each chapter).

Follow the story to make sure you catch the next chapter!

Thanks for reading!