Author: Aria Hayden
Summary: Serena Tsukino is a New Yorker through and through, with a New Yorker's disdain for anywhere but the city's bustling streets. When her boss inexplicably sends her to handle a new account in the Florida Everglades, it may as well be another planet for city slicker Serena. But this is no ordinary business meeting: Serena is to join her client on a rustic camping expedition, accompanied by a guide with the larger-than-life attitude, Darien Shields.
Prologue
"I won't do it," Serena Tsukino said with an icy smile, then refused to say another word as she stared at the man across from her. It was a stare that usually stopped people in their tracks. In heels, Serena was only 5 feet and 5 inches tall—but despite her lack of height, her stare could definitely intimidate.
Artemis Smith had to admit, if only to himself, that he found her stare to be quite disconcerting, but he did own the company. "I did not say if you were willing to go," he said quietly, his dark eyes as hard as the obsidian they were currently resembling. "I said that you were going. My secretary has your tickets." With that, he looked down at his desk as though the matter were finished and she was to leave his office.
But Serena hadn't gotten where she was by being timid. "This company needs me," she stated flatly, her lips set so firmly they were little more than a line below her nose. Her chin was elevated in such a way that she was looking down on top of his head. Was that a new gray strand on his head? she wondered.
"This company can—" Artemis shouted, then calmed himself. He was not going lose his cool. "Sit!" he ordered.
But Serena remained standing. "I need to get back to work. The design I'm working on needs a few adjustments, and I need to talk to Molly about the new projects for the coming season."
Artemis counted to four, then turned his back on Serena and looked out the window at the dark streets twenty stories below. New York in February, he thought: cold, windswept, bleak. Here he was offering his top executive a trip to Florida, and she was refusing.
Turning back to Serena, he narrowed his eyes. "Let me put it this way. You go on this camping excursion with this man or I'll separate you and this company forever. Understand me?"
For a moment Serena stared at him without comprehending. "But I am the company," she said in disbelief. "We can't be separated. If it weren't for me this company wouldn't even—"
Artemis rubbed his hand over his face. "Three days, Serena. Three days! That's all I'm asking. You spend three measly days with this man, then you never again have to leave the streets of New York. You can set up housekeeping in the middle of Saks for all I care. Now go! Pack! The plane leaves early tomorrow morning."
Serena had a few thousand words she wanted to say, but the man was, after all, her boss. And his threat of relieving her of the job that she dedicated every waking minute of her life to was more than she could bear. This company and her family were Serena's life. She had other friends, other enjoyments, but this company was everything. This company was—
Serena's thoughts paused as she passed Artemis' secretary. The odious woman was smiling as she held Serena's ticket in her bent hand.
"Bon voyage," the woman said, smirking. As usual, she'd heard every word that had gone on in her boss's office. "We'll all see that the project and the campaign go along smoothly. We all shall miss you dreadfully."
As Serena walked past the woman, her heels clicking, she took the tickets and smiled sweetly. "Get your raise, Beth?" Artemis was notorious for his penny-pinching.
The secretary tried to snap the tickets back, but Serena was too fast; she caught them and kept going.
Three days, Serena thought as her toned legs ate up the distance back to her office. Three days amid swamps, crocodiles, and … and some man who was demanding her presence.
"Just who the hell does he think he is?" she muttered as she strode into her office.
"Who does who think he is?" Rubeus Jones asked as he put the new designs on Serena's desk.
Serena could hardly stand to look at them. Artemis might think it was only three days, but to her it was—"Oh, hell!" she said as she glanced at her watch. It was nearly six, and tonight was Mina's birthday dinner.
Looking down at her assistant, Rubeus, Serena started to speak, but he beat her to it.
"No need to say a word; it's all over the office. Do you know why this man wants you? I mean other than the usual reason a man wants a …" He trailed off.
"I've never met him; I know nothing. But worse, I didn't have time to—"
"Buy Mina a present?" Rubeus said, eyes sparkling, as he withdrew a beautifully wrapped gift from behind his back. "Ferragamo shoes, size six and a half," he said. "Hope you don't mind if I snooped a bit in your private file, just to check sizes and—"
Serena wasn't sure if she should thank him or slap him or just fire him. She kept everything on her computer, including what her friends and her many business associates liked or wore or collected. That Rubeus had gone into this private file was certainly overstepping his duties as her executive assistant.
"Don't worry about a thing," Rubeus said as he removed her sheared beaver coat from the closet and held it up. "I'll take care of the project pitch, and I'll make sure that the production meets it's deadline. In fact, why don't you take a vacation and stay a little longer? I hear that Florida is wonderful this time of year."
Reluctantly, Serena pulled on her coat; then in the doorway, she turned back and smiled at Rubeus. He was already standing behind her desk, looking at her designs.
"You change one thing on that project and I'll bring back a crocodile and lock it in the toilet with you," she said with her very sweetest smile, then turned and walked out.
"All right, tell me one more time," Mina said just before she threw back her head and downed yet another shot of straight tequila. This was at least her fourth drink—or maybe it was her fifth. "You have to go where when and why?"
"I don't know," Serena said in exasperation as she held up her hand to the waiter to bring her another drink. She knew she was going to regret this in the morning, but today had to be the worst day of her life. But now her four best friends in the world were here, and they wanted to share, so…
She looked at each face with love. They'd been together since they were kids, and—
"Hey! Wake up!" Amy said. "Not getting soppy on us, are you? What is this all about? Is this man in love with you?"
"How could he be? I've never met him," Serena said. "From what I hear he's sixty-some and has a figure like Santa Claus."
"But he's rich, right?" Raye said as she emptied her glass of iced tea. Long Island ice tea, as in vodka, gin, rum, and tequila mixed together.
"He's one of Moon Shines' opponents. He wants to collaborate with us, share notes I guess you can say, and work on the pitch that I've been working on. That's why Artemis is so adamant about me going on this camping trip. The revenue he'll bring Moon Shines' will triple and— "
"Excuse me," Lita said, interrupting Serena as she lifted her triangle-shaped martini glass. Lita didn't really like martinis, but the glasses were so sexy it turned her on just holding one. "Not all of us live here in this fabulous city, and not all of us—"
"Yeah, yeah," Raye said, laughing. "Don't start the 'I'm-a-poor-little-girl-from-Indiana' routine."
"Los Angeles," Lita said, deadpan. It was a running joke of the two who lived in Manhattan about whether anything west of the Hudson was civilized or not.
"All right, calm down," Serena said, holding her hands up in a sign for peace. "I'll tell you all I know—but it's very little. This man is from Texas, goes by the name of William Macintyre, but all of his business associates call him "Wiseman" due to his remarkable 6th sense when it comes to his knowledge of when to cancel a business contract or venture further with it to better benefit his company as well as his pocket book.."
"Mmmm," Amy said. "So what do you—and Moon Shines Co.—have to do with camping out in the wilderness? For that matter, what proposal does he plan to lash out on you? Did he even go over the basics of the discussion topics you guys will be covering?"
"Obviously I'm not deemed important enough to know ANYTHING that's going on. I was just told to pack up by my boss so I can appease this "Wiseman" character." Serena took a deep drink of her gin and tonic.
"So why—?"
"Why has this man said he'd only collaborate with Moon Shines Co. if I personally go on a trip to Florida with him?" Usually Serena's excellent manners would never allow her to raise her voice in public, but her confrontation with Artemis had nearly sent her over the edge.
"I don't know!" she half shouted, then quieted when Lita put her hand on her wrist. " Camping isn't even relevant to the project my company is working on, but it seems he's rather adamant about discussing business with crocodile infested, blood-sucking.. well you get the general idea. All I know is that this Texas good ol' boy has requested that I go on a…" She had to swallow before she could say the word. "A three-day camping trip with him and a guide named Darien." At that she downed the last of her drink then raised her hand to the waiter for a refill.
Mina was the first to laugh. It escaped out of the corners of her mouth in a way that was familiar to the other women. They'd often said that Mina's sense of humor had saved their sanity.
"'Darien'?" Mina said, the corners of her mouth twitching. "Do you think he's one of those men who carry photos of his first wife, his second wife, and the third one in his wallet? And photos of all the kids from each marriage?"
"And each photo is at least twenty years old?" Raye said, laughing.
"Little Leroy in the photo is now serving five to nine for grand theft auto."
There were all laughing now, and Raye ordered a high calorie cheesy thing to dip into with fried chips. So far they hadn't gotten around to ordering dinner.
"No, Darien flew a plane during World War II," Lita said. "He'll show Serena his war medals."
"Really, girls," Amy said. "It's Florida. He'll have skin rougher than the alligators he wrestles. And he'll call all women 'honey' and 'babe.'"
"And his tattoos were done before they were fashionable," Mina said.
Serena leaned forward. "As always, you're all off base. Can we get back to the topic on hand here? I thought you guys were my friends. What happened to the good ol' fashion way of actually cheering a person up. Not helping to bury her in her grave."
At that all the women laughed.
"You know, Rena," Lita said, her mouth full of chip and dip, "I could stand three days with some bronzed Adonis named Darien."
"Puh-lease," Serena said. "I like a man to have something besides pectorals."
"Not me," Raye said, mouth full. "I never cared whether a man had a brain or not."
"You'll care after the newness wears off—so to speak," Serena said seriously. "Then you'll be left with nothing. He'll run off with some blonde bimbo, and you'll be left—"
"Give me a break!" Mina said. "It's my birthday."
"Right," Serena said apologetically. "It's your birthday, and all we're doing is talking about my problems."
"Some problems," Amy said. "Three days in sunny Florida alone with a beautiful body with no brain and—"
"And good ol' boy William and another guy who cleans the fish we catch for dinner," Serena said with a dry chuckle. "Meanwhile, the company—"
"Aaaargh," came the collective groan.
"Okay, okay. I know. No talk of the company allowed."
"Yeah," Raye said, "let's talk about something else altogether."
"I agree," Lita said.
For a few moments all the women were silent.
"So what's this Darien's last name? Or does he just go by 'Darien'?" Amy asked, running her fingertip around the rim of her glass.
With a sigh of reluctance, Serena reached down to her briefcase, removed a paper, and scanned it.
"Shields. His name is Darien Shields."
Hope you all enjoyed. That's it for the Prologue. Chapter one should be posted soon.