He walked up the steps toward her door. He could only imagine what she looked like right now. He reached the door and pushed the buzzer. Waiting, his mind wandered. But came right back when the door opened and he knew that everything he'd imagined couldn't even compare to the vision that stood in the doorway.

No. He'd definitely been wrong. This was no ordinary woman

Lila Rae Alcazar just couldn't be called an average woman. She had made it her life's work to be unpredictable and extraordinary.

Cameron felt his mouth go agape and quickly fixed the problem. He held out a bouquet of flowers and felt diminished next to her classy, yet extremely sexy up-do.

She smiled and buried her face in the daisies. "Oh. You're so sweet. Come in for a second while I get these in water." She opened the door wider and he managed to make his legs move inside the house.

She was wearing a short dress made of some sort of flowing material in a fiery red color. Her red hair was left down, the curls flowing down her—oh sweet Jesus, he though—exposed back. He fought the urge to push her against the wall and take her right then and there.

And at this point, Cameron could only imagine what she was wearing underneath the wisp of sheer fabric.

Cameron wiped the perspiration from his face and put himself in check as she strolled back into the front room. She grinned, as if she had heard his thoughts.

"Like what you see, hot stuff?" she asked saucily. She sauntered toward the door, grabbing her coat off the couch as she went. He followed her, afraid that if he didn't get outside into the cold air, he might combust and do something they'd both regret.

Cameron followed her down the stairs and out of the building. As she only lived two blocks from the hotel, they planned to walk. The cold air did the job, as he felt sufficiently better when they arrived at the restaurant.

Lila strode up to the maitre d'. "The reservations are for Spencer."

"Of course, Ms. Alcazar. Right this way." They were led to a table in the back of the room—probably the most private table in the whole restaurant. After they were seated with their menus, the maitre d' took their drink orders and walked away from the table.

Lila looked at Cameron from over the top of her menu. He tried to concentrate on the words so he wouldn't think about doing a certain something to Ms. Alcazar. He quickly decided what to order and took a sip of the water to get his mind together. He wasn't sure if Lila knew what she did to a man.

Oh, on the contrary, Lila Rae knew exactly what she did to a man and she knew that Cameron Spencer was a sucker for it.

"So…busy day?" she asked, taking a sip of the ice water.

He shrugged. "You know, it's my day off so I have to run errands that I don't do during the week."

"I see. Well, I certainly had a busy day. I spent all morning at the hotel boutique looking for the perfect dress. And by the looks of your face, I must have found it," Lila replied, watching his eyes go dark with arousal. She knew exactly what was running through his mind right now—it was the same thoughts she'd been having for months.

"Yeah. The dress is nice," he said shakily. At this point, he wasn't sure if he would last the entire evening.

Okay, I'd better lay off for a while. I doubt that Carly would like it if we did the deed in her hotel restaurant, Lila thought as the waiter brought the wine to the table. She took a sip and nodded her approval. Moments later, they were alone again.

As she sipped her wine, Cameron became lost in her face and he knew that it was going to be a long dinner.

XXXXXX

Kate Howard-Corinthos stood at the window of her penthouse office. From it, she could see the harbor to the east and Spoon Island just west of that. But at the moment, she wasn't really seeing anything.

All she could think about was the anticipation for the arrival of one Kendall Hart-Slater. She knew that Kendall would be mad that Kate wasn't taking the deal, but Kate had to think about her magazine. She had spent years building a career in the fashion world and the same amount of time building a magazine that was—to this day—the best.

But that chance, that success, hadn't come without cost and sacrifice. A long time ago, she had given up Connie Falconeri for Kate Howard. That sacrifice had cost her family, her love for Sonny and her past. But it had also brought her the most wonderful career and life she had ever imagined.

And then, all of a sudden, Sonny had popped back into her life. Or rather, she had popped into his.

Her perfect life had changed the moment she'd walked into his office asking to use the phone. And once upon a time, she'd believed that he was her prince. But now she knew that even though Sonny had loved her, there was no way that she could live safely in his world.

She had gotten her chance to marry him and even though it hadn't lasted, it had given her two beautiful children. If she had made any mistakes—and lord knew that she had—the best mistake had brought her two children.

Kate Howard had weathered many storms throughout her life and she had always bounced back. But now, her company was on the line and she was about to make a major deal that would either make or break all that she'd created out of her sacrifices.

A knock on the door brought Kate out of her musings. She turned around and saw Kendall Slater standing in the doorway. She smiled and motioned her in.

"Hello, Mrs. Slater. Please have a seat. Would you like anything? Perhaps water or coffee?" Kate walked behind her desk and took a seat.

"No thank you. I'm okay right now. If it is all right with you, I'd like to get down to business," Kendall said shortly. She pulled out a stack of papers from her satchel and set them on the desk with a thump.

"Of course. I'm assuming that you heard my message about your deal. It's just too big a risk to take for Crimson and Maxie Jones Original," Kate replied. "But I would offer you the same deal that was offered in the beginning and I know that Maxie Jones is very interested in your proposal. She would be willing to agree to similar terms," She added quickly, seeing the light go out of Kendall's eyes.

"Yes. I will take the deal—the original deal. I assume you have the papers ready today?" Kendall said, replacing her stack of papers and reaching for a pen. Kate nodded and passed the contract to the other woman. Kendall looked it over and turned to the page where the signature line was. She took the pen and carefully signed her name. Handing the papers back to Kate, she stood up and collected her briefcase. She and Kate shook hands and then Kendall walked out of the office and toward the elevator. Moments later she was gone and Kate was left staring at where she'd been.

Never in Kate's entire fashion career had a business deal gone so easy. She couldn't believe that everything was a done deal. Shaking her head, Kate stood up and walked back to the window. This time when she stared out, she did see the harbor and Spoon Island. For the first time in a while, she was seeing clearly and her life was beginning to look up.

Turning back to her desk, she reached for the phone and dialed Molly's number. She needed her assistant to work on the upcoming issue. Now that the deal with Fusion was finalized, she had much to do if this magazine was going to be a success.

And if Kate Howard was anything, she was a success.

She had sacrificed a lot in her life, but in the end, she had gained just as much. Despite the sacrifices, Kate Howard was a winner and she'd be damned if the chance to be back at the top was going to pass by her again.

XXXXXX

Mattie felt considerably better when she walked into the hospital the following Monday. Morgan had been right: dinner had helped. She was more relaxed and at the moment, she felt at peace.

She walked into the locker room and stowed her bag in the locker before stripping her clothes and donning the purple scrubs. She tied her hair back into a pony-tail and checked her face in the mirror before racing out of the door. She was almost late for rounds when she arrived at the nurse's station.

Elizabeth Weber stood behind the desk. She handed Mattie a stack of files and smiled at her. "Have fun!" She teased.

"Actually, I'm looking forward to work. For the first time in a long time, I feel—I don' know—lighter," Mattie said, opening the file and reading the updates.

Elizabeth laughed. "Somebody got lucky this weekend."

Mattie looked up quickly. "No." she blew out a breath. "No, we d-didn't do anything," She finished hastily.

"Who didn't do anything?" Kristina asked as she walked behind the desk. She handed her folders to Elizabeth. "Morning sunshine!" She said to Mattie.

"Hi Kris, how was your weekend?" Mattie said cautiously. The last thing she wanted people to think that she'd had sex with Morgan Corinthos. In all the years that they'd been dating, Morgan had always respected her and they'd yet to have sex.

"Oh it was great. I got to play with my kids and actually have a meal with my husband," Kristina said dryly. She had always worked shifts opposite than Jack and rarely saw him other than their days off. "What about you?"

"Mattie went on a date with Morgan this weekend," Elizabeth put in for Mattie. Mattie could all but feel her face grow warm and wished the ground would just open up right now.

"Aw…finally," Kristina said, grinning. Then she grew serious. "How was this weekend for you really? I know what day it was."

Mattie looked away for a moment. "It was okay. Morgan took me to dinner to cheer me up."

"And did it work?" This was from Lainey as she entered the nurses' station. She had been trying to get Mattie to talk about Robin's death for the last nine years.

"I don't know—I guess it did. He told me he'd do whatever I needed and that he'd always be there for me," Mattie replied. She turned and glanced at the plaque on the wall. It was introducing the Robin Scorpio Drake Memorial AIDS clinic, which Nickolas Cassadine had opened soon after Robin's death.

"Why don't you two just get married already?" Elizabeth asked as the others laughed. It was well known that Mattie and Morgan had admired each other since they were children.

"I don't think that we're there yet," Mattie answered absently. She looked at the clock. "Oh, I'm late for rounds." With a wave to the rest of the women, she hurried down the corridor.

"She doesn't think they're there yet," Elizabeth said dryly as the others laughed.

"Yes, as if they haven't loved each other for half their lives," Lainey replied. She picked up her charts and went to see to her patients.

"I bet that they'll be married before next summer…or at least in the planning stages," Kristina said to Elizabeth as she finished filling in her notes.

"The problem is: Mattie is too much like Robin. She's stubborn and the minute everything's going right, she's looking for something that's wrong. Patrick and Robin danced around marriage for months before they finally took the plunge for good," Elizabeth said, remembering back to when Robin and Patrick had been dating.

"Well, she'll soon find what she's looking for," Kristina replied as the phone rang and everything went back to normal at General Hospital.