Acquiring Hearts Read online

  “I’m fine. I’ll get through it. I just thank God that I have my job because I need to be prepared to support myself. I was thinking about quitting, but I figured I’m going to need it now more than ever. Anyway, tell us what’s going on!”

  Gia had a moment of panic. Oh Shit. I have to say this after Rachel just said all that.

  “Maria, remember last night when you thought I was missing.”

  Maria nodded, “Uh huh. I was about to get the bouncers to look for you.”

  “Well, I kind of ran into someone when I went to the bathroom. He took me to the back to use the private bathroom.”

  They both started throwing questions at Gia at the same time.

  “Who was it?”

  “Where did he come from?”

  “Are you dating someone we don’t know about?”

  “Was it the owner?”

  “Ok, listen I’ll tell you but Rachel has to promise to keep quiet until the end.”

  Rachel gave Gia a dirty look and said, “Fine, whatever.”

  “Here’s the short of it. It was Brad, Rachel’s boss. He’s the owner of the club. He asked me to go out with him tonight so we can get to know each other better and he even texted me to see if I arrived home safely. He called me baby.”

  Why is she looking at me like that?

  “Can I talk now?” Rachel asked. Gia rolled her eyes at her, but nodded. “Are you fucking nuts? He’s my boss. What if it goes bad between the both of you and he fires me? I just told you that I need my job now more than ever.”

  “You’ll be fine. I’m sure he’s not going to fire you. It’s one date, what could happen?”

  “Did he tell you about the psychotic ex? She’s a lunatic. I practically scream at her all day. Just be careful, please.”

  “Whatever, I can handle that bitch. She better back up off my potential new man,” said Gia sarcastically.

  They all started cracking up laughing.

  Oh, thank god she’s okay with me going out with him. Not that I need her permission, but it’s always great to have.

  “What happened with Tom?” Maria asked with a smirk on her face.

  “Oh, I just told him honestly that we should be friends. The freak told me, ‘well you know where I am if you change your mind,’ and ran to his car- probably to cry.”

  Now the girls were practically rolling on the floor with laughter. With tears falling down her face, Maria said, “I have to get going. Hang in there Rach. And girl, you better call me and let me know what happens on your date with this hot gorgeous man.”

  “I definitely will. I gotta go too. I have to go get a manicure and pedicure. Rach, I love you. Call me if you need anything at all. No matter what time it is. Let Vinnie wonder for a couple days and see what happens. Kiss my nephews for me.”

  “Thanks, girls. It was great talking to you. I feel a little bit better. Talk to you later.”

  They all hugged each other goodbye and went their separate ways. Gia was feeling a sense of relief that she had received the green light from Rachel, at least until she got in one of her moods again.

  * * * * *

  It was noon and Gia had so much to do to prepare for her date with Brad. Her nerves were shot today. She thought about her sister’s husband. She didn’t want to upset Rachel even more but how could he do something like that to her. Rachel does everything for him and he goes and cheats on her.

  At that moment, her phone beeped and distracted her from her thoughts. It was a text message from Brad.

  “Hey baby. How are you? I’m sitting here thinking about you.”

  “I’m good! How are you?”

  “Better now that I’m talking to you. I’ll be even better when I see you tonight.”

  “I can’t wait.”

  “Text me your address later and I’ll pick you up at 7 P.M. I made reservations.”

  “Sounds great.”

  “Talk to you later, baby.”

  “TTYL”

  Oh my God, I think I just had an orgasm in my car.

  Chapter Four

  Brad was smiling to himself as he put his cell phone back down on his desk. Just thinking about Gia’s beautiful face made his body tense up, but he had to finish reviewing the presentation for Monday’s meeting. His desk was covered with papers. He really hated to work on a Saturday, but this was the life he lived since he became the CEO.

  He was so happy that Gia agreed to go out to dinner with him tonight. He kind of felt guilty watching her on the club video monitors last night, but he hadn’t been expecting her to show up at the club. When he saw her, he’d been mesmerized by her beauty. He spent the evening trying to find a way to get her alone. When he saw her going to the ladies room, he used that as an opportunity to speak with her. He really didn’t want to see her leave with that guy, but he had to make the sacrifice for just one night. After tonight he was going to make sure that she didn’t want to go out with anyone else.

  He told Gia to be ready at 7:00 and he would pick her up at her house. She lived about a half hour away from him in Conshohocken. He was hoping Gia would like the red roses he bought for her; and to impress her, he decided to take out the Aston for tonight. He rarely ever drove the car, it was usually stored in the garage, but he figured this was a special occasion and he wanted to drive to the restaurant alone with Gia. He gave Gary, his regular driver, the night off. He really didn’t like the idea of having a driver, but he needed one because of all the traveling he did.

  Brad opened the car door and retrieved the roses from the passenger seat. He walked casually up the driveway and knocked on Gia’s door. When Gia answered her door, he thought his heart was going to jump right out of his chest. She had on a cream and black lace dress that fell straight to her knees. Her black patent leather high heels accentuated her outfit and made her look so enticing. Her hair fell in flowing waves down her back. He was beginning to think of things he wanted to do to her, and they hadn’t even made it to the restaurant yet.

  “Hey Brad,” she said, as he reached over and gave her a hug and a peck on the cheek.

  “Hi, baby. You look stunning tonight. These are for you,” he said holding up the roses. “I hope you like them.” He knew there wasn’t any other place he would rather be at this moment, than right here with her.

  “Oh Brad, they’re beautiful. I want to put them in water. Do you want to come in for a moment?”

  Brad hesitated for a moment. He didn’t know if it was such a good idea to be alone with her. He decided he could show self-control… maybe. “Sure, we have a few minutes before we need to leave.”

  Brad looked at Gia’s pictures as he waited for her to come back from the kitchen. He was guessing they were pictures of her parents. He recognized the pictures of Rachel and her family.

  “I’m back. We better get going. We don’t want to be late for our dinner reservations.”

  “Let’s do this.” He winked at her then reached for her hand and guided her to the front door.

  * * * * *

  The restaurant was crowded, but Brad had a table reserved in the back of the restaurant so they could have a little bit of privacy. He placed his hand on her lower back and walked through the restaurant to their table. He gently pulled her chair out and sat down across from her.

  “Every guy in this place had their eyes on you as we walked past them. I’m the lucky one because I have the pleasure of your acquaintance for dinner.”

  “Let them look.” She laughed with a mischievous grin on her face. “I’m the lucky one I get to have dinner with the big CEO”.

  He knew she was being sarcastic because he could tell she was an independent woman.

  He also knew she didn’t need to use him for anything. She had an established career of her own, her own house, and car. Most women were usually out to use him for anything that he could give them. He knew Gia was different.

  “Well, this CEO is interested in you and wants to get to know your sexy ass better.”

  Dow
n Boy!!!

  The waiter came to the table to take their drink orders. Brad ordered a bottle of the best champagne on the list. When the waiter filled their glasses, he put his glass against hers and toasted to her. “To our first date, hopefully you’ll agree to have many more with me. After dinner, do you want to take a walk near the river to end our perfect night? I already know it is going to be perfect, because you are.”

  “Oh Brad, you’re so sweet. Of course I’d go out with you again and I’d be honored to take a walk by the river with you.”

  They sat at the table for about three hours before they realized the restaurant was slowing down. Dinner was fabulous and everything was going great. Gia excused herself to go to the ladies room before they were about to leave. That was when Brad spotted Sheila coming his way. She must’ve been watching them and waiting to approach him when he was alone.

  What the fuck is she doing here? How does she even know I’m here? I’m going to need to get a restraining order against her if she doesn’t quit it.

  “Hey, Bradley,” Sheila said in a sultry coo. She looked at him as if everything was completely normal.

  “Did you purposely wait for my date to leave? You need to leave. How did you even know I was here?” Bradley demanded to know.

  She ignored his questions. “There is no reason for you to be mean. I’m here on a date too. I saw your mother this afternoon and she told me that you weren’t coming to the Charity event at the hospital because you had a date.”

  My damn mother!

  Brad looked over at the so-called date. He looked like a boy toy that she paid to go out with her, the poor sap. “He looks charming, I guess you better get back to him. Isn’t he on the clock?”

  Just at that moment, Gia walked up to them looking confused. Brad wanted to clarify right away what was happening, but apparently he didn’t need to. Gia turned to Sheila and extended her hand. “You must be Sheila, I’ve heard so much about you from my sister.” Sheila now looked confused. “My sister is Brad’s secretary. She told me all about you. You know her right?”

  Sheila looked so disgusted at that point. She rolled her eyes at Brad and said, “You date the help? What is she the cleaning lady?”

  Brad couldn’t take much more of this nonsense from Sheila.

  Is this chick serious right now? Nobody treats Gia like this.

  Just as Brad was about to open his mouth and speak, Gia reached over to the table and grabbed her purse. He thought she was going to walk out of his life, but what she did next completely surprised him. She pulled out a business card and handed it to Sheila. Her face dropped.

  “I’m an attorney. You may need to hire me if you don’t leave Brad alone because stalking is a crime.”

  Sheila’s face was bright red. She ripped up the card and looked at Brad, who was smirking.

  “Just watch out because he’ll treat you the same way he treated me. He used me and then left me.”

  Brad changed faces quickly and now looked disgusted at this point. He told her to just go back to her date and leave them alone.

  “Eventually, you are going to want me back.” Then she stalked off to rejoin her pretend date.

  Brad didn’t know what his next move should be because he didn’t know if Gia was turned off by the confrontation with Sheila or not. He relaxed when he heard a peel of laughter come from Gia.

  “Next time, keep your ex’s at home, she said teasingly. Are there any more that I need to tell off or can we move on?”

  “I believe she’s the only one.”

  Dear God I hope so.

  “Then let’s leave before any more previous lovers try to ruin our evening.”

  She handled the situation so cool. Any other woman would have fought with Sheila or just took it out on him and left. He actually wanted to kiss her, but after the Sheila fiasco, he didn’t think it was appropriate.

  It was a warm night. They walked across the street to sit by the river. There was a section that had a couple of benches, so they sat down on the one facing the river. The Ben Franklin Bridge looked amazing lit up at night. The setting was so romantic. Brad spoke first, Gia was being a little too quiet which made him think he had misjudged her thoughts on the disagreement with Sheila.

  “Thanks for what you did back there. I usually just blow her off when she calls or shows up where I’m at. I guess I should have dealt with the situation before it got this far. I hope this doesn’t change your mind about me.” He reached over and put his hand on her knee. He could feel her shiver, even though the temperature was soaring.

  “Brad, I’m just getting to know you and from what I see you’re a really nice guy. A crazy ex showing up on our date is not going to change that. Nothing is perfect. We just have to see where this will go.”

  He put his hand under her chin and lifted her face to look into his. “Thanks for being you. I can promise you this is not the last time we will be seeing each other.”

  With that, he kissed her with a passion that he had never felt for anyone else. His arms were wrapped around her waist. He pulled her closer to him. She was caressing his neck with her hands as their mouths were intertwined.

  Brad didn’t want this to go too far tonight. He wanted to show Gia that he respected her. His mind was telling him to break the kiss but his body was telling him to keep going. His groin was about to explode. He couldn’t believe he was about to do this.

  “Wow, Gia. You’re so amazing. I could kiss you all night. If we go any longer, I may not be able to control myself.”

  Gia felt the same way. Brad’s kisses were out of this world. She knew she wanted more of what he had to offer. “We better get back any way. I turn into the hired help at midnight,” she said jokingly. They both laughed their way back to the car holding hands. All in all, minus the interruption, it was a nice first date.

  He walked Gia to her door. She invited him in for coffee and he told her he would come in for a little while. Gia offered Brad a seat and told him to make himself comfortable. Gia handed him the television remote and went into the kitchen to make two cups of coffee. She couldn’t believe the events that occurred tonight, especially the kiss. Could he get any more romantic than that?

  She brought the two mugs into the living room and placed them on the coasters she had bought on one of her trips to Mexico. She sat on one end of the sectional, while Brad was sitting on the opposite end. It was so awkward.

  “Do you want to watch a movie? I have plenty of them in the DVD case.”

  “Whatever you want to do is fine by me.”

  Bradley, Bradley, wrong answer because you may like what I want to do, too much.

  “I’m just going to run upstairs and get changed. I’ll be quick.”

  “Ok” Brad answered with an amused look on his face. He was hoping Gia didn’t come down in anything sexy because he didn’t know if he could conduct himself in a respectable manner. He was relieved to see her in a t-shirt and sweatpants.

  “I’ll just pick out a movie and put it in the DVD player,” Gia said.

  She chose Moonstruck, since that was her all-time favorite movie. She’d seen it a billion times and could recite the movie word for word, but she wouldn’t do that tonight. He’d think she had no life.

  As Gia was walking back to the couch, Brad sarcastically said, “I don’t bite.”

  Hmm… I was hoping he did.

  She made her way over to where he was sitting and plopped down on the couch. He picked up one of the pillows and laid it across his lap. He patted it for her to lay her head down. She did just that as she was so tired.

  These long hours at the firm were killing her social life. They watched the movie but weren’t actually paying attention to it. They were too busy thinking about each other. Brad was continuously running his fingers through her long flowing hair. Gia was dozing off as he repeatedly worked his magic on her. “Brad, that feels so good.”

  He smirked because he was having thoughts that he wanted to keep to himself. “Just r
elax, honey. You look so tired.” He kissed her forehead.

  Gia drifted off into a comfortable sleep with Brad’s hands caressing her so gently. Not realizing it, Brad fell asleep as well. This was clearly not in tonight’s plan, but he could not help but feel this was the way it was supposed to be. He felt so at ease and serene with her.

  Brad popped up, not remembering where he was. He looked at his watch and saw it was four A.M. He looked down and Gia was still asleep with her head on his lap. He didn’t want to walk out on her in the middle of the night, even though nothing sexual happened between them. He also didn’t want to frighten her by still being there when she woke up. He gently lifted her head without waking her and rose up off of the couch. He pulled the throw blanket that she had over the back of the couch onto her. He plugged her phone in so it would be fully charged when she woke up. He then sent her a text so she would know it was sent when he left.