The Alexandru Chronicles: The Beginning (2 page)

In all appearances, he wouldn't have been a man that she would have been remotely attracted to – she couldn't stand men with long hair. Yet, for some strange reason, she couldn't help wanting to run her fingers through his. He definitely had this alluring presence, that made him not at all like any man she had ever laid eyes upon. Later on she would tell her husband, that this mystery man was strangely fascinating. She would leave it at that, though. For how did one tell ones husband, that her mysterious visitor, had aroused something in her that had made her want to animalistcally rip her clothes off and do the tango with the alluring stranger in front of her.

Trying to get a grip on her libido, she made herself think of those six happy years of marriage that she had had with her husband. While they hadn't any children, to her, their marriage was still very happy. While most were pessimistic about their marriage, including her sisters, she still believed that they had many more years to be happy together.

Closing her eyes, she breathed in—trying to compose herself. When she eventually opened them, she saw that the mysterious stranger was still there and, while he was still this alluring specimen that she desperately wanted, she now had more control over herself.

“
Can I help you?” her voice slightly shook.

While she found the man in front of her still very alluring, she was still puzzled by his presence. She couldn't remember hearing the bell over the door chime—announcing the presence of a visitor. It was like he had appeared out of thin air.

“I'm sorry...” it was the sound of his voice and it's nice ringing caress, that had her closing her eyes,  again—just to get her libido under control. “I didn't mean to startle you.” he smiled, which would have been her, ultimate, downfall, if she hadn't started reciting the
Ten Commandments
in her head.

“
That's perfectly okay...” reining in the rest of her lust, she said, “I'm sorry..., but were closed...”

“
Oh...” the whole time he had been talking to her, he had leaned, his strong masculine frame, against the fifth desk – adjacent to her office; with his arms folded across his chest. Yet, when she had mention being closed, he quickly pushed himself away from that desk. “I thought I had an appointment, with a Mrs. Steleman.” shrugging, he continued, “I guess, then, I'll be on my way.”

He turned so swiftly, that at first she had thought her eyes were deceiving her. As he headed toward the door, he said over his shoulder, “Again, I'm sorry...have...”

“Wait!” it was her frantic voice, that had him halting, half way to the door, in his tracks. She literally flinched at the urgency in her own voice. She knew, in all common sense, that she should have let him leave. Yet, she didn't.

When he turned to look at her, he smiled, and gripping her purse more securely, she said, “I'm Ms. Steleman...and we do have an appointment.”

“Well, then, if I'm not too late, maybe...we should...go.”

XXX

It took only a brief second, for them to decide on whose vehicle to take, which, she had adamantly insisted on them taking hers—she felt more comfortable in hers than his.

While it took less than two hours for them to find the perfect house, in the course of those hours, Amelia had formed two opinions of her new client. One, his mysterious persona was oddly attractive. And, two, while she lustfully wanted him, she couldn't help being frightened by the secretive way he held himself.

If one thing was painfully obvious, Mr. Alexandru, was a mysterious man who wanted either no or very little contact from anyone. He didn't want a house in the city, that he was adamant about. She knew, what any good relator knew, and that was, what he was looking for wasn't located in an apartment complex or even in a suburb.

Yet, while she knew this, it was due to her conflicting emotions towards him, that Amelia found herself dreading the long ride out of Tucson and up into the mountains towards that last house on her list.

This last house may have been a good fit for him, but she was still awfully nervous over the idea of being out of the city and completely alone with him.   She couldn't really put her finger on what made her more nervous. Either it was because he gave off this alluring magnetism that she found hard to resist, or his secretive attitude was a little unnerving. 

Whatever the reason, the drive out, to that final house on her list, was a long one. And, as she drove her Mercedes through the inking blackness, she gradually became less and less enticed on ripping her clothes off and more inclined to dropping Mr. Alexandru off at the side of the road. While in the beginning, that mystique, had had her so intriguingly enticed, that she had wanted to sleep with him on sight.  Yet, now she was remembering that one forgotten safety rule that she had stressed to her own employees:
“If it feels unsafe with the client, then don't put yourself in that position where you're alone with them.”

Throughout the rest of that drive, her nervousness was gradually become worse, and she found herself sneaking the occasional glance over at him.  

“It's okay..., Mrs. Steleman...”

His voice was so sudden, and had such a velvet silkiness to it, that she instantly flinched, causing her to swerve her car into the other lane. After she had quickly corrected herself, and said a quick thanks that there wasn't anyone else on the road, she looked over at him.

“What...?” her voice shook.

             
“It's okay...I'm not going to hurt you.”

             
“Oh...” she tried to laugh, but it came out sounding more like a cough. “I didn't...”

“
I know..., you don't have to.” he smiled and looking back at the road, he said, “You've been swerving all over the road, and that leaves one to think that either you've been drinking...” he chuckled. “or you're nervous.”  adverting his attention back to her, he continued, “I'm willing to guess that the first is not true...”

It was when he smiled again that she felt herself automatically relax. She wasn't entirely sure if it was her conscience urging her or if she was just relaxing because of how silky Mr. Alexandru's voice was. 

Letting out a nervous breathe, she returned her gaze back to the road, not looking anymore at her companion. As her eyes wandered from left to right, keeping a vigilant eye on any animals that might scurry out into the road, she found herself unable to even spare the man next to her a sideways glance- it was like her gaze was fixated on the road.

When they eventually arrived at their destination—an enormous, picturesque, mansion—she was so surprised, that she automatically felt her nervousness return. As her gaze wandered over the mansion in front of her, the ominous beauty of it, automatically, drew her in.

It had been on the market for close to three years. The few clients she had brought out to view this property, had found it too be so utterly gorgeous that they had wanted to purchase it right then and there.

To be honest this mansion was actually a really good bargain. It was on at least a hundred squared acres of land and it had all the modern improvements. Yet, oddly enough, it was one of the few properties that she was having a hard time selling to anyone. Those few clients, who were interested one minute, lost interest pretty quick. One minute, the client would be excited about signing the papers and moving in. Then the next time she talked to them, they either found something wrong with the property or there was something about the house that hadn't set well with them.

Yet, just from chancing a glance over at Mr. Alexandru, she knew instantly that this house was right up his alley. The way he sat forward in his seat and how his grayish blue eyes now, briefly, sparkled with intrigue, told her that they had found the one.

No sooner, though, did that look appear in his eyes, was it quickly gone; finally tearing his gaze away from the house to look over at her, she noted that that same mysterious, cloaked, gaze – with a hint of a reddish tint – was back in his eyes.  “It's perfect.”

Chapter Two

As Genevieve Freemen kicked off her shoes, and pulled her legs up underneath her, she thought about the disastrous date she had just gotten through with, with her former boyfriend, Keith Anderson. Keith had broken up with her in a crowded, snobby, restaurant, of all places, reciting the same bullshit that countless other men had, “
We have nothing in common.” 

Gees, duh!

Of course they had nothing in common, she was a homicide detective and Keith was an investment banker that spent most of his time either staring at himself in the mirror or criticizing the women he was with.

Keith wasn't technically bad looking, he just wasn't as good looking as he would like to give himself credit for being – possibly, what held him back, in the looks department, was having jumbo sized ears. He could have looked like her sloped head, baby face, ugly ass brother in-law. He didn't, though. If he had, she would have told her sister to go take a flying leap off the nearest cliff.

How her sister had thought that they would be a perfect match, though, was beyond her. Granted she knew Amelia meant well, but this was ridiculous. Three dates with idiotic losers, who were so obnoxious that it wasn't even funny.

Well..., it was kind of funny.

After every break up, she always had a laugh afterwords. It was always amusing to see these guys, get totally upset with her over her stoic reaction towards them ending a relationship that was headed towards the shitter anyway. If there was one beneficial thing about dating these dick heads, it was the amusement she got over upsetting them.

Her sister had none too grudging pointed out that, this kind of behavior was rude. Yet, what was more rude. Breaking up with someone in a public restaurant? Or stoically accepting the break up as just one of those unpleasant bumps in the road?

Okay maybe the other was kind of a flick your nose snub, but what was she suppose to do? The one major problem she had, was her emotions...or, better yet, lack of emotions. She had never been an overly emotional person. And the guys she seemed to attract, and just as easily repel, were utter losers. 

They either were as boring as sap, or they just...

Oh who was she kidding, they were as boring as just picking her nose.  They had no personality and lacked any real sexual appeal.

Keith, not surprising, was more boring than the rest. Sure he had been decent looking and, in the beginning, sweet, but he had bored her to tears. As the relationship progressed, she had noticed how vulgarly obnoxious he could be.  Getting mad at the waiter or waitress, if they accidentally spilled something on him.

What annoyed her the most about him, was how he had gotten, on more than one occasion, those individuals fired. In this day and age, it was bad enough getting a job. If there were people like Keith in the world, keeping it was made even harder.

The way she saw it, if he hadn't broken-up with her, she would have with him....

Or she would have killed him.

Good thing he had beaten her to the bunch, because, if he hadn't, she probably would have backed over him with her car or shot him.

As her thoughts wandered back to that night, she found herself sarcastically grinning over the way Keith had behaved...

XXX

Keith had picked her up—late as usual.

Another Keith quality that irritated her, was that he always arrived hours late to pick her up for their dates, and, by then, she was too annoyed to really want to go out. If her job wasn't hard enough, her personal life was made worse by an inconsiderate boyfriend who showed up three hours past the time he said he would. And, the moment she answered the door, criticized her about what she was wearing.

It had been going on ten, when Keith had eventually decided to make an appearance at her apartment. From the moment she opened the door and noticed how his gaze critically wandered over her, she knew what was coming.

“You're wearing that...?”

It had been that dark scowl on her face, that had had him instantly throwing his hands up in the air, and saying, “Never mind.”

Irritably sighing, she grabbed her purse off the coffee table and headed out the door, expecting him to follow her.  When he eventually did, she locked the door and, grudgingly went down the stairs, not caring if Keith was behind her or not.

After making her way over to his shoe box of a sports car, she waited for him to unlock the piece shit that looked about the size of her jewelry box. Once he had, she tried not hitting her head on the low ceiling or even the door frame. Once she had gotten into the car, practically knocking herself senseless in the process, she waited for Keith to get in. It didn't take long for him to do so, and, she had to forcefully swallow her laugh down, when he bumped his head on the low ceiling.

What surprised her, was that the whole drive to the restaurant, Keith was completely silent—not even a peep out of his stupid, bobble head, self.

At first she wondered if it was possible that she had gotten so good at ignoring him, that she had successfully put him on mute.

Yet, that wasn't the case.

The moment they got to the restaurant, another expensive dive, that had its share of snobs sneaking obnoxious glances over at her, and whispering about her dress, she knew something was up. While it was typically Keith behavior, for him to let her work her ass off at getting out of his car and not pulling or pushing her chair in at the table. What wasn't typical, was when Keith ordered a drink and not his meal. He was so predictable. Every time they went out, he ordered his drink and meal all at the same time.