"Are you kidding me?" AJ asked, looking at Mary point-blank. She shook her head no, but thought it was funny how, now that he mentioned who he was, she knew exactly the group she would be writing a book on.
"I have never heard of you until recently...you see I am with Atlantic Publishers and I am the writer that your group is meeting with today in the lobby..."
AJ looked at Mary in disbelief. All this time he had been sharing pieces of his life with her... what a story she would have to write! That would be one hot book once it got on the shelf.
AJ was intrigued with Mary, everything about her, he either found cute or downright sexy. He had wanted to get to know her better, was unsure of how he would get to do this, and here was his golden opportunity staring him in the face! He knew where he was sitting at the dinner the group was scheduled to have with her. The dinner planned was a meet and greet type of thing, where they would ultimately and inevitably all get wasted on expensive wines that they never had a taste for anyway. This was a normal thing, I will not say it happened often, but the guys did like to get together on their off days and have some..."fun."
All the "fun" the group would be having together would be nothing to AJ tonight, he wanted to know more about this Mary Howarden. He liked her and from what he gathered, she liked him, too. The extent of that like was somewhat questionable to him, but he did not care. He had his eye on her and that, in and of itself, would be her demise. Well ok, not her demise, but AJ would definitely do anything he could to get with her.
"Wow...I would have never thought you would be the writer...I mean, I am sure you can do it if you are assigned to the job, but...you don't look the part. Most of the 'writers' we see are all professionally dressed and stiff nosed. You look so relaxed and comfortable."
"All the better, that way I can be on your level and not above you." Something in the tone of her voice turned him on when she said that. He loved the implications that she had made, whether or not she had noticed it. He wanted her above him...hell anywhere would work for him, but he deifinitely didn't want to scare her off. He would have to take his time, judging from all the things she had shared with him on the plane. He felt something for her that he simply could not put his finger on.
Kevin walked over and told AJ it was time to get ready. With some parting words, they left each other and Mary went to get dressed for the dinner she would share with the Backstreet Boys. She was unsure of what to do with her suitcase as the entire group would be leaving for another hotel after this night. She was partly thankful, her hotel room was a little cramped. When she was at last ready and her suitcase was repacked, she journeyed down to the hotel lobby and sat in one of the cushioned chairs there. After reading through the latest gardening magazine, she heard the distinct sound of grown men talking and laughing, and in general, carrying on pointless conversations. Upon their entering the lobby, she stood and AJ introduced her to the group, this time as their writer. The Boys were shocked they had known her since the plane and only AJ had known that she would be the writer.
After the initial shock was over, they all decided on a restaurant to eat at. Then they left, all in one big unmarked tour bus that had been parked at the back of the hotel. They chose the Olive Garden and asked for private seating in the back of the restaurant. They were of couse obliged and their drink orders were taken.
The group was sitting in an odd formation, but one that was to be expected. Mary was sandwiched between Kevin and Brian and AJ sat across from her. Kevin had engaged Mary in a conversation that she found irresistable. They had been talking about writing when Mary mentioned that she was mainly a fiction author and so this was a stretch for her to write the truth and not make it up as she went along. Kevin asked her what kind of fiction she wrote, and shamelessly, and absentmindedly she replied:
"I write erotica."
"Really?" Kevin asked, trying to conceal his shock and his smirk. He sipped his water as she replied a yes.
"I have been writing for over four years now and I find little joy in anything else. It opens my mind to all kinds of possibilities and leaves me wondering when I will ever find a man of my own."
"Are you saying that you are single?" Kevin asked. AJ rolled his eyes. *Yes, that's what she's saying you dumbass, what else would she be saying?!* AJ also knew that Kevin was trying to get with her now. He had to stop that, for sure.
"Yes...I don't see myself with anyone in the future. I think I will be all alone the rest of my life."
"Yeah right..." AJ smiled. "You know better than to think that way. You are smart, talented, and on top of that, very beautiful, there is hardly a man on earth who would disagree." Mary grinned, then looked at the table.
"Well, thank you, AJ, but I am afraid they cannot put up with my attitude and my decorating ideas." At this, Kevin laughed.
"I have that same problem...ironic..."
"You? Never, I am sure you have thousands of women that clamour over you.
"This is true but one can hardly assume that I have ever met a woman that I would like to be with forever... or who would want to be with me." AJ did not like this conversation, or where it seemed to have been heading. He tried to keep Mary's attention throughout the meal, but eventually, she found him annoying and would have much rather had Kevin to talk to all night long. When Kevin excused himself to go to the restroom, AJ made his move and asked her if she would like to have dinner just the two of them sometime. She smiled, then replied.
"Isn't that a little too unprofessional?" AJ was crushed. Nothing was too unprofessional to her. She would clue you in to her most intimate places, but would not go to dinner alone with you if you begged her.
"What do you mean? It could be a working dinner..." AJ smiled.
"Well in that case you would be disappointed when it was over, wouldn't you?" She had him pinned to the table now. He didn't like it that she had him figured out so quickly. Dinner went on as planned, but Kevin kept Mary entertained for the most of it. After dinner, Kevin and Mary were still talking. All the way to the hotel, they talked and until they got to their rooms they talked.
AJ went into the room and closed the door, then flopped on the bed. Kevin looked over at him.
"What's your problem?" Kevin asked. AJ rolled his eyes and looked at the ceiling. "Do you like Mary?"
"She's a peach." AJ said quickly and with much sarcasm.
"Alex... you know what I mean."
"I do know what you mean, and I am going to tell you the truth. I think I am in love way over my head this time...She's the most beautiful and most talented women I have ever known. Not to mention she sees right through me. I really thought we could maybe have something, but from the way dinner was going, I have an idea that you will have her a long time before I ever get the chance to touch her hand." With that, AJ rolled over and walked to the bathroom.
"AJ, wait a minute." AJ stopped in his tracks and Kevin caught up. "You are just now telling me how you feel about her? Why didnt you tell me sooner? You know I would have backed off if I had known..."
"Yeah right... just like you backed off when Sabrina and I were dating. Are you just out to ruin my chances with every woman I meet?"
"Alex that is rediculous and you know it. Here, this is what I will do. You can have her... she really isnt all that into me anyway, at least not as into me as I am into her. I know that for a fact. I think she likes you but doesn't want to admit it." Kevin walked onto the balcony of the room and sat in the chair there, leaving AJ to his own devices. AJ showered and went back to bed.
That night he awoke with a headache and decide to walk around the hotel, and to go see the view from the pent-house floor. He had the pass up there anyway. He might as well try to see it. The elevator never asked him for his pass, and soon the doors to the pent-house floor were opened to him. He stepped onto the floor and stood still, eyes wide. In front of him was a view unlike any he had ever planned on seeing. It was Mary. Her dress she had worn to dinner hugged her body in all the right places and flowed in all the right places. Her back was to him and she was leaning on a railing looking out over the city. The lights from outside shilouetted her figure and instantly AJ felt something like hot lava running through his veins. The elevator dinged, breaking the moment. Mary spun around.
"AJ...what are you doing up here?"
"I could ask you the same question."
*silence* AJ took a step forward, slid his hands in his pockets and looked down.
""Thinking."" They said in unison."About what?" AJ asked softly as he took a spot beside her on the rail. He looked over at her as she looked at him . Their eyes met and her reply shocked him.
"You."
Mary by Raine Glenn
