“That’s all?”
James questioned, staring confusedly at his friend.
“Yes. Get her to fall in love with you. Get into a relationship with her and have sex”
Zane responded back with a smirk enveloping on his face at the same time drinking from his glass of vodka.
As James looked back at the lady in question, he absentmindedly ran his finger round the rim of his glass while his mind went down memory lane to the first moment he had seen Adriana.
He had been seated in the same spot two days prior and his eyes had caught on to her. she had been at the bar wearing a red dress that hugged her figure in all the right places and made her hair pop against her skin. Her legs had seemed so long that even while he was at a meeting, he couldn’t help fantasizing about how they would feel wrapped around him. He had planned to get her number after his meeting but before he could reply the question he was asked, she had drained her glass and walked out of the bar.
Like a child following a candy trail, he had quickly ended the meeting and followed her outside but it was like she had vanished into thin air because he wasn’t able to even catch a glimpse of her.
“So, do you accept defeat now?”
James dragged his eyes with so much difficulty away from Adrianna and back to his friend who was watching him stare at her. He didn’t bother giving him a reply as he took a sip from his own glass of gin and tonic. He was beginning to regret telling Zane about his infatuation with Adrianna but it had all come pouring out when Zane had asked him what he was staring at behind him. Then, he had told Zane all about how attracted he had been to her at first glance and how she had disappeared but then reappeared yet again in the exact same spot that he had seen her at earlier.
When he realized that he had spilled his guts to his friend who had quickly turned to look at the lady in question before whistling wolfishly, he had tried to retrace his steps by claiming that he was no longer into her but it was too late. His friend had already jumped to the conclusion that the reason why he, James was pretending to no longer be attracted to her was because he knew that he couldn’t get her and not the fact that he was now into men as he claimed. Zane had gone ahead as to open old wounds by reminding him of his past relationships with women and how they ended which led him to being single for the past ten years. James had tried to dissuade his friend from that line of thought but the more he tried, the more convinced Zane became and that had brought them to where they were now; making a bet of 10 million dollars which rested on James getting Adrianna to fall in love, get into a relationship and sleep with him, all in a month.
“I hope your accountant doesn’t give you a verbal lashing when the money leaves your account because she’s gone”
James turned sharply to look in the direction of where Adrianna had been seated. True to what Zane had said, she was no longer there. He felt a sense of déjà vu as he hurried out of the bar just to see that she had vanished into thin air.
For the next few days, James made it a point of duty to drop by the bar. To his disappointment, he never crossed paths with her. He even went as far as sending his assistant before and after hours to inquire from both customers and employees on whether they had seen her but all of that was in vain because none of the leads they got were tangible. He would have believed that she was a ghost or an apparition that his mind had conjured up if he wasn’t so sure that his friend had also seen her. His assistant on the other hand was beginning to question his boss’ instructions because he could not understand what was so fascinating about a girl he had only just met. He however, had no choice but to follow his boss;
After two weeks of futilely searching, James left on a work trip. While on his way back, he was attacked by a group of men. When he came down to check why his car was jerking and not functioning properly, they had pounced on him like predators on their prey. He had broken into a run and dashed into the nearest place he could find which ended up being a hotel. Luckily for him, he could pay for a room with his phone which had his card information. It was while he was collecting the keys to his room that he caught a glimpse of the woman that had eluded him in the elevator. Before he could get there though, the elevator had closed and was well on its way to her floor.
Not willing to let the opportunity presented to him on a golden platter pass by, he took the stairs to the floor that the elevator had been headed to. By the time he got there, he was again out of breath with sweat clinging to his dress shirt. Weary after running up more than ten flights of stairs, he pushed open the door to what seemed like a restaurant and walked inside. He didn’t see her at first but when he did, his heart dropped to his feet because she was not alone. She was seated with a man who looked at her like she was the only one in the room. Disgruntled and hurt that she had a boyfriend, he took the table behind them and picked up the menu to hide his face from other patrons so no one could see just how hurt he was by the new information he had garnered.
“Rick, I’m sorry, I’m just tired of pretending. Have a good life”
James ears pricked at the conversation he had just overheard. Adrianna had just broken up with the man, Rick which meant that he had an opportunity to get her for himself. Quickly and quietly so as not to get any unwanted attention, he fired off a text to his assistant who he had called after the attack and was waiting in the parking lot for him to follow the lady that was leaving the hotel dressed in a white gown and had a pink scarf wrapped around her neck. He was to find out where she stayed. While his assistant got to work, James made a call to Zane to ask for an extension since he had only just found her and two weeks was going to be too little time to get her to fall in love with him. Unsurprisingly, his friend refused which left him in a tight spot.
Three days later, James had gotten his plan in motion and was already taking morning walks the same time as she did, trying to talk to her even though he didn’t leave in the same neighborhood as she did. He had gotten his assistant to not only get her daily schedules so he could plan how he was going to get to speak to her, but he had also taken to sending her anonymous gifts followed with letters of love. He sent them other house and her office without fail. It was on one of those morning walks that he bumped into her purposely and after apologizing profusely for being so clumsy, finally got to exchange contacts with her.