His Secret Desire by Alana Davis Page B

transformation in the minutes necessary. It was though when I realized Alexander’s purpose for putting me in front of the press conference it all became clear to me. An avenue opened up in my mind. It was all about small moves towards a greater future. Small, smart moves.
    We drove back to the airport in the limousine and I drank a glass of champagne with Mr. Chen. We were the only two around to celebrate, but we kept it a muted celebration. When I left the limousine to board the jet, he bowed and waved me off. I smiled and boarded the private jet. The same flight attendant greeted me warmly and I smiled.
    “A glass of wine, please,” I said. “Oh, and bring me the nicest dinner possible on this jet. Lobster, perhaps?”
    Success had been mine.
     

Chapter Eight
     
    The private jet landed without any problems. I took a quiet limousine ride back to Alexander’s condo. I had not talked to him since I had left to go to Beijing. That had been almost two days ago. I had been in Beijing all of four hours, but the plane ride alone had taken nearly twenty four hours. Despite all of my travel, I did not feel sleepy or tired. I had slept well on the plane and now I was excited to get back to Alexander to tell him about how well I had performed. And I was going to receive my something special.
    We pulled into Alexander Strauss’s private garage. I took out the keycard that he had given me to use the elevator. Another huge sign of trust that I held in my hands. I had access to his apartment. Sort of. I still needed to get into the private garage, which only his limousine or one of his cars seemed capable of, but still it was an entrance key. I felt my chest swell with pride. I had been given a task that I had accomplished and I could return to Alexander with my head held high.
    The elevator could not go fast enough. I wanted to run when the elevator doors opened and yell for Alexander so I could tell him everything. I kept my cool. I walked calmly into his apartment and looked around. Soothing classical music was on at low-volume. Something smelled like it was cooking in the kitchen, and god did it smell good. In the living room, I could see two wine glasses filled with red wine waiting on the table. My heart began to beat hard in my chest. I was beyond excited. I was beyond turned on.
    “Welcome back,” Alexander said, coming up behind me. His hands rubbed over my shoulders and I wanted to melt in his arms.
    “Thank you, Mr. Strauss,” I said playfully.
    “How about Alex? Or Alexander, whichever you prefer.”
    “Here are the Sun Industries contracts, signed and finalized,” I said. “Just like you wanted.”
    Alex didn’t even look at the files before tossing them gently aside onto the table near the wine glasses. We sat down near each other and he looked at me, smiling.
    “I had complete confidence in you that you’d negotiate the deal.”
    “I talked the terms down to one hundred and ten per unit,” I gloated.
    A look of genuine shock spread across Alex’s face. He picked the files back up and ruffled through them quickly and stopped. He began laughing and took a big drink of his wine. I could hear him moving through more papers and reading quickly.
    “The terms I originally set for you to negotiate were already very aggressive Samantha. I was sure they’d agree, but not without a fight. These new terms you got them to agree to are incredible. I don’t even know if I would have been able to get them to go this low,” he said incredulously. “Just how did you get the Suns to agree to such a low figure?”
    “I recognized something while talking to them. You purposefully had me up with you on stage for that press conference to give me a certain amount of presence before the camera. Therefore they recognized me, and I used that clout. I talked about the future with them. How it would be beneficial if their company made less profit now in order to foster a good business relationship with the future number one