Match Made In Heaven

Jeffrey

I bounced one of the many stress balls I had against the large window that made up an entire wall of my office. Below my vantage point, I could see practically all of New York City, sprawling with life and activity. People trying to scrounge up from the bottom, or stay on top. I sighed deeply and bounced the ball against the glass once more.

“What am I doing, Victor? I feel stuck, not that being stuck at the top is a bad thing, but I feel like I need more from life. You know?”

Victor looked up from a productivity report he was looking over for me. My faithful assistant glanced up at me questioningly. He paused in his leisurely pacing around my spacious office. We were on the hundredth floor of the Stargate building. My father had it built just before he died, as a gesture to show the empire we created. Only fifty years in business and Stargate was one of the world’s leading aircraft and aerospace companies.

“Maybe you should date more then, find yourself a wife. Goodness knows your mother begs you to give her a grandkid enough times per week,” Victor said with a snort. I smirked and bounced the ball against the glass once more.

“Maybe I should. Or maybe I just need a change of scenery, I could take up a hobby. Something to occupy my time, something different you know?” I mused out loud while I chewed absently on my lower lip. I glanced over at Victor and saw he was facing me, the month’s reports dangled in his hand, briefly forgotten.

Victor was my best friend as well as my assistant. He always had a solution, smart as hell and sharp as a tack, I was lucky to have him at my side. Really, with his skills he deserved a CFO or board position, but he’d rather silently advise and go through monthly reports at my side.

He placed the papers down on the glass coffee table situated between the office couch and the modern grey and white set’s matching chairs. He rolled up the sleeves of his white button down shirt and put his chin in between his thumb and forefinger. Victor’s signature thinking pose.

“You know, that isn’t a bad idea. Ever thought of modeling?”

He looked at me curiously, expectantly. I pondered the idea…modeling? Well, it would definitely be different. I was more of a nerd, drawing airplanes and making sure they got built correctly for our clients. Never have I capitalized on my looks before, not even to get women.

“Modeling? Seriously?”

Victor nodded his head and then brushed his medium length jet black hair out of his face. Victor was a man’s man, growing up from strict Russian roots. He had the intense dark brown gaze, hawkish nose, strong jaw, and tall, muscular build to intimidate a lot of people. He would be the last person to suggest I dress up in clothes and pose for pictures as a pastime.

“Yeah, seriously, you’re a pretty motherf*cker. Splash your face on the side of a bus, and bam—advertising. Not only for whoever hires you to model for them, but for Stargate as well. Not to mention, it’ll help you meet chicks.” Victor quirked his eyebrows at me as I thought about it.

“Yeah, it couldn’t hurt actually…and you’re right, it would be great for advertising. Why the hell not, I have nothing better to do,” I said resolutely.

“Yes, you do, you have to run this company. If you’re going to do modeling on the side, then it’s on the side. Keep it strictly to time off and the weekends, Jeffrey,” Victor gave me a severe look and I nodded in assurance.

“Of course, don’t worry, I know my priorities. I’ll tell one of the interns to set something up for me. We have to know someone on the inside of the modeling world.” I stood up to stretch my legs and put the call in to the intern working under Victor.

“Yeah, Nessa? I want to be a model, make that happen,” I gave her the order without waiting for her to greet me or anything, then I hung up without her responding at all. Victor looked over at me and snickered. Vanessa was one of our top candidates for a full time job in our public relations department, and if she kept at it, she’d soon be sitting in on negotiations with our clients worldwide. Victor and I were just giving her a hard time at this point just to see how dedicated she was to the company.

“You know, I was kind of hoping we wouldn’t keep Vanessa on anymore. She is really hot and you know how much I love smarts with an ass,” Victor quipped after I hung up.

I threw the stress ball at him and he chuckled as he caught it easily.

“What? I’m stating the obvious. She didn’t hear it so no lawsuit,” Victor assured me. I rolled my eyes while chuckling myself and turned towards the spectacular view of the city once again.

“You know, I’m thinking this modeling thing will be an adventure. In the meantime, update me. How we doing on numbers?” I got back to business with Victor and he picked up the month’s reports and flipped through a couple of pages before he pulled one out of the stack and walked over to place it on my desk. He adjusted the waistband of his slacks before he took a seat on the other side of my desk.

“Changes to the new model of the C-1200 carrier craft have taken up more time and resources than anticipated. We might have to rework some projections for the year’s overall progress. It will be slower as far as our profits and productivity, but it’s nothing we can’t handle.” Victor told me exactly what I needed to know.

“Good, as long as we’re moving forward. I’d be a little concerned if we were progressing too quickly. How about the deal with Ireland? Did they pursue the offer to buy the specialized Z-13s?” I asked Victor.

“They are back and forth with us and our competitor, Greywing. Their X-150s are ridiculously similar, but I think we’ll come out on top, as we’re cheaper.” Victor winked and I laughed at his lame joke.

“Knock, knock. Jeff, I’ve set up your first shoot. It was surprisingly easy to get you a gig as the face of freaking Armani. By the way, don’t let this get to your head. You aren’t that pretty.”

Both Victor and I laughed at Vanessa’s brazen attitude as she waltzed into my office. Vanessa went on to prattle off the details of my first photo shoot while simultaneously programming it into my phone so I wouldn’t ‘completely’ forget.

“You’re looking mighty fine today, Miss Cross. I hope we aren’t bothering you too much?” Victor turned on the charm for Vanessa and I gave him a cautioning gaze. Vanessa actually smiled, her expression turned saucy.

“You’re looking mighty okay too, Victor.” They grinned at each other and I wondered if they already had something going on. I’d have to have a talk with Victor, he usually knew better. Vanessa was attractive and all, with her blonde bombshell looks and curves that would grab any guy’s attention.

But she worked for me and in her current position as intern, she worked for Victor, too. She was smart and capable and I really wanted her on my team. I just didn’t want anything to happen where she ended up quitting, much less a sexual harassment case added to that.

“So that’s tomorrow night, six p.m., Mister Bates. At the Third Street Warehouse. They’ll give you what they want you to wear, obviously. This is big, it’s Armani. Do not forget,” Nessa kept her gaze on mine to convey the seriousness of my showing up.

“Don’t worry, this is something I want to do, I’ll be there. Promise.”

Nessa nodded, satisfied with my answer. Victor drew her into a conversation about Ireland and our pending deal with them. I answered a call from reception.

“Mister Bates, there is a Mister Cromwell here to see you, sir,” Julia, the receptionist, informed me. She’d worked for the company ever since my father started it up.

“Alright, you two, I have a meeting. Nessa, I’ll actually want to talk to you about the Ireland deal a little later, so don’t go too far.” I dismissed them and soon Cromwell was striding purposefully into my office. Cromwell manufactured specialized parts for military level aircraft and wanted to settle a deal with me and Stargate. I grasped his hand in a firm shake just before he sat down across from my desk. Cromwell was middle aged with grey encroaching the black hair around his temples. He looked good for his age, though.

His skin was tanned from much travel, but it wasn’t too leathery and he had an intense focus to his dark brown eyes. His features were hawkish and the way he held himself was almost superior. He was very well put together and a bit intimidating. Even with his dark blue suit and white pinstriped shirt, he reminded me of my father. Almost eerily so.

“I hope you don’t mind if we get right down to it. I have a tight schedule today.” Cromwell’s tone was cordial and warm, yet, I saw the impatience in his eyes. I wondered what crazy morning he must have had.

“Of course, what businessman doesn’t have a tight schedule? Let’s get to it, then.” I rounded my desk and sat down to pull out his proposal for a possible contract between our companies.

“We love your ignition designs and they were tested to be incredibly efficient with our engines,” I began, but before I could comment further. Cromwell lifted a finger.

“It’s good that you bring that up as the first point. We made those designs especially for your engines because we loved the idea that aircraft should be incredibly fuel efficient as well as maximized on performance. Our guys had a lot of fun cooking up those designs and the prototypes really did work great.” There was a spark in Cromwell’s eye that only a true engineer would get when talking about their work.

“That being said, we’d actually like to draw up a few more modifications for the fighter jets and unmanned crafts specifically for Stargate aircraft, so I’d agree for a more open ended contract so we can freely add more products to the list,” Cromwell suggested.

I smiled, also excited about where this could take Stargate in the future. “Of course, Stargate loves innovation and anything you can come up with for us we won’t turn away. Either way, I didn’t have much issue with your proposal other than the time frame for our contract. I’m thinking we could lower it to five years and then renew if need be.”

Cromwell pursed his lips and I waited for his answer. Usually these partnerships would last at the very least for ten years. But with Cromwell’s recent hiccup with one of his other partners there was definitely room for concern.

“So, basically this would be a sort of trial partnership then. Because of the incident with Morgan Skye?” Cromwell was blunt about it, he got to the point quickly.

“Yes, you can understand my concern with a complete breach in contract. You sold their parts to another company just so you could get out of the deal with Skye,” I replied just as bluntly, not bothered by his intense gaze and souring expression.

“I know the public side of things looked bad, but I assure you, Morgan Skye was double crossing us, so I simply returned the favor. Needless to say, I understand your caution. I like you, Bates, and what you and your father have built here. So I’m prepared to jump through a few hoops to ensure that I want a healthy and thriving relationship between our companies,” said Cromwell, surprising me with his sincerity.

“I can get behind that ideal, Cromwell, well said.” I addressed a few more points with him and we were able to come to agreements relatively quickly.

“Alright then, Bates, I’ll see you back here to sign once your people get everything drawn up.” Cromwell stood to leave and I got up to walk him out. We shook hands in parting once we reached the elevators that would lead Cromwell to the lobby.

After the meeting with Cromwell, my Friday went by pretty quickly.

“Hey Jeff, how about some drinks tonight, yeah?” Victor was packing up as I passed by his office directly next to mine.

“That’s not a bad idea, I’ll meet you at Shift’s?” Shift’s was our favorite bar on Fourth Avenue, the vibe was laid back and the food and drinks were always good. Victor told me that he’d see me in a few hours and I went home to get in a quick nap. Knowing Victor, a few simple drinks at the bar could turn into something much crazier. I wondered briefly if I should watch it on my drinking and not stay up too late.

I didn’t want to look drawn and hung-over on my first modeling gig. I chuckled to myself as I walked into my house and went back to the kitchen where I dropped my briefcase on the counter. Great, I sounded like some sort of diva and I hadn’t even had my first shoot yet.

I opened the fridge to grab a bottle of water and then went up the rear staircase hidden towards the back of the kitchen. It lead directly up to the second and third floor of my townhouse. When I reached the top level, I all but sprinted and leaped into my bed. The last few days had been rough on sleep, thanks to work. I set an alarm to wake me in a few hours to go and get drinks with Vic.

* * *

“Hey man, we’re gonna have to keep it to just a few drinks. I have plans for later,” Victor waggled his eyebrows at me like an idiot and I took a drink of my beer. Shift’s was a little packed that night, but Vic was able to grab a couple of seats at the bar.

What kind of plans?” I asked cautiously. Knowing him, we’d end up in some sort of underground subway rave. Victor laughed at my expression and shook his head at me.

“Don’t worry, I won’t take you to some crazy party. I have plans, with a fantastic woman tonight,” Victor said almost smugly. My eyes widened as the thought of Vanessa popped into my head.

“Dude, don’t f*cking tell me it’s Vanessa you’re seeing. She’s our employee.” I gave him a hard stare and he simply grinned at me. I sighed heavily and took another long drink from my beer.

“Don’t worry, Jeff, I really like her. She really likes me and we’re going out for a harmless nightcap.”

I groaned and banged my head against my fist.

“A nightcap? You’re going to get her drunk and then what? Victor you really need to be careful. We need Vanessa at Stargate.” Vic grew a little annoyed with my cautioning him.

“Like I said, don’t worry about it. I’m not going to mess up with her, I think something could really happen with us.” Victor hated talking about his feelings and was annoyed that he had to explain himself. I simply sighed and then shrugged my shoulders.

“Alright, man, I hope things really do work out with you guys, then. You seemed awfully chummy in the office today,” I pointed out, as I tried to steer the conversation away from a potential argument.

“Yeah, girl sure does know how to flirt. Anyway, what about you? What’s on the agenda for this weekend?”

I shrugged at his question.

“Sleep, then tomorrow I have the photo shoot so that should be interesting.”

Victor chuckled before he took a drink of his beer. “That should be interesting indeed. I really have to be there to see these people dress you up pretty to take pictures of you,” Victor laughed at his stupid quip and I rolled my eyes. “I can only imagine what they’ll dress you up in. They’ll probably put you in one of those Roman outfits and have you pose next to a bottle of cologne.”

Victor laughed harder at the visual. I tried not to laugh, but I could see how he’d find this to be hilarious.

“You suggested it, so I don’t know why it’s so funny to you,” I snapped at him, which only made him laugh harder. I took another long drink of my beer, finishing it and then I ordered another.

“I’m sorry, it’s just…it’s rich. I’ll get a good laugh out of this for years,” Victor chuckled.

“Dude, if you suggested I take up modeling as some practical joke, I’m kicking your ass. I hope it has all the benefits you said it would have,” I warned him, but all he did was grin.

“Of course, women will be throwing themselves at you with a bit more advertising…” Victor trailed off and I waited for him to continue, to tell me how this would help the business.

“Stargate won’t suffer from it, as long as you don’t take your shirt off too much,” Victor assured me, still laughing at me.

“I swear if you don’t stop laughing I’m backing out.”

Victor’s chuckling quieted and his eyes widened. “No, no, no. Nessa would kick my ass, apparently that thing with Armani was difficult to set up. Plus, she truly believes it could be a great pastime for you. Some people might even want to take pictures of you in a Roman costume standing next to a plane and that’s good advertising.”

I punched Victor in the arm and he started chortling all over again. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, that was the last one for today, I promise.”

I simply shook my head and we talked over another beer before he had to go. I finished a third beer on my own, then headed out to the waiting car and my driver drove me back to the townhouse. The place felt kind of big and empty all of a sudden and I didn’t really want to ponder why that was. Yeah, I was lonely and had been for a while after my last serious relationship, which ended abruptly and tore me apart.

Ever since then, I’ve been closed off from any romance. Hopefully, the modeling thing would loosen me up and get me back to normal when it came to women. I sat down on the living room couch and pulled out my phone. My publicist had already sent the news out all over twitter about my new career in modeling. There really was no going back then, it ought to be a crazy adventure, that’s for sure.

I fell asleep on the couch and the next morning, I went about my normal Saturday routine. Breakfast, gym, golf, lunch, visit with my mom, and then home again. Vanessa had called me twice to make sure I wouldn’t forget about the shoot and I assured her that I would show up. When I did arrive at the Third Street Warehouse, Victor was waiting for me with a stupid smirk on his face.

“Why do you have to be here?” I said in annoyance, which Victor only found as funny.

“I told you, I couldn’t miss it. Vanessa is inside also, we want to make sure you have a great first day as a model,” Victor said patronizingly. I told him to f*ck off and he laughed as we walked inside.

The large space was set up as any other photo shoot would be. There were a few dressing tables, a few racks of clothing, and then the lighted backdrop waiting for pictures to be taken. People milled around doing various things. Two photographers held cameras and spoke to two leggy blondes wrapped in satin robes. They were almost preternaturally gorgeous and I recognized their faces from many ads. I was almost certain one used to be a Victoria’s Secret Angel.

“Holy…shit those are my coworkers?” I asked in a hushed tone to no one in particular.

“Yes, they are, and while you’re working, there needs to be professionalism, Mister Bates,” a man’s effeminate voice sounded from behind me. He was holding a clipboard and looking up at me with a calculating gaze. It was as if he were studying me and committing my face to memory all at once.

“You’ll do; you have pretty genes, that’s for sure. We need you to undress and get into one of the suits marked with your name over there. Once you’re dressed, just come right out and we’ll get started.”

I nodded and the man turned crisply on his heel to go and yell at someone setting a few props.

Apparently it was “all wrong, completely wrong.”

“Well, at least you get to wear a suit and aren’t shirtless or in a Roman uniform yet.” I turned to give a warning glare at Victor and he held his hands up innocently. “Just an observation, relax, relax.” Victor clapped my shoulder in reassurance and then went over to Vanessa whom we spotted talking to another clipboard-holding guy. I walked over to the clothes rack and found a garment bag with my name tagged to the hanger. I grabbed it and went into a dressing room to change.

The suit was perfectly tailored to me and I wondered how and when they got my measurements. Vanessa was magic, there was no other explanation. I stepped out and clipboard guy number one grabbed my arm and sat me down at a makeup counter. A makeup artist put some powdery crap on my face with a soft brush and dabbed some chap stick on my lips.

“It’s just so your lips can look their best and the powder was a bit of foundation to blend your skin nicely,” she assured me with an amused grin. I’m sure she was laughing at my sour expression as Victor laughed at me from across the room. “Alright, you’re all set, it helps if you don’t look at the camera unless specifically asked to, the flash can be a pain on your eyes.” I thanked her for her friendly advice before going to join the two models who were already being photographed.

They wore floor length cocktail gowns and looked completely stunning. If these were the type of people I’d be working with, Victor could laugh all he damn well wanted.

“There’s our beautiful escort. So you are taking these lovely ladies to a cocktail party, smile at them, laugh. Look beautiful.” One of the two photographers directed me to the white backdrop and I slipped my hands around the two models’ waists. At first I felt a little silly once the cameras started flashing, but then the girls started giving me subtle direction and the poses came naturally.

“Beautiful! Absolutely gorgeous…you’re having fun, you’re happy to see each other…” the other photographer gave us the cues while they snapped away. The entire shoot went by smoothly, we changed into a few more variations of cocktail attire and that was all there was to it, really.

“So did you like your first shoot?” one of the models, the blonde who had been a Victoria’s Secret Angel, Sarah, touched my arm as I was returning the clothes to the rack. One thing I did learn was that I couldn’t actually keep the clothes after a shoot.

“Yeah, I was surprisingly comfortable doing it,” I said truthfully while my eyes roamed her face and body. She was tall, but not too skinny, she had curves, that was for sure, and her face was almost too perfect. She had big blue eyes framed by thick lashes and high arched brows. She had high, prominent cheekbones, a gracefully sloping nose that led to plump, naturally red lips, and her face was a perfect heart shape.

“It did seem to come to you naturally, the photographers really liked you. Which is always great in getting more high-end jobs like this, take it from me.” She smiled and so did I.

I tried to act cool, even though I had plenty of reason to be confident and aloof, I couldn’t get over the fact that I was talking to a freaking Victoria’s Secret model.

“Yeah, I’m hoping to keep the modeling thing going, it gives me something to do…” I said almost lamely.

She quirked an eyebrow at me and smirked.

“Oh honey, modeling will give you plenty to do, especially with a face like that.” She winked at me and sauntered off to return her dresses to the other clothing racks.

“Alright, I was making fun of you before, but…man, are you going to have some gorgeous girls hanging around you.” Victor came up behind my shoulder and I nodded absently, still watching Sarah.

“Yeah, yeah, go and be with Nessa, I’ll catch you later.” Victor snorted and called me a prima donna before leaving. Sarah glanced behind her and saw me watching, she smiled and crooked her finger at me. Yeah, this would definitely be a great pastime.

“You have a really intense gaze you know, it does things to a girl,” Sarah said with a coy smile.

I shrugged and then winked at her playfully.

“Just using what I learned tonight is all.”