Sushi had always been Alex's consolation food. Not something unhealthy. No junk food clogged up the engine of the six foot tall dark haired stallion of a man. But when he felt low it was expensive raw fish that soothed him, and of course, plenty of sake.
There was only one place to go to get the best sushi in town, Hotel Kenshi Noh, and only one person for Alex to dine with: Olga, former Russian ballerina and longtime fuck buddy. Olga would understand his current woes, and would be understanding, caring, and above all willing. A few hot rice wines, some world class dining, and sweet release with the leggy, slender Russian beauty pinned beneath him and the crisp hotel sheets would see Alex right.
He still drove a pickup truck. It was a call back to a former life, when he hadn't been one of the largest timber barons in the American Pacific Northwest, but a mere logger. The outdoors life had suited him well, but nowadays instead of a hard hat, boots, goggles and flannels it was a Brioni suit hugging his sinewy frame.
But Alex's truck, though luxurious, was still a working man's vehicle, and as the CEO of his own company he still considered himself a working man. He'd come far. And dammit, a working man who has come so far has a right to a night out.
Well, not out, in. His penthouse would remain dark tonight. Tonight he was pulling up the Hotel Kenshi Noh, so called for its owner and the Noh theater inside. But food came first. Olga was due to meet him at 6:00 PM, but he had a feeling she would be late. He was a job site kind of guy, now an executive, and sometimes he barely felt he needed the sturdy Timex Ironman on his thick right wrist. Alex was punctual. But artists, dancers, folks like that were not. So it was with no surprise when the women at the front of Kenshi's sushi restaurant, all three totally fuckable Japanese babes dressed up as geishas, told him that his companion had not yet arrived. He was guided to a quiet, intimate corner and sat and waited.
Alex wasn't above a five thousand dollar bottle of sake, but tonight wasn't that bad. He settled for a fine Hakuryu White Dragon Daiginjo that ran him a mere forty bucks. The drink, with an antique sake set to accompany it, was not long in arriving. The first splash tasted like nuts, fruit, and caramel, all soaked with an unmistakable complex flavor of rice and good old fashioned alcohol. Alex smiled and set down his empty glass. Sake was nearly odorless, so the wonderfully layered flavors were always a surprise to those unused to it. For Alex, an aficionado of it, it was only a warm reminder that he could afford the finer things in life.
His mobile phone vibrated in a customized pattern: two rattles and then a long pause, followed by a short, heavy buzz. Olga. He fumbled the thing out of his suit pocket.
"Zdravstvuy, lobov' moya," A voice said, and then switched to heavily accented English. "I am sorry, Alex."
"Don't worry, Olga," He said immediately. He could already tell where this conversation was going.
"I am afraid you are going to get used to me canceling," She said softly. "I do not mean to do so so often. I know you are in pain tonight."
"'Pain' is a bit much," Alex told her, and then admitted, "I did want to see you tonight. Travel plans change?"
"Yes, from Seattle we are going to Vancouver, and da, I know this is a short drive, but my passport has been seized."
"My god, Olga. Are you going to be alright?"
"I will be fine, do not worry. This happens now with a Russian passport more often than it used to. My only worry is that I have hurt you."
"We've been friends for a long time. I know the score. Work comes first for both of us, as it should." Alex told her truthfully. "Next time."
She made some more protests and apologies but he assured her all was well, and hung up. He set his phone down, frowned. Suddenly, sushi didn't seem quite so appetizing, not with his customary after dinner dish afterwards no longer on the menu.
"She cancelled, didn't she?" A soft voice said. "Or are you drinking that entire bottle by yourself?"
Alex had been looking down, so his gaze found her feet first: tiny, white toes painted pink, slipped into expensive black shoes with a lot of buckles and straps. Slim ankles and shapely calves followed, and then, just above her knees, a sequined pink dress began. Its glinting material and cut could not disguise the woman's ample thighs and hips, and it was low in front, exposing more than a bit of cleavage from perfectly shaped breasts.
Finally, his eyes met hers. They were wide, blue, slightly teasing, and despite his woes that brought him to the hotel and the disappointment of being cancelled on Alex felt his world slow and then freeze. Her cheekbones were high and full, her chin and nose were strong, and pink lipstick and black and pink eyeshadow matched her dress. Her hair was blonde, quite long, and dyed pink at the ends.
She was quite simply the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, and he knew her by sight alone. Uncharacteristically, Alex found himself speechless.
"You're right, wrong way to start a conversation." She looked a little embarrassed, her blue eyes chagrined, but her tone was still teasing. "I'm Lexi."
"You're Alexa Bliss!" He blurted out.
"Ha!" She said with an unrestrained but feminine laugh. "I didn't picture you for a mark. Marks don't usually drink expensive sake and wear Brioni. But hey, I guess it takes all kinds."
"I do love wrestling," Alex said, a little shyly. "I used to be a logger. My friends there were really into it."
"Logger?" He thought he heard a rise to her voice, a note of interest. "Used to be? What do you do now?"
"I run the logging company," Alex said, trying to sound modest. "Not that one, a new one I started. I'm Alex. I got a card here somewhere..."
"Instead of flashing around your business credentials and your Italian leather wallet, how about you invite a lady to sit?" She smiled softly. "Unless...did I really interrupt a private date between you and a bottle of booze, Alex?"
"Sit, sit." He said, flushed, either from the one hefty glass of sake he'd downed or her presence. Perhaps both."Do you want a drink, Alex...Lexi?"
"Let's go with Alexa," She said after some thought. "Alex and Alexa. I like it. Yes, I'd love one."
"It'll have to be more than one, with a bottle this size," Alex filled up a glass for her with a few fingers of the sake and pushed it over to her. "You've guessed why I am here, by the way. Kind of."
"Kind of?" From the way she drank and relished the sake it seemed that she was no stranger to it.
"I had a business deal fall through," Alex admitted. "One I had been working on putting together for a few months. It was my baby."
"I see. Sorry to hear that." Her words seemed genuine and her expression was caring, softer than he was used to seeing on television. "And someone canceling on you?"
"Wait a moment," He said with some teasing of his own. "You got to hear a bit of my story. Let's hear yours."
