His Obsession

I should apologise for the confusion on the colour of Alexander's eyes. I'm writing two different stories and I kinda got the heroes mixed up :$ but, yes they are blue. So sorry about that.

***

This is ridiculous, Miranda thought to herself as she settled onto a particularly comfortable looking brown armchair in Alexander's sitting room. Having never entered the mansion before she did not know what it looked like on the inside. She didn't know what she expected either, but this wasn't it. The room he had led her into was filled with vibrant and rich earth colours ranging from deep brown to red. It was... warm. Alexander was not a warm man. It was a major contradiction. Just when she thought she had him all figured out, he threw her off. She crossed her legs carefully and planted her gaze on the carpeted floor, feigning interest on its pattern. She didn't really care if he could read her discomfort, Miranda was not going to let herself look into his eyes. Every time she did it ended badly.

When Alexander sat in the couch opposite hers her gaze shifted to his Berluti clad feet. She barely stopped herself from rolling her eyes in irritation. She had been planning this day since the first time she had set foot on campus. Not once had an afternoon spent with Alexander Colonomos been in her plans.

She slowly raised her eyes up his large form, even sprawled lazily in a chair the man was intimidating. His fingers were linked and he was patiently twiddling his thumbs, waiting for her to finally look at him. When she did, he offered her a slight smile that looked more predatory than anything else.

"Mr Colonomos-"

"Alexander," he interrupted smoothly.

"Mr Colonomos," she said firmly, making it clear that theirs was a professional relationship. Well, as professional as it could be after their last two encounters, anyway. "I'm sorry if I gave you the impression that anything besides our professional relationship is going on between us, but I can't sleep with my boss."

He sat up slightly, leaning forward. His blue eyes sparkled with amusement. "Oh?"

That was all he had to say? "Y-yes," Miranda stammered uncertainly. "I-I-It isn't right and well I just. I mean... Well that is to say. I..."

"What exactly do you think is going on between us, Miranda?" he asked, sparing her from any further stuttering.

"Nothing. I mean, sure we kissed, but you kiss a lot of women." She tried to keep the disgust from her voice as she recalled the countless number of women who called and came looking for him on a daily basis. "And I really don't expect anything from you. I know it was a heat of the moment thing. I just want us to forget anything ever happened."

He got up slowly and she stiffened. When he walked straight past her to a separate table holding glasses and a whiskey decanter she let herself relax. He poured himself some and threw it back swiftly. Miranda, who would have been a spluttering mess had she done that, marvelled at him.

"Miranda, if all I wanted from you was one night, I'd make that clear to you, but it isn't so I'll make that clear to you too."

He took a step towards her seated form, but she jumped up before he could reach her. She was shaking her head vehemently. Before she could speak her phone's vibration went off. She reached for it blindly.

"Hello... Oh hey, Barney... I can't right now. Something important came up... Six? Well that sounds alright... Yes you'll see me there... Okay, bye."

She brushed her hair away from her face, knowing Alexander was glaring hostilely at her. "And that was?"

Miranda shrugged. "My lover from Cancun. He's taking me there for a romantic weekend and I have to leave soon."

This time she did look up and, if possible, his eyes darkened further in anger. "Relax, I was kidding."

"Then who was it?"

This time her eye roll was inevitable. "My friend Barney. A bunch of us are going out tonight for a smaller celebration."

The hostility in his eyes lessened considerably, but it wasn't all gone. "How close are you and this Barney? Is he the same one you were with this morning?"

Miranda ignored him completely. "What exactly are you suggesting? A relationship? Because I don't think that would work out very well. I mean you're already interrogating me as if I'm some kind of criminal about my friends and you have no right to me. How bad would it be when you do have a right to it? I just don't think a relationship between us would be in my best interest."

He strode towards her purposefully as she moved back to get away from him. She ended up with her back pressed up against a wall with him standing a half foot away from her, successfully trapping her between the proverbial rock and hard place.

"You mentioned something about going to the UK, didn't you?" he asked casually with his hands pressing against the wall either side of her.

Miranda's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Why?"

"Wouldn't you need a letter of recommendation to be accepted to something like that?"

Realisation dawned and she fumed, almost expecting steam to blow out her ears. "You would really be willing to jeopardise my career because of this?" she spat.

He exhaled in frustration as if somehow she was the one being unreasonable. "Desperate times, angel. This is the only way I seem to be able to get through to you. I don't want a brief romp in the hay. I want you. You may have very well bewitched me, because I don't do this type of thing, but with you I feel compelled to do so."

Uncertainty shadowed her soft features. "And if it doesn't work out? If I want out, will you let me go?"

Never.

Alexander knew he wouldn't ever be able to let her go, and while he didn't want to lie to her, it seemed to be the only way she would accept him. "If it's what you truly want; I will."

Miranda's brown eyes lost their wariness almost instantly. Despite the fear she sometimes felt towards him, she trusted him. It was almost as natural as breathing, and it scared her.

"Okay. Let's try."

***

Miranda found herself in a small restaurant with a group of her friends that also had an excellent bar. She had been almost an hour late, thanks to her new boyfriend. She knew it would take some getting used to, referring to her boss as her boyfriend. Just like his house, she was surprised when he hadn't seduced her immediately after her answer had left her mouth, maybe even a little disappointed. Rather, they had spent the entire afternoon talking... yes talking. What surprised her even more was how easy it was to talk to him. She was convinced Alexander now knew just as much about her as the twins did.

Spotting her friends took no time at all and she slid in beside Beth, still debating on whether or not to tell her best friend about what had gone on in the past few hours. Three minutes later Miranda had revealed everything to Beth who was grinning like an idiot.

"So how was the sex?" she asked.

Miranda gasped and hastily covered Beth's mouth with her hand. "Maybe telling you was a bad idea," she said glaring at her unrepentant friend, but proceeded to express her discomfort with his commanding nature. She knew if it was up to him, she wouldn't come into contact with another man as long as they were together. Even worse was the fact that he expected her to be home in two hours. This, she didn't dare tell Beth, knowing she'd be ridiculed about it for the rest of the night.

On more than one occasion she waved away offers of dances from various men. Not only would it not feel right, she almost felt like she was being watched. When Barney pulled her to her feet, however, she didn't hold back. He was tall, lanky and a semi professional dancer thanks to his eccentric parents. Dancing with Barney was always fun, and she knew she wouldn't have to put up with any inappropriate groping like she would with most of the men who had already asked.

One second Barney was pulling her onto the small dance floor and the next their hands were wrenched away from each other. They were both startled to see a strange man dressed in a dark suit regarding them blankly.

"Sir, I'll have to ask you to step away from the lady," he said calmly.

Barney laughed. "Do you know him, Randy?"

She shook her head in confusion.

"Then back off, dude." He went to grab for her hand again, intent on ignoring the stranger, but his hand was gripped in a firm hold and folded behind his back. All eyes were on the scene now although the music still blared around them.

"Okay, okay. Just let him go. Let's go sit down, Barn."

She stared at the man's face in confusion, when finally his face registered. She recognised him from the security team at Colotech. The man worked for Alexander!

Furious, she strode back to the table Bethany sat at. She couldn't believe he was having her watched! Of all the arrogant bastards on earth why did she have to date the one rich enough to get away with it?

The rest of the night was spent bad mouthing Alexander to Bethany. Miranda even decided to stay out longer than she originally planned to, knowing he would find out and wanting to spite him just for the hell of it.

The hefty bodyguard, whose name she'd found out was Joseph, had long ago let his indifferent mask slip and was now showing signs of irritation at having to spend three more hours than he had planned, and having to watch his boss's girlfriend get drunker than Cootie Brown. Just an hour past midnight Miranda said goodbye to her friends and let Joseph lead her outside to hail a taxi for her. She shouldn't have been surprised to see one of Alexander's flashy cars waiting for her right outside, but even in her drunk state, she was.

"I hope you had fun ruining my night out, Jo," Miranda joked, not wanting to be left alone to her thoughts. He had already stressed the fact that he did not answer to the name Jo, but Miranda wasn't planning on stopping anytime soon.

"Why yes," he said dryly. "I haven't had this much fun since my trip to the library a month ago."

Gasping dramatically, Miranda gushed, "Was that sarcasm I heard? So you do know what humor is!"

It wasn't a long drive, but by the time they pulled up outside the mansion Miranda didn't dislike Jo as much as she did when she first saw him. She got out of the car unsteadily and would have fallen had it not been for Jo's helping hand gripping her arm. He led her to the front door and it swung open just before they reached it.

There he stood. Without a word, he took hold of her free arm and pulled her away from Jo. They had a brief conversation which she really didn't pay attention to as her eyelids became too heavy for her to keep open. She felt him scoop her into his arms and then ... nothing.

***

When she woke up next it was still dark, but she was clad in one of Alexander's T-shirts. She unconsciously snuggled into a warmth she belatedly realised was his bare chest. Miranda stilled for a moment before letting the calm, even beat of Alexander's heart lull her off to sleep without asking herself whether or not she had made the right choice.