3| Meeting Dominic Knight

I stood at the window of my office and admired the city as I cooled down after my disaster of a progress meeting. I guess you can’t have a good progress meeting with your investors if your company hasn’t made any progress in months.

I sighed and focused on my reflection in the glass window. I’m almost the spitting image of my mother with her brown hair and luscious curves, but I have my dad’s bright green eyes. Both of my parents are tall, so it makes sense that I’m naturally 5’9”. My heels can never be more than 3 inches high so that I don’t tower over men.

Having a bold personality and confidence is one thing for a man to see you as powerful, but to physically look down at them would be overkill, so I keep my heels to a minimum.

Today’s attire was a body-hugging, pink dress with matching lipstick and nude heels with a black strap and buckle across the ankle. My nails are done with French tips and my toes are always a neutral color, so they go with anything I wear and I don’t ever have to worry about clashing colors.

The afternoon sun brought out the highlights that were put in my hair. Wait. Afternoon sun? Shit. What time is it?

I checked my watch and saw it was almost noon. Shit. I have to get going to make it to lunch with Dominic Knight. Fuck. How did I get so distracted? I hurried to my desk and grabbed my purse and phone before rushing out of there, getting some weird looks along the way but brushing them aside.

I was lucky to catch the elevator quickly and hail a cab without the paparazzi bugging me. They always hang out around my building in the morning when they know I will show up for work, but then they disappear.

I made it to the restaurant where I was meeting Dominic with two minutes to spare.

“Hi,” I greeted the blonde hostess with a friendly smile as I walked in, “I’m meeting a Mr. Knight here, has he arrived yet?”

“Yes, he has. Let me take you to his table,” she spoke with a smile and grabbed a menu for me before showing the way.

We walked through the restaurant and toward the back where there were several tables with white table covers and tealight candles that were lit in the middle, even at noon.

The restaurant was only at half capacity at this hour and it appeared to be the place to go for business meetings. Everyone was in business formal wear.

We approached a table to the side of the room where a man had his face buried in his phone. He was looking down, so all that I saw was his black suit and matching hair that was combed to the side.

He noticed us approaching and looked up. He looked just like his photos from the red carpet, and I couldn’t help my blush.

His eyes are a piercing blue like the ocean, his cheekbones were high on his square face and he grew out some facial hair that gave him a rugged handsomeness. His eyebrows appeared to be in a constant slant that almost made him look sad in a way, but his smirk when he saw me begged to differ.

He stood up and greeted me with a handshake, “Stephanie Greene?”

“Yes. It's nice to meet you, Mr. Knight,” I said as I shook his hand.

“Please, call me Dominic.”

I noticed once he stood that he had a medium size build with a respectable amount of muscle and was at least four inches taller than me, even with my heels on.

He motioned to my seat across from him before we both sat down at the table for two. Chivalry would have had him pull my seat out for me, but I’ll let it slide this time.

“Thank you for meeting me,” I said casually as I set my purse at my feet. “I hope you weren’t waiting long.”

“Not long at all,” he responded as he checked his phone one last time before putting it in his pocket and placing his hands on the table. “What is it that I can do for you, Ms. Greene?”

"I wanted to propose to you a partnership between our companies. I think we can both benefit from a collaboration.”

He lifted his bushy, yet neat, eyebrows and blinked, “A collaboration?”

“Yes. My company is yet to do menswear and I thought that you were the smartest person to come to for such a thing,” I was kissing his ass a little but didn’t care, I needed him, or rather, I needed his money.

He smiled a big, toothy smile at me, “I’m flattered.”

I waited for a minute. Was that it? Was that all he was going to say? He’s flattered?

“What do you think about working together? It would just be one collection, nothing too crazy.”

He sat back in his chair and looked at me for a minute as he thought. I felt awkward under his gaze but I didn’t let it show on my face. I remained composed and calm throughout and stared right back at him.

“What’s in it for me?”

“I can give you my knowledge of the industry and offer you more resources.”

He snorted and took a sip of his drink while keeping his eyes locked on mine. “I have more knowledge than you would expect.”

“As do I,” he challenged with a chuckle, “I thrive at my business. Why would I collaborate with a company that specializes in ready-to-wear?”

“Because my business is expanding and I believe yours has the potential to as well, with my help.”

“My business can expand without your help.”

“Perhaps, but wouldn't you like to have it expand sooner rather than later?”

He thought about that for a minute and tapped his finger on the glass that his hand was wrapped around, making a continuous soft clinking sound.

Our eyes didn’t part for a moment as we both silently challenged each other, wondering who would back down first.

His eyes narrowed for just a second before he finally answered, “I’m sorry, Ms. Greene, but I don’t think my company and yours would be simpatico.”

“I have to disagree,” his eyebrows shot up and he had an amused smirk when he heard me, obviously thinking I would simply thank him for his time and we would both move on with our lives. “My father is Matthew Greene. I’m sure you’re familiar with him, yes?” I tilted my head an inch.

“I have heard of him, yes.”

“So you understand that I have a strong background in the high-end side of fashion, along with my knowledge of ready-to-wear.”

“I suppose you’re right,” he slowly nodded his head.

“So I’ll ask you kindly not to underestimate me, Mr. Knight. I have more tricks up my sleeve than you would think.”

He lifted a single brow at me and let his finger wander the rim of his glass.