Chapt. 1

Inspired by Janet Devlin- honest men.

You might want to read Married to a stripper BB1 before reading this.

Red Dahlia. strictly business.

In the silence of the illuminated hall, only one thing was given attention to; the clicking of her heels. She knew for sure that she radiated a vibe. A vibe which not many appreciated--in fact, none at all. She captured awareness, desiccated friskiness, watered hard work, and frowned at incompetence, all of which was simply inherited.

Louisa could smell their tension, glimpse their beads of sweat, feel their shiverings, taste their revulsion, and hear their cries of get lost. 

Am I this intense? A question she had been asking herself for the past years.

It was only going to be a matter of seconds before the room returned to the marketplace it previously was as her body got embedded in the lifter. 

"Ms. Woods?" She simply nodded at her associate, Nerry who showed up once she was at the comfort of her office's embrace. 

The happily married ever after pretty lady she seemingly lived to envy. Even though she did not personally interact with her workers, she knew more than she needed to know about them; Louisa knew that she had a charming husband who picked her up after working hours, a pretty three years old lad, and an obedient fluffy cat.

She who holds the bouquet is the next to wed.

The tremendous bunch of fib people seemed to console themselves. It's been four years and ten months to be exact, since she'd caught her sister in law's bouquet, yet nothing close to positive seemed to near the wedding environment of her life.

"Mr. Pol wishes to see you." 

Perhaps they did.

"I'm not available."

But Louisa didn't want to build an interest in any of them. She didn't as well want to be their hit and run type; Gianna was much more than enough. After all, inevitable occurrences might lead to unwanted yields. 'Like in my case.'

Another relatable thought.

Whoever said all men weren't the same was totally right; there were the bad ones, worse, and certainly the worst. Never the good. Starting from Conrad, who'd totally zoned out of her existence from childhood like he never was the sperm donor. Her thoughts drifted to Mason, who had used her yet, never reciprocated an inch of her love until his disappearance. How sick she got just thinking about him. Them. All the men.

Mason.

If life had a little bit...just a little bit favored her, she wouldn't have been going through all the mess of pretending to be ok; to see happily married couples and not feel bad about it, to have moved on with her life, to go on dates just to see if her heart could belong again, to fake smiles, fake enjoying kisses, touches, and sex, to have to dodge some faces after a one night stand because of how awful he was in bed.

"Ms. Woods?" Nerry appeared in the doorway again and for once in her life, she rejoiced being interrupted, "We have a client on the line from Hawaii. He wishes to speak with you. Would you prefer I link you up?"

"No. I don't work out of the country and you know that. So take care of him and tell him I'm not accessible." 

Louisa knew not how Nerry hadn't figured out her mood during her two years of experience as her assistant. For heaven's sake, there was nothing cheerful about her outfit talk less about her makeup, not like there had ever been in the first place but today was way different.

"But Miss, I would've likely done so myself if he hadn't mentioned that he is an old friend of late Mrs. Antonia."

If there was one thing Louisa despised concerning business, it was definitely to use someone dear to her to get to her. Be it living or dead.

Her countenance thawed. "Did he mention his name?"

"Yes, Daniel Rudolph."

The name was quite familiar. If not mistaken, he once was her late mother's trusted client. His wife, Relindiss, became her mom's best comrade, and their kids- Adrian and Norton- were scoundrels she never wished to set eyes on especially during Sunday tea parties. Funny how life turned out though.

"Link me up."

Even though Adrian was an epitome of a god of seduction, Norton wasn't bad at all. At least, he had the charm and chivalry every lady cried for contrary to Adrian.

Truth be heard, Louisa still had a deranging weak bone for Adrian even though she knew very well that like charges repelled.

"Ms. Woods speaking," she finally spat after contemplating on exactly how to address herself. "I'm fine, Mr. Rudolph."

Louisa was glad for one, that he navigated with her in keeping the discussion professional as he shot straight to the point. After a quarter of an hour of yes's and No's, she ordered Nerry in.

"Get the team ready. We'll be leaving for Hawaii next week. Please do well to notify Doug to clear his schedule on or before Thursday to be precise. It's a six days trip at most and also, inform Gab to carry over Dr. Stall's appointment."

"Yes, ma'am,"

She dove into her computer, fidgetted with its keyboard for what seemed like thirty minutes before her phone broke the relationship she had begun to appreciate between the keyboard and her fingers.

The number, upon glaring at her phone screen, happened to be unknown and kept her mind debating on which of her so-called suitors owned it. The screen switched to black and she immediately thank the deities but was short-lived when it sparked again. 

Melissa, her best friend, had warned her, but she honestly found it hard to block them for some reason yet to understand. Almost seven months ago, she would receive endless calls from suitors to the extent of getting a new number with which she had spilled the old attitude of giving it to two or three breathe-takingly gorgeous men.

Or is it four or five? Just reject it.

In a blink of an eye, her dainty finger contradicted her mind as it swiped the screen to the right. 

It could probably be Marley. 

Lately, her brother has been bugging her life by getting tips on how to comprehend a pregnant woman going through emotional struggles again. He was expecting baby number three and knew not how to go about it. Forgetful douche!

"Sweetheart."

A voice that had succeeded over the past months to suffocate her heart with sweet bitterness echoed from the opposite end. It was the voice of a man she couldn't forget even if she strived to, a man she wasn't supposed to develop a cardiac likeness for, a man she ought to escape from in every means possible.

"Adrian?"

The mention of his name jolted a current of high intensity throughout her body.

Heaven knew that even if she did as Melissa warned, a situation as such could never be inevitable considering the fact that she just accepted a six days contract with his family in Honolulu.

Six days!

"Missed me?"

She bit her lower lip while squinting her eyes as if thinking hard on whether she precisely missed him or not but the thumps between her legs eased the mental stress.

"How did you get this number?" She shot. She sure didn't have a collective memory to not know that he was the primary reason why she changed her number and that she voluntarily rejected his calls after mastering the last four digits of his number.

Adrian chuckled.

"You don't think you can get rid of me so easily,"

Louisa gently inhaled and exhaled trying to control her temper, "that is not the answer I was expecting."

"I have my ways."

"What do you want?" She fired.

"I want to see you."

Louisa rolled her eyes and thankful for the fact that he couldn't see just how far into her head her pupils had traveled. She must admit that Adrian was the only man, out of the many she's been with, she still yearned. Not that the way he touched her made her feel deeply about him, it was just better than the touches she had encountered over the years.

Now, she thought she could discard him like she did the others but turned out a one-night stand equalized friends with benefit or so she thought.

"Not available."

"Yes, you are," he insisted.

"Just how clueless are you? Can't you understand a lady's body language?"

"We both know that you do not have any when it comes to me. Well, that is if you do not consider the room version."

She pictured his smoldering look. "Adrian, listen up. I don't want this. We have to stop, ok?"

"You can only confirm you can't achieve something when you've given it a try or two."

"I don't want to," she bit harder on her lower lip this time around that she tasted blood. 

"Why not? Are you by any chance developing sentiments, Louisa? I know that there's something else between us besides sex, reason why you've probably been avoiding my calls, right?"

Intermediate. 

This was absolutely why she averted any encounter with Adrian in the first place for she knew she won't be able to resist him anymore if they started something. 

Adrian wasn't a one woman's man. He was a gigantic flirt and so was she. He never was stable as the next heir to a petroleum company and so was she. He expunged marriage in his to-do list contrary to her. That was just to name the few reasons out of a thousand why they weren't close to compatible.

"I'm in town. Was wondering if we could go out sometime, if not tonight," he continued.

"No."

He chortled, causing Louisa to raise her tattoed brows as if he could see her, "I thought as much," 

A faint knock traversed the receiver's end, followed by a door creaking open. "I want you to think about it, Louisa," his voice slumped. "There could be..." He trailed before what seemed like the audibility of a kiss. "...an 'us' someday," she heard him moan followed by a girl's giggle.

"You're so disgusting!" Louisa hissed as she dropped the call, hearing his faint 'see you in Hawaii,' and haunting laughter fade away.

She sighed and buried her face in her palms. Six days was going to be hell on earth. 

She delved into her purse for she felt her lipstick was out of place after biting on her lip way too many times. When her phone rang again she bit back from picking it and kept staring at the foreign number.

It could be Adrian, but then, what more did he have to say with a sumptuous snack in his presence. It could be Derrick, then again, he quit calling like six months ago. The same applied to Morris and Silva. 

Her brows met when the caller insisted the third time. Her hands itched to pick as her head began scouring for tons of not-so-pleasant words. 

Hell break loose if it's you, Adrian.

Within the snap of a finger, the gadget enclosed her diamond garnished ear.

Louisa didn't speak. She waited for her caller to attack first.

"Where the hell have you been?"

Her chest declined at the sound of her brother's voice. "Lou, I need your help," he cried.

"She smashed your phone again, didn't she?"