Cinderella Man

Work wasn’t awkward. No, it was a pain in the ass. Marshall made sure to overload her with papers and bombard her with scheduling guest appearances to promote his upcoming album- and that was just on the airplane.

They left early this morning, around seven. It wasn’t a long flight, but the tension sure made it feel like eternity. He avoided looking at her and his flirtatious advances had ceased.

She had not heard from Michael since Saturday morning. He was gone as predicted, no trace of him left. She knew what awaited her so the void in her heart was not as unbearable as before. Besides, she was going to the Bahamas. Not even Michael could put her down.

But Marshall could. For some reason the fact that he did a complete 180 on her made her feel as if she had done something wrong. He continued to go down the list of interviews he needed scheduled, his tone strict and business like. She didn’t like change of attitude and voice- she preferred the silly, flirtatious, easy-going Marshall.

“Why are you acting like that?” she cut him off mid-sentence, her eyes glued to him. She didn’t mean for the words to come out- it was supposed to be a thought- but her subconscious expressed it.

He looked up at her from the paper in his hand, a mixture of surprise and annoyance evident in his expression. “Like what?”

’Oh, he’s going to play dumb,’ she thought. She sighed, unable to find the words to express his new attitude. “Forget it,” she turned her attention back to the folder in her lap. He changed, but explaining to him how would involve letting out her own feelings about him, her own thoughts. She would have to admit she liked his perverted advances, and that was not going to happen.

But he knew what she meant. She should know why the change came about. He didn’t know she was taken and he wasn’t that type of a guy. Nor was he the type of guy to keep disrespecting her by making advances.

Their flight landed and they were whisked into a black Jeep Commander. Marshall wasn’t the limousine type. Bizzare drove, Marshall sat in the front- probably to avoid her- and she shared the back seat with Kuniva.

“How you doin’ sexy?”

Aubrey turned her head to the side, for the first time actually giving the guy a good look over. She glanced at him on the airplane, but other than that the two had no contact. She couldn’t even remember his name.

“Good,” she replied bluntly, sending off the vibe that she was not interested. “Yourself?”

“Better now,” he replied, winking. “You free tonight?”

She rolled her eyes out of his view, “Look, Kevin, I’m not that type of a girl.”

Marshall let out a sneer at the remark, his face glued to the passenger window. He was listening intently on their conversation. From what he saw two nights ago, she was that type of a girl.

They chose to ignore Marshall.

“It’s Kuniva.”

“What did I say?”

“Kevin.”

“Close enough,” she shrugged her shoulders. “Makes no difference to me.” Knowing his name or not knowing his name would not benefit her is any way.

“Damn, Marshall. You always pick the feisty ones,” Kuniva stated, shaking his head.

Marshall smirked, knowing that was true all too well. He chose to hire her because of her feisty attitude. “Tell me ‘bout it,” he pulled the hood from his jacket over his head as the jeep came to a stop.

Aubrey was the last one to get out of the jeep. After all, she had ten pounds of papers to carry around with her. ’So much for soaking up some sun,’ she thought as she followed the three men into the enormous hotel. They parted as each approached their room.

It was beautiful, exquisite in every way. Her room overlooked the beautiful ocean. It was painted a soft yellow with decorative, pricey artwork hanging on the walls. The bed was bigger than her whole bedroom back home. She couldn’t begin to phantom the bill for their stay.

’Good thing Shady records is picking up the tab. Shit, one night probably costs more than my tuition for a whole semester.’ She set down her suitcase and her briefcase, which was stuffed with the papers Marshall threw at her on the plane.

She threw herself on the bed. It was surreal. She only read about places like this in magazines. Relaxation had already hit her. She closed her eyes, feeling herself at the brink of a blissful slumber. A whole week in this place could wash all her stress away. Keyword: could. But it won’t.

Just as soon as she laid down, her phone rang. She pulled out her blackberry, an unfamiliar number staring back at her. She slowly accepted the call, “Hello?”

“Get ready.”

She stared dumbfounded at the phone. What kind of a call starts off like that. “How the hell do you know my number?”

“I’m your boss,” he explained, annoyed, “I know everything about you.”

“Everything?” she giggled. “What’s my bra size?” It was the first thing that popped into her head. She didn’t mean to take the conversation where it was going. She just wanted to prove to him that he didn’t know everything about her.

“I’ll come up and get a closer look.” She smiled involuntarily. He was back to his silly self.

Before she could tell him she was joking, a knock came at her door. “Marshall?” she asked into the receiver but there was no answer. ’Shit, he’s fast.’

The knock came again, louder. “No one’s home,” she answered. She didn’t think that whole plan through.

“Aubrey, open the door.”

“No Aubrey here. She went to the pool.”

Something beeped and in a split second the door opened to reveal Marshall with a key card in his hand. He smirked, stepping inside and closing the door. “You cheated!”

He chuckled and took steps towards her. “We never set the rules.” She felt the cold wall collide with her back as he cornered her. What the hell was going on? Sure she missed the old Marshall, but not this much.

His face was inches from hers. His breath mingled with hers as their breathing quickened. A sudden wave of desire surged through her. “Marshall, what are you doin-“ her question was cut short as his lips crashed on hers.

His lips devoured hers in a hungry kiss. He had wanted to do that so a while and he would savor the moment. His tongue brushed against her lower lip, begging for entrance. Her hands pushed against his chest, pleading with him to stop.

But her body disobeyed as it gave in to her desire. Her lips parted, allowing full access to his tongue. He stoked her tongue with his, his hand snaking behind her head.

A loud ringtone from her phone disrupted her sleep. She woke up, rubbing her eyes. Did she just really dream about kissing Marshall? She shook her head, hoping to shake out the dream.

She glanced at her phone, an unfamiliar number staring back at her. ’Talk about déjà vu.’

“Hello?” she answered.

“Get your ass down to the lobby in five minutes.” Okay, it was somewhat following her dream. She chose to play it out.

“How the hell do you know my number?”

“It was on you’re application," he replied in an agitated tone.

’Noooo! You weren’t supposed to say that!’ She sighed. “Oh.”

“Five minutes,” he repeated.

“Where are we going?”

There was no answer. He had hung up on her. She frowned. She liked the Marshall in her dream better, even if he wasn’t realistic.