c h a p t e r | 09
PILLOW TALK
'Let's check out the bedroom, shall we?'
__________

"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU EXPECT? The guy only has two brain cells. So no shit, you can't find him as he lost one and now is busy using the last one to try and find the other. Why do you think he still doesn't know the freaking clock?" Tessa muttered bitterly to herself. For some reason Hale always made her make use of her otherwise sparse expletive vocabulary as if they were created just for him.

She clung to the steering wheel in pure agitation cursing Hale to the cacti infested lands, while she found herself in the land of nowhere after her GPS had stopped working.

"But sure!" She hit the steering wheel for the umpteenth time, "I'll help. Of course I will, because I'm a stylist and not a fucking assistant!" She spat sarcastically and slapped down the visor to prevent the sun from hitting her straight in the face as she turned down a small road she thought she had already been down on once before during the last half hour she'd been driving around.

"I swear I'm gonna staple a fucking watch to his forehead the next time I see him. I bet I can make it pass as the next big thing in fashion," Tessa glowered and stopped the car altogether and she reached for her phone, trying to figure out exactly where she was.

"Sure great, no 4G, 3G, no nothing! Well, if the freaking house even exists, it's sure as heck off road. I'll give him that," Tessa huffed and threw the phone away from her and leaned over her seat to see if she could find a map or something that could give her an inkling as to where in the world she was.

"Off the highway, 2 lefts and a right. Yeah, up my ass maybe," she huffed, recalling John's instructions and visualized him being poked by a cactus too.

"Excuse me?" Someone knocked on the car, and she jumped in her seat, bumping her head on the roof of the car, before she looked at the intruder. A hissed response got caught in her throat as she captured the gaze of green tantalizing eyes, which swelled with wisps of golden circling the pupils.

Immediately she felt blood rush to her cheeks, daring her to speak as that would ensure it spilling to the rest of her face like an overripe tomato and she settled with an awkward smile instead. The hand which wasn't glued to the wheel was busy trying to smooth down the hair that must have strayed from its position by the wind that had blown through the open windows as she drove.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you." The stranger's features cracked into a mind blinding smile, which sent her thoughts into a complete mush as she lingered a little too long on the adorable dimple that winked at her teasingly.

"Are you the one coming to take a look at the house?" He spoke up, gesturing subtly behind him and Tessa's mouth dropped open without the hint of a word on her tongue.

She felt her brain weakly try and jumpstart itself, though it seemed overpowered by its detection of a British accent thrown into the mix and it took everything in her not to sigh loudly in adoration.

"Y-yeah. Well, I mean. Hold on," she managed to croak out and turned in her seat, going through her purse as she searched for the page she had printed out before leaving, while trying to collect herself and prevent herself from looking like an even greater brain fart than she already did.

"I'm sorry, but there was a slight mix up, so I got sent to check it out instead of the one who— Yeah you don't need to know that," she shook her head and sent him a smile, before quickly covering her mouth as she hadn't checked if she had anything in her teeth from wolfing down her lunch on the way here.

The man, as it would be an offense to call him a guy, chuckled and took a step back to open the car door for her, and she quickly snuck a glance of herself in the rearview mirror.

The teeth the were good, the hair, slightly windblown but still manageable.

"Well, shall we get to it then?" He asked, stuffing a folder under his arm, before offering her his hand, which made Tessa blink again, her hand went to tuck her hair shyly behind her ear.

This man was gorgeous, polite and extremely sigh worthy, and even more interestingly, all in a different way from the guys she spent hours on end watching through her work.

Her hand drowned in his soft one, which lightly squeezed her fingers and she got out of the car, before closing the door after her.

"Oh, where are my manners?" He chided himself with yet another smile, "I'm Alexander..."

Tessa vaguely registered his last name as she zoned out by the way he pronounced every syllable in his name. The accent accentuated the name like no other could, and she could not wipe off the smile that glossed her lips even if she tried to.

"Tessa Maccio," she presented herself, hearing her voice more breathless than usual.

"Beautiful name for a beautiful woman," Alexander commented smoothly and she felt herself look away from him shyly as he squeezed her hand a little more, before letting it go altogether.

"The house is right up here, just around the corner and very secluded like you preferred," he informed in that deep British tone and gestured forward down the narrow pebbled road.

Casually, she wiped her hand over her skirt, before walking forward. Taking a deep breath she now caught the flowery scent that surrounded her, tasting a saltiness in the air too which eased up her body, and she surely could need it considering the rest of her senses were more than aware of the fine gentleman walking slightly behind her. He made her feel giddy and caused her agitation to ebb away entirely.

She could not believe her reaction to this guy, she was literally swimming in hot guys, yet, she did not even bat an eye, but this guy. Just as soon as he opened his mouth her legs felt wobbly. Subtly shaking her head, she tried chucking it down to the accent. British accents and their cliche ways.

"So the house comes with surveillance system, direct line to the security hotline—" Alexander said as he had opened the folder, going over the stated facts, but as they rounded the corner Tessa, for the first time in the few minutes she had met him, tuned him out entirely as her eyes went wide like saucers from taking in the house that came into view.

"Gosh, I feel stupid. Why the heck did I not see this house myself? It's huge!" She completely forgot her shyness towards him and hurried forward to take in the exterior of the house.

She could not, even if she wanted to, keep her fingers from running over the white callous walls which reminded her of Scala dei Turchi. The facade towered over them with tall windows that caught the sunlight beautifully. The way it bounced back caressed her skin tempting her inside.

Her thoughts drifted entirely as she actually did touch the white wall, certain that the house was just a figment of her imagination. Which was why she let out a noiseless gasp when she realized it was not carved from her mind.

"Who designed this place? Silva? La Lane?" She whispered as if she was afraid of offending the house.

"Urrh..." Alexander let out in hesitance, flicking through the pages and went to rub his forehead, and Tessa let out a small laugh as she glanced at him, causing him to look up at her smiling face. An easiness rolled onto his handsome features and he pulled out a set of keys.

"I'm not sure, but if this impressed you then wait until you get inside," he promised with a daring smile and unlocked the door, pushing it open to once again let her inside first.

"Granted no one has lived here for the last couple of years as it has been used mostly like vacation house but—"

"Oh my god, the honesty!" Tessa beamed and almost twirled as she was too eager to take in everything at once, which once again baffled Alexander.

"Surely, it needs an artistic and aspirational touch not to make it too tailored and clean, but definitely gorgeous," she quickly assessed, scanning the sparse uncharacteristic furniture while her mind already went haywire with the possibilities of this place, before it came to an abrupt halt accompanied by a pinch to her heart.

Feeling her cheeks flush, her placed her hands on her cheeks for a moment before letting them glide down her neck and push her hair backwards onto her back. Seeing this had instantly set fire to her passion, but she also knew this house was still a mile out of her reach.

"Yeah so," Alexander cleared his throat, "This is the—"

"A bay window!" She exclaimed breathlessly, cutting him off once again and she hurried over to the indent in the wall which was lit up by the streaming sunlight that passed through the complimenting windows. Taking the in scenery in front of her, she instantly knew why they had chosen to highlight this part. The colors of the flowers outside demanded ones attention, and she did not even have to open the window to imagine the humming and twittering from the nature scene.

"Excuse me, Miss Maccio, was it?" Alexander spoke a bit hesitantly and Tessa turned around with a thrilled smile on her lips which did not waver when their gaze locked.

"Just Tessa," Tessa waved offhandedly before briefly glancing back at the outsides, "I'm sorry, I got too carried away. You must think I'm a complete nut case."

"On the contrary," Alexander laughed lightly, and placed his hand on his neck for a second sending her a dazzling smile. "But I have a feeling it should be you showing me around and not the other way around," he confessed and Tessa waved him off once again feeling a tad shy and let out a small giggle.

"For a minute there I just forgot that houses can actually look like this and not just be a sketch on a notepad," she admitted and touched the small window sill.

"Oh, so you're an aspiring architect?" He asked genuinely interested, and Tessa was appreciative of already having turned her back slightly to him again as a sad expression shadowed her features for a moment.

"Yeah, I studied architecture and interior design," she nodded, and tried to prevent the grimace that was dangerously close to give her away and quickly shook it off.

"Then you must be bursting with ideas for this place, I take it," he concluded, "But before you do. You have yet to see the very best thing about this place."

Tessa felt his hand gently touch her at the small of her back, beckoning her to follow him.

He let her through the huge inviting kitchen and dining area, and descended a small set of stairs that led into an even bigger living room.

"I thought I smelled sea water," Tessa spoke up breathlessly, taking in the wall that was made of pure glass giving a clear view of a white sandy beach and lazy blue waves.

"Who needs a TV when you got your own private beach," Alexander spoke up into the silence as Tessa could not get any other words out.

"I could draw a thousand construction drawings, floor plans, exterior elevations and sections, but still it all comes down to the right location," she whispered, afraid to ruin the mood. "Safe to say this was definitely well thought out."

"You must really love your job if this still seem to amaze you. I can just imagine how fond and dedicated you must be to your craft." Alexander casually smoothed the collar of his shirt while Tessa's smile wavered and became stiff.

"Did I say something wrong?" He frowned as he caught onto her change of mood. Tessa quickly shook her head in response and sent him a small apologetical look.

"No, it's just that it has yet to be an actual occupation," she shrugged evasively, not really into sharing her personal life. "Some day though," she concluded more upbeat, and headed towards the door that opened up to the beach, however she got stopped as a hand carefully fell on her shoulder.

"I definitely believe it will," Alexander agreed with her, and she turned to look at him directly again. She noticed how the gold in his eyes seemed to dance in the reflection of the sun making the green in them even more vivid, especially when the dimple showed up again by him getting her to smile again.

His attentiveness towards her was even more than she thought she could handle, and she let her gaze wander briefly over his features.

Her eyes widened slightly as she lingered a quarter of a second longer than necessary on his lips, instantly wondering how they felt, resulting in a rosy tint spreading to her cheeks once again.

"So—" Alexander started hesitantly just as the front door sprung open, tearing apart the moment that arose.

"Sorry, I'm late. I would have been here sooner, but the traffic was killer," Hale burst through the door, indifferent to anything like usual, and glanced quickly around the room, before his eyes fell on the two of them.

Alexander took a subconscious step backwards, widening the distance between him and Tessa, which sent a plunging feel to her stomach, causing her to slightly glare at Hale for disturbing them.

Hale stopped altogether for a brief minute as he studied the scene, a thoughtful expression running over his features and Alexander let out a slight cough to clear his throat while he took at step forward making Hale move again.

"Alexander Casey," he presented himself to Hale who shook his hand in greeting, a slight wry smile appearing on his lips by the utterance of the name and his gaze flickered to Tessa for a second.

"Hale," he answered not bothering with his last name, which made Tessa roll her eyes.

"I was just starting to show Tessa around the house..."

"Tessa?" Hale's voice drawled and she shoot him a look to shut up.

"But I'm sure we can start over, and you've yet to see the additional rooms."

"Yeah, I'm sure if it's anything like this, it'll be perfect," Tessa quickly spoke up, as Hale started to look smug. Not that she no longer had anything to say in the matter as John had found this place for Hale to stay at since the living arrangements at the hotel had become a bit complicated.

The master bedroom is just over here," Alexander offered as Hale let his eyes roam around the place once again.

"The bedroom..." Hale mused thoughtfully, his gaze steered from the room onto hers. The familiar smirk crept onto his lips and Tessa scowled at him, daring him to be stupid.

He casually took a step to the side, so he could let his arm fall over her shoulders. "Sure, let's see if the bedroom is perfect."

Alexander cleared his throat again before walking ahead, leaving them to follow and Tessa jerked her elbow into his side.

"Has anyone told you, you have abnormally sharp elbows?" Hale muttered, but did not let his arm drop, which made Tessa shake her shoulders furiously. As that failed too, she grabbed his wrist to plop it away from her altogether, before she gritted her teeth.

"Was the 3 minutes you needed with the gymnasts really enough to get you to come?" Tessa shot back, as that was the first thing that popped into her head.

Hale turned his head to look at her, while rubbing a finger over his jawline, his lips pursing slightly making Tessa confused as to whether he was about to scowl or smirk at her.

"Alexandra, was it?" Hale called out, turning his attention away from Tessa towards Alexander, and Tessa scoffed, well aware of him purposefully getting the name wrong.

The oldest play in the book, which made her elbow him again, however his smile only intensified as it allowed him to wrap his arms around her waist, just as Alexander showed up in their vision again.

"You know I don't need to see it, I trust her judgment. We'll take it," Hale informed and Tessa lost her breath, nibbling on her lip. She could not comprehend Hale would make such a rash decision just to make a fool of her.

Alexander's gaze stopped briefly at Hale's arms enveloping a stupefied Tessa, who could not for the life of her get anything over her lips, though in her mind she was placing a well performed round kick to Hale's derrière.

"Very well. You definitely won't regret it. I'll go and make the call." His tone was now bland and businesslike when he spoke, his gaze back on Hale's and already in the process of conjuring his phone from his pocket. He hastily made his way past them to place the call.

As soon as he was out of sight, Tessa fought her way out of Hale's hold, and hit him in the stomach, however he was apparently already prepared since all she felt was resistance of his t-shirt clad abs, "What is wrong with you? Did your mother drop you on your head as a child?" She hissed and Hale raised his brow at her.

"Really, that's the best you can come up with?" He challenged her, and looked around the room impassively.

"Says the one who called him Alexandra. Really, the purposely wrong name calling? I'll have you know it makes you look more like an idiot than he does," Tessa glared at him, waiting for him to turn his attention back to her.

The fact that Alexander walked through the door again, had Hale's features turn smug and reached for Tessa again.

"I swear to God, if you touch me again, I'm making sure you'll hear the snip of your balls being cut off," Tessa hissed under her breath for Hale's ears only.

Hale chuckled with amusement, but nevertheless stopped reaching for her and turned to stand beside her.

"It really is a nice place. With some actual furniture and all, this place will actually be inhabitable," Hale said, and Tessa pursed her lips, thinking how Hale would feel being shoved into a crocodile habitat. How would that be for inhabitable?

"I'm sure Tessa here, has plenty of plans for what you can do with this place," Alexander said, his gaze resting on hers. The butterflies erupted again, making her brush her hands over her arms.

"Of course, Tessa is truly a visionary," Hale spoke with a grin and shook his head. Tessa was an inch away from clobbering him with the abstract stone like statue that rested on the table next to her considering Hale's tone implied it being more of a jab than an actual compliment.

"The papers will be transferred. Do I need more details than written or will this John Brenton take care of it all?" He went through the folder again before he looked back at Tessa.

"John will take care of it, thanks," Hale answered dismissively.

"Very well then. I'll leave you with the keys," Alexander informed, dangling the chain of keys and let them dump onto the table, before he extended his hand in farewell.

"Sounds awesome," Hale commented and grabbed his hand for a quick handshake before he pulled Tessa by her bag strap, "Let's check out the bedroom, shall we?"

Not giving Tessa a chance to say a proper goodbye, she had to settle with a small wave, before Hale had pulled her away far enough for there to be a wall separating them.

"Oh my god, you're a straight out idiot!" Tessa blurted and hit him with her bag.

"Do you know you look like an overripe tomato when you blush?" Hale surveyed and crossed his arms, a glint shimmering in his eye, while his perfected smirk was resting on his lips victoriously.

Tessa's features morphed into an angry pout, her nostrils flaring as she crossed her arms too.

"It's the British accent, isn't it?" He drawled and Tessa's whole body tensed with annoyance making it impossible for her to even speak without shouting her head off. "Perfect articulation and immediately the panties start to drop," he mimicked in a perfect imitation of a British accent, however there was absolutely nothing sexy about it now. "Can you be anymore of a cliche?" Hale's smirk turned lopsided.

"Says the one who has nookies with gymnasts," Tessa barked.

"Really? Barely 10 minutes and you've already referred to me and a bed not once, but twice. Am I already getting under your skin as you can't seem to let it go?" Hale grinned and rubbed his jaw, his eyes flitting away from hers for a minute to survey the room. His gaze resting on the unoccupied bed before he glanced back at Tessa knowingly, while wetting his lips.

"Urgh!" She gritted out of her teeth, clenching her teeth, before she turned on her heels stomping towards the door.

"Wait!" Hale called after her, grabbing his wrist to halt her.

Before she could rip her arm back, she felt a small piece of plastic finding its way into her palm and she looked down at her hand slightly confused.

"You're a stylist, right? You should be able to spice this place up a little. So while you do that, I'll go have the ménage à trois' you picture in your dreams," he boasted humorously before scooting past her.

As she comprehended the plastic card that lay innocently on the pad of her palm, she gripped it tightly. A mischievously grin appeared on her features when she looked at the door Hale had just disappeared through.

_____*_____

A/N: I'm sorry if it's not that funny, but don't worry it will pick up again soon I promise.

So we got a little more background info concerning Tessa, huh? Now if she has a degree in architecture and interior design what is she doing as a stylist for male models?

Maybe there really is more to Tessa than what we know.

Hale, though, seem to have picked up on Tessa's immediate infatuation with Alexander. Interesting, don't you think?

Don't forget to vote and comment, be sure to share too so this story can get out there. It really would mean the world to me.

And already over 600 reads. Now that's amazing! I wonder how many day it'll take for this to reach 200 votes. ;)

Toodles noodles!