A Date for the Masquerade Read online

  Picking up my pace, I pull Jordan with me. “We really need to celebrate tonight.”

  Her eyes widen at something to my side. “Ensley, look out.”

  Just as she says it, I bump into someone on my left. Not only do I bump into him, but I accidentally step on his foot as well, losing my balance in the process. “Oh my God,” I gasp just as a firm grasp grips my arm to steady me. The man beside me smiles and loosens his hold on me.

  “Glad I was here to catch you.”

  For a moment, it’s like I’m frozen in time. His voice sounds so familiar, but I don’t recognize his face. “I am so sorry,” I apologize. “I should’ve watched where I was going.”

  His dark blue eyes twinkle. “No worries.” Then he holds out his hand. “I’m Owen Jameson.”

  I shake his hand. “Ensley Anderson, and this is my business partner, Jordan McMahan.”

  He shakes her hand, as well. “I’ve heard a lot of good things about you both. Everyone here is excited for the Halloween bash.”

  “They should be. It’s going to be epic.”

  Owen smirks. “I have no doubt. I’m sure I’ll see you ladies again soon.”

  I’m too mesmerized by his voice to even respond. Jordan speaks up for me. “Yes, you will. Have a good day.” She squeezes my arm, and I follow her to the door. “Talk about gorgeous,” she says low. “He’s single too. I didn’t see a wedding ring.”

  I roll my eyes. “That doesn’t mean anything. He could still be married, just not wearing a ring.”

  She stops at the door and sneaks a glance over her shoulder. “Nope. He’s single. For some reason, he can’t seem to keep his eyes off you.” She opens the door, and before I follow her out, I take one last look behind me. Owen’s lips tilt up slightly in a sexy smirk, and he stares at me as if he knows me.

  Why do I feel like I know him?

  2

  Owen

  “Good afternoon, Al,” I say as I step into the lobby of the building that houses Tri-City Media Group. Al, the manager of the concierge desk, smiles.

  “I see you had a little run-in.” He nods toward the outside, and without even thinking, I turn and grin, remembering everything that happened a few minutes prior. I may have a scuff on my expensive shoes, but I don’t care, it was well worth it. I can’t seem to get the image of Ensley’s bright green eyes out of my mind.

  I shrug. “It happens,” I tell Al. “And I’ll never mind a little scuffle with a beautiful woman.” I tap my hand on the top counter and walk toward the elevators, only to bypass them and head to the bathroom.

  The men’s restroom on the first floor of the building is gray and steel. Manly colors, according to the interior designer the owner brought in to give the space a facelift. I’m not sure what the women’s restrooms look like, but the temptation is there to sneak in after-hours and look. The only issue is explaining to security when they catch me on camera entering a room I shouldn’t be in. I will say the bathroom is rather lovely. There is a couch, two chairs, and a coffee table with the most current magazines when you first enter. At first, I found this odd, and then my assistant informed me if I had a headache or needed to take a nap, I could use the “rest” part of the bathroom. The only thing is, the place isn’t soundproof or smell proof for that matter. So, if I have a headache, the last thing I want to do is be in here “resting” when someone needs to take care of business.

  Along the wall to my left is a large mirror running the length of the continuous sink. Unwilling to get my suit wet, I pull a couple of paper towels from the dispenser and set them against the marble countertop. I don’t know what possesses me, but I stand here for a moment and look at my reflection. . .and blink.

  A lot.

  “Ugh,” I say to myself as I dig in my pocket for my contact lens case. I set it on the counter and twist the caps off before I wash and dry my hands. Once they’re dry, I slip each lens out of my eye and put it away. Instantly, my index finger and thumb press against my eyes. They itch, but it’s not the kind of itch that is painful. It’s more like relief. I’m not used to wearing contacts, but sometimes desperate times call for desperate measures. The reason I’m desperate is because I thought a one-night stand would be no big deal, and I was so very wrong. I never thought I’d ever have to conceal the color of my eyes. Ensley would recognize me in a heartbeat. Maybe I’m being paranoid but she did tell me they were a peculiar color and she was mesmerized by them. It’s not the first time I’ve heard this.

  Finally, my vision is clear and not clouded by a micro-thin piece of plastic, which definitely served its purpose today, and I’m blinking like I don’t have something lodged in my eyes. Although my eyes are watering, I can deal with this issue.

  Leaving the bathroom, I make my way to the elevators and key in the floor number I need. The countdown on the screen tells me how long I must wait. When the numbers reach ten, I start counting down as if it were New Year’s Eve. Thankfully when the doors open, the car is vacant. Otherwise, someone would’ve seen my excited party face. Stepping inside, I stand there in the most professional way possible and wait for the doors to close. Thankfully, with the updates the owner did to the building, he upgraded the elevator system. It’s now very efficient and takes you directly to your floor.

  The doors open, and I step off, nodding at the people I pass by. Each one is my employee. Well, mine and Damien’s. We own a radio station. It was never my goal nor Damien’s. When we were in college, we both worked at the station on campus. Somehow, between the two of us, we increased listenership over one-hundred-percent, brought in so much ad revenue the station started making money, and the school had to create an application process for people who wanted to work there. In my junior year, there were so many applicants we could run five shows and never had a gap of coverage.

  It only made sense for Damien and me to enter the radio business. The only problem was we wanted to work together, and every time we went on an interview, or someone recruited us, it was one of us and never both. It wasn’t what we wanted, so we did what any eager college graduates would do with trust funds to deplete—we defied our parents and started our own station. That was ten years ago. Now we have multiple stations with varying formats, with our Top Forty station airing nationwide.

  Tri-City Media takes up the top three floors of PNC Plaza, with mine and Damien’s office on the top floor. He is at one end, and I’m at the other, and if we leave our doors open, we can have a foam gunfight if we want. For Christmas last year, I bought us an arsenal of pump action airsoft guns for the fun of it.

  I stroll into Damien’s office and close the door behind me. He looks at me, over the top of his glasses, and cocks the biggest shit-eating grin I have ever seen. Damien pulls his glasses off, tosses them onto his desk, and leans back in his chair. He steeples his fingers and chuckles lightly as I sit down across from him.

  “A piece of ass for five hundred k.” He shakes his head. “Please tell me it’s more than that.”

  “It is.” At least I hope so. I groan and slump in the chair. “I’m stupid.”

  “A little,” he says in agreement. “You exhausted how much more of your trust fund for this?”

  “I don’t even want to know.” In all honesty, it’s not much. Tri-City Media Group brings in a shit ton of money. I just made sure to use my part of the earnings.

  Damien laughs. “I will say she’s beautiful.”

  “She is,” I tell him. “I can’t even explain how I feel when I’m near her. The entire time she was meeting with you, I was in the control room with security watching so I could time the right moment to run into her.”

  “And did it work?”

  “It did.” I laugh. “I was just around the corner of the meeting room when she walked out. She wasn’t watching where she was going, but I was, and she ran right into me.” I hold my leg up and inspect my shoe. Maybe I’ll leave the mark there for a few days, so I have something to look back on. “Anyway, I looked right into those green eyes of her
s and felt my knees go weak. She’s the one.”

  “And you know this from one night?” Damien asks.

  I shake my head and sit upright. “I knew from the moment I saw her, even though she was wearing a mask. I was across the room, and there she was, in this green mermaid dress.” Damien holds his hand up, and I pause.

  “How the hell do you know what a mermaid dress is?”

  “My sister is a fashion designer. If you don’t think I had to model dresses for her when I was younger, you’re crazy.”

  Damien laughs and spins his hand in a circle. “Carry on, Coco Chanel.”

  I flip him off, with not one, but both middle fingers. “Anyway, as I was saying before, I was so rudely interrupted and mocked,” I pause and give Damien a dirty look. “I went up to her right away and asked her to dance. She smiled as I held out my hand. The second her hand touched mine, my body was on fire. My mouth watered. My throat tightened. I was in middle school all over again. We danced for three songs, all while I had the biggest hard-on. I wasn’t even embarrassed. Each time I’d brush it against her, she’d let out this little gasp, only turning me on even more. I took a chance and asked her if she wanted to get out of there, and she fucking agreed.

  “I took her to my room and one thing led to another. We both agreed to keep our masks on, but I knew, without a doubt, underneath her mask was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. She had pinned her auburn hair, so it fell to the side. It brushed against her skin, and I was jealous because I wanted to touch her there. Her eyes never left mine as I approached her. I expected her to step away, but she stood there, and when I was within reach, her fingers brushed against my cheek,” I pause and shake my head.

  “I went into that room looking for a quick fuck and ended up spending the entire night with her. When I woke, she was gone. There was a note on the pillow, and I hoped it was her name and number, but it was a note, thanking me for the most amazing night ever.” Damien doesn’t need to know I still have the note, tucked away in my dresser drawer.

  “So, if you didn’t know her name, how did you find her?”

  “I remembered where she was standing, always on the outskirts. I described her to Celeste, and she told me right off her name was Ensley and she was the most sought-after party planner in Charlotte, if not the entire state.”

  “And now she’s planning our station’s biggest event of the year,” Damien points out. “What I don’t get is, if you want to know her, why not just introduce yourself?”

  “Because she wanted a night of passion with no strings. We purposely kept our names a secret. We’ve never crossed paths before, and it wouldn’t take a rocket scientist to discover I figured out who she was.”

  “And you don’t think she’ll be suspicious when you just happened to come up to her again?”

  I shrug. “It’s a risk I’m willing to take.”

  “It’s a damn expensive one, Owen. You could save a shit ton of money by just walking up to her or hell, following her to a clothing store, and conveniently run into her.”

  He’s right, I could. “If I did that, then I wouldn’t get to see you dress up in a Halloween costume.”

  Damien groans. “I should boycott.”

  “You could, but you won’t. You could meet your soul mate at our party. Many people do.” It’s for singles only.

  “I’m not hooking up with Elvira,” he quips.

  My mouth drops open, and I shake my head. “I can’t believe that girl from college dressed like Elvira every single day.”

  “What’s worse,” Damien pauses, “is we met her on Halloween, and we had no idea. I couldn’t understand why everyone laughed at us at that frat party.”

  “The joke was definitely on us that night.”

  “And the next day,” he adds. “So, what are you going to be?”

  My cheek rises as I think. “I don’t know, but it has to be something that will get Ensley’s attention.”

  “Which could be hard.”

  I shake my head slightly. “I may or may not have stalked her social media.”

  Damien throws a pen at me.

  “What? I can’t help it. I’m infatuated with this woman.”

  “All right, Romeo. Tell me what she likes.”

  “Reading, mostly. She watches a ton of Hallmark movies, which I get because she’s a party planner. I figure she’s looking for ideas. She likes crafting too.”

  “You could go as a paper-mache rose or something.”

  “Yeah, because that seems logical. I’ll ask my sister, she’ll know.” I take my phone out of my pocket and send her a quick text, asking her how a guy at a masquerade party would get the attention of the most gorgeous woman in the room.

  She responds almost instantly. You need to dress up as James Bond, Jack Ryan, or Captain America!

  That's all I need to know.

  3

  Ensley

  “Thank you, Holly. I really appreciate everything. I’ll call you back when I have all the answers.” I print off the paperwork and stack the papers on top of my notebook.

  “Sounds good,” Holly replies. “If you don’t get me here at the hotel, you can call my cell.” We say our goodbyes and I hang up with a smile. The venue for the Nightmare Ball has been booked, and everything is going according to plan. Now all I have to do is show it all to Damien Forrester for approval.

  Leaning back in my office chair, I stretch my arms over my head and look out my window, which has the best view of the lake. The leaves have already started to change colors. Fall is my favorite season.

  After the year Jordan and I have had as far as earnings, I splurged a little bit and bought a house on Lake Wylie. Living in an apartment in downtown had its perks, but I like the idea of owning my own place instead of throwing money away on rent. Some of my friends have asked if I’m lonely in this big house all by myself, but I’m not. Yes, it’d be nice to have someone to wake up to every morning, but right now, it’s not in the cards for me. I’m concentrating on my career.

  My cell phone rings and when I swivel my chair back to my desk, I see Jordan’s picture on my screen. We often talked about renting office space somewhere, but we both decided it’s nice working from our homes. Her husband likes her being at home too. There are some days he takes his lunch break with her at their house so he can get a little afternoon delight. They’re trying to get pregnant so any chance they get to have sex, they take it. I’m not jealous of what they have, but I am a little envious at times. I’ve always wanted a family of my own. Luckily, my parents are supportive of my career decisions and don’t hound me about finding a husband.

  Pressing the speaker button on my phone, I turn back around to look at the lake. “Hey, girl. What’s up?”

  “Nothing much. Just letting you know the DJ has been booked and I emailed all the information to you.”

  Turning around, I open my laptop and sign into my email. I print off the paperwork and add it to my pile of papers to take to Damien. “Great. Thanks. I’m going to call Damien and see if he’s free for lunch. I need to get him all the info so he can move forward with selling the tickets.” It’s only been two days since our meeting, but I don’t like to procrastinate even if the tickets are projected to sell out within the first hour. The party is in two weeks so there’s a lot to do in just a short amount of time.

  “Do you need me to go with you today?” Jordan asks. From the sound of her voice, I can tell she doesn’t really want to go.

  “No, I can go by myself. Is everything okay?”

  She snickers and I have my answer. “Ah, I get it. Hubby coming home for lunch today?”

  “You got it. We’re committed to this kid making thing.”

  I burst out laughing. “I see that. Hope you both have fun.”

  “Oh, we will, don’t worry.”

  Rolling my eyes, I tell her bye and end the call. I have Damien’s number saved in my phone, so I scroll through my contacts until I find him. The phone rings a couple of times befo
re he picks up.

  “This is Damien,” he answers.

  “Hi, Damien, it’s Ensley Anderson. How are you this morning?”

  He chuckles. “Doing great. You?”

  “Not too bad,” I reply. “I was calling to see if you might be able to meet me for lunch today? I have everything booked for the ball but there are some things I’d like to get your approval on.”

  “Sounds good. Let me check my schedule and I’ll get right back to you.”

  “Perfect.” He ends the call, and while I wait, I make sure I have all the information in my stack of papers to give him. I slide it all into my notebook and carry it into the kitchen by my car keys. A few seconds later, Damien calls me back and I answer.

  “I can do twelve o’clock. Does that work for you?”

  “It does. How about at The Corner Café?”

  He chuckles. “Glad you picked there. They have the best soups.”

  They really do. My stomach growls just thinking about their broccoli cheddar. “See you there.”

  I have two hours to get ready, so I take a quick shower and break out the skinny jeans and boots. October weather in North Carolina is funny, especially in Charlotte. In the past, we’ve had ninety-degree days up until November, but not this year. It’s been very fall-like with bright blue skies and chilly winds that makes the leaves fall from the trees. Not to mention, pumpkin spice in everything. Even my body wash is pumpkin apple. All the candles I light in my house are cinnamon pumpkin scented. I even use them in the spring and summer. Guess you can say it’s autumn all year long in my house.

  By the time I finish my makeup, I have plenty of time to get downtown. Parking can be a nightmare. Grabbing my notebook and purse, I head on my way in my charcoal gray convertible BMW. It’s the nicest car I’ve ever owned, and I take pride in it. I’ve worked hard for what I have.

  During the drive downtown, I listen to music for a little while and the rest of the time, I run through everything I’m going to say to Damien in my head. I don’t want to forget any of the important details. Once I get to the parking deck, I park my car and walk the two blocks to The Corner Café. It’s literally a café on the corner.