Chapter 3: Gabriel Starr

Valerie put more effort into her looks that morning as she got ready. She wore a pastel blue colored pencil skirt with a white, almost see through shirt on top. She let her hair down in loose waves and kept her make-up subtle, but still noticeable enough. She filled a travel mug with steaming hot coffee, made sure it had a splash of milk and two sugar. Once she had everything she needed to get her workday started she was out the door, taking a cab to work.

Today she'd start a work day with a smile upon her face. She wasn't content with how Daniel got fired. She knew in the back of her mind that Daniel dug his own grave when he started to abuse his power, but Hunter and Starr wouldn't have caught onto it if she didn't speak up that one night. She spilled her heart out to a stranger thinking it would make her feel better and it did, but that stranger happened to be Starr who knowingly withheld information from her. Thinking about Starr again made her tingle with pleasant thoughts seeing how handsome he was, but at the same time it made her boil with anger. Her emotions were all over the place, really.

"Morning." Andrew greeted her in the building's lobby, walking with her to the security gates, "Ready to start a day without being ordered around by the great Daniel?"

She smiled at that, "I think for the first time in weeks I'll be actually enjoying what I'm doing rather than cursing Daniel the entire time while I try to keep up with the workload."

"Exactly, today is a great day!"

She narrowed her eyes on the cheerful looking Andrew, "Did you have your two cups of coffee already?" She asked him jokingly, scanning her pass and walking ahead of her friend.

Andrew caught up with her and walked with her to the elevator bank. They kept their casual talk up, talking about drinks they liked and still wanted to try and restaurants she needed to pay a visit. She was enjoying her time with Andrew when she caught the gaze of the handsome stranger she met at the lounge. She locked eyes with him as he stepped out the elevator, Hunter by his side. Hunter kept talking, Valerie couldn't make out the words though because she was entirely focused on Starr. He kept his gaze upon her as well while he slowly passed her. Once he was out of sight she dared to breathe again. She stepped into the elevator, Andrew standing beside her.

"What was that?"

"What?"

Andrew snorted, "You know the scene where Starr started walking in slow motion just to keep staring at you. What was that all about?" Andrew demanded to know, sarcasm bleeding into his tone, because she dared to feign ignorance.

"He didn't walk in slow motion." Valerie muttered, knowing that was a weak excuse of a subject change, "I think that's the first time we actually ran into Hunter and Starr."

"Hunter usually travels around while Starr oversees our work. It might not look like it, but he is always present, almost like he's breathing down our necks to let us know he is keeping an eye on us. Now that has become more apparent than ever."

He was referring to Daniel suddenly being fired for his inappropriate behavior. It wasn't because Starr was keeping a close eye on them though. She wouldn't tell Andrew that, she figured it worked in Hunter and Starr's favor if people believed they had eyes everywhere. If she did tell him the truth she'd have to argue with Andrew about the possibilities of how Starr found out about Daniel screwing the intern rather than doing his job properly. It would be a tiring argument which she wouldn't win and which would force her to tell Andrew about her night at the lounge. She had done nothing inappropriate, but she wanted to keep her night at the lounge together with Starr a secret.

"You met him before?" Andrew asked, being very persistent when it came to Starr, "It looked like he knew who you were."

"We might have passed each other in the lobby before."

They stepped out of the elevator and headed to their office, it was open spaced with tons of cubicles. Daniel's office windows were unfrosted which was weird to get used to. Usually they were frosted, separating the lower ranking workers from the higher-ups.

"That explains why he looked at you like that, it doesn't explain why you looked at him like that. You told me you didn't know who Hunter and Starr were."

She frowned and faced her relentless friend, "What's with your obsession, Andrew? I swear I didn't know who Hunter and Starr were because I didn't feel the need to look at any of their interviews or articles. You could say that I more or less refused to look them up because then I could stay ignorant forever."

"Well, either way you caught his attention."

She pouted her lips, sitting behind her desk while she fired up her laptop, "You think so?" She asked, trying to sound surprised and hoping her bad acting would pass.

"You do look hot today." Andrew told her, causing her to laugh, "But yeah, you caught his attention." He glanced over his shoulder, "How about lunch together? We'll talk some more about the possibilities of dating Gabriel Starr."

She placed a hand against her stomach, trying to calm the butterflies she felt when Andrew mentioned that, "How about lunch together and we discuss when we're going out again? I enjoyed having a drink with you at the lounge. We should head to the club and you know keep our dating options open."

Andrew smirked, "I always keep my options open, man or woman, I don't care."

Valerie laughed, "People will take that the wrong way, not because you're attracted to men and women, but because you made it sound like you'll fuck everything that moves."

Andrew let out a fake gasp, "Val, language." He chuckled, "Sure, we'll do that. We'll leave at one?"

She nodded, "Sure."

She sipped her coffee while she started to answer her emails, also getting back to the emails she left alone the other day because her head wasn't in the game. She was getting through her morning without a hitch, making so much progress it was insane. She smiled the entire time, her step getting a little bounce when it neared lunch time. She logged off her laptop, grabbed her purse and phone and headed to Andrew's cubicle.

"Ready to go?"

He held up a finger, quickly typing away one last email before he faced her.

"Ready." He announced.

He also logged off and left the office together with her. They had lunch at a bistro around the corner. She ordered a strawberry juice and a carrot bagel with cream while Andrew went for a more filling lunch. They sat by the windows, getting their daily dose of vitamin E while chatting away about their weekend plans.

***

Valerie was ready to leave the office and head home when her office phone started to ring. Cautiously she reached for it and answered it quietly. The deep voice which she enjoyed listening to the night she spilled her heart out she swallowed nervously.

"Nice to hear your voice again, Valerie."

"Mr. Starr."

He chuckled at that, she could hear him moving around. The backgrounded noises she heard made her assume Starr was outside, already done for the day.

"It's Mr. Starr now?"

"You were Gabriel to me when I thought you were just a stranger at the lounge who was interested to find out more about me. Now I know you were just one of the founders of the company I worked at, trying to get information out of me."

"It wasn't like that and you know it." She heard him mutter something to who she assumed was his driver, "Thought you wanted to discuss this personally though. If you're still up for that how about we meet up at the lounge?"

"Right now?" She asked, taking off guard completely by Gabriel taking the lead here.

"Right now."

She glanced at her wrist watch, it was nearing eight and it was a weekday, but she was intrigued. She wanted to know what Gabriel had to say to make things right between them, at least she hoped he had the decency to do so. He did something wrong here, a real gentleman would apologize for that kind of behavior. She made him up to be a gentleman, she hoped he'd live up to that.

"I'll be taking a cab to the lounge, I'll be there in half an hour."

"See you soon, Valerie."

He ended the call like that. She quickly collected her things and left the building as well, more or less rushing to grab a cab to head to the lounge. She knew she wasn't just excited about hearing him apologize, she was excited about seeing him again. Privately. He was amazing to look at and his beautiful well educated voice soothing to listen to, she could admire his handsomeness without doing anything about it. At night she'd dream about the what ifs.

***

Her heart skipped a beat when she entered the lounge. Gabriel was seated in a booth this time. A glass of red wine in front of him while an untouched glass of red wine was awaiting her across the amazing looking Gabriel Starr. His grey suit gleamed lightly in the dim lighting of the lounge, his white crisp shirt making him look polished. His tie matched the color of his suit nicely. Gabriel greeted her with a smirk as she cautiously approached him. She slipped into the seat across him and reached for the untouched glass.

"Thank you for your hard work today, Valerie."

Her cheeks heated when she took in his praises. He remembered she felt unappreciated because of Daniel. He was making an effort and it didn't go unnoticed.

"Thanks." She sipped from her wine, "So you're THE Gabriel Starr."

He chuckled, his look never wavering though, "I'm sorry I didn't mention that before."

"You knew I worked for Hunter and Starr yet you didn't mention who you were once. Was I right about you sneakily interrogating me, Gabriel?"

"I didn't do it purposely, I intended to be a listening ear. But I couldn't ignore that kind of behavior. If people would start talking about it outside the company it could lead to bad press eventually." He noticed how uncomfortable she felt about that and quickly continued, "I researched it first, I didn't go after him without hard evidence." He let out a tired, long sigh and smiled weakly at her, "I apologize for not warning you first. I'm sure it caught you off guard and confused you."

"Thank you for apologizing." She leaned back in her chair and sipped from her wine occasionally, "I suppose I can't stay mad at you because things at the office did change a lot and in a good way."

"That's good to hear." He also reached for his glass and sipped from his drink, "I didn't ask you to meet me here to talk work though." He smirked when he noticed her surprised look, "I want to get to know you better. How did things go with your sister?"

He also remembered the wedding disaster her sister was. She started telling him about her weekend while they had a drink or two together. It was nearing time for her to leave, she collected her things while Gabriel paid for their drinks.

"So what are your plans for this weekend?" He asked as they walked out together.

"I'm going clubbing with Andrew, my coworker." She turned to face him, "How about you?"

"Haven't made up my mind yet. I'll probably wait and see, if I don't have too much things to get done I'll have some fun too."

She smiled, "All work and no play, that's your life, isn't it?"

He held the car door open for her, his car already awaiting him, "Pretty much." He jokingly agreed, "Talk to you soon."

She slipped into the backseat and waved him goodbye. She leaned back in her seat, a big smile spread across her face. Today had been a good day. She got to know Gabriel on a personal level and actually got proven right. Gabriel Starr was indeed a gentleman, it would make it so much harder for her to stay away.