Beauty & the Mouse

Chapter One

"Evening, Miss Parker," the security guard said from the front desk of her high rise condo building.

"Evening," Gina answered, flashing him a friendly smile.

Crossing the marble floored lobby, her high heels created a slight echo in the grand foyer. She was proud to live in such an establishment. She had worked hard as an editor of a parents' magazine, and she was finally earning enough to live more comfortably. She pushed the elevator up button and stepped inside as it opened for her.

"Hold the elevator!" a male voice called urgently. She quickly pressed the open door button. "Thank you," said the voice behind her.

She pressed the eleventh floor button. She stepped back as his hand pressed PH.

His cell phone rang and she looked up at him as he held up the phone to his ear. "Yeah?"

Her brown eyes met his spectacular gray eyes and she quickly looked away, so she wouldn't be caught gawking at him.

He had wavy brown hair and a face that belonged on the cover of G.Q. Not to mention the suit that he was sporting on a six foot tall, well cut body.

She looked up at the numbers climbing across the top of the elevator doors and counted as she tried to steady her rapidly beating heart.

Oh my god, he is so gorgeous! Don't blow it! She thought, biting her lip so that she wouldn't say anything idiotic to him out loud, like I want to bear your children.

"No, no. I'll have it for you tomorrow morning," he said to the person patiently, but with a growing tone of annoyance. "No! That's not what Peterson said!" he nearly yelled, catching himself, he glanced at her. He mouthed to her Sorry.

Gina gave him a small, understanding smile.

He took a step away from her to the other side of the elevator, "Look, I promise I'll have them for you tomorrow. What am I supposed to do then? I just got back. It can't be done. What? Say that again, you're breaking up. I'm in an elevator," he looked at her again. He rolled his eyes as if she were a part of the conversation. And as if she knew that the person he was talking to was always difficult to deal with.

"Yeah, you talk to Peterson then. That's what he told me. It's not going to happen tonight..." he pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration.

The doors opened and Gina stepped out, glancing back as the door started to close. The guy nodded and smiled at her as if saying goodbye. She smiled back, but wasn't sure if he was able to see it as the door closed.

Gina sighed as she made her way down the hall to her apartment. She lived in a huge building and barely knew any of her neighbors, let alone the gorgeous hunk in the elevator. She nodded at a couple as she passed them by. They nodded back, barely noticing her.

Some neighbors nodded back and others ignored her. Gina had lived in the building a year and, so far, she was only on speaking terms with the security guard and her immediate neighbor to the right, Liz.

Gina thought of the guy in the elevator. She hadn't seen him before, but that didn't mean that he hadn't lived there just as long as she had or longer. She often saw people she didn't know in the building and then never saw them again. Thank goodness for the security guards in the lobby that looked after them, she thought, anyone could come and go as they pleased and the people that lived there wouldn't notice or care.

She opened the door to her refuge from the hustle and bustle of the big city. Simple pleasure met her feet as she slipped off her heels into the soft beige carpet. Gina tossed the mail on a side table and made her way to the kitchen. She opened the stainless steel refrigerator and studied the contents. Some milk, an apple, and some cheese that she couldn't remember when she bought it. She closed the door on a sigh, picked up the phone, and ordered a pizza.