Lordian had been abroad for far too long. He had gotten home, sent for his housekeeper and cook and then sent a messenger over to Marta's with a dozen roses and a note. And very very clear instructions as to whom Marta was and that the note and flowers were for her and her alone. God forbid the boy mix up Marta and Suzie.

Marta,

I do apologize for the inconvenience, but please join me at the address the messenger will give you. I have a business proposition for you, and would like to discuss it over dinner. It would be greatly appreciated if you could spare the time.

Lordian 

 As soon as the messenger left he went to his room to change and then stalked the apartment making sure everything was in place. As the cook arrived he made his way to the kitchen.

"Afternoon Rich. Any way you might be able to whip something together, preferably something not Italian as my guest this evening is from there and I don't want to insult her by serving her food that is clearly not authentic. Pot roast would be fine."

The chef nodded and got to work, and Lordian continued to check the rest of the apartment. He had considered getting a smaller apartment, but he also knew he needed to keep appearances. Fourteenth floor, almost the penthouse but not quite, his apartment still took up a third of the floor. Foyer, Living room, Dining room, Kitchen, and two bedrooms, each with their own en suite. He never had guests stay the night, but the bedroom was there if he ever did.

He thought about getting a smaller apartment, and then he had thoughts about perhaps not. After all, part of life could mean settling down and for that, he would need a second bedroom.

Satisfied with the cleanliness of the place, he decided to take a shower before Marta arrived.

Marta had been putting in some extra time at her coffee shop in Chicago as of late, why though she really didn't know. She had actually found herself still frequenting Chicago quite often, even though she technically lived in Detroit now. It's not that she didn't like Detroit but more the fact that her coffee shop was in Chicago, it was her labor of love and it was thriving.

She was in the midst of cleaning up and wiping down one of the tables when the door opened. It was a short man, with a top hat. He was holding a thing of flowers in one hand and a card of some sort in the other. He squinted his eyes to look at the lettering then gave the place a scan once over. Looked down at the card once more then back up into the coffee shop. 

His eyes locked on Marta but she wasn't completely sure he was looking at her, so she gave a look behind her but there was no one there. The man tucked the card into his pocket and scurried over to where Marta was at. 

"Ms. Marta Cirillo?" He asked 

She gave him a funny look. "Depends who's asking?"

"Well, I'm asking cause these are for her and I assume that her is you."

She examined the flowers and the man once more before taking them out of his hands. 

"Just sign here..." He pulled out a piece of paper and a pen, handing her the pin and showing her where to sign. Marta quick scribbled a couple letters then handed the man back his pen. He tipped his hat, handed her a note and without another word scurried out the door.

With flowers in hand Marta took them back behind the counter with her, plucked off the note and gave it a read. 

Marta,

I do apologize for the inconvenience, but please join me at the address the messenger will give you. I have a business proposition for you, and would like to discuss it over dinner. It would be greatly appreciated if you could spare the time.

Lordian 

A smile went upon her face, which quickly went into an inquisitive look for her. The business proposition definitely piqued her interest. She looked over the note that the messenger had given her, which had the address and the time. The time which was quickly approaching. Marta placed the flowers onto the counter and told Susan to finish up for the evening. 

Marta went into the back office, where luckily she had a nice outfit. Nothing overly fancy but nice, got changed and fixed up her hair before coming out of her office. She was sure she smelt like coffee but it was what it was at this point. She didn't have enough time to properly get herself fixed up. 

She walked herself out the back door of the coffee shop, walked a quick bit through the alley onto Cicero ave, haling the first cab she saw. She read the address off the the driver who in no time had her at the destination. She tossed him a couple coins then got out of the cab, the moment she closed the door he sped off. 

Before taking another step Marta adjusted her outfit and hair once more then made her way up the walk way to the front door. She brought her hand up to the door knocker and gave it a couple raps onto the door, waiting for someone to answer. 

A knock at the door. Rachel looked around the lobby. No one was supposed to knock at the door. The doorman must have gone on break and not told anyone again. She would have him spoken to for this. She went to the door and opened it herself, though it certainly wasn't her job. She was meant to have mail, packages and information, not doors.

There was a woman she had never seen before. She must be the young woman that Mr. Lordian had phoned down to keep an eye out for. "Do come in Miss, I assume you are looking for Mr. Lordian's apartment? Please feel free to step into the elevator and Jeremy will take you up to the fourteenth floor. You are looking for apartment fourteen C."

She watched as the young woman stepped hesitantly through the lobby and into the elevator.

Jeremy diligently operated the elevator, bringing the young woman up to the fourteenth floor. 

"Apartment C is to your left Miss." He guided her as she stepped off and made his way back down to the lobby again.

Lordian heard a knock at the door and waved off the housekeeper. She was new, she would learn in time that he liked to answer his own door. When he opened it he saw Marta standing there looking radiant as ever, and smelling all too familiar.

"Evening Marta, you look ravishing as always, please do come in, can I take your coat or your purse? Dinner is almost ready I'm told so if you'd like a drink we can have one while we wait."

"Why thank you, Lordian!"

Marta smiled as she walked in the door, she didn't have a coat on but could understand why she thought she may have. The outfit she had on was a half sleeve shirt but it had a jacket type look to it. Her purse consisted of just a little handbag that didn't even have a shoulder strap on it. 

"Oh this isn't a coat but I can see how you would think it is and I'll just put my purse down over here."

She walked over to a little entry way table and placed it down. She then gave the entry way a quick look around, it was quite fancy but that wasn't much of a surprise to her. He embodied the whole upper society aura, which made sense to her since she had seen his art work. In fact she was still wearing the piece he made for a her a while back. 

Marta looked down at her watch, a motion that Lordian noticed as he glanced down as well. A smile went upon his face, to the sight to the watch still around her wrist. 

"You're still wearing my watch." He exclaimed. 

"Of course! Why would I not?" She quick paused for a moment before continuing. "It's still quite a stunning piece and have you know, I actually wear this all the time. Well okay I lie, I don't wear it in the bath or when I sleep but other then that it's on me all the time."

Marta took a couple more steps into his place to get a further look at things. 

"So, you said something about a drink? I'll take a glass of wine if you have any bottles around here."

She was a bit interested to see what kind of business proposition he had for her but first figured to get that drink before they jumped right into the whole business talk.  

Lordian nodded.

"Wine it is."

He made his way to the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of Merlot, it would pair well with the pot roast later and he did not expect them to finish the bottle before dinner, but it would serve well as a pre-dinner wine as well. He opened the bottle, took two glasses and made his way back to the living room where Marta had made herself comfortable.

"I must say, I'm quite glad you decided to join me this evening. I was slightly worried that the messenger I sent might have confused you and Susan and I would have wound up with less desired company."

He poured the wine and took a seat opposite her.

"So I hear you've been living two lives of a sort lately. Moved to Detroit, and yet can't seem to leave Chicago or your coffee shop. You certainly look as beautiful as ever, so I can see you're not running yourself too thin."

He took a sip of wine and knew that he had started a conversation that would easily lead into what he hoped would be a long-lasting partnership, friendship, and perhaps, were he lucky, more. She was a guest in his apartments after all, just the two of them.

Marta sat down and watched Lordian open the bottle of wine, he poured a bit into both glasses then handed one of them to her. She took the glass into her hand and gave the contents a swirl in the glass before bringing it to her lips for a taste. The tartness in the wine could be felt almost instantly but it was good, one of the better wines she'd had in a while. 

She placed the glass down on the table in front of her and listened as Lordian spoke, patiently waiting for him to finish before answering his inquiry. 

"Yeah you would be correct, I've done a bit of back and fourth travel lately. Spend some time in Chicago then head back to the Luciano estate in Detroit to deal with whatever business the Godfather needs from me. It's quite the busy lifestyle that is for sure but I like it, it keeps me quite busy. Though I will say, if it weren't for my coffee shop in Chicago I'm not sure how much time I'd spend out here."

Marta reached once more for her glass of wine, this time keeping it in her hand. She took a small sip before continuing once more. 

"Then again, I do quite like this city. It has grown on me quite a bit, plus I know a lot of people here still. I just wish the two cities were a bit closer but then again it's only a short flight away, it could be much worse I guess."

Suddenly the remembrance of the card that was attached to the flowers popped in her head. Then on top of that she never thanked him for the flowers in the first place. 

'Oh my, I almost forgot. Thank you for the flowers, they were beautiful. I have them sitting on the front counter in the coffee shop. Though now that I bring that up, you mentioned something about a business proposition?" 

Lordian sipped his wine as Marta spoke highly of Detroit and her life as it was. Perhaps his idea was not going to hold water so well. She seemed to enjoy herself quite a bit running around. Then she asked him about the business proposal.

"First, you're welcome for the flowers."

He sipped his wine again.

"Yes I did, but I was hoping we could wait until at least dinner to talk about that. Then again neither one of us are apt to delaying things are we?"

He smiled and stood up, walking over to the desk in the corner of the room he pulled out a few pieces of paper.

"I had an idea, about your business venture, and how much you love it, and about how much I enjoy reading, and honestly, how much I enjoy your company."

he laid the papers out on Marta's lap. She could see the drawings of a new coffee shop, "Marta's Too" he had named it, he though he was being funny, but then it just stuck. It was slightly larger than the one she had here in Chicago, and there was good reason. It was combined with a bookshop. There was no separate structure, they were one storefront. Two services in one place.

"So my thought was to start up a bookshop and see if you might be willing to expand your current business. You would own half of the shop in Detroit, and I the other half. I would run the bookshop, and I would hope that you would run the coffee shop, though they would really be one entity, and I would expect people to come in generally for the coffee and perhaps read a bit, and decide they couldn't leave without the book they fell into. Or, even better, the book might draw them back as much as the exquisite aroma and caffeine."

There it was, his pitch. Simple, succinct, and if she said no, there was still wine and pot roast to be had.

"I'm not asking for an answer right away obviously, and we would clearly need to sign some paperwork detailing our relationship. We would also need to select a location and likely find clerks to run the place when our lives are needed elsewhere, but I though it might be a fun adventure we could embark on together. Besides, I have more money and less time than I know what to do with these days and I was hoping to give something back."

He sat again and let her pour over the sketches while he finished his glass of wine.

Marta sat back with the glass of wine in her hand, giving a listen to Lordian. He placed the sketches on the table in front of them and spread them out so they could all be seen at once. The idea definitely piqued her interest, she had been tinkering with the idea of opening up something in Detroit. Kind of expanding her business and in turn expanding herself, the idea of Marta's being nationwide was always a dream of hers.

It was just the logistics of it that seems overwhelming. With a partner though, things could definitely fall in place. Plus on top of it, it gave her something else to do when she was in Detroit. 

Marta took another sip of her wine before placing it on the table, then picked up a couple of the sketches. She leaned back onto the chair and looked at them with deep concentration. After a few moments she placed those sketches down, took another sip of her wine and grabbed a couple more sketches. 

"You know... this is actually seems like a good idea. I mean you've definitely done your homework. Well either that or you had someone professionally do up these sketches. Either or I'm still quite impressed."

She tossed the sketches back down on the table in front of her before speaking up again.

"It would be nice to expand the coffee shop and it would give me something else to do while I was in Detroit. Plus coffee and books, I don't think there's a better combination. Well except for pastries but that's completely another story."

The idea was brilliant and he funds were not an issue. The biggest pain in the ass would either be the staffing of the place or even finding the right location. Location was in fact key to a successful business, especially a business like this.

"You know, I did some scouting a while back one day in Detroit. I can't remember the name of the street off the top of my head but it was right in Downtown Detroit. Was by far the busiest area in the city, I just can't remember the name for the life of me. I'd have to do a little bit more digging but I think this could be a good and quite lucrative business."   

Lordian smiled. The thought of spending more time doing the things he loved with a woman who struck him so deeply was all he cared about. Whether the business stayed afloat or not mattered little.

"Wonderful, now, shall we have some dinner?"

He stood and made his way to the dining room, taking the bottle of Merlot and pouring Marta a fresh glass before sitting down.

"I must admit I do not know Detroit very well, so I would rely heavily on you for the choice of location, but I would like to run some thoughts past you. What do you think of a location which might include a park nearby? Have the face of the building face the park, and perhaps have a few tables outside so people could take in the grass and the fresh air while they enjoyed our comforts?"

He already had a plethora of ideas for what books to stock on the shelves, but he also knew he would have to keep some more modern choices as well. It would be hard going at first to figure out what kind of books the clientele would be looking for so it would probably be a farily eclectic inventory.

He cut into the steaming roast, and served Marta first. This was going quite well, a good start to things.

Marta wasn't overly hungry but didn't want to be rude, so she took a couple bites of the roast. It was good, really good but that muffin from a couple hours ago had held her over. The wine though, that was where it was at as she picked up the glass and took another sip. She was really intrigued about this business idea, her mind was working overtime thinking of all the logistics. 

She definitely knew people in Detroit and already had a real estate lady looking into to properties for her just for this. Well not for this but for a coffee shop, of course the request or matter of fact the details of the place now needed to be altered a bit but as in location it was spot on. He had the same idea's about the location. 

"I myself am still learning Detroit but I'm slowly getting the hang of it out there. I will say this, I do have a realtor already looking into places for me. Actually pretty sure she already has a list of properties to look at, I just haven't been back out to Detroit in a little bit now. Though I have a feeling I know exactly what you are looking for and like I said I know of the perfect area. I just can't for the life of me remember the name of it."

Marta got up from the table and excused herself for a moment. It didn't take her long to return but she came back welding the sketches that Lordian showed her when she first arrived. She placed them on the table next to her and pushed her plate over just a bit to give her more room. The business mindset was taking over. 

"I like most all your ideas, the only thing that I request is that at least the coffee side of things needs to have that old country vibe to it. There's no room for debate on that, oh and I don't bake. I mean we could get daily shipments in but baking is out of the question."

Marta glanced down at her watch then looked back up at Lordian. 

"It's still early enough, I could give my real estate lady a buzz and have her tweek her search for us. Speaking of which you'd probably like her, she is very much like Susan but prettier and a lot smarter. Don't get me wrong Susan is great but some times I wonder if she is all there in the head."

Lordian had a few bites of his pot roast and finished his glass of wine while Marta excused herself. He had filled both of their glasses before she came back and he listened intently as she went on about Detroit and a potential shop. And then he raised an eyebrow to her.

"Marta, I think Suzan is a wonderful girl, and I'm sure your real estate agent is as well, but I do question why you think I would like her because she's prettier. Smarter I can appreciate, you need a good head on your shoulders to get ahead in this world."

He took another sip of wine, he would need it.

"You do know though that I already have my sights set on someone though, don't you?"

She had to. The flowers, the watch, the amount of time he spent in her shop. She was a magnetic person to be sure, but he had made sure that she knew he was interested from the onset. Either she wasn't picking up on the signs or...

It was then that it occurred to him that she was only interested in the business and not interested in him in the same way he was her. The thought hadn't struck him since that first bar trip. Then again, he had seen her leaving the casino the other day with that young man, the same one from her shop. Perhaps life had taken him too far away too fast and she had lost interest. He switched tack.

"I don't bake either, so we will have to find a bakery to bring in daily deliveries. It seems to work in your shop here in Chicago, I don't see why it would fail in Detroit. Also, as far as aesthetic goes, I expect you to take the reigns if that's what you want. A bookshop can fit in just about anywhere, so long as there's enough books."

He then got up and cleared her plate from the table and began to clear the rest of the food as well. Clearly she wasn't hungry for anything other than the business proposal.

Marta smirked at Lordian, it was why she brought the realtor she clearly had a better head on her shoulders then Susan did. That's when Lordian brought up having his sights set on someone already. Must have been someone that he worked with or someone around Chicago, the thought of it made her smile. She was happy for him and hoped it all panned out, he was a good guy and would make someone very happy. 

Though the thought of settling down in Marta's mind sounded painful, too many bad memories for her. She was at the point in her life that she was just going to enjoy the ride and focus on herself and her business ventures. She was young still and didn't want to make the same mistakes she did while over in Italy. Which in it's own right was part the reason she came to the states. 

That's when he brought up the baking, which made her laugh. She was glad she wasn't the only one that wasn't a baker. She had tried many times before and was really good at burning things, was quite the master at it actually but burnt bakery items weren't the best sellers. 

"Ha! Yeah I make a mean burnt cookie or muffin... well actually I burn just about everything I put in the oven. See my problem is that I forget about it, I put it in the oven then always find myself off doing something else. That's until I see the smoke in the air. You know funny story..."

She picked up her glass of wine and took another sip. 

"The firehouse back home used to know me by name. They've had to come over and help me out a few time, I was kind of banned from the kitchen by my father for a while. Actually come to think of it, I don't think he ever told me it was ok to go back in and cook..."

She took one more sip of the wine before placing it down on the table. 

"Anyways though, I'm rambling now. Back to business! I'll handle all the designs, though I'll make sure to check in with you before making any final plans. I'd also assume we would just 50/50 the funds in and out, makes the most sense and I know the both of us are doing well on that matter."

Lordian smiled and nodded.

"50/50 would be fine by me, very simple, as long as we are alright paying a fair wage to anyone who we need to hire to help us out."

He backtracked slightly, more interested in her story than the business, it would come together on it's own, he would make sure of that one way or another.

"Well, you're welcome to try your hand in my kitchen any time you'd like Marta. Though I must say, if you ruin any of the cooking vessels my chef Rich might be a bit upset with you."

He took a sip of wine and put his glass down.

"Don't worry about calling your agent tonight, I'm sure things can wait until morning, I'd like to meet with her when you two are selecting locations though just to have a tiny bit of input if that's alright with you. I don't have many requests of this project, but that would be one of them. Also, you have to let me take you out to dinner the night before we open. So two requests."

He smiled and leaned back in his chair. it was nice, just the two of them sitting and talking. He wished he had stories of his own to tell of his family, but for the most part, his life was boring until he moved to Chicago.

Marta chuckled at the comment about trying her hand in his kitchen. It wasn't going to happen, if it had anything to do with fire it wasn't going to end well. Now if you were in the mood for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, that was another story. She clearly made the best PB&J sandwich ever, well at least in her eyes. 

"Oh no... I appreciate that offer but yeah I'll stay away from the flames. Though I do make the best peanut butter and jelly sandwich, it's quite the talent of mine."

With a smile she reached for her wine and took another sip, this sip bigger then the last bunch. Then pulled the glass away from her lips and swirled the remaining content in the glass. It wasn't done for any reason in specific but rather just to do it. 

"Alright but I'll call her first thing in the morning, will have her alter her search. Then make sure she has a list of them for us to look at, let's say in a couple of days from now? That's if you're available. If you're not I could even go check them out and pull out the ones that I think are good and we can then narrow down the properties from there."

She took another sip of her wine, which finished off the glass before placing it down on the table. 

"I have a flight back to Detroit in the afternoon tomorrow, so I will be out there in town. Oh and we can make the second request happen as well but there's a lot of work we need to do before that is to happen."

She reached for the bottle of wine and poured herself a little bit more, just about half of what was in there previously. 

"So, more important question for you. You about ready to spend a bit of time in Detroit?"

Lordian smirked at the mention of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. It was something he made himself far too often. He enjoyed the homeliness of the thing. And then Marta asked if he was ready to spend time in Detroit.

"Marta, I am ready to spend a whole bunch of time wherever you are."

He took another sip of wine and nodded then.

"Yes by the way, I can be there in a couple of days once the realtor has selected a few places, but I probably won't put my two cents in unless I absolutely hate a place. You've got to remember, I can make a bookshop work no matter where you put me. Some of the best bookshops around the world are found in little out of the way alleys behind some other shop. The coffee shop will need foot traffic and a nice view. A bookshop? People come to a bookshop to find an escape, not a nice view."

He picked up the bottle of wine and offered to fill her glass as he continued.

"You know, I think you might be missing a crucial part of this whole thing here. I'll be a great business partner. You'll have basically free reign over the place, and you'll have my help with absolutely anything you might need. But that's the easy stuff. The fact that you gotta deal with me a lot more than you have been as of late is what I really want to know if you think you can handle. I know I can be a stuffy guy sometimes, and that I put on airs of being from a higher class, but all of this?"

He gestured to the apartment around him.

"This is for show, for when I need to remind people of who I am, of who I work for. But this business proposal? This would be you and me doing something we enjoy for no reason other than we loved it. And I certainly won't complain if I get to see you a whole lot more often. I did ask you out on a date once after all, remember?"

"Are you sure you want to give me free reign on most of everything? I mean you say that now but do you really mean that, cause I can tend to be a pain in the ass with things like this. If I like things a certain way then that's how it is going to be, that's if you give me free reign of course. If you want it so things will be discussed then I need to know this now so I have the right train of thought going into this all."

Marta pushed her wine glass closer to Lordian, letting him know she would like for him to top it off for her. He took the hint and poured her half a glass, it was the proper wine pour. Though if it was up to Marta she would have filled the glass to the brim, though it didn't matter wine was wine.

"In regards to the foot traffic and location, I'm not too worried about it. I have no doubt we will find the proper location, will make the crystal clear to the realtor that it has to be in a prime location. Cost will be no worries and hell if we find the perfect spot and it's already occupied we can make them vacate the premises. I'm pretty sure I have enough pull with some of the important people in Detroit to make that happen."

She took the wine glass to her lips and took a nice sized sip. 

"That is of course it needs to come down to that but I'm sure it won't get to that point. So yeah, if you want to move forward with all of this I will definitely place that call to the realtor in the morning and hopefully by the time I get back into Detroit tomorrow afternoon she will have some listing for me to look at. Sound good?"

Lordian nodded.

"The only things I want to be consulted on are the bookshop area of the place and how it might be able to look nice while still being cozy, anyone we hire to help us out, and inventory for the bookshop. That's really it. I don't need much, I won't demand much at all. That doesn't mean I'm not willing to learn and help with everything else though."

He finished his glass of wine and put it to the side, the conversation was coming to a close, and he would have himself something stronger once Marta was gone for the night.

"Unrelated to business, can I ask you a personal question?"

He sat up in his chair a bit and folded his hands on the table. He didn't want to intimidate, but he was nervous himself.

Marta softly chuckled then gave small smile. 

"Oh the bookstore is going to be your world, as long as we can keep the decor constant throughout the entire place you will have complete say on the books and all of that stuff. I mean if you want my opinion, I'd be more then happy to help but in regard to that half of the place you will dictate what goes where and what's in stock etc..."

Marta then finished the contents in her glass, she sensed the conversation was in the ending stages and knew the night was coming to a close. That's when he asked her if he could ask a personal question, it kind of took her back for a moment and wasn't initially sure how to take it. Though she figured if they were going to be business partners that, some personal questions were going to be brought up. 

She placed the wine glass onto the table and pushed it off to the side. 

"Sure, ask away."

Lordian took a deep breath and let it out before he continued.

"I'd like to know if you might be interested in a date or two. To get to know one another personally. Not as business partners, or acquaintances. Oh Christ Marta, I like you, quite a bit in fact. I'd like to get to know you better, so I'm asking if you'd like to spend some time with me away from business and just have a good time together."

Deep breath never worked. Nerves always got the better of him when it came to how he felt, but there it was. Out now, and he would have to deal with whatever she said, good or bad.

Marta was a bit taken back by the question, she had never actually put two and two together that he liked her like that. The room was silent for a couple minutes while Marta replayed past interactions and that's when it hit her. She had been oblivious to it the entire time, she placed her hand over her mouth then hand it up her cheek then through her hair. 

She was about speak but then paused as she looked towards Lordian who was patiently waiting for her to respond to his question. Marta took in a deep breath and exhaled slowly before actually speaking. 

"I uh, I didn't know you thought of me in that way."

She reached for her wine glass but remembered it was empty. 

"Well, I consider you a great friend. You've always been super nice to me and I'm looking forward to going into business with you but I don't think we should mix business with pleasure. I'm sure you'd make for a great boyfriend or even husband but I'm not looking for anything like that right now and I just don't think with the business venture we are about to get into we should venture into all of that. Now if you want to go get drunk or something like that, I'm definitely your gal."

The room went silent for a moment before she spoke up again. 

"I know that's probably not the answer that you wanted to hear but I think it is for the best."