Shades of Greene (The Complete Collection)

By Ana Vela

Alexis Black is finally on her way to becoming a successful journalist - and moving to London!

After ending things with her boyfriend of over three years, she has finally decided to go travel like she has always wanted to and the magazine she works for is helping her pay for it by putting her to work.

Finding herself to be in the right place at the right time for so many events, she can see that her career will flourish on her trip, but will her love life?

After meeting Richard Greene, the Man of the Year, and finding that he has taken an interest in her, she wonders if she has finally found the electric love she's been looking for...or if she's just part of a rich man's games.

Note: Parts of Shades of Greene were previously published as Greene’s Riches.

Also includes Sneak Peeks at some upcoming novels!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Roja Publishing
• Release date: Nov 2, 2016
• ISBN: 9781540158918

Book preview

Shades of Greene: The Complete Collection

Alexis Black is finally on her way to becoming a successful journalist - and moving to London!

After ending things with her boyfriend of over three years, she has finally decided to go travel like she has always wanted to and the magazine she works for is helping her pay for it by putting her to work.

Finding herself to be in the right place at the right time for so many events, she can see that her career will flourish on her trip, but will her love life?

After meeting Richard Greene, the Man of the Year, and finding that he has taken an interest in her, she wonders if she has finally found the electric love she's been looking for...or if she's just part of a rich man's games.

Note: Parts of Shades of Greene were previously published as Greene’s Riches.

Also includes Sneak Peeks at some upcoming novels!

~ Volume One ~

She smiled over her coffee as she listened to the little girl behind her explain the meaning of love to her mildly attentive mother.

It’s like when Daddy takes me to the zoo, and when Grammy brings us presents when she visits, and when Ruby licks my face, the young girl said, her pigtails dancing as she spoke animatedly. It’s like that, Mommy. When someone does something because you like, not because they do.

Mmm, that sounds right, Sam, the twenty-something working businesswoman answered. She was scanning the newspaper, looking for something, clearly not interested in her daughter’s four-year-old insight.

The ice cream man in our neighborhood loves me, the hot chocolate girl here loves me, she sang on as she stirred the whipped cream into her hot chocolate, occasionally dripping some on her yellow dress. The lady in the suit next to her obviously had no idea about the spilling, or if she did, cared nothing of it. Nevertheless, little Sam was clearly happy with her idea of love and how many people seemed to show it towards her.

Alexis Black watched on as the oblivious mother and daughter enjoyed their time together in totally different ways. She knew that this was probably a temporary event; soon the mother would pay attention to the child again and love her as she always had, dismissing the chatter that she had not heard as unimportant observances made of a four-year-old’s hot chocolate. But somehow, bizarrely, Alexis could not seem to shake the thought that her relationship with Brandon had been very similar to that of the mother and daughter as she could see them in this particular moment. Unfortunately, she thought, in their situation this way of relating to one another was not temporary; it had taken up the majority of the way they spent their time together.

As she realized this and contemplated it, Alexis felt guilty that she was the distant counterpart in the parallel and Brandon had been the child with the silly ideas that she so often dismissed. Just as the child would love her mother, he had loved her in a clinging sort of way that was less natural outside the mother-child relationship, she admitted, but she had trouble letting him go. He had been mostly a safe choice at the time she agreed to go out with him; he wasn’t the most attractive man she could be with, but he was sweet and would always care for her, and with his family money would have had no trouble doing so if they were married, she knew. She felt guilty even now for thinking about how she had known the whole time that she could probably never actually marry him.

Every time Brandon had brought up the future she had nodded along, agreeing with his ideas just enough to keep him at bay, but also spoke up enough about how they both still needed more time, so that he would not rush things, when they had the rest of their lives to be together. That’s what she had said to him, over and over, until finally one day, he decided that she would say yes if he asked in just the right way.

Her one saving grace in the situation was that she had seen it coming. She had been able to save him some of the embarrassment. But it still made her hold her head in shame to think that she had led him on up to that point. Sure, she had kept him from getting on his knee in front of everyone at the gala they had attended, but he had already told some friends he was going to ask and they were sure that after three years together she would say yes. No one had doubted her complacency, but they thought it was a choice that she had decided to stick with. She had known better, but still had let it go on, thinking she could maybe avoid marriage altogether somehow.

She had been selfish, she knew, and had spent some time hating herself for what she had done to Brandon, before she decided that it was time to move on and chase after her own happiness. There was no point in continuing to hate herself about it, especially now that he had started to move on too, a little more quickly than she had planned on, actually.

The intercom boomed from overhead. Flight 5761 to New York will begin boarding in a few minutes. Anyone who needs special assistance or has children, please begin the boarding process now. Thank you, the politely bored voice informed all the passengers.

That was her flight, she thought, feeling a little nervous for the first time since she had booked her plane ticket. She was finally doing it, finally going to see the world, traveling on her own, free of attachments. She was honestly more excited than nervous. She had always wanted to travel, but during college when she could have studied abroad, she felt like she had to stay with Brandon, not wanting him to have to worry about their relationship. That had turned out well. Then after college, they had gotten more serious, making it impossible for her to go, unless they were going together, which she really just did not feel like rushing to do. When she thought of traveling the world, she thought of doing it on her own, and now she was getting what she wanted.

Oh, Samantha Elizabeth, look at the mess you’ve made, the woman suddenly shouted after seeing the chocolate stained yellow dress. Come on, let’s hurry and change in the bathroom before we have to get on the plane, she said, exasperated, stuffing the newspaper in her briefcase.

As Alexis listened to the impatient heels click quickly away in the distance, she thought of it as the sound of her old life fading away. She could feel it. She knew that nothing would ever be the same after this adventure.

*****

The cabin lights came back on, waking Alexis from a fitful sleep. It had been a long plane ride from Charlotte to New York, and even longer from New York to London. After basically spending an entire day in the world of transportation, Alexis was ready to crash, but first she would have to wait for her luggage, and then find her hostel for the night. She yawned, feeling herself wake up as they brought the small breakfast tray by her row.

Tea or coffee, miss? the attendant asked brightly.

Coffee, please, she responded. The woman smiled and handed her a steaming cup. She realized that everyone around her was British and most were ordering tea. She thought that had just been a joke about the English. Maybe they really just preferred tea to coffee, she pondered.

She hoped she did not seem like this was her first time going abroad. It did not matter to her that it was really, she just did not want to come across that way. As a journalist, she needed to begin trying to blend in as much as possible, only speaking when spoken to and asking all of the right questions, if she was going to make this Travel Journalism job she had basically invented when talking to her boss before leaving the magazine. She had convinced him to put a travel section in the Modern Woman of Today, saying that she could give the perspective of a single woman out on her own experiencing the world and being fearless. Jacob loved it when anything made women seem fearless or fierce and so she had been able to convince him.

She did actually think it was a good idea, but she had been worried because she asking the magazine to at least fund her flight over, which they had agreed to only because of her outstanding record working for them since she started as a college intern nearly five years ago.

The magazine was not going to pay for anything more than her first flight over and her first night’s stay in the hostel she had chosen. She had saved enough money to get by for a few months traveling at least, but she knew that the sooner she had stories that the magazine would pay for, the better.

She gazed out of the window as she finished her croissant and orange juice and the plane began to slowly descend. Maybe it was foolish, but for now, not knowing any better, she felt ready to take on the world and scared to death at the same time. She hoped that once she landed she would find that there was no reason for the latter.

*****

The first couple of days in London had been exciting and a little nerve-wracking, but Alexis decided that was to be expected. Of course, she had made her first big mistake: she had forgotten all about changing currency. Fortunately, she had a credit card with her that she could use in most stores and restaurants, but you still needed cash if you didn’t reach a minimum payment, plus there were the outrageous ATM fees. She hadn’t thought about how much money she would just be giving away every time she went to get cash out of the machine when she had not prepared well for the currency change. Besides the money issue and trying to find her way around in a place where she felt so disoriented, as if being on a different continent actually made the maps harder to read, she had been having a really wonderful time so far. She immediately met a few other travelers, as London was full of people who were not born there, and they made tentative plans to go places and do things together, but there was not the strong friendship that required everyone stick to these plans. No one was mad at her if she decided to go on a tour instead of to the coffee bar or out exploring instead of shopping, but it was nice to have the plans just in case she ended up alone. So far, traveling was wonderful. Today, however, she was making herself start work, and she had no idea how she was going to pull it off.

It was difficult enough to make herself get her computer out of her work bag and document what she was experiencing at some point every day; she felt the constant need to be out experiencing, and for once in her life, it seemed more important than ever to observe without judging. This urge made all of her entries so far very journal-like, rather than the intro, climax, and a resolution with a strong point to get everyone riled up that she was used to.

She knew she would have to put that bad practice behind her tonight. She needed to put on her Press Pass and try to hide the deer-in-the-headlights look that she was sure she had been wearing since she stepped off of the plane. Jacob had video-called her the day of her arrival to make sure that she had made it safely, allowing her an answer that could not have been much more detailed than a simple nod before rattling off information about an International Fund Raiser that Janice Williamson would be attending; therefore she would be attending it as well.

Alexis’s interest was piqued. Janice Williamson had been in the frenzied media spotlight for the last two months, after her husband had attempted to embezzle money from their company and spend it on his relationship with his mistress. The mistake he had made was believing that his loving wife would stand by him based on her lack of awareness about either situation, when the claims starting coming out from the accountants that something was not right. For such a successful businessman, Jack Williamson had been very bad at hiding both his affair and his deep pockets. The conversations he had been having about his plans with the mistress, Linda Blake, made the entire sordid affair public before he had a chance to execute any of them, though he had succeeded in informing many social networks of his strange bedroom habits. In the end, his wife Janice Williamson was just what Modern Woman of Today was all about; she had showed her incredible strength by kicking him out of their home immediately and quickly taking over the company by convincing him and his lawyer it would be best for him take his small pieces of dignity and let her fix his mistakes. Since she had taken over Ameriblast, the stock had skyrocketed; the pro bono work alone was enough to draw positive attention to the company, and women around the globe were talking about her success. The woman was going to be on Oprah in a month – a sure sign you’ve made it, if there ever was one.

Janice was a celebrity in Alexis’s world, and it was Alexis’s job to be at the same event she would be speaking at tonight with her notebook and camera. It was a dream come true in the reporting world, and still Alexis was worried that she would somehow mess it up just trying to show up and get through the door.

She was the kind of journalist that did internet research and gathered information through phone calls and using her many smaller networking connections to create bigger ones; she had never been the sole reporter to attend such an important event and try to cover it all on her own. She worked for a magazine, and even though it was not some girly lifestyle magazine like she had hated growing up, it was not some world-renowned, important newspaper where the reporters were pushy and focused. On the phone, prying for information, she was a tigress; at least she knew the right people to offer company tickets to in order to get what she needed, but she worried that in person, at a ridiculously important event like this, she would trip, or not be allowed in because she missed some small memo about the dress code, like no open-toed shoes. She knew she was being silly now; but she decided to wear her close-toed sling-backs just in case.

*****

Before leaving for the event, Alexis had smoothed her hair in the hotel mirror, a hotel which the magazine had thankfully put her up in for the special event, and practiced her professional press introductions. She kept imagining flashing paparazzi and screaming over other press members, all trying to ask the question that most interested them, but she knew it would be more civilized than that. She would be allowed to mingle with others and listen to the speech, but this was not a press release. No reporter’s questions would be flying about, but rather, large sums of money towards Mrs. Williamson’s favorite cause: A Brighter Life. This cause provided free electricity for the tenants of certain small towns all over the world, with a main focus on keeping millions of poor and impoverished children warm through cold winters. At three hundred pounds per plate and over five hundred people attending the event, several thousand pounds would be going towards the cause before donation checks even started being written.

Now, Alexis watched from the cab as the beautiful historic hotel came into view, lighting up the large stone steps and huge castle-like windows. She felt a flutter in her stomach, and breathed what she hoped was a calming breath. She paid the driver and thanked him for his religious insight throughout the drive, wishing him a nice evening and promising to buy his book when it finally made it out into the world. She was actually quite thankful for the distraction on the twenty-minute drive from her less expensive hotel to this magnificent one that would soon house the evening that could make or break her career. So soon into her travels, she was being thrust into a situation she imagined herself being in perhaps a month or two from now, after she had written some Tips on Traveling Alone for the Modern Woman and Getting Work Done While You Travel fluff pieces, for example. She had so many less important things to write about, but she had to look at all of this positively. If she played her cards right, three days into her trip, she could find a series of stories to follow. There would be so many important people at this fund-raiser and she would hopefully be able to make a long list of successful women with stories to tell.

Alexis smoothed her new evening gown one last time. She would have to write a great piece just to be able to afford the dress for it, she thought, before making one last adjustment of the view of her breasts. She usually did not strive for sexy, but she figured that any extra attention she could get tonight could be helpful in finding her next story. For once, it made sense to use this advantage that she doubted would even be noticeable to the celebrities here; she hoped to at least not wash out next to the prominent personalities she was about to encounter.

Good evening, Miss, the doorman greeted her. Will you be attending the Brighter World Dinner?

Yes, thank you, she responded quickly, starting to fumble through her clutch for her invitation.

Upstairs and to the left, Miss, he said, slightly bowing his head to indicate that he had completed his duties and she could stop looking for the paper.

She smiled sheepishly, hoping the couple behind her had not seen her rifling like a maniac through her purse. She took out her wallet so she would be prepared for the next stop, if there were one.

After making her way up the beautiful marbled double staircase, she was greeted by a lady in a suit who was handing out table numbers and nametags for everyone. Alexis showed her press pass and was given her nametag showing the magazine she was with. She was kindly directed shown the table where the press would be dining and asked to enjoy her evening. So far, this request seemed possible. She was feeling better just by there sheer fact that she had made it through the door without being scolded and thrown out for not being on some list. Maybe she had just seen one too many movies, she thought.

*****

An hour into the evening, Alexis had managed to exchange a few pleasantries with some of the other press members, all who seemed far more experienced at all this than she did, except for one who went by the name Johnny Penn. After talking to him about how it was his first break into writing for his uncle’s mid-level newspaper, he had managed to snap every pencil he had out of excitement, while writing every detail he could take in and went off in search of more writing utensils in the lobby. There were only a few more minutes until the introductions would begin and the speech would start before dinner.

Alexis had only let herself have one fairly large glass of white wine so far, as she could only imagine how far south the evening could go if she started flirting with some rich husband of some rich angry lady. She had already turned a few heads throughout the night, so she no longer worried about her appearance. She knew she was conservatively dressed enough, so it did not make her uncomfortable to be getting attention; it just made her want to figure out her game plan. Who should she talk to first? Should she just mingle and see what happens? A few dozen questions varying only slightly from these swirled through her thoughts, as she made her way over for a glass of champagne. One more drink before dinner couldn’t hurt, she thought.

As she reached for a glass as the waiter passed by she scanned the room. No more time to talk to press. She had gathered some valuable information about the evening from some of them that would work in her article, but she needed to start making first-hand connections for future stories. She stopped in her tracks as she thought she had finally set eyes on the woman of the evening.

Oh, damn, she heard as someone ran into her. She was instantly mentally kicking herself. She had stopped too quickly and now someone had run into her. She turned to see that it was even worse than she thought.

Oh my god, I am so sorry, she started, grabbing the nearest cocktail napkins she could from a table. She could see that the man behind her had spilled red wine on the floor and was holding the glass away from his body as though it had also spilled on his tuxedo. No, no, no. I can’t believe I did that. I’m so sorry, sir, she said vigorously dabbing his chest.

Really, it’s fine, he said, his smooth, deep voice catching her off guard. She looked up because a voice like that had to belong to either a king or a radio show host. I managed to keep from spilling it on myself, I think, he said, smiling at her as she looked up at him in awe, holding the napkins still on his chest now. She pulled away quickly once she recovered from what she had done.

Oh, Mr. Greene, she stammered. I-I didn’t know that it was you. Not that I would spill red wine on just anyone, but I especially wouldn’t intentionally spill it on you. I just stopped because I thought I saw someone, and I’m so sorry.

Mr. Greene smiled his breath-taking, award-winning Man-of-the-Year smile at her, even though she wanted to disappear just long enough to make herself stop making blubbering excuses. So she smiled back.

I’m sorry, sir, I just-

Please, no more apologies. Nothing happened, so there’s no need, he said with a grin. She could tell that he was taking an extra second to look at her now as well. Then she remembered her nametag.

Oh, yes, well I just wanted to say that I know who you are and I’m so delighted that I get the opportunity to finally meet you, she started, then realized she must sound like a crazed fan. Not that I did this on purpose. How could I have?

She wanted to disappear now. Finally she said, What I was trying to say through all of that is that I’m a writer with Modern Women of Today Magazine. You were in our January edition, which is how I know you and it’s very nice to meet you.

Ah, yes, he said, remembering. Someone there was crazy enough to nominate me as Most Eligible Business Man of the Year, I believe?

She laughed, surely a little too nervously, she thought, but hopefully he was too important to notice much about her. Yes, someone there did. Not that I can blame them, she said. She was shocked at her nerve. That was borderline flirty, she thought.

I was kind of hoping it was you, he said, making her melt on the spot. I figured you must make all the decisions there to be sent all the way to London for a fund-raiser.

She felt a calm come over her, just ever so slightly. This was playful banter and she could handle playful banter.

No, they just treat their interns really well, she joked. I’m actually their current traveling editorialist. I’m so grateful that I was able to come here tonight and spill everyone’s drinks.

He chuckled as beautifully as he had smiled. You’re funny, Ms. Black, is it? I like that. He lingered while looking at her nametag.

Oh, well, I’ve got to have something to work with to combat my lack of grace, she continued, slightly in awe of herself now.

I think you are far from lacking grace. For a moment, I thought you were an angel trying to keep me from drinking too many glasses of wine tonight, he said, flashing that smile one again. She did not know how long this could or would go on, but she did not want to stop. Her answer came soon enough.

Excuse me, Richard? a woman called out. There you are, dear. It’s time to sit, time to sit. The speeches will start soon. A beautiful brunette in a flowing white gown who truly did look like an angel had looped her arm through Richard Greene’s.

Of course, he was here with someone, Alexis thought. One doesn’t stay the Most Eligible Business Man on the Market forever.

It was so nice to meet you, Ms. Black, he said, smiling warmly, but in a much more conserved way now. You should get back to your date.

She smiled, Oh, yes. I suppose it’s time. At least she could leave the situation with him thinking that she had come here with someone.

She watched as the perfect man and his perfect woman walked away, chattering intimately on the way to their table, before finally resigning to her seat next to Johnny, who now sat prepared with several pens and pencils sticking out of his breast pocket.

*****

The speeches and the dinner had been perfect. Alexis had been happy about nearly every detail. The night had actually turned out very smoothly, after almost being ruined by nearly making Richard Greene spill wine all over his tux. She had been able to break herself out of her looping reverie of marrying him, by reminding herself that she never even stood a chance, at least judging by the beautiful woman next to him all night. After overcoming this personal obstacle, everything from the perspective of someone looking for a hot un-televised breaking news story went well.

Janice had ended up presenting her son to the audience to announce that he would be taking the place of her former partner, who everyone managed to avoid mentioning until now and intelligently continued to do so afterwards. Then, the thirty-two year old Benjamin Williamson spoke in acceptance of his new post, and in thanks to his mother for all of her work. He gave her the one gift that not only made them both more loved by one another but by everyone in the world as well; he presented the new addition to A Brighter World that he had secretly been working on the past few months. This new addition, A Cleaner World, would provide running water in the same towns A Brighter World would visit, working hand-in-hand as their partner, and he unveiled a filtering system to make sure there would be plenty of drinking water as well.

Alexis felt so fortunate for this new twist to the story. The magazine would be expecting the usual amount of excitement following a fund-raiser; the article would not have been the feature story without something major. This something major was going to help Alexis get a stipend every month, after being less than three days in. She couldn’t believe her luck. And, what’s more, during and after the dinner, she had met several women from many different countries who were impressive and independently successful or knew someone that was and could tell about them. Alexis knew she could follow up on some of these for more impressive feature articles and interviews. The travel section had the chance of being a real position, if she kept doing this right. This story had practically written itself, she thought happily.

When she finally felt truly secure about her success of the evening, with her list of future feature stories nearly a page long, she drank several glasses of celebratory wine and champagne and toasted to her good fortune. By ten o’clock, still early at in the night, she felt, she was having a great time wandering amongst groups of press and the few more inebriated members of the businesspeople looking for the most entertaining bunch to listen or talk to. She and Johnny and a few other members of the press eventually ended up in a circle near their table, all howling and laughing at their party-fueled conversation. Alexis had finally decided to drink water, knowing that she wanted to be more sober for finding her way back to her hotel at the end of the night. She wanted to feel safe and this was all still very new territory, although she was not really able to differentiate between these new friends and her old ones – these new ones felt just as close and a bit more fun and carefree, she thought. Maybe it was because they had all been thrown together from so many different places and then been given a greater story than they imagined and then all gotten fairly drunk, but they were all feeling especially friendly.

A few drinks into the after party, when the conversation had switched to gossip about all the celebrities they had encountered that evening, Johnny told Alexis that he was also in love with Richard Greene. He joked about how he had tried to hide being gay because he hated the attention girls gave him. They all wanted to be his best friend and he just wanted to get laid by the hot guys they wouldn’t let him talk to, he had told her. They laughed about how he had ended up only feeling like hanging out with a girl anyway. Alexis was happy to make what felt like her first real friend near London as she exchanged contact information with Johnny; at least he could make her laugh and she wouldn’t have to worry about him wanting to be more than friends.

Around eleven thirty, or twenty-two thirty, as they so rudely tried to confuse her with when she was tipsy here in England, Alexis decided that it was time to start heading back to her hotel. She needed to hail a cab soon so that she didn’t end up staying out all night with people she didn’t know, she thought cautiously. Drunk Alexis tended to be more of a social butterfly than Sober Alexis was. She generally tried to avoid dealing with that side of herself, but tonight had gone too well not to celebrate at least a little bit. If she ended the night now, it would be just about a perfect ending, she thought.

She made sure she had all of her belonging and told Johnny goodnight, calling her cab on the way down out of the ballroom.

Need a ride? she heard from behind her. She looked absentmindedly, not thinking the voice was speaking to her, but just at the moment she saw his handsome features again, she realized that it wasn’t just any voice, it was his voice – Richard Greene.

She smiled, slowly pulling the phone away from her ear as though she had just finished talking on it. No, of course not! Thank you, though.

Were you not just calling a taxi? he said, one eyebrow arched as he grinned.

"Well, yes,