right, and I was going to have her one way or another.
Monday rolled around and I was ready to see her. I dressed in my best suit, just to make sure I caught her eye. A nicely tailored navy suit with a crisp white shirt, a crimson red tie, and navy blue loafers. It was my favorite suit. It was the suit I always wore in order to catch a lady’s stare. It never ceased to fail me, and I was ready for it to work it’s magic on Delilah.
My little minx.
Everyone’s heads turned as I walked through the office. I stopped and talked with a few people before I made it to my desk. I opened my door and looked down the hallway at the light already shining underneath her office door.
Holy hell, this woman was an early riser.
I wasn’t sure how to get her to come out of her office. I left my door open, just in case she decided to try and slip past me. I kept looking up from my calendar and emails every so often, watching to see if she would emerge. To get coffee or to pee. To get some fresh air or to find a window to look out.
But she didn’t emerge and I was left at a loss.
The woman she was at the bar would never have stayed cooped up like this. The woman I sat with in that booth needed a place to spread her wings. She wasn’t the kind of woman who kept herself cooped up in a damn broom closet away from everyone. She was the kind of person whose tongue whipped everyone into shape. Whose voice focused a room. Whose presence commanded attention.
At least, that was how I perceived her.
I entered the week’s meetings into the schedule, just to see if she would pop her head out to come confirm with me. I loaded them into the program and watched them pop up, then clocked the little circle that told me it was syncing with other computers. The syncing was complete and I waited for her to emerge, and still?
Nothing.
This woman was frustrating as fuck. How in the hell did I get her to come out of her office without knocking on her door? Preston Walker didn’t chase women. After a while, they fell at my feet. Some required a little more work than others, but they all did eventually.
And I wanted to see Delilah’s crisp green eyes look up at me when she kneeled.
Then, an idea struck me. I picked up the phone and dialed my favorite steakhouse, ordering her a nice big pasta dish. I added some fries and some broccoli, then ordered a decadent slice of chocolate cake for dessert. I told them to deliver it to Kiefer and Associates, then gave the man directions to Delilah’s office.
If the food didn’t cause her to emerge with curiosity, the gossiping buzz it would kick up would.
She was fully aware of the rumors that circulated about her, and I knew that would draw her out. I sat back and watched as the delivery man turned down the hallway. I dipped my head down to my desk as he knocked on her door, delivering the food to her as a grin crossed my cheeks. I could hear her arguing with the man, telling him he had some sort of error on his account.
But eventually, she relented.
Word would get around quickly about the dinner. That was just how things worked in places like this. I went into the corporate lounge down the hall from my office and sat there, then waited for the gossiping to take place.
But everyone acted as if nothing had happened.
I ventured down the stairs to another lounge. It was the lounge all of the secretaries frequented. It was on the public relations level of the building, and I knew those women would be talking about it there. The front desk secretary would’ve had to check the delivery man in, and surely she would’ve pulled some juicy gossip from the depths of his throat.
But when I stopped just short of the lounge and heard the women gossiping, there wasn’t a sound uttered about it.
No one was talking about anything. Not the food. Not the delivery. And not Delilah. And it hit me in that moment. That was why Delilah locked herself away the way she did. That was why she took the pseudo-office instead of the decent one. It wasn’t because she felt out of place or because she was weird.
It was because she faded into the background…and she was aware of it.
She was aware that no one cared. She was aware that no one liked her. She was aware that no one kept their eyes on her or found her important or even noticed the basic likes of her.
But that wasn’t true for me.
I had noticed her.
She had caught my eye for whatever fucking reason. Other people didn’t look at her, but I did. Other people could take their eyes off her, but I couldn’t.
I went back up to my office prepared to order myself some lunch, but I found a familiar form standing at my door. Delilah was standing there, with the two bags of food in hand as she turned towards me.
“I take it you’re the one to thank for this?”
She turned around and her eyes took me by surprise. I could’ve sworn they were green. In fact, I knew they were. If there was one thing I never forgot, it was a beautiful pair of eyes. And Delilah had a mesmerizing pair. She kept them behind thick glasses that I wanted to throw out the damn window, but they were there.