CHAPTER TEN
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As the days went by and then the weeks, Seth and I grew closer. I did my best not to tell too many lies when he would ask me about my past. It would be too easy to slip up and forget one later on. If he asked me a direct question about my past, I would answer it as honestly as I could. Otherwise I tried my best to just not let it come up at all. It wasn’t hard, Seth obviously was not interested in talking about his either. When the subject of his father came up, it was the only time I saw that self-assured, cocky mask that he wore slip and reveal the vulnerability that he hid so well.
At work we remained professional, except for the occasions when he would call me to his office and lock the door for one of our make-out sessions. They were getting hotter all the time and I wasn’t sure how much longer it would be before I couldn’t think of excuses any longer and I ended up in his bed. I had issues with that if I was going to continue this quest to ruin his father. I didn’t want to have to struggle with the idea that I possibly used my body to get ahead. It was contrary to every moral fiber in me, so for now, I resisted.
We worked well together, bouncing ideas off of one another and coming up with new ways to promote the company and entice clients to sign on with us. After work we often dined together and on the weekend we would take turns deciding what we would do. We went to concerts one weekend and then ice skating the next. We saw movies and took walks and we even spent an entire day at the zoo. I was falling for him, hard and fast and what I needed to do was getting all twisted up with my emotions… just like Grant had told me they would.
Seth and I had been dating for just under a month when one evening he came into my office and slumped down in the chair across from my desk.
“Hi,” I said, smiling.
“Hey.” He was staring at the desk, not even looking up at me. I could see worry or fatigue lines on his face.
“Are you okay?”
He finally looked up at me. I could see something in his eyes… hurt or anger… “Yeah,” he said at last. “Just a really bad day. I needed to see a pretty face to make me feel better. Sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry,” I said. I looked at the clock; it was almost seven p.m. “I’m pretty much finished here. Do you want to go get a drink and talk about it?”
“The drink and the company sound great,” he said. “I’m not so sure that I want to talk about it.”
“Okay,” I told him, as I stood up from behind the desk. “Whatever you need.”
Seth did smile then and running his eyes from my head to my toes, slowly, he said, “Whatever?” His look was so hot that the roots of my hair and the tips of my toes even felt it.
“Within reason, but all subjects are open for discussion,” I told him, with a smile of my own. I slipped on my coat and grabbed my bag. “Are you ready?” He stood up but instead of moving towards the door, he moved towards me. Taking me into his arms, he nudged me back against the wall and kissed me… hard.
I was gasping for breath by the time he let me go. His cheeks were flushed and his eyes half open in a sexy, almost glazed kind of way as he said, “We definitely need to have that discussion.” I knew he wasn’t talking about his bad day any longer.
He got his coat and since the evening was a mild one we walked to a cozy little upscale bar nearby. After we ordered our drinks, we found a little booth in the back and sat down. His mood seemed to have soured once more so I said, “Are you sure that you don’t want to talk about whatever happened today?”
He picked up his drink, a whiskey sour and downed it in almost one gulp. Then he looked at me and with a small smile and said, “I’m okay. It was just a bad day. Family stuff. It’s over now.” As soon as I heard “family” I saw an opportunity. I was torn as to whether or not I should take it. I had mellowed out considerably about the company and taking it back. But that was all because I was falling in love with this man. Did I really want to manipulate him into telling me things that could bring financial ruin to his family? The truth was, I didn’t want to… but if I wanted to get back what was rightfully mine, I knew that I needed to. I waved at the waitress. Whatever inhibition that was holding him back just needed a little encouragement to loosen up. When the waitress came over I ordered him another drink.
Seth raised an eyebrow at me and I said, “I’ll drive you home. You seem like you need it tonight.”
He looked at me then with genuine gratitude and said, “Thank you for caring, it means a lot.” He might as well have stabbed an arrow directly into my guilty heart. I almost changed my mind until the waitress sat down the next drink and he downed that one too and said, “Nothing is ever good enough for him… nothing.”