“Promotion? What promotion?” she squeaks.
“None yet, but it’s only a matter of time. Your work ethic and sharp mind haven’t gone unnoticed, and that report you presented yesterday was excellent.” We never did get around to discussing it last night, because we were too busy getting to properly know one another. She glows from my praise, and it feels good to put a smile on her face.
Goddamn it. I’m turning into a pussy already.
“I’m not in trouble?” she asks.
“In the future, run it by me first. On this occasion, if anyone asks, you had my permission to conduct that meeting in my absence.” I hold out my hand. “Hand me the file. There are a few tweaks I’d like you to make, and once I’ve approved the final version, you can distribute it to the board. I’d also like you to set a follow-up meeting with Simon Reed for sometime later this week. I need to meet with him myself before I sit down with the board to recommend your proposal.”
She radiates enthusiasm as we run through a few sections, verbally agreeing to changes, and her obvious delight in the work is a major turn-on, as is her intelligence.
She’s at the door, ready to leave, when I pluck up the courage to say what I want to say. “Don’t make plans for Sunday afternoon.”
She turns around, eyeing me suspiciously. “Why?”
“Because Abby has invited us to dinner, and I’d really like you to be there.”
She freezes on the spot, and I get up, walking to her. “I won’t force you if you really don’t want to go, but I’m not sure I can face it without you.” I’m cutting myself open and bleeding at her feet again.
“But they’re your friends. I don’t know them, and what are they going to think when they see me?”
I cup the back of her head. “That I’m a lucky bastard.”
“Charlie.” She uses her no-nonsense voice on me.
I press my lips to hers in a quick kiss, not wanting to break the rules already but needing to reassure her the best way I know how. “It will be okay, I promise. And if you’re uncomfortable, we can leave.” She’s not convinced. I can see it in her eyes. “Abby already knows about us, and if you are worried about her, you—”
“I’m not worried about her,” she interjects. “We’ve spoken, and I like her.”
My eyes almost bug out of my head. “When she was here or some other time?”
“When she was here. We cleared the air but…” She looks away.
I tilt her chin up. “But what?”
She scrunches up her nose. “I need you to be honest with me. What is happening between us, and is it because I look like her? Is she the one you want? Because I won’t be second best for anyone.”
“Come sit back down.” I take her hand and pull her over to the couch, sitting down beside her. I grip both her hands in mine, drawing a deep breath, as I prepare to pry my chest open and expose my heart. “I have feelings for you, Demi, and I love spending time with you. I want to get to know you better. I want to take you out on dates and show you that the version of me you’ve seen so far is not the man I am. I can’t promise you what’ll happen because I’ve no experience with dating, but I want to try with you, and that’s a first for me.”
“Do you really mean that?”
“Yes. I do.” I gently squeeze her hands.
“Is it because I look like her? Are you still hung up on Abby?”
“I’ve always been drawn to pretty brunettes with dark eyes. You’re most definitely my type. And, yes, I’ll admit I was first attracted to you because you reminded me of Abby. But that’s not who I see when I look at you now.”
I extract my hands from hers, sliding them up the side of her neck, clasping her face in my large palms. “I see you, Demi. You are incredibly beautiful and, hands down, the most stunning woman I’ve ever known. You take my breath away.” A light blush stains her cheeks as she basks in my compliment. “But it’s much more than your looks. I see a smart girl who selflessly quit college to look after her father. I see a girl struggling to manage all the demands placed on her, but she never complains, and she never wallows in self-pity. You have amazing inner strength, and that calls to me on a deep level.”
Her eyes turn glassy, and I’m struggling to speak over the lump in my throat. “You turn up to work every day with a positive attitude and a big smile on your face even though your boss is a grumpy, sullen prick”—that earns me a radiant smile, and I’m almost blinded by the goodness she exudes from every pore—"and you work your butt off for this company even if this job isn’t the job you had aspired to. You are committed, loyal, and hardworking, and that is one of the biggest turn-ons for a guy like me.”
Her chest visibly inflates, and she clutches on to my arms.
“You’re so beautiful, inside and out, and your touch does indescribable things to me.” I press my forehead to hers, inhaling the delicate floral scent that is all her. “You have invaded my thoughts, and I’ve spent months fighting against something I now realize I stood no chance of winning.” I ease back, peering into her face, as my fingers spread out, weaving through her hair. “I only fought you so hard because I wanted you so much and I couldn’t even admit that to myself.”
“How can you be sure now?”
“Because I can’t imagine living a day without you in it. Even when I was being a jerk, the highlight of my day was coming into the office because you were here.” My lips kick up. “Sparring with you made me hot as hell especially when you gave it back.”
She shakes her head and rolls her eyes, but she’s smiling. Her fingers touch my lips, and her expression turns solemn. “What about Abby now?”
I remove my hands from her hair, threading her fingers through mine, as I pin her with a serious look. I need her to understand this so there is no confusion going forward. “I thought, at one time, that I was in love with Abby, but I was confused, because I see now that wasn’t the truth. I wanted to keep her safe, and it was never anything more than me loving her as a friend. She had a tough upbringing. Her father was a monster who made her life unbearable at times. I got an opportunity to do something about that, and then, everything got fucked up.”
I wet my dry lips, not wanting to admit this, but I might as well lay it all out on the table. “My father trusted the wrong people, and it ultimately got him killed. But I interfered, thinking I was keeping Abby, my mom, and my sister, Lil, safe. All it did was accelerate the timeline. I watched my father murdered in cold blood, knowing I had a hand in it, and it’s killed me every day since.”
“Oh my God,” she gasps, her eyes flooding with concern as shock splays across her face. “I had no idea. I’m so sorry, Charlie.”
“A lot of messed-up shit happens in elite circles.” Which is something I’ll have to explain in more detail should things get serious between us, but there’s no way I’m hitting her with that right now too. “And most of it is hidden, hence why everyone believes my father died of a heart attack, because that’s what the elite wanted them to believe.”
“It’s not your fault.” She tries to reassure me, gripping my hands tight. “You didn’t pull the trigger.”