Chapter 7 #2
He literally put his gorgeous fucking head back and laughed at my tantrum. I sat there waiting him out, trying very hard to keep my mouth shut. I was on the verge of losing my temper and, given the conversation I’d had with Melissa just this morning, I knew that was not advisable.
He drove me crazy.
“Hi, Camilo. It’s nice to see you again. Thanks for coming to meet with me. I know you’re very busy.”
And now I felt like an asshole, because I hadn’t even said hello. What was wrong with me? Was I actively trying to get fired? This was next-level self-destructive, even for me.
I gritted my teeth and tried to smile. “Hi, Tom.”
He sat there with a happy grin on his stupid beautiful face and kept talking.
“I picked Red Rooster because I thought meeting alone in my office might be awkward for you. At the moment, my office is just me and my assistants and since—” He stopped talking then, cleared his throat and looked down at the table.
That bit of shyness, like he was also a little nervous about our meeting totally disarmed me.
I felt my shoulders relax as I focused on what he was saying.
“Anyway I thought a public space for our first meeting would be better. I also live just around the corner, on 126th,” he said, pointing at the busy street outside.
“And since your office is close, too, I figured it would be a good spot.”
Now I felt like an even bigger asshole.
I cleared my throat and tried to cool down. “That makes sense actually, and thanks for considering my comfort. I appreciate it.” I managed to keep a begrudging tone out my voice, but barely.
He waved his hand like it was nothing, then started talking again. “I just want to clear the air a bit. I realize this could be a very uncomfortable situation for you, given—”
Another embarrassed pause. Tom the gazillionaire was sort of precious.
I angled my head and asked innocently, “How I sucked you off in a bathroom the first time we met?”
He shot me a pleading look and a sound that was a mix between a groan and a laugh escaped his throat.
“Right.” He grabbed the glass of water that was sitting in front of him and took a couple of nervous gulps.
When he set it down, he seemed a little less flustered.
“I just wanted to reassure you I would never use what happened to make you uncomfortable in any way. I’m not going to pretend that the coincidence didn’t throw me for a second. ”
Yeah you and me both, pa.
He put an actual hand to his heart before saying, “If at any moment I say or do anything to make you uneasy, please just say the word. I mean that.” His face looked so earnest.
God he was a really decent guy.
I nodded, mollified by how much he was doing to make sure things went smoothly between us and tried to get my head back in the game. We were here to talk about the shelter renovation project, not rehashing how we knew each other.
“Okay. Thanks for saying that. You didn’t have to, so I appreciate you doing it and I can guarantee I will say something if you make me feel uncomfortable. I’m sure you’ve already noticed I don’t have any issues with saying what’s on my mind.”
He was legit beaming at me now. “Good. I’m glad to hear that.” His hazel eyes twinkled like me telling him I’d have no problem cursing him out was the best part of his day.
Tom Hughes did not make it easy for a guy to hate him.
I couldn’t help myself and leaned in, getting closer. We sat there in silence as the energy changed between us, suddenly the air felt charged. The spell broke when a server came to refill our water. We both pulled back and I cleared my throat again.
“So what do you have for me?” Tom asked. His voice sounded a little breathless and it made my mind go somewhere totally not safe for work. I closed my eyes and tried to regroup, again. I’d been at this meeting for five minutes and I was already picturing us fucking on this table.
I swallowed hard and shoved the folder with the estimates at him.
“So those are the estimates we got from the contractors. They built our child therapy center a few years ago and they’ve worked with other agencies like ours in the Tri-State area.
They’re very mindful of confidentiality and that we work with trauma survivors.
Their workers are also really great about being respectful with the clients and have even been trained on domestic violence.
” I tipped my chin in the direction of the papers he was holding.
“Anyways they’re ready to go anytime, so once you approve them, our finance manager and I can start setting up a timeline with them. ”
As Tom looked through the papers, a server came by and asked if I wanted anything.
He looked up from what he was reading and told the server offhandedly, “Another seltzer for me. He’ll have a glass of the prosecco.”
My hackles immediately went up. Was he ordering for me?
I was about to tell Thomas Hughes what I thought about people making decisions for me, when I remembered he was a donor for my agency, not my date, and even though he had told me to speak my mind, I still needed to be diplomatic.
I cleared my throat again to get his attention, and made sure I pasted on a smile when he looked up.
I held my hand up for the server who was about to walk off. “Actually, I’m good with water.” I kept my tone light, but just then I wasn’t feeling too concerned about my inability to stay away from Tom. Nothing turned me off faster than a man with a Daddy complex.
Tom looked up and I could see that despite my efforts to appear neutral; he could tell I was not amused. I pointed at the menu.