6. King
6
KING
I’ve been counting down the days and minutes until I get to see Haven again. I’ve stalked her on social media, researched everything I can find on her, and now I’m pacing back and forth, waiting for her to arrive at her appointment.
As soon as there’s a knock on the door, I stride across the room and rip the door open with more force than I should. She jumps at the sudden movement of it, but she’s smiling nonetheless.
“Hi,” she says with a pretty blush on her cheeks.
It takes everything in me not to reach for her. “Hello, Haven. Come on in.”
As she walks in, the server from the hotel restaurant is finishing setting up, and she stands next to the table that is filled with an arrangement of lunch items. “Everything is set up, Mr.—”
I cut her off. “Thank you, Janice. I appreciate you setting things up. We’ll let you know if we need anything else.”
I pull a hundred dollar bill from my wallet and hand it to her. “Thank you.”
She nods, looks at a surprised Haven, and then walks out the door.
“I ordered food. I didn’t get to eat lunch, and I thought we could eat while we talked.”
“Uh…” She starts staring between me and the table.
I know I’ve overstepped and this whole thing is unorthodox, but I also know from her social media that she had a shoot today, and she probably missed lunch. I hold my hands up. “No pressure. I saw you had a shoot today and I wasn’t sure if you had time to eat.”
Her eyes widen in astonishment. “You know I had a shoot today?”
Shit. That doesn’t sound appropriate at all coming from what is supposed to be her therapist. “Yeah, I saw it on your social media.”
“You looked me up? ”
I jut my chin at her, not wanting to deny it. “Yes. Yes, I did.”
She waves at the table. “This is… Wow, I mean this is the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me.”
Anger rolls through me when she says it. If anyone deserves nice things, it's her. Guilt has been eating at me for lying to her, but I also know that I didn’t have much of a choice. At least that’s what I keep telling myself.
I pull out a chair for her and gesture to it. “Here. Sit down. I wasn’t sure what you’d want to eat, so I got a little bit of everything.”
She sits down, and as I move around to the other side of the table and sit down, she’s staring at me with her mouth hanging open instead of looking at the food between us. “If you’re not hungry… you don’t have to eat.”
She shakes her head. “No, I mean yes, I am hungry. I guess I’m just surprised is all. This is, while really nice, it’s really unexpected, that’s all.”
I should explain to her, but I’m not sure how she’ll react, so that alone has me holding back. “I could tell you why I did this, but I fear it’s not appropriate for our working relationship or even something you’re ready to hear. Will you eat with me, please?”
She has questions. It’s obvious by the way she’s looking at me that she wants to understand, but she doesn’t ask me anything. She simply nods her head. “I’m starving, King. Thank you for doing this. I thought I was going to have to grab something when I left here.”
She reaches for the tongs and picks up a filet steak. “Would you like one?”
I nod, and she puts it on my plate as I tell her, “I should be serving you.”
Her smile turns up a notch. “Look at this, King. You did all this. I can surely put food on your plate.”
I bind my hands together in my lap as she points at each plate. “Do you like green beans?”
I shrug. “I’ll have whatever you don’t want.”
She laughs and points around the table. “There’s enough here for at least ten people.”
Without even looking at the food, I tell her, “I’ll have whatever you’re having then.”
She continues to dish up the food, and I don’t even pay attention to what she’s giving me. I could watch her all night. The way her eyes light up and she smiles as she puts something on my plate. I debated if this was a good idea, but I’m glad I did it because it obviously made her happy.
After she’s done serving the food, she holds her fork up. “This is just wow, King. This is so nice of you, and I want you to know how much I appreciate it.”
“You’re welcome. I’m happy to have a meal with you.”
She starts to eat, and I do the same. We’re both quiet, enjoying the food, but I can’t resist watching her. Whether she realizes it or not, when she likes something, she lets out the tiniest of happy moans. If she takes a second bite, she moans a little louder. I’m enjoying watching her eat so much that I barely even touch my food.
When she notices me staring at her, she lifts her napkin to her mouth and wipes at the corner of her lips. “Do I have it on my face?”
“No.”
I can’t see her mouth, but her eyes light up. “Why are you staring at me then?”
“Because you’re beautiful,” I answer without thinking about it.
She folds her arms on the table in front of her. “Wow. Dinner and compliments. You’re really pulling out all the stops today. ”
“I’m sorry… if it’s making you uncomfortable…”
My voice trails off as she starts to shake her head.
“No, I get it. I thought about our last appointment all weekend. I know I sounded pitiful… but I don’t want you to pity me.”
“Pity you? I don’t pity you. Why would you think that?”
She looks down at her plate and picks at her food. “It’s not a big deal.”
I reach for her, and when she tenses, I let my hand fall to the table. “Haven, look at me.”
She keeps staring at the table, and I plead with her, “Haven, please.”
She finally lifts her big green eyes to me, and I hate the insecurity I see reflected back at me. I can’t touch her, so I lean forward, trying to shorten the distance between us. “I promise, I felt a lot of things after our last appointment, but not once did I feel pity for you. I enjoyed talking to you, and even though this is not appropriate, I wanted to sit here with you and do something normal together.”
I’m holding my breath, hoping I’m saying the right things, and finally the corner of her mouth lifts, and she nods her head. “Okay. I enjoy talking to you too, King.”
There’s so much more I want to say, but I hold back because I’m already pushing my luck. We continue to eat, and she tells me about her photoshoot today. She asks me about my day, and I’m vague when I tell her it was busy with appointments, which is not totally a lie. I’ve had back-to-back appointments, and they would have continued through the day if I didn’t cancel them all to be here for this.
“Do you want dessert? I can call Janice and—”
She is shaking her head, putting her hand across her stomach. “No, I can’t eat another thing.”
I rest my elbows on the table. “Okay. Next question. Do you want to watch a movie?”
I gesture to the corner of the room, where I have the couch and a large screen television set up. She points at herself. “You want to watch a movie with me?”
I nod at her without speaking.
Her brows draw in with confusion on her face, but she doesn’t push it. “Okay.”
“Comedy, action, or romance?”
I move across the room, and she stands up. “Comedy. ”
I turn the television on and look at the movies I downloaded earlier. I turn on the first comedy, and Haven starts to clean up the table.
“Stop. Janice will get that later.”
She stands up and walks toward me at a slow pace. I can see the hesitancy on her face, and I point at the couch. “Sit down. I can sit next to you or I can sit in one of the chairs. It’s up to you. You’re the boss here, Haven.”
She sits down on the couch and looks up at me. She takes a deep breath, and I know it’s hard for her when she says, “You can sit down next to me.”
I move slowly because I don’t want to spook her, and when I sit down, I make sure that no part of my body touches hers.
I point to the well-known comedy on the television. “Is this okay with you?”
She doesn’t look at me as she says, “Yeah, this is funny.”
I lean back in my seat and hate that everything has turned awkward. I’m pushing too hard, but I can’t help it. There’s no doubt I want her, and initially I was drawn to her beauty, but now it’s something more. I want to see her smile, I want to see her happy, and I want to see her get everything she wants out of life. It’s fast—hell it’s all happening too fast, but nothing I do can get her out of my head. I’m constantly thinking about her, worried about her or wondering if she’s okay.
There are so many reasons I should walk away from her. One being that I’m fifteen years older than her and another is her lack of experience. I don’t want to steamroll her or pressure her in any way. In this instant, I convince myself that I need to slow down.
Before I fuck this up and she doesn’t want anything to do with me.