Chapter 49
This, I guess, could count as a first date. However, he was so deep in thought that I almost wasn’t sure. Everything that had just happened at the conference had been so fast, but as he had said, it was because we were prepared. If we weren’t, it would have started a catastrophe that perhaps we would be stuck trying to reverse or mitigate in court for the next ten decades.
I knew he wanted me there; however, only when he looked up from his thoughts at the water interruptions or as a passerby went by our table did he seem to recall that I was there. I didn’t mind. I understood all that was on his mind, and I was most definitely not going to be the distraction.
“Have you sent the accepted offer over to the Japanese clients?” he asked, and I nodded. He went silent again and then opened up the menu to peruse the wine options.
“What would you like to drink?” he asked.
What I truly wanted to do was impulsive, perhaps crossing the line, but I couldn’t help myself, so I reached out and placed a hand on his. He was a bit tense, but almost immediately he seemed to loosen up and then even get warmer.
He lifted his gaze then and looked at me, and I noted immediately how his expression softened.
“I’m being rude, aren’t I?” he asked, and I shook my head, so endeared to him.
“I’m your secretary. I know the mountain of things in your head plus the battle with Haansbro is over.”
Inhaling a deep breath, he released it, and then he smiled at me.
“Thank you.”
“For nothing,” I replied, and he stroked my hand. The waiter came by then, and shyly, I instantly tried to pull my hand away, but he wouldn’t let me. He held me as he placed the order, asked for my preference, and then the waiter left us both alone.
After he left, he watched me.
“Maybe I should have given you some time to change. This counts as our first date, right?”
I looked down at my outfit, and although it was a bit formal, it was still quite feminine.
“I like this,” I said. “Hopefully, we can have another first date in New York?”
He was amused.
“That’ll be our second.”
“Alright then, it’ll be our second date. Just let me know when, and I’ll schedule it in.”
He nodded; however, it felt like I was being too forward, so I couldn’t help but explain.
“I’m saying this because I know your schedule is insane for the next two weeks. I don’t think you’ll have an early night except maybe on Sunday.”
“I know,” he replied. “However, I do have a free night next weekend. On Saturday?”
I was immediately confused by this and started to pull out my phone to check since I wasn’t aware of this, but he held my hand once again and stopped me.
“It’s a charity event, the Alzheimer”s Foundation?”
This was immensely familiar, though I hadn”t yet had the time to research it. All I knew was that he attended it every year, as well as a lot of lawyers and professionals like medical doctors were present, so it was more like a business meeting than a free night. Or was it?
He soon explained.
“My parents are the hosts,” he said. “They”re the ones who created the foundation, hence why my attendance is compulsory every year and why it”s not strictly a business thing. I don”t necessarily have to work during it if I don”t want to.”
“Ah,” my head slightly lifted in understanding. “Got it. That makes sense.”
He went silent once again, but I knew he was studying me, so I waited for what he would say.
“How about you be my date that night?” he asked.
I had somewhat expected this invitation given our growing bond, but still, it was quite startling because of just how public it was, and so I couldn’t help but be a little bit alarmed and confused all at once.
“Um... people from the firm are invited, right?”
“Not everyone, but yeah, some colleagues will be there.”
“So…”
He remained calm, but I didn’t bother completing my sentence because I was sure he knew exactly what my concern was.
“You’re my secretary,” he said. “It”s not unusual for you to be seen with me.”
“Actually,” I smiled. “It is. I mean, it wouldn”t be unusual for me to be there at the venue, but the way you”re proposing it as a date, meaning I will be by your side, that is unusual.”
We watched each other, and then thankfully, the waiter arrived with our food.
Things were getting tense and quite uncomfortable, at least for me. The ease and romance of earlier was fading, and instead, reality and its cruelty were encroaching into our little bubble, and I hated every bit of it.
Just then, however, and as though he could read my mind and the gloom that was overwhelming me, his leg underneath the table began to stroke mine. It was soft, affectionate, and when I looked back at how his eyes held a magical assurance, that things would be fine. However, I didn’t have the courage to believe him.
“Maybe I should go with George,” I offered a solution. “No one would bat an eye, and even if they did, it wouldn’t matter. Maybe it would even be for our own good as well to divert attention.”
He seemed amused at my suggestion.
“I thought you said you weren’t manipulative?” he asked.
“I’m not,” I protested back. “It’s just… I’m trying to find a way for this to work. Maybe it”s best I shouldn’t even be there at all. I mean, since you”re not particularly set on handling business, then is there any official need for me to be there then?”
“No official need,” he replied. “Just solely personal.”
“Alright,” I replied, strangely feeling warm at his words but yet just as dejected.
We continued with our meal, which was quite delicious, and in that way, I was slowly able to push our prior contention out of my mind.
Midway through our dinner, he spoke up. Before then, there were a lot of questions I wanted to ask him about his childhood, but once again, there was that damn wall because even though he had said he wanted to see how far this would go, I had no idea about what he was talking about.
“Why don’t we make things a little bit more personal? Officially?”
I stared at him for what had to be the umpteenth time that day—stunned. I heard him loud and clear; however, this was the one time that I had no intention under the sun in jumping to conclusions.
”Um… ” I stared at the blood-red glass of wine before me, and then, needing something to settle my freaking jumping heart, I picked it up and started drinking. I had only intended it to be a sip, but then I soon found that I couldn’t stop. Not until he reached out, immensely amused in a way I had never seen him before, and halted the glass. He set it down and gave me a soft look.
“You”d really rather drink yourself to death than say yes?”
”I need to know exactly what you”re asking me.”
“I’m asking us to date officially. Not just sleep together, but just see where this goes. This way when I ask you to come places with me personally, it”ll be clear that you”re going as my girlfriend and not as my secretary.”
I stared at him in shock; however, this wasn”t something I could so easily accept for several reasons.
“I, uh… I don”t know if I can say yes,” I replied. “I mean, I want to trust you with all my heart, but I don”t know if this will look good on you.”
“How so?”
I stared at him, then thought of the bet with the girls and understood that I had to come clean for his sake and mine.
“I don’t know how you’re going to react after I tell you this, so please forgive me in advance, but I think I have to say it.”
“Go ahead,” he replied, and I nodded.
“Some of the reason why I applied to your firm so suddenly is because… well, the secretaries that you worked with before were all sort of from the same agency. From there, we were assigned to companies all over the city, and, well, there was… the last three secretaries were quite upset that they had gotten dismissed.”
He watched me, his eyes narrowly cautious in that way that he usually reserved for clients when he suspected they were trying to screw him over, but of course, he was going to eventually lunge. First, I needed to speed up so that I wouldn’t be the next roadkill after the board members at Haansbro.
“I, uh… there was a sort of bet that I had to get employed by you and not fired.”
He took a pause as though he couldn’t quite comprehend what I was saying.
“What?” he asked.
“It’s… small, well, relatively. It”s about a thousand dollars, and I didn’t even know you before this, and my boss was being an asshole, you saw right, and I just… the salary was amazing, and I just thought I’d give it a shot. And then I was called in so early.”
He cocked his head as he watched me, and I couldn’t help but shut my eyes because this sounded, I was sure, just as bad as it looked. My throat began to close up because I couldn’t imagine that this would in any way be good for our budding intimacy, but I had to be honest with him. I had to make him understand.
“Why were you the one dared to do this?” he asked. “Run out of other secretaries in the circle?”
This sounded condescending, but I knew it was his style; he was just being direct and wanting to get to the crux of what bothered him the most about this.
“I’ve never gotten fired before,” I replied.
He blinked and drew his neck back, and I nodded.
“No matter what, I’ve always been able to stick with it because I have to take care of my mom, and I just never had the luxury of being fired from jobs. So, I used to be a complete suck-up to my boss, as you saw, whereas most people couldn’t, and in justice, I sort of developed a nickname for being insufferable. Hence why the dare was proposed to me.”
And just like that, for the first time that night, a smile, wide and bright, came to his face. He leaned against the chair, then, completely amused, and I released a deep sigh of relief.
“You are known for being insufferable?” he asked, and I nodded.
“Well, in a way, so were the other girls, but you ruined it. So, they were sure you would find a problem with me as well, and… “
“And what?” he asked.
“There was mention of using it to launch a sort of class-action suit against you because then it would be clearly obvious that you had a problem with women.”
At this, the smile completely dissipated from his face.
“That’s fucking ridiculous. They were fired because they made severe mistakes.”
“Well, they all insisted that they didn’t make the mistakes, and yet they couldn’t explain why the errors had been made, so there was also the suspicion that perhaps the mistakes were being engineered to make them look bad and thus provide the reason for their dismissal?”
“What?” he asked, and I nodded, well aware of how this looked.
“I know it sounds ludicrous, but?—”
“Yes, it”s ridiculous, but it could be possible,” he said, and I was taken aback.
“What?” I asked.
He was amused by my surprise.
He leaned forward then and, as though absent-mindedly, began to play with my fingers.
“Hannah, if you”ve been a lawyer long enough, you”ll come to realize soon enough that almost everything is plausible, so maybe they are right? I do know, however, and for the record, that I”m not behind this sabotage conspiracy if there is one. You know how busy I am.”
“I do,” I replied, and then he smiled.
“This date turned out to be much more exciting than I could have ever anticipated,” he said.
I wanted to agree; I truly did; however, I still felt nervous all around.
“You didn”t get fired,” he said. “Well, I mean, if you had, they would have probably gotten good grounds for a lawsuit since at the time, at least, you didn”t really make a mistake worthy of being fired, and this time at least, it was because you were a woman. A gorgeous one at that, who haunted my dreams.”
I couldn’t help but smile.
“Yeah. I wouldn’t have pursued a suit though, I think. I was monumentally incompetent at the beginning.”
“Yes, you were,” he said.
“So,” he said. “How much is the bet, and do I get half?”
My mouth fell open.
“Why should you get half?”
“Well, because I helped facilitate you earning it.”
I held my chest and reached forward then for my glass of wine.
“I”ll pay for this very expensive dinner with my earnings from it,” I said, and he nodded in satisfaction.
“That sounds wonderful.”