Chapter 8
Samuel
I’m waiting in the east drawing room the next morning before seven o’clock. I know Lucy is always early, and she doesn’t disappoint today, either. It’s five till when I hear a knock on the door.
“It’s open,” I call out, wondering why I feel more nervous about facing Lucy this morning than I do about facing an entire boardroom of men to talk about a one hundred million-dollar business venture.
I’m standing at the window, but I hear the door click closed. I don’t turn around; I’m still trying to marshal my thoughts. How am I going to do this? I’ve never been good at wooing a lady. I just am honest, and women are usually attracted to me for my money. I don’t have to do anything in order to “win” them.
“Good morning, Samuel.” Lucy’s friendly voice comes from behind me.
Somehow her voice reminds me of our kiss last night, and a warmth spreads through me that has nothing to do with the morning sun on my face.
“Donna said you wanted to see me. I’ll just be honest, I’m worried that I’m doing something wrong. Are things going wrong with the gala?”
“Everything’s just fine,” I say, taking another deep breath before I turn around slowly, and then I see she’s standing in the middle of the room looking as uncomfortable as I’ve ever seen Lucy look. Normally she’s smiling and happy, bubbling and spreading sunshine wherever she goes.
She still looks sunny and sweet, but I want to erase the worried look on her face.
“Would you like to sit down for a moment? I ordered some breakfast pastries to be brought when you arrived.”
“All right,” she says, walking over to one of the loveseats that faces the coffee table between them.
I want to sit down beside her, close, but that’s not where we are, and it would be seen as too intimidating, probably. Stalkerish at the worst.
She talks before I get a chance. Almost before her butt touches the loveseat. “Whatever I’m doing wrong, I’m more than happy to fix it. I thought that you approved of everything I did, and I’ve been going through Donna—”
I put a hand up. I know she has. And I appreciate everything she’s done. “You’re doing fine.”
“I feel like I’ve been called on the carpet.”
“I just wanted to talk to you.” This was a terrible idea. I put her on the defensive, made her feel like she’s not doing a good enough job, and now instead of my carefully rehearsed speech where I was going to tell her that it was important to me what the town thought of me, and I was hoping that she would work very closely with me in order for me to put the best foot forward, and all that stuff that I was going to say... All I can think about now is I was trying to get closer to her, to somehow be able to be around her, to somehow make her see me...the real me. And I hoped she would like me, as much as I like her.
I would like to shake my head and forget about everything, just wave her off and tell her to continue as she was, that I really didn’t have anything to say, but again, I didn’t get to be where I am by giving up so easily.
“You’re doing a great job. Everything that has been run by me has been perfect. It’s just... After yesterday...” I pause, not sure what to say.
“After the kiss?” she supplies for me, and somehow she does it without seeming embarrassed. I want to hide under the couch, but I don’t allow myself to even contemplate whether or not there would be enough room there for me.
“Yeah. I guess I wanted to work more closely with you.” That was a stupid thing to say. Don’t kiss someone and then make your working relationship awkward by superimposing the kiss on everything that you do and making the person you kissed work in close proximity with you. I flatten my lips. “But I can see now that it was a stupid idea.”
“You want to work more closely with me because of the kiss?” she says slowly. “I assure you, I don’t go around kissing people on a regular basis. In fact, you’re the first man I’ve kissed in three years, since I gave up dating.”
I hadn’t realized she’d given up dating. And I thought I knew a lot about her.
“I could add that it was the best kiss I’ve ever had, but I think that was you and not me. But that had nothing to do with anything other than I promise you, I’m not having weird relationships with anyone in your staff or household.”
“I didn’t think you were,” I say, relieved to hear it nonetheless. And I’m kinda stuck on the idea that she just said that it was the best kiss she’d ever had. And she is giving me the credit. It kind of makes me want to practice right now.