“What are you thinking?” he asks, and stops as we’ve reached the end. The shiny Bentley is parked up along the canal and has three parking tickets on it.
“I was meant to meet someone today,” I say, looking up at him. He finishes the last piece of his éclair, and I follow every finger into his delectable mouth.
No. Not delectable. Not looking at his mouth.
Alright, vagina, when I get home, you and I are having a very serious conversation. Bad vagina. Bad.
I shake it off, and he wrinkles his brow at me.
“Did I keep you from them?” he asks, licking another finger.
“No, he didn’t show.”
I can’t hide the sadness that washes over me now and bite my lip before it starts trembling. I kick a pebble on the ground, watching it skip across the cobbled street and into the canal.
“Tell me who he is and I’ll have him tortured, if you wish.”
The laughter swells up in me and bursts out louder than I intended. “Thank you, I will remember that if he turns out to be married or something,” I answer, wiping a laughter tear from the corner of my eye.
When I look up at him again, he stares at me with such intensity it kills the echo of my laugh in my throat.
What did I say?
The moment stretches out. I open my mouth to say goodbye, but he beats me to it.
“Would you want to come with me to my neck of the woods?” he says, opening the car door to a massive backseat.
Okay, that’s not what I expected.
“I have to go and say hello to an old friend, and you can tell me more about this wanker.”
“I…” I look at the car, then at him. He’s just being polite, right? Just paying me back for today? “Are you sure? I don’t want to get you into trouble for hanging out with an employee.”
He can’t be seen with me like this. I know what people would think.
“Right,” he says, shaking his head. “Of course. I mean, it would just be friendly, and I could make sure no one would see us together. I—” He breathes in deeply. “Sorry. You’re right. Thanks for today, Rosemary.”
“Please call me Rey,” I say. It feels too wrong after today, hearing him say that name.
“Rey,” he rumbles, and my stomach erupts in butterflies at the sound of it. Bloody hell, I’m all over the place.
He drops into the seat and closes the door.
The driver rips the tickets off the front and throws them in the rubbish bin.
I scoff. Rich people.
I turn and slink away, letting my arms drop.
What a weird day. My heart feels heavy.
Here I was, hoping to meet Robin, and I’ve spent hours with my CEO instead. The day flashes before my eyes; his tentative smile, those forearms, the way he licked his fingers, how those eyes gleamed when looking at me.
I want more of it and it’s so weird, because it actuallydoesn’tfeel weird. It all felt natural. I can’t believe some of the things I said today. Hanging out with Mark was almost … relaxing?
Can we be what he said? Friendly?
I turn and rush back to the car that’s luckily still there and knock on the window. He cracks it open, his eyes crinkled in a playful look.
