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“Nothing like that is ever simple. I don’t think it is for you either. But the simple truth is I haven’t had sex in a long time. I don’t make a habit of sleeping with guys I go on a few dates with. So though I’ve dated in the past few years, it hasn’t gone very far.”
“I’m a tool for you?” he asked.
She started to laugh so hard she had tears in her eyes and he was beginning to wonder if he was more entertainment for her than anything.
“You could be one,” she said. “But that isn’t what I was thinking. Listen, Royce. If this isn’t something you feel comfortable with, just tell me. It won’t hurt my feelings. I’ll have no problem telling my bosses that you aren’t interested in me and that we know what they are doing. It might be a first for them, but they can’t win them all.”
“I didn’t say I wasn’t interested,” he said quickly.
He paid the bill and she stood up, so he did the same. “Good. Then think it over. You’ve got my cell phone number. Let me know. The holidays are coming up and I know you’re busy. No pressure.”
“I’ll think about it,” he said. He was surprised she was going to be...nonchalant about this for someone who said they’d never done it before.
Which of course made him wonder if that was the truth or not, but he told himself to let it go and not be so cynical. She’d had no reason to lie to him and he’d never felt she was that type of a person in all the time they’d worked together.
He dropped her off at her office and then went to drive back to his office thinking more of what just transpired.
He’d be crazy to say no to her proposition. He wasn’t even going to be upset that maybe that was all she saw or thought of in terms of him.
It’s not like he gave any indication of wanting to go on a date. She’d said she was attracted to him and he was of her, but yet he’d never made the move.
Neither did she though and she seemed pretty outspoken. She had to be to say what she did at lunch.
Jesus, just more shit to think about on top of work.
He was walking back to his office and decided to go see what his father was actually thinking.
“Hey,” he said. “I’ve got a bunch of things to talk to Elise about. Did you fill her in?”
“I did,” his father said. “How was lunch with Chloe?”
He frowned. He had to play this up as if it was only a work lunch and not what they’d talked about toward the end. “Fine,” he said. “We got a lot done, which is why I’ll meet with Elise now and she can get some prices together.”
“Chloe seems like such a smart woman. Grant and Garrett couldn’t say enough about her when we started this project, but then again, she’s been working with you for years. You get along well, right?”
This was nothing more than what his father had been saying for months, but now that he had the knowledge that Chloe shared he was starting to wonder if he was some pawn in a game.
No, pawn wasn’t a good word.
But he did remember Chloe saying the Fierces were sneaky and now he wondered if him having to stand around waiting for blueprints the other day because Grant misplaced them was part of it.
It’s not like Chloe was in on it. He could tell she was just as flustered as he was over the whole thing.
Damn it all.
“Yeah, we do. Why?”
He was going to see what he could get out of his father, but he wouldn’t let on. There was part of him that knew he was going to say yes to Chloe’s proposition just because he’d love nothing more than to get her naked body under his.
To spend time with her too and not have to worry about impressing her. Making her feel like she was at the top of his priority list when he didn’t even put himself there.
He’d seen what that did to a marriage and wasn’t going to get himself into a mix-up like his parents.
But she was giving him an out that he’d never tried before. It might not hurt to see how it worked out for now.
“Just checking,” his father said. “And lunch went well?”
“Yes,” he said. “I thought I told you that. Are you feeling okay? You didn’t tell me about this meeting today and now you keep asking the same questions. When is your next doctor’s appointment? Maybe there is something more going on.”’
