He finds this—endearing.
“So,” she fidgets with the silverware on the cloth napkin. “Do you come here often?”
Chuckling at her use of small talk, he answers, “I’ve been here many times, but it’s been awhile. What about you? It looks as though this is your first time in a restaurant.”
“In one this fancy, yes,” she nods her head. “Sorry if I’m a bit nervous.”
“What about this makes you nervous?” He raises an eyebrow enjoying the way she squirms at his question.
“Well, you are my boss.”
“I am.”
“I’m afraid I’m going to step over the line between boss and friends.”
He shrugs. “It’s okay if you do. Yes, we work together and I’m your boss, but I like to get to know my employees. Right now, off the work clock, I am your friend.”
She smiles bringing her glass to lips. He watches her throat constrict as she swallows a sip of her wine. He imagines his hands closing around her smooth neck and squeezing. The thought of the look in her eyes thrilling.
Oh the ways he could corrupt her.
Mold her to enjoy every one of his dark desires. The ways he would make her beg. Tie her up. Submit wholly and utterly. To give her mind, body, and soul.
To completely break her.
He notices her acting differently. She suddenly looks tired and sensitive to the overhead light and holds her head as if it’s aching.
“Are you okay?” He narrows his eyes.
“Oh, yeah,” she doesn’t look at him.
“You don’t look it.”
“Sometimes this happens. I’m okay.”
“Migraines?”
“Uh, sorta.”
“This isn’t a migraine.”
“No, it is,” she pours herself a glass of water from the ice pitcher the waiter set at their table earlier. “Sorry. I’m just a little scatterbrained right now.”
Looking at her more closely, he notices a large scar running from her temple down to the end of her eyebrow and stopping near the corner of her eye. “Where’d you get that scar from?”
Tilting her head she looks confused until her head reaches for the deep scar. “This? Car accident.”
Could it be the same car accident…
He shakes his head of the thought. “Would you like me to take you home?”
“I wouldn’t want to ruin our dinner,” she frowns.
“It’s no problem,” Alexander says with a hint of sympathy in his voice.
Just as she is going to answer, the waiter shows up with their delicious smelling food. He ordered them filet mignon and was going to surprise her with dessert later.
“There’s no point in wasting this food…” her mouth nearly salivates as she picks up her fork and knife.
He doesn’t bother telling her he could always pack up their meals and have her take it back to her apartment.
She devours the first piece of her food moaning as she does so. Eating as if she hasn’t eaten in months. Come to think of it, Alexander caught her having just a protein bar on her lunch break.
Of course her funds are low, he has seen her terrible apartment. The hole he saw in her pantyhose earlier tells him she also can’t afford a new pair.
He finds himself smiling when she shoves at least three pieces in her mouth at once, chewing with a full mouth full. Some of the juice from the meat pools down her mouth, she quickly wipes it away with her hand but not before looking at him. Embarrassed that he caught her.
“Sorry,” she says bashfully.
“Don’t be sorry,” he waved it off.
She resumes her eating and Alexander finds himself smiling.
Surprisingly, Scarlett seems fine enough that Alexander asks the waiter to bring dessert. Despite her still looking like she’s in pain, the food seemed to have brought on some relief and she wasn’t complaining to leave either. Besides, he thinks she could use the extra food.
After her dessert is finished, he drives her back to her apartment. Before she gets out, she gives him a kind smile and thanks him for a wonderful evening. His heart jumps in his chest.
Back at Alexander’s apartment he calls David, his private investigator.
“I have a mission for you. Area code 7-0-2 and the name of the town is Greenstone. I think we’ve finally caught Gavin.”
***
Occasionally the trauma that was done to Scarlett’s brain the day of her car accident has some long-term effects. Her head was thrown at the dashboard giving her a permanent scar on the right side of her face and a concussion that left her in the hospital for weeks. The migraine at dinner came on sporadically like it always does. The sensitivity to light and noise and her mind going into a cloudy state of confusion. She felt flattered that Alexander seemed to care so much. Since she met him she’s always thought of him as her cold boss.
Jo is worried when she steps through the door. Forgetful as she is sometimes, she must’ve forgot to message Jo to tell her she’d be late.
“Sorry,” Scarlett apologizes. “I thought you were with Tristian.”
“I was supposed to meet him at the club, but I was waiting for you to get home so we could go together,” she puts her hands on her hips.
“I’m sorry Jo, it was a spur of the moment thing.”
“Since when do you do spur of the moment things?” Jo follows Scarlett into her bedroom.
“I don’t know,” she shrugs. “My boss asked me to and—”
“Alexander Novak asked you to dinner?”
Scarlett gives her friend a less than amusing look. “Why say it like that?”
“Sorry, I just can’t believe it. Alexander doesn’t seem like the dating type.”
“You say that like you know him.”
“Everyone knows him. He’s the most eligible bachelor in all of the country. Everyone is obsessed with him!”
“Including you apparently,” Scarlett grabs pajamas from her drawers laying them out on her twin sized bed.
“Why didn’t you go home with him after?”
She jerks her head back. “What makes you think he asked?”
“Why would he ask a girl out on a date and not want some action? I mean come on, Scar, he is a guy and he does have girls throwing themselves at him. He probably has a new girl everyday in his bed.”
“Well he didn’t ask and I would’ve said no.”
“No?! Why not?” Jo hounds her. They’re silent for a heartbeat. “Is it because you like Liam better?” She nudges her in the ribs.
“You’re taking this all way too far. Alexander is my boss and Liam might as well be my boss as well. I’m not getting involved in a workplace romance.”
“It’s clear Liam has a crush on you and as for Alex, I mean he definitely brought you on a date. He likes you.”
“Goodnight, Jo,” Scarlett leads her friend out of her room and shuts the door.
There’s no way Alexander sees her as anything but a secretary.
Laying in bed she stares at the dark ceiling. She can hear Jo’s muffled voice through the thin wall between them. She must be on the phone with Tristian. Her thoughts wander to her father’s words earlier. Her entire life she couldn’t wait to have a life of her own, to choose where she wants to live, to keep a job, and make friends she wouldn’t have to leave. This is everything she has ever wanted a kid, but she’s missing a part of herself. Her dearest father who raised and loved her with his whole heart. She misses him more than she can comprehend.