The CEO and Her Driver

Chapter 4

Yanking on a blue jumper, I added a red belt to synch it in. Then I pulled my hair up into a bun and added a red headband to finish off the 1940's fashion statement. Pulling on black ankle boots, I slapped on some mascara and prayed it was enough to not look like the frazzled, out of sorts, chaos dragon of fashion that I was.

Then, bolting back out of the room, I found Tate in the kitchen. He had removed his suit jacket and sat at the kitchen counter in his white button-down shirt. One set of long fingers were wrapped around a black coffee mug, while the others lifted the last of a donut up to his mouth.

His eyes fluttered closed, enjoying the last of a chocolate glazed donut. His lips had a small smear of chocolate on them, drawing my attention to two things. One. He had a very nice mouth. And two, I was hungry. I felt like I had walked in on a private moment. And I didn't feel that guilty about it.

My stomach growled loudly, destroying my unseen moment of staring. Tate's eyes flew open to find me staring. "Want some of this?" he asked.

I coughed, shocked by his forwardness. "Um... what?"

He held up a bag of donuts I hadn't seen. "I have more donuts if you want one."

"Oh, that." I let out an uneasy breath, laughing. "No thanks."

He tilted his head, eyes sparking with amusement. "What did you think I was talking about?"

I waved my arm, trying to end the conversation. "Nothing."

He leaned back on his stool, analyzing me for a moment. Beautiful green eyes searching mine. "I wasn't offering myself up on a silver platter Allie."

I rolled my eyes. "I know tha—"

"What kind of guy do you take me for?" he asked in a teasing tone.

I walking towards the coffee machine. "A crazy one," I muttered.

The coffee pot was empty. He had drunk it all. "Don't get me wrong, I am flattered, but we barely know each other," he continued, trying not to laugh.

"I get it!" I snapped, whirling around.

I suddenly came face to face with a coffee thermos. "Thought you'd want yours to go. Didn't add anything to it though. Don't know what you take your coffee with." I pursed my lips, irritated that he had done something nice. It made it harder to be mad at him.

"I take my coffee black," I replied dryly, taking the peace offering in coffee form.

His eyes went wide. "That's insane." Aaaaand the anger is back.

I narrowed my eyes. "Anything else to add to my list of faults?"

The amusement left his eyes, replaced with an unreadable expression. "I'm not trying to piss you off."

I crossed my arms. "Really? Because you are very good at it. In fact... it seems to be the ONLY thing you are good at!"

Surprise flashed through his eyes, there and gone in an instant, replaced by a smile that didn't fully reach his eyes. "Ouch."

We walked to the elevator in awkward silence. The silence grew to uncomfortable heights until I suddenly didn't know what to do with my hands. How to stand casually. Everything felt weird until the elevator opened, letting us out of our awkward little box and back out into the world. "You really don't like me do you?" Tate glanced at me out of the corner of his eyes.

I sighed. "Don't take it personally, I don't like most people."

He snorted but didn't say anything. I shoved my hands into my jumper pockets and closed my eyes, embarrassed by how quickly he had rubbed me the wrong way. By how fast I lashed out. New record. "I... I shouldn't have said that," I murmured.