Youthful Discretion (wlw)

Chapter 12

Things I noticed about her were things I would have never noticed about any other human but when I look at her, it is far too tempting not to notice everything about her.

"Good afternoon Ms. Carlisle, I hope you have good news for me." She flashed her teeth.

Pride swept over me as I did in fact have good news for her.

"Well as a matter of fact I do. I have decided I will travel along with you to New York on Monday."

Saying it out loud made me realize how close Monday really way, it was only three days away.

Ms. Lenore tried to contain her full teeth smile, but she simply couldn't.

"I'm really glad. I wasn't sure what I was going to do if you didn't come with me. You might just be my new favorite person Lilith Carlisle." She smirked.

My stomach dropped and we both were suddenly frozen in time as soon as the words left her mouth and Ms. Lenore realized what she had just said.

I was powerless to fight any type of fluster from entering my body as my pale cheeks heated up and my knees fell weak even though I was sitting down.

"I apologize, that was inappropriate." She mumbled, trying to fend off the anxious expression on her face.

"No, it's okay." I whisper carefully.

I knew this could get me in trouble but the way she made me feel was a power unlike any other that I have encountered and there was no will left in my body to fight this.

"Look Lilith, I think we should set some ground rules." Ms. Lenore started.

Fuck this can't be good.

"What kind of rules?"

We both stay a at a low whisper, her eyes dancing back and forth from me and the office door.

"Well for starters I think we both know that this is becoming dangerously unprofessional."

Her words stung but I could only be reminded of my own words to her just last week.

"And as you've stated before, I'm your boss and it would be highly unprofessional for anything to happen between us. I think a good rule for us to have would be to keep our relationship as surface level as it can be. Of course, I understand it hard when we will be together for some time next week, but I'll make sure of it."

One thing about me as a person is that I don't handle disappointment well. In fact, I'm not entirely sure I've ever handled disappointment well.

"Who's the former employee who stole from you." I interject.

Ms. Lenore's eyes widen in surprise, and she goes quiet.

"You're changing the subject." She scolds.

"Who is he." I demand.

For all I knew she had every reason in the world to fire me right here and right now. The way I spoke to her on multiple occasions, and the dangerous tension that is seemingly growing faster between us every moment we spend together.

"His name is Colton Loins. He was my former assistant before I hired Cullen."

Her fingers tapped against the edge of her desk, and I could feel her eyes burning into my skin.

"So, you were close to him?" My curiosity growing.

"Very." She began.

"He was my most trusted and loyal employee, he knew everything about the company. I always knew he had big ambitions when it came to his future position in the company and what kind of pay, he would have but I never thought he would do anything like that."

"Wait so why did you fire him?"

She scoffed loudly.

"I didn't. A few weeks before he quit, he informed me that him and his wife were expecting a baby and that he needed to step away from the company to settle down with his family. At the time I had no reason not to trust what he said so I let him go, no questions asked."

The shift in her voice told me everything I needed to know about how she felt towards him.

"After he left, I hired Cullen, and I didn't hear from him for four months until my security team noticed nineteen grand missing from one of my accounts. It didn't take long before Loins reached out and to Cullen of all people."

My thoughts began to scramble causing my head to tilt. Ms. Lenore forced down a smile at my tilted expression.

"He offered Cullen a large sum of money in exchange for his help in infiltrating more of my accounts. Of course, Cullen immediately reported the messages to me and from there I had my security team report him. Only now we finally get to put that asshole on trial."

For some reason it was hard for me to imagine Cullen not reporting that guy and taking his offer.

Deep down I knew he was a great guy and Cullen always manages to do the right thing effortlessly.

"Wow, I didn't realize that it was that close to home for you." I shrug.

A moment of silence falls between us and all I could do was stare at her while she stared right back at me.

"Lilith, why did you change the subject earlier." She finally asks.

Tensions grew harder and all I could feel was thick air wrap around my head. Truth be told I didn't know why, maybe it was because I didn't want rules, or maybe it was because I hated knowing how wrong my feelings were for her.

"I don't know."

My throat going dry.

"I guess I'm starting to realize more and more that you are becoming incredibly hard for me to stay away from." My voice now a silent cry.

Any moment I expected a knock on her door to interrupt this moment and snap us both back into reality but as the silence grows, no knock sounds.

"I understand how you feel Lilith, I do." Ms. Lenore hushed.