End Game

Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Byron stepped off the elevator and into Cera's workspace. He spotted her standing next to a mannequin speaking to one of her workers he presumed. As she walked around the mannequin she glanced towards the elevator doors to see who had just arrived. He saw her brow furrow as she wondered what he was doing there but otherwise took no notice of him.

Byron slowly moved further into the room so as not to distract her. The last thing he wanted was to break her concentration. He came to invite her to lunch but if she was too busy he wouldn't press. He definitely understood what it was like once you had a groove going. There were some days he worked such long hours that he would often forget to eat.

He stood and stared at Cera while she spoke to whom he now gathered was her head seamstress. Byron was glad he had shown up when he did. This way he got to find out something knew about the woman who was determined to keep him at arm's length; Cera was fluent in Spanish. While knowing the language in Los Angeles was pretty common, and even more common in the fashion industry if you wanted some of the best seamstresses, he hadn't thought Cera would be fluent. As small as this detail was, Byron was glad to know just one more thing about her.

He saw that they were finishing up and moved closer to Cera as the worker headed to the elevator. Cera looked at him with her hands on her hips and a questioning look. Since she hadn't spoken Byron figured that she was waiting for him.

"So you speak Spanish?" He asked.

"It appears so." She nodded.

"And fluently at that."

Still confused as to why Byron Steel was standing in her studio right now Cera decided to skip the usual banter. "I didn't expect to see you again so soon Mr. Steel, especially since I received notice that the contract was delivered half an hour ago. Was there something wrong with the package?"

"No. I got the contract just fine, your invitation too." He moved his hands to his pants pockets. "I hadn't expected to receive an invitation though."

"Well you are an investor now, Mr. Steel. It makes sense that you should be invited to see where your money is going. And with you about to become a Michaelson Fashion Icon its best we get your face out there now."

Byron nodded his agreement. "Right. Of course."

"And seeing as you got the contract and invitation intact, I'm now going to ask what you are doing here, Mr. Steel."

"Are you sure you're okay with the terms of the contract?" Byron again deflected her question. He wasn't quite sure why though. Maybe the longer it took for him to get to his point, the longer he stood here talking to her; the more likely she would be willing to agree to his invitation. Byron hadn't acknowledged it until now, but there was a possibly that Cera would say no. Hell, she hadn't even wanted to have a business dinner with him. She was way more likely to say no to an unplanned lunch date; especially a lunch date where Byron had no intention of talking about business. And Byron really didn't want her to say no.

For the first time in a long time Byron realized that he was nervous to ask a woman out. Whether Cera would consider it a date didn't really matter. He still wanted to have her on his conference room table, and right now Byron would use whatever opportunity he could to get closer to her. He refused to think any deeper about his actions and chose to believe it was only to reach his end game. It had been a long while since he had a challenge and he was enjoying the game they were playing.

Cera titled her head to side at his question. She was more confused than ever now. After all the terms of the contract were hers to begin with and while Byron had made some minor changes he had given her everything she had asked for. After reading it over herself, Cera was so excited to get the formalities out of the way that she had paid her lawyer extra to read it on the weekend.

"I told you the terms were fine. If they weren't I wouldn't have signed it. Are you okay?"

Moving closer to the mannequin Cera had been working at when he came in Byron simply posed another question. "What are you working on?"

Again Cera's answer was tentative. Byron Steel was standing in her studio, not engaging in their usual playful banter, and not coming on to her. Something was off with him. "Just making some fabric changes on a few designs. Surely you have work you need to be attending to?"

"Hmm." All out of ways to stall Byron said nothing else. Just stood there looking at the headless mannequin trying to best figure out a way to ask so that she wouldn't turn him down.

Cera stood there watching. Nothing else came out of his mouth. Just one syllable. Not even an actual word. Now she was getting frustrated. "Byron," she had nearly yelled. She had to take a deep breath as he turned towards her with a look of surprise on his face. "What are you doing here?" She asked in a huff.

"You called me, Byron." He responded with a ghost of a smile on his face.

Cera pinched the bridge of her nose, inhaled deeply, and counted to ten. "What do you want, Byron?"

Now he did smile, "I want you, Cera Michaelson. I've always wanted you. I thought that much was obvious."

Cera groaned and removed her hand from her face. "I mean what is it that you want right now? What brought you here to my studio, Byron?"

"Oh. I wanted to take you to lunch." Byron said this with a bright smile and full enthusiasm. It was as if he hadn't just spent twenty minutes beating around the bush.

Cera gave him a blank opened-mouth stare. Byron waited and watched as her eyes narrowed and her perfectly full lips pulled down into a frown. He felt the temperature in the room spike as he literally felt the anger radiate off of her body.

"Why in the hell didn't you just say that when I first asked you?" Her voice was low but Byron still heard her.

He only smiled as he answered. "Because you look sexy as hell when you're mad."

Byron strode to the elevator with a pep in his step that he didn't have when he arrived. He only stopped once he reached the elevator door and saw that Cera was still in her same spot.

"Come on, Ms. Michaelson. What are you waiting for?"

Cera blinked twice before she stormed up the stairs to grab her bag from her desk drawer. On her way to him Byron could've sworn he heard her mumble something about an asshole and ordering the most expensive thing on the menu. He chuckled as they stepped onto the lift.

How about that chapter lovelies? I initially planned for it to be a bit longer and for it to include their lunch date, but Byron had other plans. Let know what you think about the pace of the story so far. Do you think it's progressing too slowly? Do you think Byron should slow his advances? Or should he pop up more often? I hope you enjoyed. Don't forget to vote and comment. But mostly comment. -AM<3