"I look forward to our partnership Will."
"Me too, I believe it'll yield great results." William accepted the handshake from the older man.
"See you at the gala tonight and you two have a wonderful day." The older man, Steven Pharaohs–owner of a fortune 500 company that dealt in electronics–smiled at William and I before leaving the boardroom with his team. Illston tech had just successfully secured a partnership deal with Steven's company.
"Got everything down?" William asked as I gathered the minutes and jottings from the two hour long meeting.
"Yup," I placed everything in a folder and held it up.
"Good," he smiled then headed out of the room with me following behind. Staring at the folder containing the minutes, a memory randomly popped into my head. The night William fired me.
"Why were those minutes so important?" I asked aloud.
"What minutes?" He glanced at me as we entered the elevator.
"The ones you fired me over months ago." I rolled my eyes.
"You say fired like it wasn't justified."
"Justified?" I laughed humourlessly. "It was way past midnight when you called and I was busy at that moment. You can't expect me to be available 24/7." The elevator opened, showing the dark expanse that was the underground parking lot.
"You're literally my personal assistant." He expressed mirth.
"How long do Heather and I have to be your PAs for anyway? Lilian seems more than capable of handling it all. She could probably run a country." I finished and he chuckled. I paused seeing we'd already reached the car.
"Already tired of seeing my handsome face daily?" His expression was smug.
"It has a whole lot more to do with the handsome pay than your face."
His hand came up to my face, tucking some strands of hair that'd fallen out of my half up half down do, behind my ear.
"Mmhm?"
"Mmhm," I nodded and he smiled. His hand moved again, his thumb tracing my lower lip. I had the sudden urge to bite down on it.
"How many hours do we have until the gala starts?"
"About five," I roughly calculated.
"Perfect." His grin, before walking over to the driver's side, gave me the same feeling being on a rollercoaster about to descend would. I smiled as well.
As I did my seatbelt seconds later, something occured to me and I looked at William. "You didn't answer my question about the minutes."
"They were just very important," he dismissed.
There he went, being all mysterious and shady again. He turned to me and I smiled but it was barely half.
"I can't-" he started but I cut in.
"You can't explain, that's fine. I don't want any explanations remember?"
I decided I didn't need them. This, us was purely physical. Working out residual sexual tension. That was it. This was the option I chose and explanations would mean something much more than that. The ride back to the apartment was mostly silent, the exception being the radio. When we got to the top floor, he held my arm, stopping me from moving. He looked like he wanted to say something, or not.
His dark eyes seemed to search my face but he didn't move or say anything. So I did. "We have exactly four hours, thirty nine minutes left now." Gently pulling him by his tie, I brought him closer to me. He must have found what he was searching for because his head dipped and our lips connected. The kiss was slow and almost bittersweet.
And as we got headier in the kiss, I faintly reminded myself of two things: I didn't need explanations and only a fool could fall for this man twice and I wasn't a fool. Right?
***
My hand moved the mouse across the pad and I clicked on the site that appeared on the screen. Once it opened, a full image of William, in a gray three piece tuxedo, standing on a stage popped up. It was from last night's gala. He'd looked like a model straight off a GQ magazine. I hadn't told him that of course.
-
"You look beautiful."
I dropped the red lipstick I'd been holding and through the mirror stared at the door. William stood there, looking like a dream. My gaze dropped to the black dress I had on. It was tight, long sleeved with a V shaped neckline and went down mid-calf. My hair was tied up in a bun but some stubborn strands had already managed to escape.
"In this old thing?" I bent to wear my heels.
"You bring it to life," he chuckled and in a few strides, reached me where I now stood beside the bed.
"You don't look too bad yourself. You were even able to dress yourself up today." I patted his chest mockingly. The smile in his eyes told me he knew exactly what I was referring to. That first gala. What a nightmare that day had been.
"I even had no delays with my wardrobe this time." He had the nerve to say.
I scoffed, "Go on, blame me for everything."
"It wasn't your fault?" His lips twitched and I scowled.
Wearing a full smile, he took my hands into his. I eyed the movement skeptically before staring up at him. His gaze held mine.
"I'm sorry."
"For what?"
"A lot of things," he chuckled, "but specifically for being purposely overbearing."
"Purposely? I thought it was natural." I half joked and he smiled again. His hand moved and I already knew it was to brush away the stray strands from my face. He liked doing that.
"Walking into that boardroom and seeing you for the first time in years, do you know what my second thought was?"
I shook my head although I had a few ideas.
"I wanted you to quit." His tone was almost bashful.
"That wasn't the first?" I asked and meant it. "Or was the first 'I hate her' then 'she needs to quit' then again, I was surprised you didn't fire me on the spot." I went on.
"I've never hated you Ophelia."
Those five words sounded more shrill than glass shattering. I broke away from him, ending up on the bed.
"I don't believe you." My voice was low.
"I know you don't." He sighed and sat next to me on the bed.
I couldn't believe him. Because if he'd never hated me then why? Why did he want me to quit? Why did he end- I blanched at that. What was his first thought? It was all at the tip of my tongue.
"Let's say I did want explanations. Would you give me, right now?" Was what left my mouth instead.
"Do you now want them?"
"Even if I did, I don't think you'd tell me so no, I still don't want them."
Looking at him, I knew I was right. He wouldn't have told me. Not yet and maybe not ever. But how could I believe him otherwise?
"It's getting late, we should start leaving." I stood up.
"I'm not ready to leave yet," he stood and his hands closed around my waist while his head dropped on my shoulder. I battled between pushing him away and hugging him back. The latter won and my head fell on his chest while my arms wrapped around his waist.
"That day, was your fault by the way." William's whisper came after what felt like hours but in reality was probably seconds or minutes.
"It's not my fault someone had a vendetta against me to protect your honour and purity." We finally broke apart when I stepped away to glare at him.
A smile lit his face up and he shook his head. "For once, try checking your emails."
-
Shaking off the rest of the memory, I focused my gaze on the screen, reading the article underneath William's picture. It was the fifth one I was reading and they'd all been good so far. Yesterday night was a success.
"Get up, we are going out." William announced as he strolled towards me.
I checked the time on my laptop and frowned. It was just 3:46 pm. "The dinner isn't until six."
"Robinson called, had to cancel, family emergency. He'll treat me when he's in New York instead," he explained, sitting next to me on the long couch. "Hm, stalking me?" The idiot smirked at the screen.
"I'm actually doing my job. The blog sites are clear. You're not buying any conglomerates to impress exes." I smiled and he laughed. "So, where are we going to?"
"Anywhere, let me be your tour guide." He draped his arm over my shoulder.
"I already took myself on a tour Thursday night."
"Where did you go?" He started using his free hand to type, searching for something in the search engine, on the screen.
"Pizza hut, then a bar."
"You call that a tour?" He scoffed.
"I had great pizza plus good beer and there was this really hot stranger I met at the bar." I smiled remembering my night out.
"Hot stranger huh?" He turned from the screen.
"Wait, today isn't going to be added to my vacation days right? And I am going to get vacation days, right?"
His laugh wasn't very encouraging.
"Is this you trying to woo me?" I yelled over the noise the blades of the helicopter made. After leaving the apartment, we ended up here, on the rooftop of one of the tallest skyscrapers in Chicago. The black helicopter arrived just shortly after we did.
"No, this is a rental," he chuckled. I laughed knowing it was a lie. I could see the Illston tech logo by the side of the chopper. The captain came forward and we were soon in and then, well up. The higher we climbed in altitude, the calmer I weirdly felt, taking in all the breathtaking sights I possibly could.
About an hour later, we were in an art museum, going from painting to painting arguing about what we could make of them. As we went back and forth about a certain painting, I realised I hadn't had a break like this in ages. It made me smile. William thought I was finally agreeing to his crazy idea the painting was a horse. It was definitely a mouse.
"What'd you do with your motorcycle anyway?" I asked as we passed a motorcycle rental shop. We'd been walking on foot for thirty minutes now and had just come from the waterfront.
"It's in my uncle's garage. He was more than happy to take it off my hands."
"He did hate you riding it." I smiled.
"Thought it'd surely kill me." He laughed. "I'm feeling nostalgic now. Want to get on one?"
My eyes widened, "absolutely not!"
"Okay, okay." He laughed. "But are you scared? It won't be your first time on one."
And that was exactly why. He didn't realise the implication it would have on me. The memories a single ride could bring back. Memories of the first time I rode on his motorcycle with him, memories of when I fell in love with him.
"I just think you're too old for it." I raised my chin higher.
"I've met sixty year old bikers." He deadpanned.
"You aren't exactly wearing leather and rocking a goatee. Let's go kayaking instead."
"I am not going kayaking." He said astutely.
He did. We rowed down the Chicago river, between all the best skyscrapers the city had to offer with the sun setting behind William. The view almost had me wishing we entered the damn motorcycle shop instead.
"I'm spent," I yawned. It was past nine now, the sky was dark and we were in a small but busy Mexican restaurant. A few people inside like us, were from the opera that just ended across the street.
William nodded and attempted to steal food from my plate.
"I will literally bite you." I swatted his hand away.
"You already did, this morning when we-"
I kicked him under the table and he broke into a fit of loud laughter.
***
Guess who has two thumbs and pulled through with a double update?
Meee!
I'm certainly loving them in Chicago, are you? Do you think things will change when they return to New York? Tell me what you think! See you next time loves! Hopefully soon ;)