It remained only three days before she would have to meet Shane's family; Lara felt tense. She had never been the type to fret about anyone's opinion of her; not that she had ever had the time to care, but she felt the need to impress Shane's family when she met with them.
More to her discomfort, Liam seemed relentless in pursuing his romantic interests in her, optimistically hoping she would come around to acknowledging his feelings.
Shouldn't she just tell him that he was risking losing his job by keeping up with his attempts to woo her?
Andrea, by the way- Lara heaved a dramatic sigh and shook her head as she stepped out of the elevator and into the lobby at the close of the day- loathed her guts with each passing day. Their relationship had drastically soured, from BFF to EF.
Lara had deliberately stayed behind after the close of the day so that virtually everyone at work would have left before she made to leave.
She had successfully accumulated more enemies than friends at work since the start of the new month.
Thankfully, Shane had gone for a brief meeting with one of his old acquaintances, and she was still mentally preparing herself for the occasion by the weekend.
Despite how persistently he had assured her over the week that she would be fine and would love her parents when she met them—they would do as well—she couldn't keep out the anxiety that had accompanied her since he had told her about the upcoming visit.
She was nervous. What if his mother probed too much about her background and disliked her upon finding out she wasn't from an affluent and influential family like they were?
She knew the rich, most especially their women, were always haughty and contemptuous of ladies with humble upbringings like her.
Her shoulders sagged as another sigh escaped her.
Perhaps she was worrying too much. Perhaps she should trust Shane and refrain from fretting. She might actually warm up to his mother, as he had assured her.
Nonetheless, doubts encircled her mind.
She had a fair share of experience with rich women during her part-time jobs to cement her thoughts on their disposition toward ladies of her financial status. However, Shane had assured her.
She swallowed drily and nodded, muttering through her breath. "It will be fine, Lara. You worry too much."
"Why are you talking to yourself?"
Someone asked out of the blue as she reached the entrance, and she shrieked at first in fright before finally registering the owner of the voice as she looked at him. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm waiting for you," he answered. "You've been avoiding me, Lara."
Lara pursed her lips into a frown. "No, I haven't. What makes you think so?"
"You stopped coming to the cafeteria. You are keeping us all at arm's length."
"Not everyone. Just a selected few," Lara notified
"Same thing, Lara."
"I see no reason why you had to be waiting for me, Liam. I already told you I had no interest in you that way. We can be friends, and that's all I can be with you. Wait a minute, for how long have you been waiting up for me?" She looked at her wristwatch. "It's been almost an hour since work hours have been up."
"I monitored your exit time. I purposely stayed behind, working in my office, to catch up with you. Besides, you still owe me a date?"
"Pardon?" Lara arched an eyebrow.
"I wanted to treat you to a meal," Liam reminded her. Lara looked ready to oppose that, so he quickly added, "You promised, Lara."
Lara paused with her mouth lightly agape, the words she had wanted to say choked at the back of her throat. She smacked her lips together, her lips parting wordlessly, before she finally said, "I wasn't prepared to go out after work today. I have plans."
"With your friends," Liam cut in. "It's on weekends, not today. You told me, and beside your friends and work, I know you spend the rest of your time at home."
Lara looked flabbergasted at that. "How do you..."
"I have my sources." He added a wink to that.
"I refuse to be cornered into taking up your request, Liam. I've been clear with you about my decision. It's not that hard to take in, I believe."
"I'm persistent. I don't give up on what I want until I get it."
"So am I. I don't alter my decisions easily until I see my point has been acknowledged," Lara said firmly.
"We can't be together." She spelled out the words for him to drive home her point.
He wasn't swayed, however; he looked even more determined by the moment.
Lara mentally rolled her eyes with an exasperated sigh.
"You realize you are aggravating, Liam. You are becoming obsessed, and it's not healthy for either of us."
Liam smiled at her. "I can tell just exactly what's healthy for me once I see it." He planted his hand on the left side of his chest. "I can feel it right here, and I won't stop persuading you until you go out with me."
Lara hissed through her teeth, biting down on the retort that promised to leash itself at Liam's promise.
"A promise is a debt either way. You still have to go out with me."
"Fine," Lara snapped through her teeth.
"And you will stop trying to avoid me. Eating lunch with you has always been pleasurable for me."
"Only if you promise to stop chanting about your interest in me," she told him.
"Office romances are a no-no for you," he concluded for her, smiling when Lara watched him with surprise. "Alright, Missy. No more gushing love poems that would make you want to run and hide from me."
Lara stifled a laugh at that, nodding cynically. "Run and hide from you. Indeed."
True to Liam's words, he refrained from muttering sweet nothings while they talked over the meals they shared in the evening.
Liam was really fun to be with, and Lara actually admitted to herself that she missed the old times when she shared her lunch hours with him and Andrea.
But there was no going back now. A chasm had been wedged between the three in their friendship with one another.
Lara checked her wristwatch, as she noticed the sun had fully set by then and it would soon start to get dark.
"I have to go, Liam. Thanks for the meal. I thoroughly enjoyed myself." She tipped her chair back to get up from it.
"Come on!" Liam caught her wrist and pulled her back to a seat. "I have just started. We should order more drinks and food. I'm willing to lavish you today, Lara. I mean it."
"I know you mean it, but that's as much drink and food I can take. I can't walk home drunk and with a bloated tummy from overeating."
"I will take you home if you get drunk, and if I do, you can take me home as well."
Lara forced a smile, pinching her nose.
"You made me miss you way too much, Lara. I don't want you to ever leave my side. It's like I'm drawn to you as bees are to honey."
Here we go again.
Lara rolled her eyes. "Bees make honey, Liam. They are not drawn to them. They are drawn to nectar."
"Well, you're like nectar to me, Lara. You make me feel brand new."
Lara rolled her eyes and moved to get up from her seat. "I have to go, Liam. Come on. I have to be early to work tomorrow." Her phone's ringtone gave off just then, and she hurriedly answered the call, latching on the opportunity to make her escape from having her company with Liam extended.
"Hello, Oh! I will be right there. Give me a few minutes, please." She glanced at Liam and mouthed a quick goodbye, not waiting for a response before she picked up her bag and hurried off under the pretense of still talking to whomever had called her.
She only called him back when she got home.
She dropped her bag on the table and plopped down on one of the sofas, closing her eyes briefly to catch her breath before she dialed his number.
"Where were you, Lara?" he demanded, undoubtedly smoldering with annoyance at having his calls screened four times.
"I was out with a friend as well," she clipped, annoyed by how he had roughly demanded her whereabouts.
At the moment, he wasn't her boss, but her boyfriend. God help her!
She could deal with him being an overbearing boss—well, she was indebted to him—but an overbearing boyfriend was something she wouldn't settle for.
He paused for a breath at the annoyance etched in her tone. "Are you doubting my loyalty to you again, Lara?"
"What?" Lara frowned. "No."
"Then you're jealous. I told you explicitly with whom I was meeting, Lara. Why are you getting all worked up? I asked you just a simple question, woman. Damn!"
"Woman! Woman?" Lara huffed and puffed. "I'm done with this conversation," she announced and abruptly ended the conversation, throwing her phone down on the sofa with a low grunt.
She raked her fingers through her hair and heaved an exasperated sigh as her brain assessed her conversation with Shane.
He wasn't at fault.
She admitted it drily. She ought not to have taken out her annoyance from enduring the last moment before her departure with Liam on Shane.
Although she enjoyed Liam's company, she couldn't help but admit that his insistence on having a romantic relationship with her distressed her greatly and made her cranky.
She stared blankly at the ceiling for a minute before she decided to take a quick shower and hit the hay.
She picked up her bag and shoes and sauntered into her bedroom.
She was just stepping out of the shower when she heard the doorbell ring. Her eyes darted to the alarm clock in her bedside drawer.
It was late in the night. Who could be calling in at this time of night?
She rarely had visitors on weekdays.
She fished out a t-shirt from her wardrobe and draped it on, walking out to get the door as it rang again.
She unlocked the door, her mouth parting in surprise. "Shane!"
He looked furious. "You cut me off from a call, Lara." He gritted the words out through his teeth.
"Ah!" She bit down on her lips. "I didn't expect you would be showing up at this time of the night over that, though."
Shane raised an eyebrow. "I'm offended by your action, and that is all you have to say."
"I'm sorry, alright?" She twitched her lips and stepped back from the door. "Would you like to...uh... come in?"
He walked in, and she turned to face him after closing the door.
"Who did you meet with?"
"Now, who here is having trust issues, man?" She spat at him, with an emphasis on the last word.
A knowing glint sparked in Shane's eyes. "Man?" Then he laughed, and the sound was a deep and melodious rumble in the room.
"You are mocking me?"
He held his arms up in surrender. "No way. Damn, wo.." He caught himself at Lara's glare, closed the distance between them, and pulled her flush against himself, wrapping his arms around her waist. "Was that what made you mad, love?" He asked, leaning down to nibble her earlobe.
A shiver coursed through Lara as his teeth grazed her skin, a jolt running down her spine as if she had been touched by an electric current.
"It's late, Shane. We have work to do tomorrow." She protested weakly against his sensual kisses, her breath hitching in her throat as he kissed the soft bob on her neck. "I'm sorry I ended the call abruptly earlier. That was rude of me." She murmured feverishly as he caressed her. "I can't think, Shane."
"I don't want you to," he returned, kissing his way up to her jaw, his voice as druggy and hazy as Lara felt.
"Now, that's not very logical," Lara murmured.
His mouth closed down on Lara's, and he kissed her fiercely, his hands raking through her damp hair.
Their lips locked for several minutes before he pulled back, both gasping for breath.
"I'm spending the night here," Shane announced.
It took a moment before his words fully registered through her pleasure-fogged mind. She jerked back in an instant. "Wait, what? No way!"
Shane kicked off his shoes and walked toward her room. "Well organized," he said, taking note of the appearance of her room. "I'm pleased."
"The hell I'm spending the night with you, Shane. Go home."
"Come on, Lara. Have a modicum of affection for your man. Most girls would love having their men over on spontaneous visits."
"I'm not most girls."
Noting that there was no point in arguing with him, she threw in the towel. "Fine, you take the cushion; I take the bed. I'm off to bed."
"Such a romantic you are!" Shane smiled at her.
"I don't have any clothes for you to change into. I've never had to entertain a male guest overnight," she told him, ignoring the sarcasm dripping from his comment.
"I sleep naked."
Lara choked on her breath.
Shane added a wink, and a grin spread on his lips. "Don't bother. Now, where is the bathroom?"
Later, while Lara had gotten into bed, snoring softly in satisfaction, Shane slipped beneath the covers beside her with an arm draped around her waist.
She turned, snuggling closer into his embrace and muttering inaudibly in her sleep.
Shane bit back a smile and kissed her forehead.
Damn! This woman was his undoing.
She was unwrapping sides of him he had never known existed until now.
He hugged her to himself and fell asleep in contentment, smiling happily to himself.
.....
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