David pressed on the bell at her home. And he got no response. He buzzed it a couple of times. She wasn't home? He looked around. Her car was here.
David walked around the house, knowing that at the back she had an office. Was she working? How could she? He couldn't work. His brain was mush! Driving to her home was hard; His thoughts were on her, instead of keeping his mind on the traffic. Lucky that he hadn't had an accident. By the time he had reached her place, he knew he was in a foul mood. In any case, thank goodness, he'd arrived intact.
He stalked to her office. The door was open. She was here. He walked in, without thinking about it. Beatrice looked straight at David as he walked into her office. His mood got worse. She blinked. He was here? A mirage? The first thought Beatrice had was that he was back! It instantly had her heart racing. But she got to her feet and frowned. No, he was definitely here, when David leaned forward and brushed Beatrice's cheek in a light kiss. She blinked again.
David growled, David growled with sarcasm "Going to ask me in?" He was already in. He thought he'd managed to hide his foul mood as he stepped into her office.
"What are you doing here?" Beatrice challenged coolly before her brain scrambled at the sight of him. Nerves kicked in.
Instead of replying to her question, David put up his jacket on the coat stand. He turned around, and his eyes tracked over her. She was wearing a simple black shift dress, and flat, black ballet-style pumps on her feet. Cool. Calm. Unlike him!
Beatrice scowled at him. David smiled and Beatrice's eyebrows winged up.
She repeated her question. "What are you doing here?" Most people would have seen David as a good-looking flirt. But below that surface were a clinical mind and a self-assured man. He knew what he wanted, and knew how to get it. Except with Beatrice!
He rubbed at the back of his neck with one hand and gestured with the other for her to proceed. Definitely not calm. "Sit!" Obviously he hadn't managed to hide his mood!
Again, Beatrice's eyebrows winged up. "This is my office. I don't have to do what you want! And I certainly don't need this hassle."
His eyes narrowed in dispute as he looked straight at her and added with a misleadingly mild tone to his voice "Too bad!"
"What?" Beatrice's eyes went wide.
"Sit." David looked at her again and made sure that she understood that he was not going to let this slide. "Please."
So with reluctance written all over her face, she took a seat. "Fine." Grumbling. Beatrice reigned in her sigh, no point getting cross. Hopefully, all it would take was a brief conversation. She would be polite. Hopefully.
He muttered quietly, "I think I might have blown it, five years ago." She blinked. He inserted, "But I am not about to repeated that." His eyes flashed. "Not. Now." He lost his smile. "And, we, you and I, need to talk." He hoped he hadn't done anything irretrievable. "We really need to talk." He sat.
He would have to be difficult, she thought. "Too late." She said in a tone of voice that told him it was obvious.
He leaned back so that he could look into her eyes. "It's never too late."
Beatrice huffed with a long sigh. Muttering as she rehearsed what she intended to say to the idiot man. "I distinctly told you: Too late." Beatrice looked right at him, "Five-years-too-late!" She reminded him pointedly.
He had the cheek to say, "Wrong." Beatrice tipped her head back, lifting her chin pugnaciously. Her brain whirred into panic mode. "Definitely, wrong!" Beatrice heard his tone and knew for certain that he was one of those obstinate people. David decided to resurrect the conversation from Friday. But before he could start, he set out the rules for them, "No running..."
She looked at him with what she considered to be hauteur, she interrupted, "Running?" She shook her head in annoyance, but she managed to keep her annoyance from showing in her voice as she mumbled as she quirked a brow at him, "Me?" Her eyes widened. She asked hoarsely, "Where to? Here?" She reminded him, "I live here." Beatrice scowled. He was so utterly infuriating.
"Definitely running." David corrected. He ran his fingers through his hair. "From now, these are our rules: No running. No hiding. No pretending!" Looked straight at her and said firmly, "Got it?"
How was it that he could just exude that level of forcefulness without it being aggressive? Beatrice asked calmly, and looked serenely, "Our rules? You do know this is my office, not your office?"
He ignored that question. He pinched the bridge of his nose. "Yeah. I know." He rubbed his jaw. "But honestly, enough!"