"And you liked that?"
"I did," he said, simply.
"You have issues," I told him. He laughed again.
"Yes I do. But my arrogance is only skin deep. I need constant reassurance." He leaned across the small table then and when he spoke again he was so close that I could feel the heat of his breath and smell the wine there. Lowering the pitch of his voice he said, "Since you seemed to misunderstand the question, I'll clarify it for you. If you had to describe how I look in my clothes using only one word, what would that be? I'll get you started, handsome, debonair, cultured … "
"Rich and spoiled," I said.
He put his hand over his heart and said, "Harsh," but his tone was soft and he was laughing. "I still like it."
"So you're a masochist?"
Still laughing he said, "Not quite, but sometimes when you're the boss's son, or the boss you get tired of everyone kissing up and saying what they think you want to hear. Your honesty … although a bit brutal, is refreshing. Not to mention that I love to watch your face turn the color of your fiery hair."
I chose not to comment on that. Instead, I took a sip of my wine and then said, "So Harlan tells me that your father has handed the reins to you, unofficially. What is he going to do with his time now? It would have to be hard to go from sixteen or twenty hour days to … nothing."
Seth's face changed when I mentioned his father. It was a subtle change, but it was there. I think his eyes even darkened a bit as he said, "I doubt that my father will ever fully retire. He doesn't want the sixteen hour days any longer, but he has his issues relinquishing control as well."
"And will you have issues with him keeping his fingers in the pie?"
Seth took another sip of wine. He shrugged, it was designed to look casual, I think. But the intensity of his eyes gave a completely different answer. There were definitely issues there between him and his father. I was beginning to see my "In."
I was about to ask him another question when the waiter once again interrupted, this time to bring our dinner. He sat down the plates and then placed a platter of delicious smelling bread between us and said, "Can I get you anything else?" Seth looked at me and I smiled at the waiter.
"Nothing for me, thank you."
Seth nodded at him and he went away. He looked at me then and said, "My father and I have a complicated relationship. Business only serves to make it more complicated. Now that he will only have his "fingers" in as you say, instead of his arm up to his elbow, I am hoping for less issues."
I was impressed by the simple honesty of that answer. I watched him as he put his napkin in his lap and took a bite of his chicken. By the time he'd chewed and swallowed it, his eyes had lost some of their intensity.
"I'm sorry if I brought up a sensitive issue," I told him.
He smiled and reached across the table again. I closed my eyes when he touched me. It was an automatic reaction, but it felt so intimate and familiar. He ran his fingers across my brow line and said, "I don't like that worry line there. I like it better when you're being feisty, or blushing. You didn't say anything wrong. You couldn't have possibly known about my relationship with my father."
This guy was killing me. As soon as he pulled his hand away I opened my eyes. The way he was looking at me made me shudder. I wasn't supposed to like him at all. He wasn't supposed to be so … human. He finally tore his eyes away and returned his attention to his plate. I stuffed a much too large bite in my mouth just in case I was going to say something stupid in response to that touch.
CHAPTER SEVEN
After our dinner that night Seth walked me back to my car. In the dimly lit parking garage he leaned past me to open the door and I thought he was going to kiss me. Shamefully, I have to admit that I was horribly disappointed when he didn't. He did run the back of his hand along the side of my face again just before I got in. That simple touch in and of itself started a fire raging in the pit of my stomach. I got in the car and drove home, trying to remember what I was doing here. If I'd had too much trouble grasping it, Grant was there for me when I got home and I told him, as always.
"Hey doll face. Where ya been until ten o'clock on a school night?"
"Ha ha! You're hilarious," I told him. "I worked until late and then I had dinner."
"With?"
"With what?"
"With whom?"
"Is it whom? I would have gone with who."
"That's because you were a business major. It's all numbers, no English."
"Look whom is talking," I said with a smile.
"Knock off the Laurel and Hardy routine and answer the question."
"I had dinner with my boss," I said. "It was strictly professional."
"Really?"
"Really," I said.
"Hmm, then why did you hem and haw and blush, and why is your hair all down and pretty around your shoulders? You never wear it like that in a professional capacity."
I yawned and said, "Oh wow, look how late it's getting. I should get to bed."
When I reached the hallway he said, "Erin." I stopped and turned around to face him. He had his serious face on now. He was no longer playing as he said, "You're going to get hurt."
I know he loves me, but I didn't want him taking away my happiness tonight.
"How do you know that, Grant?"
"Because this is about family, baby. You want revenge for yours and he will undoubtedly be willing to go to great lengths to protect his. Family is one of those things that have torn couples apart for centuries. Please be careful."
"I am being careful," I lied. I had completely let my guard down tonight and had not once considered the fact that I intended to destroy everything that Seth held dear. I went back over to where Grant was standing and he opened his arms. I folded myself into them and as he hugged me I said, "I'm trying so hard not to feel anything for him."
"Sometimes chemistry, or love, or whatever you want to call it, can't be overridden."
I pulled back and looked at him and said, "So then what do I do?"
He wiped the loose curls off my forehead and looked into my eyes and said, "You have to decide which one you want more because I'm afraid that you can't have both."
I went to bed that night with Grant's words ringing in my head and Seth's gentle touch resonating in my heart. Grant was right, it was doubtful I could have this man if I also chose to destroy his family. But how could I give up something I'd virtually lived for over the past eleven years? The warm, cozy feeling I had left Seth with that night morphed into a pounding headache and very little sleep. I went to work the next morning resolving to keep my distance from Seth. I think he is genuinely a good man and my attraction to him was strong, but I owed it to my father to take back what he had intended to be mine. I couldn't do that if I was emotionally involved with the enemy.
Several hours after I had that thought, I was sitting at my desk pouring over some documents that Harlan wanted my opinion on when there was a knock on my half closed door. Without waiting for an invitation, it was pushed open and Seth appeared.
"Good morning," he said, with that smile that drove me wild.
"Good morning," I said, returning his smile. I tried to make mine less enthusiastic, but my body reacted in strange ways when he was around.
Seth came in and closed the door behind him. I expected him to have a seat in the chair on the other side of my desk. Instead, he came around to where I was sitting and took me by the hands, pulling me to my feet. I was standing with my head tilted back, looking up at him wondering what in God's name he was doing. He didn't make me wait long to find out.
"I barely slept at all last night," he said. "I kept thinking about our dinner and walking you back to your car and the one thing I should have done, but didn't."
I was pretty sure I knew what he was talking about, but just because I'm a glutton for punishment I said, "What was that?"