Olivia

 

His eyes dart to my legs from time to time. I know he approves of my dress. I must admit that when I put it on the dress, I felt sexy. Not cheap like I thought I would feel. He has no idea how grateful I am about this dress. When I saw the register ring up five hundred dollars and he flashed his black American Express card, he was right. I didn’t feel like Julia Roberts. I just felt like a million dollars even though the dress didn’t cost that much.

“I want to thank you, Mr. White, for the dress,” I repeat as we sit at the back of the limo.

“You look beautiful. And you’re welcome. Just one thing, though.”

“Sure, what’s wrong? Did I do something wrong?” I frown as I start to feel paranoid.

He laughs. “No, it’s just that we’re not in the office anymore. Please, call me Andrew.”

I nod. “Okay, Andrew.”

He smiles and then he moves his hand from his leg to his side. It’s nearly brushing my leg, and it’s making me grow wet with just the idea of him touching me again. I think that I appeal to him.

Me.

The country girl who’s never been with a man. I don’t know if it’s this dress, but right now I feel different. I don’t feel like a country girl. I feel like one of the women that he would date. One that he would be proud to have by his side.

“Tell me about yourself, Olivia. You’ve been working for me for two weeks, and I know nothing about you.”

“Well, you were out of the office for the first week.”

He sighs. “Yeah, the Japanese deal that went horribly wrong. Hmm, don’t remind me of that. It was one of the worst experiences that I’ve ever had.”

“Oh?”

He shakes his head, “Let’s not talk shop. Not tonight. So, how come you don’t have a boyfriend?”

Wow, that was direct!

I’m looking at his dark eyes trying to figure out if he’s toying with me, but it’s indifferent. He has a way of putting up a front. One that’s so damn hard to read.

“I just don’t.”

“Wow, a knock-out like you?”

I giggle. “I’m not a knock-out. Only in this dress.”

He shakes his head. “If you didn’t have the tools, kitten, then you wouldn’t be able to work it.” His hand is cupping my face as if he has something more to say, but then he drops his hand and then turns to face the front.

Put it back!

I want to scream at him. I cross my legs, knowing that I’ll get his attention.

“There must be a reason that you don’t have a boyfriend.”

Wow, he’s pushing the subject. I feel a tiny tingle race across my skin as I wonder if he’s asking because he wants to be my boyfriend. I shake my head at the idea of it.

“I just haven’t met the right man yet.”

“Ah, so you’re a fussy kind?”

He raises an eyebrow, and some part of me likes this game. I should tell him that it’s none of his business, but he just paid for my dress, and this is the most interaction I’ve had with him, and it’s my last day.

I won’t see him again.

Part of me is sad about the whole idea of not seeing him again.

“Do you ask all your secretaries the same question?” I throw back at him.

He laughs. “Have you seen Joanne? She’s old enough to be my mother.”

“I thought that men like older women?”

He sighs. “At times. Fine, if you don’t want to answer my question, you don’t have to. I was kind of curious.”

“I just…don’t have the time.”

I fob him off with a feeble answer. I’m too embarrassed to tell him the truth. My dad hurt me so badly time and time again that it makes me feel as if I can’t trust men. But I'm at the back of the limo with my boss in a provocative dress. He’s doing something to me that nobody ever comes close to doing and I don’t feel scared.

Why does Andrew make me feel safe?

I can’t put my finger on it, but he just does.

“I see.”

“What?”

“Well, it seems to me that you’re a woman that wants a man to love her. The type that they’ll bend over to please her.”

I laugh. “A fussy woman?”

He points. “Exactly!”

“No, I don’t believe in fairy tales anymore…besides, I could say the same thing about you.”

“How?”

“Do you have a girlfriend?”

He seems surprised at my question, but I think that he’s not used to being questioned, only the other way around.

“Wow, no I don’t have a girlfriend.”

He crosses his arms, waiting for me to ask him the next question. The most obvious one.

“Ever been married?”

“How do you know that I’m not married?”

I’m just about to explain further when the driver buzzes into the back.

“Sir, we’re here.”

Andrew nods his head as he looks up at the building and sighs, “So we are.”

Well, he doesn’t have a ring, I was about to tell him before the driver buzzed in to say that we arrived, but I didn’t get the chance. Then again, if he was attached, then he wouldn’t have had to ask me to be his date.

He turns to me. “Are you ready?”

I nod. “I won’t know anyone, so I’m a little nervous.”

He shakes his head and says, “You’ll be with me, and I won’t leave your side. Not even for a second.”

The driver opens the door, and I climb out. The next thing I know Andrew’s by my side. As the driver is about to leave Andrew says, “Roger if you could get my car, leave it with the valet, then when I'm ready to leave I can just head home. Without having to bother you.”

“Are you sure, sir?”

Andrew nods, but he doesn’t say a word.

His driver says, “Well thank you, sir. Have a good night, miss.”

Andrew blurts out, “You have a good night too.”

His driver repeats the same thing, apparently happy to have the night off. Andrew looks at me and says, “Roger, I intend to have a very good night indeed.”

“Well, how’s Roger going to get home?”

Curiosity gets the better of me, because I feel as if he's left his driver stranded.

“Oh, he’ll figure it out. As for you my dear, just worry about tonight.”

It sends a shiver down my spine and ends with us walking through the lobby with our eyes locked and my smile is only for Andrew.

He's not married and desperate to know why I haven’t got a boyfriend. Andrew’s my date tonight and the best part of it is he’s no longer my boss.