Abby gave me a considering look. “It’s just that all of those labels somehow seem to get you but at the same time not encompass you.” She gave a short laugh. “I don’t know, that probably doesn’t make any sense at all. But it just seems like somehow, you fit all the labels but also don’t fit them, at the same time.”
I stared at her for a moment and then offered her a small smile. “I feel like I understand you too,” I told her.
“You’re just not used to people doing what you don’t expect them to do,” she said, raising an eyebrow at me. “Either in business or otherwise.”
“Oh really?” I asked, amused by what she had said. “And I suppose you think that because you know for sure that most of the women that I’ve ever been out with weren’t as smart as you, or as fun.”
I could see the way she blushed. And I liked that she wasn’t afraid to call me out and that she wasn’t afraid to treat me like a normal person. Because she definitely wasn’t acting like I was her boss. She wasn’t even acting like I had the ability to never see her again, if she said the wrong thing. She sounded more like she was worried that she might do the wrong thing.
She acted like the fact that everyone in the city knew me was
whatever, and like it was old news that I was one of the richest business owners in the country.
I couldn’t help but appreciate that. She made me feel as though I was a normal person. And I hadn’t felt like that in a long time, maybe since I had taken over the company for my father.
Sure, I was a billionaire. But I wanted to date people like her. I held back before I could say that, though. Because I wasn’t sure I could really explain just what it was I meant.
I was still staring at her when the waiter came back in with a bottle of wine. “Thank you, David,” I told the man, but I couldn’t seem to drag my eyes away from Abby.
We ordered our food, and the rest of the dinner and our conversation just seemed to flow. After dinner, I had to admit that I just wanted to take her home with me. I ached with it, in fact.
But I knew I couldn’t do that. The night hadn’t gone badly, but that didn’t mean it had gone the way I’d wanted it to go either. Maybe it was my fault, for the place that I had chosen. Or maybe it had to do with the paparazzi that had cornered her out in front of the building that week. I knew she was probably hoping for something different in working for me. That she could never have expected that.
She should never have had to bother with the stupid kinds of questions they had asked her.
There was nothing I could do about any of it now, though. Just resign myself to the fact that she hadn’t gotten what she wanted out of this. Leave it at that. Let her go.
I didn’t want to, though. And not just because I knew that Austin and everyone else that I knew was going to ask about it. No, it was more that—I didn’t want to lose her from my life.
But as we slipped into the back of the hired car I had sent to pick her up, Abby spoke softly. “Are you going to take me home?” she asked in a soft voice.
I blinked over at her for a moment. “Is that what you want?” I asked finally.
“Not really,” she said, and I felt my heart drop. But she quickly clarified. “It’s just that I left things a mess before I left.”
I stared at her, wondering if she was telling me the truth. Then, seeing the look on her face, I couldn’t help laughing. “All right,” I told her. “All right. Do you want to come back to my place, then?”
She stared at me for a long moment and then turned away from me. I imagined that I could see her blushing. Then, she shrugged. “I mean, if you want me to,” she said. “I don’t have to go home just yet.”
I laughed and put an arm around her, trying to be friendly without being overpowering. I didn’t want her to think that I was desperate to have sex with her tonight. Because I respected her, in ways that I had never felt before.
I gave her a slow grin and slowly reached over to roll up the screen between the driver and us. “Let me take you home with me,” I told her. And then, I slowly leaned in to kiss her. She didn’t pull away. In fact, she shifted closer to me, until her thigh was pressed against mine.
“Let’s go,” she said quietly.
I looked deep into her eyes, almost seeing the want there, as much as I wanted to feel it. I grinned at her and didn’t ask any questions. “Let’s go,” I agreed. And off we went.
Chapter 20
Abby
I KEPT TELLING MYSELF to go home. That nothing that Daniel could want to do to me tonight was anything I was interested in. I had told Leanne that I wasn’t going to do anything stupid, but the lines all seemed to be blurring now. I didn’t know. I wanted to go home with him.
Even if I was sure that this was just...
But what? What was this? I had gone out on a date with him, and he had been so unfathomably courteous the whole time. I had expected that he might try to make a move on me. I had expected him to try to kiss me again, at least. I had expected him to be one of those guys who judged me on what I ordered or, well, I don’t know.
But far from it—he had been entirely gentlemanly. And sure, at the end of the night, he had asked if I wanted to go home with him, but he hadn’t asked it as though I didn’t have a choice. He hadn’t asked it as though he was taking me home either way. He had asked it as though he really wanted me to go home with him but knew that I could make my own decisions. And I appreciated that. Maybe more than I should.