Undoubtedly Yours

Chapter 5

Dean

Dammit. I had promised myself I would go slow and not make her uncomfortable. I had promised myself to gain her trust before anything else, but I forgot about what her sass did to me. Every time she challenges me, I feel like showing her who the boss is. The thought that she would be upset about Mark's absence and would try to run away, that is why I asked her if she wanted to cancel. I was not expecting the answer I got from her. When I heard the challenge in her question, I lost it and, without thinking, just charged towards her.

With my arm secured around her and her pressed against me, all I wanted was to kiss her, but instead, I bent my head towards her ear and said, "I know exactly what I want and I will make sure I get it. Question is, will you be able to handle it this time?" I didn't even realize I was blowing on her ear until her body jerked with shock and then she put her hand on my chest to put some distance between us. I look from her hand on me to her face and the thought that she is pushing me away, again, drives me wild. Holding her hand on my chest, I carefully twist it behind her, pulling her towards me. Locked in my arms, she looks like a deer in the headlights.

"Did you just push me? Did you forget what happened when you did that?" I ask, my lips inches away from hers. "Tell me Williams. Did you happen to forget what staying away from you did to me?" When she doesn't say anything, I tighten my hold on her and pull her even closer, "Answer me Hope. Did you forget?" I pull back a little to look at her face and see as she gulps before shaking her head. Her eyes are wide open in shock and I love the pink decorating her cheeks. "Good." I tell her, looking into her wide eyes. Her pink cheeks had turned even darker. Satisfied with her reaction, I release her and say, "Let's go. I am starving."

I step away from her before I do something stupid like bend down and kiss her, but she doesn't move. Shaking my head, I put my arm around her waist, guiding her towards the restaurant. Having her this close has made me painfully aware that time has been very kind to Ms.Williams. She has got curves in the last four years. Curves that I would love to explore. I look at her and she has a dazed look on her face. Knowing her, she is over analyzing everything that has transpired between us just now. I don't blame her one bit, because I am pretty shaken up about what I just did. We walk in silence and reach the restaurant. The hostess catches both our attention, "Good evening! Welcome to Giulietta! How can I help you?" "I have reservations for Hoffman." I tell her. She checks her register and says, "Excellent. I have your name right here. Please follow me and I will show you to your table."

"Here you are. Tiffany, your waitress should be with you shortly. Have a great evening, Mr. & Mrs. Hoffman" she says, quickly getting us seated and walking away. Hope tries to say something, but stops when the girl starts walking away. She might have wanted to correct her, tell her we are not a couple. She looks at me smiling awkwardly. I chuckle and say, "Don't worry. I am not offended at all that you tried to deny we are a couple. To be honest, it looks like it's a couples night tonight." She looks around and then looks back at me smiling a little. I see her relax a bit but she is still not talking. I try to start a conversation about the menu and I get one word answers as we arrive at a decision on what to order.

We place our orders and she excuses herself to go to the washroom. When she comes back, I see that she looks more put together than earlier. Settling in her seat, she smiles at me and takes a sip of her drink the waitress just brought over. She takes out her iPad and powering it on she says, "So, Mr Hoffman, why don't you tell me why you asked for this dinner meeting? I am sure you have questions regarding the presentation and I will try and answer them as much as I can. If you have anything else you want to discuss, we can do that."

Interesting. Mr. Hoffman? An image of her under me and begging me comes to my mind with the words "Please Mr. Hoffman" coming from her mouth. What the hell? Why am I not able to control myself around this woman? My pants are getting a little uncomfortable. Channeling the professional Dean so I stop thinking what I am thinking, I honestly say, "Well, Ms. Williams, I am not really sure if I know where to start." She nods her head and opening her iPad she asks, "Do you want me to start from the beginning? We can go over points you have doubts about?"

I look at her as she waits for my response and I am speechless. All the adrenaline seems to be leaving my body. I could have come up with some bullshit but my brain had stopped functioning all of a sudden, so, I decided to opt for the truth. "You know, the entire time you were presenting, the only thing on my mind was to get you alone so I could talk to you. And up until a few seconds ago, I was all ready to give you a hard time. But now, I don't know what to say. My mind is so f*****g blank" I wait for her to say something but when she doesn't, I continue, "I was not expecting to find you today, Hope. Not at all. It's been over four years. I looked for you, you know. I could never figure out why you left like that. Then I figured if you had wanted me to know you would have sought me out and I stopped looking for you. My life has been all work for the past four years and one look at you and I am back in college again. I don't know, I guess I just need some time to process that you are here. Is it possible to hold off on work-related discussions just for today please?"

When I had her in my arms just a few moments ago, her reaction had fueled my desire to tease her, but when she switched to all business mode, something snapped. I couldn't deal with the fact that she was so calm and collected whereas I was practically jumping out of my skin. Feeling dejected, I rub my hands over my face and see that she is closing her iPad and putting it away. She smiles sadly at me and says, "I know there is not much that I can say to justify what happened, but I still want you to know that I am really sorry. You have to know hurting you was the last thing I wanted to do, but I had to go. I am sorry." Her voice breaks towards the end.

Fuck. Why can't I just stay mad at her? It would have been so easy if I didn't feel what I feel. I reach out to gently touch her hand that is on the table. She has it clenched into a fist. She looks at my hand and then looks at me with the same sad smile. "Look, I know there is a lot that needs to be said but I think both of us need a breather after the shock of coming face to face after so long. How about we just chill for today? Let's just forget work and the past for tonight and just be us. I am sure there will be a time for everything. I just want to chat, know how you have been and everything else can wait. You think we can do that?"

She considers it and then puts her other hand on top of my hand that is holding her hand and gently taps it and says, "Sure, we can do that." I exhale a giant breath I did not know I was holding. Don't get me wrong, I will be asking all the questions that are running through my mind, but not tonight. I release her hand and at the same time waitress comes with our appetizers. "Wow. Perfect timing. Thank you so much." Hope tells the waitress who is setting up our table. "You're welcome. Please enjoy the appetizers, your entree will be out shortly. Can I get you anything else?" the waitress asks and we both order a glass of red wine.

"So, I see the wine choice hasn't changed for either of us." I say to Hope chuckling. She smiles at me, a genuine smile this time and says, "Well, what can I say? We are nothing but creatures of habit." I throw my head back and laugh because she used to say this every time we ordered red wine. It lightens the mood and makes it easy to start talking. Not ready to let a perfect opportunity go to waste, I start, "So, Hope, tell me, how have you been?"