REFINED ROMANCE

Knowing each other

Chapter 4

1147 Word Update date:2023-08-11 10:15:18

But after tonight, I was thinking, to hell with that concept. If I could literally be with a man as powerful and sexy as my boss then why the hell would I need anyone at all? He was comfy and passionate and cool and awesome. However, just imagining myself making love to Liam...

I almost collapsed on the carpet from that thought.

He came out as if reading my mind, but slowly. Apparently something was wrong because I was approached. Brown eyes remained on me and all the time I kept thinking, this is it Sophie. He's going to break the ice and kiss me. He's going to do it. But stupid me didn't realize that there were like a hundred cameras focused on all corners of the floor and my boss would never ever attempt to seduce his Assistant Secretary in plain sight.

"Sophie ",

I swallowed. "Yeah, Mr Abbort?

This man was like a walking s*x machine.He literally oozed passion from those brown eyes that melted my insides.

"Have you finished my schedule for tomorrow?"

"I...did...finish it." My eyes moved to the desk Ruben and I shared. Walking to it, the drawer was pulled open and I retrieved the document. The hard part now was to approach her and hand it over.

It was done but with my definite stare focused on the meetings and whatever else he had planned for tomorrow.

ARIAL. 10. JUSTIFIED. SINGLE LINE SPACING. LISTING WITH THE CHECK MARKS. TIME IN 24 HOURS FORMAT.

That's how he preferred it. What a man.

After giving everything a quick read through, Liam cleared his throat. To me it was the sexiest sound created by mankind.

"I'd like to move the meeting with Bookers Limited from 8:00 am to the empty slot after 3:00 pm. The old man needs not to intrude on my morning." He studied the paper. Snatching a notepad, I made notes. Note to all of you, when you're in a position as myself, always and I repeat, always carry a notepad and pen around. "Move Betty Ingrid to 4:00 pm. She's such a pain in the ass to handle at lunchtime. I might get indigestion."

I smiled barely, eyes lowered.

"My doctor's appointment, move it to 4:30 pm."

In other words, heb had changed the entire schedule. Fine by me. I'd have to get in here at 7:30 tomorrow to postpone Bookers. That meant if the night went well, I'd have to stay away from drinks and make sure I got up in time. No television. No reading. Just hanging out and straight to bed. Which wasn't that bad.

When he moved to my desk and lingered near it, I stood back and watched. It was almost as if he was checking for something but I couldn't ask. Fingers brushed over my stationery, the small pink cat with the bob head. My desk calendar was picked up and flipped through. Every page had a different Indian actress, from Aishwarya Rai to Madhuri Dixit. I felt entirely gay when a smirk crossed his lips. He fingered one of the pages and looked at me.

"Do you love when beautiful women stare at you, Sophie?

Wait, wow. I licked my lips. My spectacles was slipping down my nose. "Well when you put it that way, it sounds different."

"Different...how?" He returned the calendar and picked up my cucumber scented hand sanitizer lotion.

"I wouldn't put it that way..."

She flipped open the lid and upturned the bottle.

"It's just pretty faces on a page. For every month." How stupid did that one sound?

Squeezing some into the palm of her right hand, Liam returned the bottle gracefully. Eyes on me, he rubbed the lotion between fingers and smirked.

"So you're not...slightly...admiring them in your own time..."

"Maybe."

"I don't want my staff to be distracted from their work, so..." the calendar was taken up and flipped to the very first page. Watching me, he tossed it into the red plastic bin. "Oh don't worry." A pitiful look was given to me when I stared back in bewilderment. "I'll get my hands on a very nice one that has daily quotes and preferably flowers. Gets the mind inspired."

This...man. Did he seriously just throw my calendar in the bin?

We gazed at each other and my cellphone rang. It was Thomas, I answered it bitterly and he asked me to calm down before my entire tray of Oreo cookies were withheld. That had been promised by him because I passed a Managerial Economics exam. I ended the call.

"Is that the boyfriend then?"

"No ,Just a friend. We have been friends for a long time actually,

Don't you have any friends?

"No ,he said .

You like being alone ,

Sometimes some people don't have a choice ,

My throat ached from the hurt in his voice. "I bet you don't like being alone though..."

"At times it's rather alluring to have one's independence and freedom. Besides, I'm hardly here. Always traveling. There's no reason to remain here for longer periods. No one to come home to..."

"Someday there will be someone to come back to," I smiled but when he turned to look at me, and our eyes met, my knees grew weaker.

It wasn't because of just the look Liam gave me. But the fact that I was there, and I was struggling with these hints thrown at me. And I had no idea what to make of them. He was being so open, gazing at me. Letting me in, taking me up to his apartment. When we had just met. We had just met and there was this serious pull of attraction to him from my side. I kept wondering if he felt the same about me. But it was obviously too good to be true. A man like him would never be with a woman like me for various reasons. One of which was my age and then my gender.

He didn't have an apartment.

That was an understatement.

Liam had a condo that covered half a floor.

The entire street line was glass paneled and he had this fireplace that you see in the movies with a glass case in front of it. Then there was the setting of the living room, red leather chairs and paintings around the walls. Paintings of various scenes ranging from forest views to lakeside settings. His bookcase was massive and stocked. I counted forty shelves of obvious classics and bestsellers. But the best part of the entire space was his kitchen area. A red and black checkered tile counter that stretched from one corner to the next in a wide U. He had a small minibar that was well stocked. And black kitchen appliances. His living space looked untouched.

Wheeling the bag into another room, I heard the slice of a zip.