Black: Part 1 (5 page)

"How long have you worked for Emerson Global?” he asks, finally, breaking the silence.

I risk a tiny glance at him from the corner of my eye and say, “Almost a year, now.”

"And are you happy?” he continues.

I shrug, taking a moment to consider the question.

"It's alright. The pay is good, the hours are decent."

He studies me for a second longer, as though judging my response.

"Yes, but are you
happy
?”

I frown, caught off guard by his emphasis on the last word.

"I guess so. I've never really stopped to think about it all that much."

"Why not? Isn't being happy what life is all about?"

"I suppose it is..."

He studies me for another few seconds. Suddenly, I’m feeling apprehensive under his heavy stare. What is this guy looking for, anyway? I barely know him and he’s expecting me to completely open up to him?

“Maybe there’s something else in your life that you’re not happy about…”

I frown.
 

“What do you mean?”

The corner of his mouth pinches into a smirk.

“I just mean, maybe it’s something at home that you’re not happy with… Perhaps your boyfriend?”

My mouth drops open in shocked surprise. The nerve of this guy!

“That’s not the issue at all,” I say, a little too forcefully.

“So your boyfriend
does
make you happy?” he presses.

“No, that’s not what I said.”

“And we’re back to him
not
making you happy.”

The amused smile on Wade’s face is becoming rather irritating. I’m getting too flustered with it to keep up with the accusations he keeps throwing my way.

“You’re twisting my words.”

His blue eyes hold me in their gaze for a short time before he speaks.

“Then why don’t you explain it to me?” he says.

I take a deep breath, trying to collect myself before I continue sticking my foot in my mouth.

“What I was
meaning
to say is that I don’t
have
a boyfriend to make me unhappy.”

Maybe it’s just me, but it looks like his smile actually widens a bit after I make my confession.

“Oh,
that
is what you’re trying to tell me…”

His voice is softer this time, and he lets it trail off as though he might add something to the statement. But he never does. He just sits there and watches me for a while longer.
 

For some reason, letting Wade know that I’m single makes me even more nervous around him. Maybe it’s just me, but it feels like he’s seeing me with different eyes. What Aimee told me earlier about him being a serial bachelor comes to mind—he’s got another thing coming if he thinks I’m going to be one of his conquests!

"So this seminar is supposed to last all day, eh?" I joke, desperately hoping to change the subject away from myself. "I hope it's not a snooze fest. Usually the only thing more boring than the material we’re supposed to be learning is the person that’s presenting it. It’s almost always impossible to stay awake through it all.”

Wade’s grin broadens and he lets out a low chuckle. Hearing it makes me feel a little easier. Hopefully the joke is enough of a distraction to get him to stop talking about my love life—or lack thereof.

He tilts his head forward, nodding in agreement.

“Seriously, who wants to sit and hear about boring accounting stuff all day? There should be some kind of law against it.”

I let out a tiny laugh, then a thought occurs to me.

“Say, you’re not working in finance… why do you need to go to this thing?”

The smile on his face fades and he gives me a grim look.

“Well, actually, there were some scheduling conflicts, and a friend of mine asked me to fill in for one of those boring speakers, today.”

The blood drains from my face. I’m such an idiot. Here I am, trying to change the subject away from myself and blathering on about how boring these types of things usually are, not knowing the whole time that Wade is going to be one of the people presenting. I mean—really—could I stick my foot any farther into my mouth?

“I’m so sorry,” I stammer, quickly. “I didn’t realize… I didn’t mean what I said. I’m sure your presentation is going to be really interesting. Yours will probably be the most interesting one I’ve ever seen!”

I’m not usually the kind of girl that likes to flatter a guy, but sometimes it’s justifiable.

Wade holds a hand up and says, “Don’t worry about it, I know what you meant.”

His words don’t do much to assure me. I still feel like a complete idiot. The smart move would be to keep my mouth shut for the rest of the morning—no good can come out of anything I have to say, anyway.

Thankfully, the cabbie saves me from myself when he pulls up to the curb outside of the hotel. Wade pays the fare before I can even reach inside my purse for some cash.

“You don’t have to do that,” I say, eyeing him.

“Don’t worry, I’m just going to expense it back to the company, anyway.”

He gives me a devious wink that catches me off guard. I raise a hand to my mouth, stifling the little giggle that comes out.

I tease him, “You remember I work in Accounts Payable, right? I’m the one that has to review all of those expense reports that get turned in.”

His eyebrows rise in what I’m sure is mock surprise.

“Well, it will be good to have a friend on the inside then.”

We both share a quick laugh before climbing out of the car and making our way into the hotel. The lobby is crowded and busy, but there are signs posted, directing us toward one of the large conference rooms in the back. We follow the signs down a long hallway before finding ourselves in front of a registration table setup just outside the conference room. Thankfully, sign-in sheets are still laid out.

“I’m so late, I hope I still get credit for being here,” I say, unable to hide the concern in my tone.

“If anyone gives you trouble about it, just let me know. I’m friends with the President of the New York State AICPA and I’m sure we can get the situation taken care of.”

My eyebrows rise in genuine surprise.

“You would do that for me?” I ask.

“Of course, I take care of my people. Besides, I’m sure there’s something you could do to pay me back…”

His eyes fall down along the length of my body, causing butterflies to erupt in my stomach. Thoughts and visions that shouldn’t be there go rushing through my head. Tiny prickles of heat blossom on my cheeks. Hopefully Wade doesn’t realize that he’s making me blush.

“Like what?” I ask, innocently, as though the suddenly lustful look in his eye isn’t enough to tell me exactly what he’s thinking. It may have been a while since I’ve dated anyone, but I can still tell when a man wants me.

Aimee’s earlier words echo a warning in my head, but all I think about his how I might be starting to see what she sees in him, too. There’s definitely something about Wade Foster that makes him… interesting.

Wade’s lip pulls back into a little smirk. It’s the sexiest look he’s given me all morning, and it doesn’t do anything to get rid of the thoughts and visions still cascading through my mind.

“Like…” He lets the word linger in the air for a moment. “Like handling some of those expense reimbursement forms for me… Those things are always a pain to get approved.”

What he says catches me off guard and I let out a loud laugh—much louder than is appropriate.
 

“We might be able to work something out,” I say, after getting a hold of myself.

He gives me an even bigger smile and we stand there for a moment, looking at each other, before he continues.

“Well, you’d better get in there,” he says. “I wouldn’t want you to miss out on your
nap time
.”

I let out another little giggle and nod my head in agreement.

“Good luck on your presentation,” I offer.

He waves a hand, dismissively.

“There’s no pressure anymore, now that I know everyone will be asleep by the time I start, anyways.”

I can’t help but beam at him.

“Well, I, for one, will be looking forward to what you have to say.”

His eyebrows rise.

“Is that so?” he asks. I nod my head in confirmation. “Then I’ll be sure to find you afterward and you can let me know what you think. Deal?”

“Deal,” I agree without even considering it.

The conference room is nearly full by the time I make my way inside. Thankfully I spot an empty seat near the back almost immediately. I’ve already missed the better part of an hour—hopefully there won’t be some kind of quiz at the end to make sure we were paying attention.

There's a tiny stage at the front of the room and a guy is standing off to the side with a microphone in his hand. On a large screen in the middle of the stage is a slideshow with a bunch of accounting stuff on it. I should be paying attention, but it isn't long before I'm already mentally checked out.

Throughout the day, my thoughts roam around many topics, but they always seem to come back to Wade Foster. I can't help but recall what Aimee had told me about him, earlier—about the fact that he's known for being some kind of playboy. Aimee is a lot of things, but overly dramatic is not one of them. But, still, I just can't seem to line up her description of him with the man that I'd spent at least an hour with, this morning. Maybe she’d been wrong about him? Or maybe he just had a bad reputation for some reason?

Either way, he hadn't been disrespectful at all while I was with him. More than that, having his attention on me had felt kind of nice. It's been a while since I've received that kind of attention and have been able to appreciate it. Usually I’m just not interested in the guy that’s giving it to me, and their unwelcome advances have the opposite of the intended affect.
 

It’s not that I don’t want to be with someone, it’s just that I’m not willing to give myself to just anyone. Not after what happened the last time. Not after what had been done to me…

But that was years ago, and I know that eventually I’ll have to move on. One day I will have to let another man into my life, back into all of those intimate places that I’ve kept so guarded the last few years. I don’t know that Wade Foster is the man that will be able to break through all of my defenses, but I do know that he intrigues me.

So far, anyway.

We only just met, and we don’t even know each other. Chances are that, once he gets to know me better, he’ll lose whatever little bit of interest he seems to have right now. That’s how it usually goes, anyway. Guys are always interested at first. It’s getting them to stick around that’s the hard part. And getting them to stick around without letting their interests wander seems to be even harder, still.

Around noon we break for a quick lunch. It’s served in the reception area just outside of the conference room. I'm ashamed to admit that I spend the better part of the lunch break looking through the crowds of people, hoping that I’ll catch sight of Wade. But he never shows. Perhaps he is in a meeting or something? Or maybe he’s lunching with others that he met? Or maybe he just isn't hungry and he’s getting work done?

Regardless of the reason, I can't help the melancholy feeling that surrounds me. It follows me back into the conference room when the afternoon session begins. I don't know why it's there, it’s not like Wade and I had made plans to have lunch together. But the thought had occurred to me once or twice during the morning session, and I'd actually begun to look forward to talking to him. I know I am just being silly and unreasonable. Like usual.

The afternoon session gets under way, and the MC begins with a brief welcome and encouraging words about the seminar being ahead of schedule. He makes loose promises about the possibility of us getting out early, which seems to go over well with the entire room. Maybe the remaining hours aren’t going to be as bad as I thought?

I’m only just beginning to get myself settled and forget my misplaced disappointment from lunch when he welcomes the next presenter to the stage. My heart skips a beat when I see Wade's tall, lean figure appear, seemingly out of nowhere.

In an instant, I'm captivated by his presence, by the charming way he addresses the room, by everything. He cracks a joke about everyone being sleepy after eating lunch, which elicits genuine laughter from the room. But my amazement doesn't end with his charm or his wit. When Wade begins his presentation, I'm blown away by his intelligence. Throughout the discussion, he takes questions from the audience—questions that I can only barely even understand, in the first place, let alone know the answers to, myself. He responds to them with the ease and assuredness of a man who's more than competent at what he does. He’s an unexpected sight to behold, and I’m certain that I’m not the only girl in the room that takes an instant liking to him.

Somewhere in the middle of his presentation, my thoughts stray from his brains to… Well, to other assets he seems to possess.

I hadn't noticed it before—or maybe I had ignored it—but now I can't take my eyes off the way his body fills out the expensive suit he's wearing. From here, his physique looks impeccable. There are tight bulges and firm lines in all the right places.

He raises an arm to point at something on one of the slides, causing his shirt to pull tightly across his chest. More thoughts go cascading through my head. I only barely notice that I’m biting my lower lip, but I can’t bring myself to stop. He’s probably one of those few guys that looks even better with his shirt off than with it on.
 

I shake myself, trying desperately to fight off whatever has come over me. What am I thinking? Sure, it’s been ages since I’ve been with a man, but I barely know this guy.
 

But getting a handle on things is much easier said than done. By the time Wade finishes his lecture, I know that any hope of not having an irresistible crush on him is completely lost. I know the feeling is probably fleeting, that I’m probably just overwhelmed by a man who is both interesting and extremely hot—which seems to be quite the rare combination, these days—but the feeling is nice, all the same.