Page 15 of Irresistible

“I have a few letters that need to be overnighted. Are you able to run them to the post office for me?” Richard asked.

“Yeah, absolutely. Are they the ones sitting next to the regular outbox?”

“Those are the ones.”

“I’ll go grab them,” Scarlet said, turning to leave the room.

“Scarlet, before you go, I wanted to ask you something.”

“Yes, Richard?”

“I don’t really know anyone here. I’ll be working a lot over the next couple of weeks, but it would be nice not to just have to go back to my hotel room at night. Would you be interested in grabbing a drink after work?” Richard asked.

Scarlet couldn’t believe it. This was exactly what she wanted, even though she had promised Jim that she wouldn’t act on her feelings. She had her confirmation. Bosses don’t ask their subordinates out for drinks alone if they don’t have any feelings for them. It just didn’t happen. But now that Richard was expressing interest in her, she felt more strongly than ever that she had to maintain her distance. For whatever reason, she had a sort of rebound reaction to getting what she wanted. She was immediately put off and became incredibly defensive.

“I…I don’t think that’s such a good idea,” Scarlet stammered. “It…just seems like, well, it’s not a good idea.”

“Right, yes, of course. I completely understand. Let me know if you change your mind, but I’m inclined to agree with you,” Richard said with a smile on his face.

Scarlet could tell that there were no hard feelings, but that Richard had really put himself out there. He didn’t seem angry as much as he seemed embarrassed. Richard Grant was so dedicated to his work that he almost never took the opportunity to ask anyone to any social events. He attended the happy hours and networking events that were necessary to advance his career, but he didn’t do much more than that.

But Scarlet could not risk getting hurt again. All of those painful emotions and memories came flooding back to the surface as soon as Richard asked her to go for drinks. All the men who had hurt her, all the deceit, and all the failed relationships congealed together and formed a wall between her and Richard. Until she could get over that, there was no way that she could open her heart up to anyone again, let alone someone as impressive and appealing as Richard Grant. As much as she was not at fault for the misdeeds of her prior boyfriends, Scarlet could not help but blame herself for the outcomes of those relationships. In any event, she couldn’t put herself in that position again. There was just too much that could go wrong. She had to focus on herself, and this was the beginning of her renewed effort to do just that.

Without a further word, Scarlet stood to leave the room. Richard looked embarrassed, and sat back down at his desk to resume his work. The letters stood near the outbox on the filing cabinet outside Jim’s office, just as Richard said. Scarlet looked down at the floor briefly before heading out to retrieve them and leave for the post office.