Page 25 of Irresistible

“No problem. I’m happy to do whatever you need,” Scarlet said, letting a little innuendo slip in to test the waters.

Richard smiled and looked down at a set of papers in his portfolio. The 8x11 sheets showed myriad graphs and figures that may as well have been a foreign language to Scarlet. Math and finance were two subjects in which she had absolutely no interest. She knew just enough to get by in her job as a teller, and no more.

“That looks really complicated,” Scarlet noted aloud.

“Once you’ve seen a few dozen of these things, you get used to them,” Richard responded.

Scarlet was getting impatient. She wanted to get back to the deep conversations they were having before, but it was becoming clear that Richard wasn’t going to go there on this car ride. If she wanted it, she was going to have to take it herself.

“So, I looked you up on the internet. You’re a pretty impressive guy,” Scarlet chuckled, running her hand through her hair. Flirtation had to start somewhere.

“I’m no better than anyone else. I’ve had some pretty good opportunities, and I’ve taken advantage of them. A lot of people just haven’t been as lucky.”

She had to give it to him, the guy was incredibly humble. Even though everyone has some luck, he clearly worked his tail off to get where he was. Coming from his background, you don’t become the CEO of a bank with luck alone.

“Sure, but you have so much more going on than just the bank,” Scarlet continued. “I saw the interview you did with that education nonprofit. Have you always been involved with that?”

“I started with them once I became an executive at the bank. I had been working so hard and so long that I wanted to do something to give back. First, I started volunteering in schools, and it grew from there.”

“You’re really a great guy,” Scarlet gushed.

“Please, you’re the one who’s great.”

Scarlet blushed immediately. She wasn’t going to be able to take compliments from Richard without a visual reaction. All she could hope was that he didn’t notice.

“Oh, come on. You have this fantastic career, you’re do charity work to better education for less fortunate children, and you still clearly have a bunch of time to work out. Most people would be happy with just one of those things in a lifetime. And you’re handsome, to boot,” Scarlet said, feeling that she maybe went one step too far.

Richard looked down at his papers and smiled.

“Everyone is who they are. We all have our own paths in life. None of them are better or worse. They’re just different,” Richard started.

“That sounds like a platitude,” Scarlet said with a sideways glance.

“It may sound that way, but I honestly believe it. Think about it. How many C-suite executive have divorces, drinking problems, or strained relationships with their kids? How many have all three? Their assistants may earn less but have stable friendships and relationships. Who really won there?”

“I guess,” Scarlet said, unconvinced but smiling.

“By the way, you’re not so bad looking yourself,” Richard added with a meek grin.

Scarlet blushed yet again. He was definitely interested. This was her jumping off point. She had to keep from overplaying her hand, but she knew now that she could take more risks. Pretending to look in the side view mirror, Scarlet tried to keep Richard from seeing her face. She wanted to remain in control of the situation. Richard may have been used to dominating the boardroom, but Scarlet knew this wouldn’t work if it didn’t happen on her terms.

“Are we…flirting?” Scarlet asked coyly.

“I guess we are. Isn’t that what we were trying to get at this whole time? It’s been lingering under the surface since that first time we had lunch. I certainly don’t want to seem too forward, but I can sense a deep connection between us. Please stop me if I’m misinterpreting things,” Richard explained. He was nothing if not frank.

“Well, I’m not going to stop you.”

The two silently smiled after that. They both knew that this was a tremendously fragile stage. Neither wanted to say anything to jeopardize the nascent bond, but desired nothing more than to explore it further.

“Now that the elephant in the…car…is out of the way, do you mind if I ask you some less than polite questions? I hope we’ve gotten to the point where that’s okay,” Scarlet asked cautiously.

“Of course. You can ask me anything you want,” Richard replied. He had gone back to looking at his papers. Clearly he was capable of multitasking.

“When I looked you up, I saw a picture of you with some young starlet. I assume that’s not still going on, but what was the deal with that? Is that the kind of person you generally look for?” Scarlet asked bluntly.

“Well, you’re certainly not pulling any punches from the go,” Richard said quietly to himself, maintaining his smile.

Scarlet felt mildly embarrassed, but refused to modify her question in the face of the short, awkward silence. It was her right to ask the question now that their mutual interests were out in the open.