Page 27 of Irresistible

Chapter 12

The visit to the Janesville branch proceeded in a strikingly similar fashion to Richard’s visit to the Mainsport branch. He’d done this many times before and had it largely down to a science. He started with a general meet and greet with the branch staff before gathering everyone into the conference room to give a brief presentation on the bank’s goals and financial health. Everyone acted like they were in awe, but they were all trying to make a good impression. It was really something interesting to see from the outside. Scarlet understood why he had to put on such an act with people. If you didn’t project confidence and satisfaction, it would be incredibly easy to get bored. She just hoped that falling for an employee wasn’t a standard part of his visits.

Things passed by relatively quickly. Scarlet did as he asked, setting up and breaking down the materials required for the presentation. She also put in a reservation for lunch at a local restaurant. While Cody was surely having a good time in Thailand, Scarlet was incredibly thankful that he was summoned away. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have this time to spend with Richard.

“Scarlet, are we ready to head out to lunch?” Richard asked after a few hours, gathering the group to head out.

“Absolutely. The two of us will go in my car and everyone else can take theirs. Does anyone else need a ride?”

“You drove Richard here?” a voice called out from the back of the lobby.

The question came from Alison, one of the bank’s tellers.

“Yes, she did. Due to a technical error with the bank’s accounting software, I had to spend a little longer in Mainsport than I originally planned. I don’t have a car in the area, so Scarlet generously offered to drive me her today.”

“If I didn’t know better, I’d say the two of you were dating,” Alison joked, immediately regretting what she just said.

Richard and Scarlet looked at each other and laughed the joke off professionally. Each of their glances had an undertone that signaled a kernel of truth. They rolled their eyes and proceeded to leave the branch with the rest of the group, confident that Alison was far too embarrassed to push the idea any further.

They all arrived at the restaurant, a well-known sushi joint in the area, about fifteen minutes later. A well-dressed man in a waiter’s apron ushered them inside and seated them at the largest table in the restaurant.

Lunch proceeded largely as it did in Mainsport. Richard was seated at the head of the table while Scarlet took her place at the other end. She made small talk with some of the other employees. People generally fell into one of a few distinct personality types in this region. Bank tellers around these parts were either spinsters, younger women who were struggling to discern their path, honest and good straight men, or young urban professional gay men. Scarlet was surrounded mostly by the two categories of women. But they were all fixated on Richard, much in the obsessive way that she had been a few days prior.

“What do you think he’s into?” one portly forty-something woman asked to their small group.

“Does it matter? He’s rich, hot, and powerful. He could power down like a robot at night for all I care. He’s already got it all,” one of the twenty-somethings replied.

While Scarlet would have gladly joined in this conversation a few days earlier, it was making her incredibly uncomfortable now. The doubt started to creep back in. She wondered if she was one of those twenty-somethings a few days earlier, trying to craft an ill-fated plan to pick up a rich bank CEO. Somehow, she couldn’t help but think that this was the way things always went. Maybe she was just another one of the suckers. Maybe she just got a little luckier than the rest and managed to hold his interest longer than a few lunches. He had clearly been through this whole song and dance before. The insecurity crept back in.

“Come on. I mean, he is the boss. Isn’t a little inappropriate to talk about him like this? I mean, he’s right over there,” Scarlet said, shocking even herself with her own faux-prudence.

“Oh, look who’s the puritan. Come on, now. You can’t tell me you wouldn’t take him home if you could. Don’t lecture us,” the forty-something said, chuckling.

Scarlet couldn’t help but laugh. She could pretend for so long not to feel the same way they felt. It was obvious to everyone who met Richard that he was an absolute hunk who had everything a woman could ever want in a man. She couldn’t fault them for noticing what anyone with eyes would notice. They were human, after all.

“I mean, I guess you’re right. I just get nervous. It’s so taboo, you know? The idea of getting together with your boss. Just thinking about it feels like enough to get you fired,” Scarlet replied.

Now she was drifting back to the truth. Even though she had resolved to see this thing through as far as she could, she was still fixated on the forbidden nature of it all. It was as much of a turn-on as it was a nagging fear, as these things often are.

“There’s nothing wrong with a little bit of fantasizing, right?” the forty-something replied.

“You’ve got that right. I’m going to ogle him as much as I want, and nobody can stop me,” the twenty-something responded, flashing a coy smile.

A pang of jealousy shot through Scarlet, causing her face to wrench up into a painfully obvious glare.

“Are you okay?” the twenty-something asked, her smile quickly fading.

“Yeah. Sorry. I’m just holding in a sneeze,” Scarlet lied.

In the span of a few short hours, Scarlet had developed the capacity for jealousy that it takes people years to cultivate in a relationship. She had to pump the brakes a little bit, or she was going to give herself a heart attack. After all, this was a marathon and not a sprint. Richard didn’t owe her anything, and she couldn’t behave as though he did. Nothing would doom their potential relationship faster.

“Yeah, that gets me all the time,” the twenty-something said, looking down into the beer that was brought to the table a few minutes earlier. Apparently Richard ordered a couple of rounds for every branch he visited.

The small group continued discussing things they liked and didn’t like about their jobs. Scarlet tried subtly to keep the topic of conversation from veering back to Richard and his jaw-dropping appeal. She had a lot in common with the twenty-something, whose name she later learned was Ginger. The forty-something, Helena, was your prototypical middle-aged woman who was seemed like a spinster but also had a sense of adventure that led her to make crude and salacious remarks at inappropriate times. She was everyone’s weird aunt. At almost any other time, Scarlet would have absolutely loved her. But on this day, she was incredibly annoying.

Richard winked at Scarlet from the other end of the table, sending the rest of the small group into a tizzy.

“Who do you think he’s winking at? Dear God, I hope it’s me,” Ginger said.