Page 28 of Irresistible

“Same here, but I’m a little less confident in my odds,” Helena said, throwing a mocking wink back toward Richard, who took it in stride. Helena really had no filter.

“It was probably just at this side of the table generally, since he hasn’t really gotten the chance to talk to us,” Scarlet muttered, looking down at her salad.

The rest of the small group exchanged knowing glances and turned their heads toward Scarlet.

“You’re attracted to him, too, aren’t you?” Helena said. Everyone knew she was going to be the one to say it.

“Not really. Like you guys said, he’s obviously great on paper. But those executive guys always have something under the surface. Who knows how many skeletons he has in his closet?”

“Liar. This wouldn’t bother you so much if you weren’t into him. You really want to be the one he was winking at, don’t you?” Ginger said, eyeing Scarlet’s blushing face.

Scarlet said nothing and looked down into her salad. If she made eye contact with any of them, she would almost certainly spill the beans.

“Oh, my God. You’ve already made a move on him haven’t you? You two are an item. I should have known. Men don’t take female assistants on road trips unless they think they can get something out of it,” Ginger accused.

Now Scarlet could really grab the reins of truth and use them to talk the group down. While something was certainly developing, she wouldn’t be lying by saying that nothing had happened.

“Absolutely not! What do you think of me? Certainly I wouldn’t hide that from you all. I don’t have the ability to lie that well.”

“I think you can lie that well and you have to lie that well. You know this will all blow up in your face if you let the cat out of the bag. An executive dating his assistant would rock the news, especially for an high-powered like him,” Ginger continued.

“If you’re so confident, why don’t you go ahead and try to prove it. I have nothing to hide,” Scarlet said, staring Ginger directly in the eye.

Ginger knew that Scarlet had successfully called her bluff and quickly moved on to a different topic. While she knew that any relationship with Richard would certainly blow up if it were exposed, there was a substantial amount of risk in making a false accusation about something like that. It wasn’t worth putting her own neck out like that, especially when there was nothing in it for her. She decided to stand down.

“Never mind. Let’s talk about something else.”

Scarlet sat up in her chair, feeling vindicated. Of course, she had no strategy for how to handle this sort of thing if the rest of this trip went how she wanted it to go. She decided that was something that could be figured out later.

The rest of the lunch was fairly awkward. Richard winked at her a few more times, this time without comment from the rest of the group. One more round of drinks came and went. While the group was becoming noticeably tipsy, none of them were drunk enough to go up against Scarlet again. In any event, Scarlet could hold her liquor better than almost anyone else she knew, and had no doubt that she would get the best of anyone else who tried to broach the subject. After another forty-five minutes, people felt comfortable to drive safely, and headed back to the branch. Richard and Scarlet headed to Scarlet’s sedan, walking wordlessly and hardly acknowledging each other. The two said nothing until the squeaky passenger side door slammed shut.

“I assume you didn’t hear what they were saying about you on the other end of the table,” Scarlet said seriously.

“I didn’t. I can only hope it was good stuff,” Richard said, once more flipping through the papers in his portfolio.

“They were all totally into you. They were talking about what a catch you would be. You could have any one of them that you want.”

“That’s flattering, I’ll admit,” Richard replied, nonplussed.

“Is this how these visits always go? Am I just another one of those women?” Scarlet asked, trying not to sound flustered.

Richard could tell this was starting to get to her. He looked up from his papers and directly into her eyes as she reached to turn the key.

“I don’t know what they were thinking, and I don’t really care. I know I like you, and that’s all that matters to me. If you’re thinking I somehow use these visits to pick up attractive women, you’re sorely mistaken. I just so happened to meet someone incredibly special in Mainsport, and that just so happened to be you. That’s all. Let’s just get back to the Janesville branch, finish up our work there, and we can head back to Mainsport,” Richard said, placing a hand on Scarlet’s cheek.

Her entire body was on fire. He had never touched her this intimately before, and she instantly wanted more. She retained enough sense to know that a parking lot of a sushi restaurant wasn’t the best place to act on her feelings. Richard leaned over and gave her a soft peck on the cheek.

“I…yeah. Let’s…back,” Scarlet stammered.

She couldn’t even put sentences together at this point. His hand was so smooth gliding across her cheek. More than anything, she wanted to take it further. But she knew she had to practice the fine art of restraint.

“Right,” Richard said, laughing to himself.

Her hand shook as she turned the key and started the car. She forced herself to blink a few times just to make sure she could see straight before setting off for the branch. They remained speechless for most of the trip back, but she never stopped blushing. Richard remained glued on his papers, but she could tell that he was trying to use them as a distraction. They pulled into the parking lot and took a deep breath before heading back inside.

“I trust it goes without saying that we’ll have to be discreet. I like you, but we each have careers to think about. Neither of us need to be getting in trouble,” Richard said, sounding more professional.

“Absolutely. I am, after all, a consummate professional,” Scarlet joked, mockingly flipping her hair.

The two exchanged glances and went into the branch to finish the day’s work.