What? Okay, so now he has my fucking attention; if he thinks he is going to get any kind of upper hand on me, he is sadly mistaken. He takes a sip from the glass of ice water placed in front of me on the table, savoring the cold, wet liquid, while never taking his eyes off mine.
“When there is something I want, I get it. And I want you. I want you all the time. I want what we had Wednesday night. I want more. And I will get it.”
Is this guy for real? My temper is brewing. I’m a ticking time bomb, which is about to blow up in what could possibly be a very public meltdown.
“You. Listen. To. Me. Levi.” My words half resemble a growl. “You will not push me. You will not threaten me. I don’t know who you think I am, but I will ruin you.” I take a sip of my beer, and gather myself together to shoot him a smile. Fake and dazzling. The calm before the storm I am about to unleash.
“I came here with the intentions of being nice, civil, even friendly. People don’t get friendly from me, especially when I am their boss. But I gave you the benefit of the doubt, because I fucking like you, Levi Parker. But do not mistake my kindness for weakness, because we all know I am the one in charge here. In the boardroom, and the bedroom. Don’t think for one second that I didn’t notice your need for submission under my hand.”
I run my tongue along my bottom lip as my eyes take in the rest of his body, taking in his mannerisms and the change in his body language. A moment ago he took me on with bravado; now he is ready to cower like a lamb. “I make the rules - here, in the boardroom, and in the bedroom. And if you want to get back in my good graces, you better fucking wow me.”
A sly smile spreads across his face; he thinks he has won. But little does he know there is no way I am going to let him back into my bed. I made that decision the night he walked out of my penthouse. The knowledge of working together is just icing on the cake now.
“So, why don’t we take this time to get to know each other a bit, Seven?”
The floor is pulled out from under me. Know me? What is this, the fucking Love Connection?
Maybe I will play the game, pull what I want to know out of him, maybe gather a little intel on Alexander Mobile, and Daniel. Good idea.
“What is it you want to know, Levi?” I wave my hand at him. “I’m an open book.” If he only knew.
His teeth tug on his bottom lip, and he runs his tongue across his top teeth. “Are you single, Seven?” Question of the hour. Does he really want to know me, or just size me up?
“Yes, have been for years. Although I am married to my work. Yourself?” I’m willing to bet he has a hot little Stepford wife, just like Daniel does. These New York City business types all do.
“Single. Divorced actually. My wife left me about two years ago.”
Interesting. Submissive little Levi was left by his wife, but I am sure there is more to the story. “Kids?” I question with confidence.
“None. Couldn’t have any. Part of the reason she left me. I couldn’t provide her with what she wanted out of life, so she found it with my partner at the firm I was working at.”
Yikes, that is harsh. I feel like I should apologize to him for that. “Damn, sorry I asked.”
His face shows relief, instead of pain. “She did me a favor. I didn’t want kids anyway. I am not really the parent type.” He shrugs his shoulders as the waitress arrives with our food.
We eat and talk, discussing all the mundane details of life. Our night reminds me a lot of time I would spend with Star. The conversation comes easily; nothing is off topic, but we don’t push to know the deep dark secrets we are both clearly hiding. I like to consider myself pretty damn good at reading strangers. If I didn’t know any better, he was hiding something just as deep and dark as I, under the layers of our public personas.
A dinner I’d anticipated to take an hour and a half at most flows into three hours. We clear our plates, even sharing a few bites here and there. I indulge in a few more beers than I probably should, but I don’t have anything to do in the morning, so what do I care? But the best part of the entire evening comes in the form of deep fried ice cream. The out of this world vanilla treat is probably my favorite at Tokyo Fusion. I laugh to myself as I lick the vanilla ice cream off the spoon. Vanilla, what a fucking joke. My life is beyond fucked up, and my favorite flavor in the world is vanilla.
The check comes, and he picks up the tab like a gentleman. I have to give him the slightest bit of credit for that.
“I had a nice time this evening. Once you got your head out of your ass and stopped trying to threaten me, that is.” I laugh, while I pull my purse out from under the table and scoot across the booth for the exit.
“I did, too. I’m sorry about the threat. Truly. I’m just not used to being told no, Seven. I didn’t know what to do.” He is embarrassed; it is kind of adorable. Adorable? What the fuck? He isn’t a puppy, Seven; get your shit together.
As I stand, I lose my balance, totally blaming the last shot of sake. “Damn it!” But before I can land on my ass in the packed eatery, a strong arm loops around my waist, saving the day. Or at least my ass from a huge purple bruise in the morning.
“Sorry about that.” He pulls his arm free and takes a step back, desperate to put a sizable distance between our electrifying connection. Any time a single hair on my body comes in contact with him, I feel something only those bimbos in romance novels drag on about. Romance is for old housewives and desperate twats.
I come to reality, realizing that Levi is still staring at me, and I’m lost somewhere in my brain. I clearly took a wrong turn at the frontal lobe and got lost somewhere in the sensory cortex.
“It’s okay. Thanks for saving my ass. Literally.” I laugh, as I let my guard down just a smidge. It’s an involuntary response. Maybe it’s the alcohol, or maybe it is just the fact that, for the first time since Daniel, I have enjoyed the company of a man in a social setting. Not just in my bed.
“I wouldn’t want to see that pretty ass hurt.” His words throw me off. Here I was giving him the benefit of the doubt. I thought he’d let the pursuit go. Silly Seven!
“Not going to work, Mr. Parker.” I throw him a side eye, and walk for the doors.
It’s a chilly night in the city, but I can’t help but want to walk. Sometimes the beauty of the skyscrapers and neon lights do it for me. Give me three blocks, of course, and I’ll be calling Clyde to pick my ass up because my feet feel like they are about to fall off.
Looking up in the sky, I can actually see stars, which is pretty rare in this neck of the woods, and I am determined to use the view for clarity. Until I realize Levi is behind me, following me.
I turn to him. “I had a nice evening, but this is where it ends.” I extend my arm to shake his hand, because that is as close as I am going to let him get. There is no way I am going to opt for a hug, even if it is one of those half hugs dudes exchange. His eyebrow lifts, as he lets out a chuckle. Is he laughing at me? Fucker.
“It was a nice night, I agree. But it would be even nicer if you came home with me, Seven.”
Nope. No way. No how. Not happening. “I’m sorry, Levi. You just know I can’t. It’s not you. I had a great time tonight. I just can’t.”
His hand takes mine, finally giving in to the only kind of friendly contact he is going to get from me, and I can feel the lust swimming through my blood. My body screams want, while my brain screams reason. No man, not even Daniel, has ever had this kind of hold on me. I smile while releasing his grip and turn to walk away. A couple yards down the sidewalk, I can hear his feet stomping heavily. He’s running in my direction. Why couldn’t he just have walked in the other direction?