He honestly couldn’t decipher why. After all, he was doing nothing but cutting out the obnoxious dating part of sex. Why not cut to the chase and tell her exactly what he wanted for himself and expected from her? It made everything so much simpler.
Arianna held a broken, yet spirited look in her eyes, like he’d just shot her beloved puppy and she was thinking of ways of seeking revenge. Annoyance began building inside Rafe as her gaze darted in any direction but at his face. He didn’t like feeling the weak emotion coursing through him. This was business – nothing more. There wasn’t room for anger, annoyance, feelings of any kind, really. Emotions like that were for lesser human beings than him.
“Take this material home and read through it. I’ll let you consider your options. However, I expect an answer by five tomorrow evening. ”
He had a lot more work to accomplish that day and needed to get on with it. He handed her a stack of papers, then held his arm out to assist her from her seat. She glanced warily at his hand as if worried he was going to strike her. His irritation spiked another notch.
“I may be making a mistake by offering you the job. I should simply withdraw the offer, but luckily for you, I’ve decided not to. I hope you appreciate how fortunate you are that I’m giving you time to think about this. There’s a line of women who would literally kill to be in the position you’re in. ”
Even though he could see the words registering in her brain, she still tried to conceal what she was thinking from him. The sooner she was out of his office, the better for him. He needed to take a few moments to decide if she really was the right candidate.
***
Ari felt frozen to her seat. She should tell the guy to go ahead and give the position to one of the many women in line, and then take herself from the room. She couldn’t do this – no matter how much the job was paying.
Guilt consumed her, though – guilt over her mother who was lying helplessly in a small bed missing her life – a life she’d always lived to the fullest before a phone call woke her up in the middle of the night.
“Thank you,” Ari replied as she finally accepted the hand he was offering. As their skin touched, a small current of electricity passed through their fingers, sizzling her insides in a strangely pleasant way.
She quickly pulled back from him, not happy with the unwelcome and foreign sensation. Without anything more being said, she walked stiltedly toward his door and then made her way to the elevator.
She could feel him beside her, no longer touching, but keeping pace with her as she tried to make a dignified exit. Why couldn’t he have just stayed in his office? She felt the air weighing down on her lungs and began fighting the desire to gasp as she tried to suck in more oxygen. She knew the perceived danger was all in her head as there was zero chance of her suffocating. Though it was ridiculous, she had to keep reassuring herself of just that.
Mr. Palazzo reached out and pressed the down button and then stood with her as her eyes focused on the steel doors before her as she counted the seconds in her head. She’d heard the expression about tension being so thick you could slice it with a knife, but until this very moment, she’d never experienced the phenomenon before. There was a first time for everything, and she seemed to be hitting several firsts in Rafe Palazzo’s presence.
Open, open, open, she chanted inwardly. The elevator’s arrival was made known by the chiming of the bell that seemed much louder than usual, and she fought the internal alarm making her almost jump. She entered the car before the doors were fully open, then immediately stepped to the lit panel inside and pressed the lobby button, followed by the close door button.
As the doors began shutting, she finally glanced up, her eyes colliding with Mr. Palazzo’s intense stare. She couldn’t manage to turn her head away, though she was trying to break the connection. As the doors finally closed, she sagged against the back wall of the large box and waited for it to make its descent.
When the elevator made the journey without stopping along the way and the doors opened to the stunning lobby, she stepped out and quickly made her way across the marble floor and straight through the front doors.
Ari didn’t stop until she made it to the next block. Finally, with disappointed steps, she slowed down to a more leisure saunter until she found a bench that she gratefully sank onto. In that moment she allowed herself to take her first deep breath of air since leaving Rafe Palazzo’s office.
Ari sat for a while, trying her best not to hyperventilate as she took in slow, measured breaths, feeling like she just couldn’t get enough air. She should have said, Thank you for the offer, but no. She should’ve laughed at the ridiculous request. She should of…