Cassandra didn’t have a great opinion of Antoine. She wasn’t sure how she was going to go about any of it, but she knew that he had to pay. It couldn’t be just let go. Cassandra would get her information and then she would get the police involved. They’d know what to do.
All Cassandra did was smile and agree. She wasn’t able to say any of the things that she wanted to.
***
Around lunch time, Antoine got off the phone where he’d been yelling at people consistently for hours. She didn’t know what he was doing and who he was talking to, but he was not happy. Some of the conversation was obviously in code and she didn’t know what they were saying, but since it was coded to begin with, it had to be juicy.
Cassandra didn’t know what to think of her new boss. As soon as she was close to him, her body tingled, much like it had that morning. She chalked it up to the morning messing with her head. It was all messing with her head at this point, and she tried to shake it off.
They took his car, and it was hard to be so close to him. Cassandra tried to pay attention to anything but the thick thighs inches from her own, and the large biceps that seemed chiseled out of clay distracted her. Everything about him was large and she knew that it wasn’t going to be easy to not see him in the way she was then. It was that damn dream. It had jazzed her all up and now she was just going to have to deal with it.
“You’re very quiet for a …”
She looked over at him. “For a what?”
“You know, a woman. I have found that women seem to talk quite a bit.”
Cassandra just shrugged. She could have been rude, it was on the tip of her tongue, but she didn’t want to lose her job on the first day. Antoine was easy to tune out and it hadn’t been bad, even if it wasn’t as peaceful as she was used to. Cassandra also found him not too bad to look at, either. He was rather buff, and she liked watching him pace back and forth while he was on a tense call. His pants would curve around his backside just so…
Her mind was gone again. He was going to think she was thickheaded, if she didn’t pull herself together. Cassandra wasn’t usually like that, at all. She didn’t know what was going on with her but being around Antoine was disconcerting.
When she finally answered, it wasn’t really an answer, but more of a grunt. Cassandra didn’t like the way he said it or what he was implying, so it was better for her if she just shut her mouth.
He stopped on the side of the street, parked, and asked her if she liked sushi. Cassandra didn’t. The idea of it made her vomit in her mouth, but she agreed that she did. She was trying to oblige him, yet he didn’t take the bait. Instead of getting out of the car, he asked her if there was something else that she wanted.
“I bring lunch with me. It’s in my purse. I was going to get a coffee, that’s it. Not a big lunch person. If you like sushi, though, let’s go get sushi.”
“Do you even like it?”
Cassandra met his gaze, wondering why he was pressing it, like he knew that she didn’t.
“Not particularly, no. I mean, it’s raw fish and seaweed. It doesn’t sound good to me at all. They even mess the rice up by serving it cold.”
He chuckled. “I guess you have a point. So, what’s in your purse?”
She took out her bag of pistachios and he just shook his head. “That’s not lunch.”
Cassandra didn’t agree or disagree, but she handed him a couple. “You’d be surprised. They are really good.”
“Well, I can’t live on nuts.”
Antoine shot her a look, like he was waiting for her to say something. “Like I said, let’s get sushi. I know a lot of people that like it.”
Cassandra opened the door and stepped out. She was already nervous about being around Antoine. She didn’t want to stay in that vehicle any longer than she had to. He had a dominate presence that drew her in and probably everyone else as well. As soon as they entered the restaurant, Cassandra could see men and women alike, giving him a look. Cassandra almost felt like she was in there with a celebrity. The hostess and the waitress knew him, too.
“I take it you like sushi a lot?”
He shrugged. “Cold rice, raw fish, seaweed, what’s not to love?”
She shook her head. “All of it.” Cassandra pulled out her nuts and he just looked at her. “You’re really not going to have any?”
“I am really not into raw fish.”
“And if I have them make you something?”
“I don’t think they do that here.”
He waved her off and ordered something in Mandarin when the waitress got back. She was impressed, and a little put off. Cassandra had to remember who this guy was. He was the one that left her behind. No number of good looks and charm was going to change that. She just might need a reminder or two is all.
