She gladly accepts the praise as Oswalt arrives.
I rev my engine up for the overly polite conversations that will occupy the rest of the evening. “Oswalt, great to see you.”
“You, too.” He looks at Savannah and smiles. “You remember Ms. May,” I preamble, and Savannah gives him a smile and small bow of her head as hello.
“Lovely to see you again. Is Charles here?”
She shakes her head in response. “No. He has a grandchild’s birthday party.”
Oswalt looks between us like a pendulum of a clock. “Ah, so you’re here with Julian. Great to see two people enjoying life outside the office together.”
Savannah almost chokes on her champagne but remains composed.
I have to let out a short laugh. “Well, Savannah is my personal assistant now. I think you might have heard the rumors that Charles is retiring soon.”
“Yes. That’s right.”
“As luck would have it, I landed his talented and beautifulassistant,” I cooly add on before taking a sip of my drink. My attention slips only once to Savannah who doesn’t seem surprised by my choice of words.
It’s a minute more of pleasantries before Oswalt is summoned by his wife to another conversation, and turning to face Savannah with a fixed wry smile is priceless.
I lift a shoulder. “Nothing wrong with giving someone a gray area of interpretation.”
She shakes her head ruefully. “I don’t know what to do with you, to be honest. You’re either cranky most of the time, infuriating the other times, and for a few seconds, actually intriguing in a good way.”
I can’t help but grin. “You should tell me more about those few seconds.” I indicate with my head in the direction of our assigned table for dinner, and we walk together. I set my fingertips on her lower back to guide her, and neither one of us think about it because it’s far too natural.
“I mean, don’t get me wrong…ifI wasn’t working for you and was watching from the sidelines, then youmightget points for your ridiculousness because it is asmidgenfunny some of the things you have done recently.” She is quick to point a finger at me. “But I do work for you,” she reminds me. “Therefore, you are a despicable boss, instead.”
“I could say you’re a horrible assistant, and would your heart be as wounded as mine every time you say I’m a horrible boss?” I’m sarcastic.
She shakes her head gently as we reach our seats and greet the others at the table. When we sit down, she sighs and leans back in her chair to angle herself toward me.
“It isn’t a trap, you know. You can knock yourself off of your award pedestal,” she remarks.
My brows rise. “A trap?”
“I doubt I’m here because of your need for an assistant.I’m surprised you didn’t pull out your contact list for other options.”
I lick my lips because she’s stating the obvious of what we both already know. “I burn numbers, I do not keep them. You being here solves a problem. I needed someone here, and you keep it simple.” Or so I believed. My plan is already backfiring because I’m loosening more than I would at these events. Apparently, she holds a string that I didn’t know existed. Which is why I lean in closer to her, keeping my mouth a respectable distance from her ear, but being this close to her is enough to drive me wild. Especially when my nose feathers her hair and I inhale her berry scent. “As for a trap? You willingly showed up, well aware that there isn’t even a trap.”
She turns her gaze sharply to me, and her look is so angelic and confident that I could kiss her right now. A sensitive ripple floats between us along our skin.
“Touche, Mr. Haven,” she says, her voice low.
Finally, we may actually agree on something.
Dinner was typical.Small talk, laughs with a few people whose company I actually enjoy, and speeches that are not always genuine. I don’t need the noise, and I follow the silent-donor route. Savannah was by my side, and although we didn’t get much chance to speak to one another, our eyes met enough times that we could probably create a whole new language. I also have no illusions, the way my hand would casually touch her elbow or back gave away the message to others that she’s mine, and that’s what I intended. Touching her is also an addiction. One that she might be experiencing too, as her body brushed past mineon several occasions, causing me to tell my dick to calm down.
Finally, dinner is over, the remnants of chocolate mousse in a glass pot in front of me, and people navigate to the dance floor for the band playing classic jazz while I sink into the seat. We get a chance to breathe, and Savannah half-turns her body to talk to me.
“I’m not even going to ask if you were the silent donor whose donation had that many zeros attached, as I already know the answer. But it is very kind of you.”
I shrug it off. “You didn’t ask, so I don’t have to answer.” She nods gently at my logic. “Can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
“They really don’t interest you, people with money, do they?”
