Colin ordered a bottle of wine from the list, and my eyes moved over the menu until I found the specific wine he’d ordered. If I hadn’t been trying to play it cool, my jaw would have dropped.
Was he paying for this bottle, or was the company? I sure couldn’t.
He sat tall and seemingly unfazed by anything in the world, his facial features relaxed, albeit serious. It occurred to me that this man had extreme control over his emotions. I couldn’t fathom what that must be like, and yet, my curiosity was at an all-time high.
“You don’t seem all that upset about the deal falling through,” I said.
“Oh, I am,” he said. “This was the main thing I’ve been working on since I was hired.” But that didn’t explain how his voice stayed so even, or why he still looked as though he could have been watching a golf game, or even playing poker.
I shifted in my seat, tucked my hair behind my ear, and said, “I’m not sure if I’d be as calm as you are right now.”
His mouth twitched a little on one side. “No? How would you react if you were in my shoes?”
“I’d probably be screaming into a pillow right about now,” I said, biting my lip to keep from smiling.
“You still can,” he said, his eyes boring into me in a way that made me wonder…
You know that phrase ‘butterflies in my stomach’? Well, there was certainly something fluttering about somewhere down below. Way below my stomach.
I tried not to let anything show—like him.
“I might still,” I said. Whichever way he took my meaning, I could always claim that I’d be screaming into the pillow in frustration over the lost deal.
His eyes softened with amusement, and again his lips showed a shadow of a smile.
“You’re not afraid to express yourself,” he said. “That’s admirable.”
“Is it?” I asked. “You don’t do it.”
“Bold, too.”
I looked at him, waiting for him to say something else.
Finally, he continued, “I learned long ago to leave people guessing. It works in negotiations and business.”
“But you told me not to see you as my boss earlier. We’re not conducting business now.” I hoped I wasn’t pushing him too far. I expected at any moment for him to tell me I was being unprofessional. I pictured Monica or Jessica sitting here with us, observing this exchange and what the next day’s gossip rounds would be like.
“I suppose it’s become my default. Not to mention the years of boarding school at an all-boys preparatory school and my years at Harvard.”
This time my jaw dropped.
“Wow, that is very different from my public-school upbringing and state university experience.”
It all made so much more sense now. He made a lot of money at his job, but he’d obviously grown up extremely wealthy and in an entirely different world.
“I would imagine it’s very different, yes,” he said. “I remember dreaming about what it would be like to live like that. My life would have led me to a different place and position. There’s really not much of a point in wondering ‘what if?’ though, is there?”
I wasn’t sure whether he talked wistfully or if he really didn’t care. It was so hard to read him.
“Did all of your friends go to boarding school?” I couldn’t ask what I really wanted to ask him. I was suddenly dying to find out if he’d ever dated someone…normal. Someone who wasn’t dripping with diamonds and servants and hadn’t been raised with a nanny.
“Most of them. I spent all my time there, so it was natural that we all became friends. Made a few enemies there, too. Some friends were also friends of the family I’d see on holidays.”
I guess I couldn’t get the answer to my question in such a roundabout way, but it would be way too nosy of me to go any further.
His next question surprised me. “Did you like growing up the way you did?”
“Um… yes, I can’t complain. I had everything I needed and lots of friends. But friends come and go.”
