Casual

by Different Thoughts

  “If I were you, I’d be at HR in a heartbeat. I mean he’s your boss, right?”

  “Eh, he’s definitely higher up there. Number two or three I think? Not technically over me though,” I explained, and then hesitated. I didn’t feel right reporting him when he made such a point of keeping it separate from work, at least not until he violated that promise. “Essentially all that happened was he asked me out and I said no.”

  “Essentially.” She repeated in a doubtful tone. “What about the whole ‘fly you to New York for dinner and, oh, by the way, we’ll be staying in a hotel tonight?’” Charlotte reminded me. “So skeevy.”

  “Yeah, it was definitely skeevy.” I pursed my lips. “It was weird, though. He was kind of smooth about that whole thing, despite the I-don’t-accept-no aspect of it.”

  “That probably works for a lot of girls. Alpha male, take-charge attitude.” Charlotte pointed out. “I mean, he actually sounds a lot like Darcy.”

  “He’s nothing like Will,” I cried with surprise, shaking my head vehemently. “Okay, they’re both powerful men used to getting their own way, but Darcy’s power is innate. He doesn’t have to flash his private jets and I-don’t-take-no-for-an-answer speeches.”

  “Does he have a private jet?” Char wondered, sounding distracted.

  “I don’t know.” I furrowed my brow in thought.

  “Maybe you can get that dinner in New York after all,” she replied. “Only, remember you have friends, and there’s room for more than two, if he happens to ask.”

  The next day, Mr. Reece was true to his word and acted entirely professionally towards me at the office, even when we found ourselves alone. I was relaxing more about the whole thing, thinking he had taken the hint that I wasn’t interested, when he approached me just outside the office that night.

  “I don’t give up just because something I want has obstacles in the way,” he said with one of his charming grins.

  “That obstacle, as you call him, is a man I’m involved with.” I pointed out.

  I was so uncomfortable with the attention. Outside of a bar, I had never experienced a man who persisted so much after hearing no from me, and I wasn’t sure what was considered an appropriate reaction to one. Despite his promise to not let it affect my job, I couldn’t just tell him in no uncertain terms that I would never go out with him –at least not without being completely rude and bitchy about it.

  “I notice you don’t call him your boyfriend,” he said coolly. “Is the relationship more casual than that?”

  “My relationship is none of your business,” I bit back with probably a little more force than I should have. “I would apologize for being rude, but you’ve already crossed the boundaries of polite conversation.” I started off towards my car.

  “Seems I might have hit a nerve,” he said in a low voice. “You’re giving me hope, Elizabeth.” I hated it when he called me Elizabeth, but that was mostly because Darcy was the only one to call me by my full name; once someone got to know me, I was always Lizzy. Telling Mr. Reece to call me by my nickname would probably just send the wrong message, though. “I believe I may get my dinner date after all.”

  “Believe what you want, you’ve heard my answer.” I got into my car and left.

  A similar scene took place three more times, but it was when someone at Darcy Technologies mentioned Sam Reece’s rumored interest in me that I realized how many people from National Financial had associates from DT. I did not want any drama, and I certainly didn’t want Darcy thinking I was hiding this from him, so I finally decided to bring the matter up.

  “Hey,” I was strangely relieved he answered my call.

  “Hello Elizabeth,” he replied. It was harder for me to read him over the phone, I wished I could see his eyes.

  “I wanted to have pasta tonight. Do you want to meet for dinner?” I asked. “We can meet halfway between there and here.”

  “Tonight?” he questioned. It was a Thursday, and we usually only met up on the weekends, but I didn’t want to risk taking one more day away from him.

  “Yeah. If you want. If you’re not too busy.” I replied, clutching the phone.

  “I’d love to,” he murmured and the tension in my shoulders loosened.

  “Good,” I breathed. “There’s that Italian place off the highway, by exit 47. I hear it’s pretty good.”

  “Sure,” I could hear the smile in his voice. “Be there soon,”

  I found myself smiling as I went through the motions of changing my clothes and driving to meet him. I was excited to see him. I missed him. Why deny it? I loved spending time with him.

  We were back to our old rhythm when he showed up. Dinner was a pleasant affair, and we bantered and flirted like nothing had just almost come between us. When we walked along the small downtown square afterward, though, I felt like I needed to bring my issue up before it was too late to discuss.

  “Darcy,” I began, pulling him down to sit on a bench next to me.

  “What’s up?” he asked, focused on me.

  I realized with sudden affection that I never had to try hard to get his attention. I smiled at him before my face took on a serious look and I swallowed, not quite knowing how to have this conversation.

  “I think I should tell you something, but I don’t want you making a big deal about it.” He frowned at this beginning, so I spoke more quickly. “I’m just telling you because… well, I would want to know if our situations were reversed. Plus, I’ve already heard people at your office making comments about it and I don’t want you to find out that way.”

  “Alright,” said he said slowly, warily. “Tell me what?”

  “Do you know Mr. Reece at National Financial Services?” I asked.

  “Sam Reece?” he said after a moment of thought. I nodded. “We’ve met. Why?” he asked, his frown deepening.

  “He asked me out. A few times now.” I bit my lip.

  “I see.” He withdrew from me slightly, putting his elbows on his knees and looking at his clasped hands. “Are you going out with him?”

  “No,” I said quickly. I frowned, wondering how he could possibly ask that. Then, of course, I immediately knew the answer to that. I had been pulling away from him, and we still refused to put a label on what we were. “I told him I was seeing someone.”

  “You did?” he asked, turning back towards me. He wasn’t exactly smiling, but his expression was light, almost hopeful.

  “Yes,” I confirmed, trying to ignore an uncomfortable twist in my stomach at this admission, despite his positive reception of it. “But he said he was going to work around any obstacles that he ran across, and he keeps bothering me about it.”

  “I’ll talk to him,” he said in a clipped voice.

  “I don’t need you to talk to him, that’s not why I brought this up.” I sighed. “I’m just letting you know about the situation; he’ll lose interest when he hears no enough times. He said he would not let it affect the job and it hasn’t. Besides, I have one more day there and then I won’t see him again.”

  Darcy didn’t comment. He stood up, put his arm around me and we strolled back to our cars. I wondered what he was thinking, but he didn’t say anything more about it.

  “I’m glad you called,” he told me softly as he opened my car door for me. I smiled at him, still relieved that he wasn’t going to punish me for my little freak out the past few weeks or, worse, to pull away from me like I did to him.

  “I’m glad you came,” I replied, standing on my toes to kiss him. “I…” I was prepared to tell him I had missed him, but the words got stuck in my throat and I lost my nerve. “Thanks for dinner.”

  “You’re welcome,” he smiled like he knew my thoughts and that my hesitation was being affectionately indulged.

  “I…” I tried again, irritated by my own shyness. Why couldn’t I just tell the people close to me what I’m feeling? “I’m glad tomorrow is my last day away from DT.”

  “Me too,” his smile grew slightly. H
e leaned down and kissed me, backing me up a step so I was pressed between him and my car. “I missed you, Lizzy,”

  “I… I missed you too.” I finally said in a rush. The knot in my stomach loosened and I kissed him again.

  The next day, Darcy showed up at work just as I was clocking out.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked, instantly suspicious.

  “Charlie is having people over for a Game of Thrones pre-premiere party.” He said casually, looking around the office. “Very last minute. I thought I’d swing by so we could drive together, if you felt like going.”

  “Uh huh,” I replied, not buying it. I began gathering my things from my temporary work space. Keys, phone, ID card. “So you left work at least two hours early just to come here and make sure I had a ride to a party that probably doesn’t start for another couple of hours.” His expression didn’t change.

  “Did you forget I have my own car here?” I persisted, holding my keys up.

  “Roy drove me up while I finished a few things for the day.” Darcy informed me. He then surprised me by plucking said keys out of my hand and pocketing them. “I’m sure he will be happy to see your car home safely.”

  “Okay,” I replied slowly; despite his actions, I was happy to see him here, and happy to be able to make the long drive with him. “Let’s go then.” I decided to save my energy and just grab my bag in the hopes of getting him out of here before Mr. Reece could show up.

  “With pleasure,” he smiled, putting his hand on my lower back and leading me towards the elevators.

  Surprisingly, we made it all the way to the main elevators without being stopped.

  “We have a few hours. Do you want to get a drink?”

  I took a moment to think about his offer when, like an animal that sensed a rival in their territory, Mr. Reece appeared next to us. My stomach dropped at the sight of him. His eyes took in Darcy’s possessive hand on me, but he only smiled, like someone had just challenged him to a game they had no idea he was exceptionally skilled at.

  “Elizabeth,” he said, though he needn’t have bothered; he had both my and Darcy’s attention. My attention was gained as soon as he came striding around the corner, and Darcy’s was gained when I tensed at the sight of him. “This must be the man in your life.”

  “Yes,” I said reluctantly. “Mr. Reece, I think you’ve met Will Darcy.”

  “Of course,” he said, his smile widening, holding his hand out for Darcy to shake. “Will, how are you?”

  “Good,” I wondered if the other man heard the tinge of ire in Darcy’s deep voice, and I couldn’t help but think they were gripping each other’s hands rather forcefully. Thankfully, the elevator doors open.

  “Well, goodnight,” I said, stepping gratefully into the elevator.

  “Actually, darling…” Darcy didn’t follow me, and he had never called me a pet name. Ever. I frowned at him. “Sam and I need to catch up for a minute. I’ll meet you downstairs, okay?”

  I wanted to say no, of course. I wanted to say that I knew what he was up to and I didn’t approve, but Mr. Reece looked like he was looking forward to the conversation; there didn’t seem like much I could do about it except stand here and insist on being part of it. If I was being completely honest, though, this was one conversation I did not want to be a part of.

  “One minute.” I told him. He leaned in and pressed the button for the first floor, and then kissed me, lingering longer than I felt was necessary for a small, see-you-soon kind of kiss.

  “One minute,” he confirmed with that familiar arrogant grin. I glared at him, wanting to say more, but the doors closed and I was cut off.

  Ten minutes later, he came strolling out of the elevator, a smug and victorious look on his face. He took my hand and led me outside, where a black town car was waiting. He opened the passenger door and ushered me inside, then exchanged keys with Roy before sliding into the driver’s side.

  “Did you decide if you wanted to stop for a drink, or dinner? Or we could go to Charlie’s place?” he asked me. “We still have a few hours.”

  “My apartment,” I said in a clipped tone, then crossed my arms. “Please,”

  “You’re angry,” he stated once we had started moving.

  “I told you I would handle it,” I said with a sigh. “I’m not mad, but now he thinks I went running to…”

  “Your boyfriend?” Darcy prompted.

  It wasn’t an exaggeration to say I was affected by the word, even startled by it. Despite my recent thoughts and feelings on the matter, we had avoided the terms boyfriend and girlfriend for so long that it was like hearing a bad word from your grandmother.

  “What did you say to him?” I asked instead of addressing his wording.

  Darcy smoothed his tie down, though his eyes stayed on the road.

  “Sometimes in life, two men need to have a private conversation about a woman. This is one of those times.” To my great annoyance, he did not follow up that little tidbit with anything more.

  “So, you’re not going to tell me?” I asked, a bit incredulous. “Really?”

  “He won’t be bothering you anymore.” He turned back to me, unable to hide the proud and arrogant look on his face. “That’s all you need to know.”

  I felt like I should be pissed; I felt like he’d gone completely alpha male about the whole thing and for the first time ever had ignored my specific wishes. I felt like I was supposed to tell him I’m not going to the party and make him grovel and promise to tame his possessive streak.

  The thing was, though, all I could really muster up was some irritation.

  This was, after all, the first time something like this had happened. I had hung out with male friends and coworkers alone before, after Darcy and I started this thing between us. Even Richard and I often hung out where it was just the two of us. Usually it was when no one else had the time to meet for lunch, or to see a movie no one else wanted to see. Still, Richard, as Charlotte loved to point out, was a bit of a manwhore, but Darcy hadn’t gone all jealous and moody on me.

  I knew this wasn’t about trust, or claiming me. This was Darcy hearing about someone pestering me and doing what he could to help.

  Well, maybe it was about claiming me, or one-upping his peer, just a little bit. But, it hadn’t been his primary motivation, and that made a difference in my attitude about it. Sure, I had told him I didn’t need him to do anything, that I was just keeping him apprised of the situation because that’s what I would have wanted; thinking back, though, I realized he’d never agreed to stay out of it. He’d simply turned away and didn’t comment. Anyway, my plan had been to ignore Mr. Reece and hoped he got bored with the whole thing. Apparently Darcy felt that whatever had been said had resolved the issue.

  We made it to my place and had just walked through the door when Darcy broke the silence with a sigh.

  “You’re angry,” he said, frowning.

  I turned to him, a little bit surprised. The whole way home I was thinking of how much I should be angry but I wasn’t.

  “No,” I said with clear surprise in my tone. “I told you I would handle it and you came and talked to him anyway,” I added a little reproachfully. “But no, I’m not mad.”

  He looked at me warily, so I gave him an easy smile while I put my hand on his chest and stood on my toes to kiss him.

  “I’m not mad,” I reiterated with a smile.

  “Good,” he sighed with some relief, smiling down at me.

  “Do you have a private jet?” I asked curiously as we sat down on the couch and I thumbed through the stack of mail I’d missed the last few days. He looked thrown by the random question, but he nodded.

  “I think Richard uses it more than I do, but yes.” He gave me a curious look. “Is that what it’s going to take to return to your good graces?”

  “No,” I shook my head, smirking. “The subject came up, and Charlotte and I were wondering.”

  “How did the subject come up?” he asked suspicio
usly.

  I grinned. Beyond my hijacked date with George, this was my first real experience with a jealous Darcy—though I was reading it more as him being protective rather than jealous. I knew I shouldn’t encourage this behavior, but I couldn’t help provoking him.

  “Mr. Reece offered to fly me on his private jet to New York for dinner.” I said it teasingly, my mouth slowly curling into a smile.

  Darcy scowled. “What did you tell him?” he demanded.

  I rolled my eyes. “Don’t you think I would have mentioned flying to New York for the night at some point? I told him no,” I replied with amusement.

  He still frowned, so I turned and rose to my knee, leaning into him and wrapping my arms around his tense shoulders. “He raised the bar from there, of course.” I couldn’t help but needle him a bit more, though I soothed my words with frequent kisses to his cheek and neck. “Trips to Paris, cruises to the Bahamas.” He clenched his fists in his lap, but I was having too much fun. “He mentioned a specific nude beach in Italy,”

  “He said what?” Darcy finally burst out, angry and aghast.

  He tried to stand up –-Darcy was a pacer when he was pissed—but I had anticipated his movements and swung a leg over so that I was straddling him. His stony expression met my laughing one. I leaned in so I was once more whispering in his ear, as my fingers slid down his chest to reach the fly on his slacks.

  “I told him if anyone was going to see me naked on a beach, it was going to be you.” I finally pacified him, freeing the two buttons that covered the zipper on his pants. I’d said no such thing, of course, but then again I also fabricated the nude beach part of the story. “I said you would probably take me to a private beach somewhere, because knowing you, no one else would be allowed to see me without any clothes on.”

  He groaned, and then grabbed my waist. His also began kissing my neck, his tongue darting out to taste my skin. Slowly, I unzipped his pants.

  “He said he liked how headstrong and independent I was, but I told him that when we were alone, I belonged to you.”

  I hadn’t planned past annoying him with talk of what all Sam Reece had tried to entice me with, but now that I had started this little game I couldn’t stop. His breaths were coming fast and his touch had a possessive quality to it; I needed to see this through.