I couldn’t stop blaming Aria for the way I was feeling. She was the one who’d reminded me that there was more to life than women with hourglass-shaped figures and pouty lips. She’d made me feel small and ashamed of myself for going to any length to get a client. What would my family think of me if they found out about my current lifestyle?
I left my penthouse, jogging all the way to the nearest park. It was bustling with life. A Saturday in spring was the perfect time for families to gather and enjoy a pleasant day outside. I was alone, but at least it was better than being cooped up in my penthouse.
I plugged my earphones in and continued jogging on the track around the park. I was feeling better already.
But then I saw her.
Aria was walking towards me with her head down. She had earphones plugged in as well. She hadn’t seen me yet. In her hands were big bags of groceries. She was dressed differently than I’d seen her before, wearing a pair of loose jeans and an oversized thin sweater that was falling off her shoulders, revealing her bright bra straps. Her hair was plaited, but those pesky red curls escaped and framed her face like a halo. I remembered now that her apartment building was close by. Had I subconsciously known that?
I stopped in front of her, startling her out of the daze she was in. I pulled my earphones out and she did the same.
“Mr. Sole!” she exclaimed. Since that night at the bar with Liam, I could sense that Aria was avoiding me. She didn’t want to have a conversation with me, but I’d taken her by surprise and she had no choice but to acknowledge my presence.
“Hello, Aria. Do you need a hand with those?” I tipped my head towards her bags and her cheeks flushed.
“I’m okay, thanks,” she stuffed her earphones in the pockets of her jeans, leaving her bags on the ground.
“I was just out for a jog and saw you here,” I said, smiling, but Aria wasn’t smiling at all. She wasn’t happy to see me. Surprisingly, I was happy to see her, but what happened between us was bothering me and so was that sickening feeling – like I was wasting my life.
For some reason, I felt that if I could convince Aria I wasn’t a bad human being, then I could convince myself too.
“Okay,” she replied, making it clear that she didn’t want to carry on with the conversation.
“Do you have a minute?” I asked and she picked up her bags again.
“I was on my way home, Mr. Sole. I have to put these groceries away,” she replied, and I knew she was just making up a silly excuse.
“You can call me Michael when we’re not in the office.” I smiled at her and she stared back at me with her large amber eyes. She was still hurt, and I wanted to make it better.
“Sit down with me, please?” I urged her, leading the way to an empty bench that was near us.
Aria hesitated before she finally followed me. We sat at distant corners of the bench and I allowed her to maintain the distance. I had no intention of spooking her.
“Look, Aria, I know things have been bad between us since that night with Liam. Well, I guess things have been bad between us from the beginning. We started off on the wrong foot.”
I turned to her. Aria was looking at me without any verbal input of her own. Since she hadn’t stopped me from talking, I continued.
“I would like to make a fresh start, if that is okay with you. I’m Michael Sole, CEO of Sole Communications. It’s a pleasure to meet you,” I extended a hand to her, the way I would do to a stranger.
Aria was considering it. She was looking at my hand like she was deciding what to do about the situation. When she looked up at me, her gaze had softened. “Aria Lawson, secretary to Mr. Sole of Sole Communications,” she said and we shook hands. A soft grin was spreading on her face.
I couldn’t know for sure if she had forgiven me . . . I had a long road ahead of me for that, but at least this was some sort of start.
Chapter 14 - Aria
I was so sure that I would never forgive Michael for the way he’d treated me these past few days, but I suddenly couldn’t resist his charm. He was the same seductively attractive man I had met that first night at MacCauley’s again. I knew I shouldn’t even have been sitting on the bench. I shouldn’t have entertained any conversation. Instead, I was sitting beside him, shaking his hand and feeling those electric waves jolt through my body from his touch.
“Good. So maybe we can actually talk now,” Michael said.
He looked different today. I’d never seen him in casualwear before. He was wearing a pair of running pants and a tight t-shirt that stretched over his wide chest. He couldn’t hide it anymore — he had a chiseled muscular body. His big biceps bulged under the sleeves of his flimsy t-shirt.
“Do we have anything to talk about?” I asked. I hadn’t completely forgiven him yet, neither had I forgotten.
“Yes, Aria. Lots,” he replied and turned to me fully. I faced him too, surprised by his sudden enthusiasm to talk.
Michael hadn’t struck me as the kind of man who would want to just sit down and talk with a woman. I always thought his main agenda was to figure out how to get into a woman’s pants. That was how he had been with me.
“For starters, I want to clear up what happened that night. I know you were offended, and rightly so. You see, Aria, I don’t know Liam Bloom well. At all, in fact. I misjudged him. I didn’t think he would go so blatantly for you. I wouldn’t have invited you to the meeting if I’d known he would act like such a pig,” he explained.
I was listening to every word he said. Tried not to stare at the dark curl falling on his forehead. The way his green eyes glowed.
“What’s going to happen to that account? He didn’t look happy when I left,” I said.
Michael breathed deeply and shrugged his shoulders. “Don’t think I’ll be hearing from him again,” he replied.
“I’m sorry,” I squeaked, and he smiled at me.
“You don’t have to apologize to me, Aria. I should be the one apologizing. I shouldn’t have put you in that position,” he continued.
The more he talked, the more I realized I was seeing a different side of him. The entire time that we’d been talking, Michael hadn’t once tried to seduce me. Sex was not on his agenda today. When he apologized to me, it seemed genuine. I didn’t think he was capable of feeling sorry, but here he was . . . I had no choice but to believe him.
I’d been lying to myself all these days. Of course I wanted something with him. I felt beautiful when he looked at me. I wanted him to see me. I wanted to please him. I wanted to see the man he was under that suit – the part he kept hidden from everyone except his family.
“Do you forgive me, Aria?” Michael asked, crossing his brows with worry.
Why did he care so much if I forgave him? He’d said it himself – I was nothing more than his secretary.
“I don’t want to be in that position again,” I told him.
He was nodding his head. “Absolutely. I’m very sorry. I shouldn’t have done that to you, and I won’t be doing that to any of my employees ever again. You were right when you said that I should recognize your worth in my company. Being a pretty face at a meeting isn’t what you’re worth.” He spoke calmly with a soft smile on his face.
He thought I was pretty? I was blushing again.
“Okay, I think we should move on from that night. I don’t want to talk about Liam Bloom anymore,” I said.
“Neither do I,” he added.
I couldn’t help it. We were smiling at each other. We fell into silence and he breathed in like he was breathing in the fresh spring air. I watched him as he looked around the park.
“It’s crazy, but I’ve never been to this park before. I don’t think I’ve been to any park in Chicago. Can you believe that?” He looked at me, fixing his green eyes on my face again. He’d caught me watching him, but he didn’t comment on that fact.
“That is crazy, but I’m not surprised. Lots of people get caught up in their own lives in a city like this, forgetting abou
t nature or that they just need some fresh air from time to time,” I mused and smiled at a dog on a leash who crossed our path.
I could sense him watching me now, and I said nothing. It was like we were both stealing glances at each other. This wasn’t just about forgiveness regarding what happened at the cocktail bar . . . This was about something else, too. We’d brushed a key element of our relationship under the rug, and I wondered if it was time for it to come out.
“I grew up in a small town in the Midwest,” he told me, and I looked at him with a jerk. I knew that already, but I couldn’t tell him I did. I was surprised he was even choosing to tell me.
“What was it like?” I asked, and Michael smiled.
“A much simpler life,” he replied and looked around the park at the children playing with their parents, young couples sitting on the grass close together. “An easier life than the one I lead now,” he added.
“Happier?” I asked.
Michael looked into my eyes. He licked his lips and his face had taken on a serious expression. I was worried I’d asked him the wrong question.
“Yes. I’m just realizing that,” he replied and sat back, sinking into the bench like he was embracing the peacefulness of the park around him.
***
I didn’t know how it happened, but Michael and I were having a real conversation.
“Sometimes, when I think of the life I left behind in Spring Green, I want to just drop everything and go back,” he said in a dreamy voice.
I could feel my heart tightening. I never thought I would hear him say that. “How often do you think about that?” I asked him.
He shrugged his shoulders. “Pretty often these days. Think I’m getting old,” he said with a grin.
I rolled my eyes and reached into one of the bags of groceries. “Chocolate bar? It’s nothing fancy. Pretty standard.” I offered him one and he eagerly plucked it out of my hand.
“This is the kind I had to share with Amy when we were kids!” He ripped the packaging open enthusiastically. “Glad I don’t have to share it with her right now!” he added and laughed.
I smiled as I watched him eat the chocolate. He was like a little kid. Right then, he could have been anybody. Just a regular guy sitting there on that bench in the park instead of Michael Sole, Chicago’s own playboy.
“My parents were recently divorced, and even though I’m all grown up, it still devastated me,” I told him, staring down at the chocolate bar in my hands. I didn’t know why I told him that. Why I was spilling out such a private thing to him . . . He was still my boss, but I couldn’t take it back now.
I could sense him watching me.
“I’m sorry to hear that, Aria. If my family went through that, my sister and I would be pretty devastated too. I don’t think that changes, no matter how old you get,” Michael sympathized with me, genuine emotion in his voice. Like he could feel my pain.
I looked at him and smiled weakly. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to burden you with that,” I apologized.
He reached for me, gently grabbing my hand and squeezing it, the way he would do a friend’s. “It’s okay. I don’t mind. It’s good to get these things off your chest.” His voice was low as he spoke.
I nodded my head. I didn’t know what was happening to me. I felt like I was melting. He was casting that spell on me again.
“Aria, I feel like I should say something about it because I can’t just forget about what happened between us. That night, at your place . . . I know I acted like a dick. You were right to kick me out of your apartment.”
He was still holding my hand as he spoke. My breath was caught in my throat. “It wasn’t your fault. I mean, you didn’t force me to take you back to my place. You suggested it, but I was the one who led you home. I led you on. I should have known from the beginning that I wouldn’t have been able to go through with it.” I was struggling with my words.
Slowly, he reached for my cheek and brushed his fingers against it. Goosebumps covered my skin. “Because you’re not that kind of girl,” he murmured. He was staring at me, searching my eyes, and I could barely meet his gaze. I was afraid he’d be able to see how desperately I wanted him.
“I can’t sleep with someone I don’t know . . . or have any feelings for,” I confessed.
He drew his fingers away from my face. “And I should respect that,” he commented.
In the next moment, Michael was standing up again. I was panicking, fearing that the moment had ended. Our conversation was over, and now we were back in the real world again. We were going back to being employer and employee. I craned my neck to look up at his looming height. Surprisingly, he was smiling down at me.
“So, I don’t know how to thank you for that delicious chocolate bar you gave me back there,” he said, and I crossed my brows in confusion.
“You don’t need to. That was nothing,” I protested.
“I’m serious. That was amazing. Made me really nostalgic for my childhood. I want to return that favor to you,” he continued.
I stood up from the bench as well. “No really, Mr. Sole . . . Michael. It was nothing. It was just a chocolate bar!” I insisted.
“I want to cook you dinner.” His words came out of the blue, astounding me into silence. Did I hear him right? He wanted to cook me dinner?!
He saw the look of shock on my face and broke into laughter. “I can see that you’re skeptical, but trust me: this isn’t my plan to poison you!”
I smiled. “I don’t know what to say . . . ” My words faded away as he reached for my shoulder, gently touching me again.
“Come have dinner with me, Aria, at my home. I want to keep talking to you, and I would like it if you accepted my invitation.” He was peering into my eyes, searching for my answer.
“Yes. Okay, I will,” I replied, and he clapped his hands together like it was a great success.
“Tonight? At eight? I’m sure you have my address already,” he said while already backing away from me. All I could do was stare at him, still confused and amazed by what just happened.
Was this a date? Was this some other form of apology? What was I going to wear?
“I’ll see you later! I need to go grocery shopping now. Another first!” I heard him call out to me from afar. I could hear the excitement in his voice. He was actually excited about this!
I was biting down hard on my lip as I watched him jogging out of the park. This was the craziest Saturday of my life.
Chapter 15 - Michael
I didn’t think Aria would actually accept my invitation to dinner. She had every right to say no after the way I’d been treating her.
I decided that I wanted to make this night special for her. I sent my housekeeper away and did all the preparations myself.
There was roast chicken, mashed potatoes, and vegetables for the main course, and my dad’s peach cobbler for dessert. I selected my most prized wines to serve with the food. I even set the table up and selected music for the evening. I wanted Aria to see that I wasn’t the materialistic, arrogant businessman she once knew me as.
I could finally admit to myself that I had feelings for her. If I didn’t admit that to myself, I knew I would go insane. Ever since I met her, everything seemed different. I didn’t want to see Meg. I felt disgusted with myself when I woke up beside another woman. When I saw the way Liam spoke to and leered at her, I knew that I would never be able to bear the thought of Aria with another man. I wanted her for myself. I wanted to possess Aria Lawson . . . and if that meant I had to change something about myself, I was willing to do it.
She was on time. The elevator doors pinged open in the foyer of my penthouse, and I was waiting there for her. Ready to greet her.
“You look beautiful, Aria,” I told her as she stepped towards me.
There was no denying that she was beautiful. In a simple black dress, her curls neatly styled to one side, Aria deserved to be admired. Her cheeks flushed and I saw that she was too embarrassed to meet my eyes.
I gave her my arm and led her to the living room. She was looking about with awe. I could see she was impressed with my residence, as everyone usually was.
“I want to tell you, Aria, that I’m honored you accepted my invitation,” I told her as she sat down. I was already pouring the special wine into two glasses.
“You’re my boss, remember?” she replied with a smile. I handed her the glass and shook my head.
“Tonight, I’m not your boss,” I said.
She arched her brows. “What about the thing you said earlier? That no matter what happens between us, my position won’t change?” she asked.
I took a sip of the wine. “I was an idiot. Will you forgive me? I thought I could fight it,” I admitted to her. Aria looked confused. I could sense she wasn’t expecting a confession tonight. But I was determined to let her know how I felt about her. She had opened my eyes to the things that were missing from my life. I wanted her to know that.
“Fight what?” she asked.
“My attraction to you.”
Aria put down the glass of wine on the table in front of her. I could see she was in shock. She hadn’t seen it coming.
“Mr. Sole . . . Michael . . . ” she stuttered.
I lunged towards her, crouching down in front of her chair. I wanted her to look into my eyes and see that I wasn’t lying.
“I know what I said. The things I’ve told you . . . You should hate me for them. That first night when I saw you, I thought I just wanted your body. I thought you were like every other woman in my life.” I was speaking quickly, letting all the feelings gush out.
“I’m not?” she murmured, and her amber eyes grew wide with surprise.
“No, Aria. You are special. You are different, and I’ve been fighting those feelings for some time. I think I’m losing,” I admitted.
Aria gulped. She was nervous about what I might say next. My only hope was that she wouldn’t push me away. That she’d give me a chance.
My Bossy Protector: A Best Friend’s Brother Romance Page 30