At seven o’clock exactly, he knocked on my door and I answered it with a huge smile on my face. He looked truly amazing.

“Ready?” he asked and I looked him up and down. He was wearing black jeans which hugged his thighs just right, and a black shirt with the top couple of buttons left undone to show just the right amount of chest.

“Yes, just let me grab my bag” I said “where are we going?”

“You’ll see when we get there” he replied with a crooked smile.

It was a warm evening so I didn’t really need a jacket. As we drove out of town I wanted to ask again where we were going, but decided to leave it, he wanted to surprise me and who was I to argue with that? So instead, I sat back and enjoyed the ride. We chatted and sang along to songs on the radio, Nick had such a lovely voice, I was sure he could’ve been a successful singer if he‘d wanted to. I could’ve sat listening to his voice all night.

“Well, here we are” he said as he turned off the road and switched the engine off. He got out of the car and walked around to my side, acting like the proper gentleman. “Shall we?” he said, taking my hand.

“Yes, let’s” I said, going along with this very proper behaviour and finding it all very amusing.

It was a very small restaurant; in fact, from the outside you wouldn’t think much of it at all, but once inside, it was a whole different feeling.

“I bet you thought I was bringing you to a real dump of a place” he teased, whispering in my ear “but the food here is delicious. Don’t let the outside fool you, appearances can be deceptive you know”

“It appears so” I replied, also quietly. I wasn’t just on about the restaurant and I’m sure Nick wasn’t either.

We were shown to a table and ordered our food, which I have to say, really was exquisite. We talked about anything and everything, opening up to each other and really getting to know one another better. He was so much more than I’d thought he would be. Yes, he could be arrogant and determined, but he was also caring and loving and someone who I felt safe and complete around.

After paying the bill, which he refused any money for, we left the restaurant. It was dark outside now and there was a cool breeze, but once we were back in the car, I felt warm enough.

“I don’t really want to take you home just yet” he said “how do you feel about a walk along the beach?”

“Are we near the beach then?” I asked. Shows how much attention I’d been paying on the way here, I hadn’t noticed where we were!

“Not far off” he said with a smile on his handsome face.

“OK” I replied.

We drove the couple of miles it took to get there and he pulled over.

“Here, you might want this” he said and offered me a jacket which was on the back seat of the car.

“It’s alright, I’m not cold, but thanks” I replied.

“OK” he said and took my hand.

We walked along the promenade, hand in hand, the cool sea breeze was blowing my hair around my face and Nick stopped to push it behind my ears and kiss me. My god, his kisses were the best.

“Come on, the pier is just along here, let’s walk along it” he said and we carried on walking.

The pier was dimly lit and I could just make out the swirling water beneath us, the sound of if was very relaxing. There wasn’t another person in sight as we walked towards the end. I leaned over the railings at the end and looked out at the relatively calm sea and the stars above me, and then I felt Nick’s arms around my waist and his warm breath against my ear.

“You‘re beautiful” he whispered.

I turned around and wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him close for a kiss. He wrapped his arms around me and pulled my body tight against his. I could feel his arousal.

“See what you do to me Rowena” he said breathlessly in my ear as I felt his erection digging in to me “I can’t control myself when I’m with you”

Unfortunately, the pier was hardly the place, so we just carried on kissing for a while before resuming our romantic stroll.

That night, he dropped me off home and left me with the promise that this date had been the first of many to come.

~*~

After the most perfect date last night, I was suddenly quite nervous about going in to work this morning. Nick was still my boss. Would things be awkward between us in work now? Also, there was the matter of the Summer Ball. A lot of people had seen us together, there was bound to be a certain amount of gossip. I groaned to myself. Great, just what I need.

I walked into the building and to my relief, saw no one I knew at the elevator. Thank god for small mercies! But it was a different matter once I stepped out of the lift and into the office.

“Morning Rowena” came the greetings from my colleagues “good weekend?” I was sure I noticed a few smirks.

“Yeah, great, thanks” I replied. I wasn’t going to discuss my personal life in the office. It was my business, well mine and Nick’s.

I looked over towards his office and noticed his door was closed. Was he in or not?

I didn’t want to have to ask anyone whether he was in or not, so I pulled out my Blackberry and sent him a text.

I hit send and quickly switched on my computer. A moment later and my phone was vibrating with a text message.

I read the message and smiled to myself. Still an arrogant bastard, but he’s my bastard.

I checked through the emails and post before making the coffee, it wouldn’t hurt him to wait for it. Then I went into the kitchen to make the coffee.

“So, what’s the goss with you and Mr Carter then?” asked Kayla who’d sneaked up behind me “have you seen him since the party?”

“Shh” I said holding my finger against my lips “keep it quiet Kay. Yes, I saw him yesterday, we went out and it was lovely”

“Well, I’m happy for you, as long as he treats you right” she said.

“He does, don’t worry” I said “he’s perfect”.

Kayla pretended she was going to be sick, and we laughed for a few moments.

“I think word seems to have got around about the pair of you dancing at the party, but no one is aware that you’re seeing each other, they seem to think it was just a drunken dance” she said.

“Thank god for that. I don’t really want it being made public knowledge in work” I told her.

“See you later? We’ll go for lunch” she asked and I agreed.

“I’d better get back” I said and told her I’d see her later.

I walked back into the office carrying the two mugs of coffee; I placed mine on my desk and picked up his pile of mail, then walked over to Nick’s office. I knocked on the door, and then walked in. He was on the phone, so I placed the coffee and mail on his desk and walked back out. He hadn’t even looked up at me.

An hour went by and I hadn’t heard a word out of him. Did I do something wrong? Shall I go in there and say something? No, fuck it, he can make the first move!

I could hardly concentrate on my work; I kept wondering what was wrong. We’d had such a lovely time together and I really thought we had something special between us. But then, here we were, back to square one. Well, if he wanted to play the asshole and ignore me, I could play it cool too.

At lunchtime, I still hadn’t even had an email from him, so I sent him an email telling him that I was going to lunch and I’d be gone about an hour. Then I got up and walk out to meet the others. Tears were threatening to spill from my eyes and I took a few deep breaths to calm myself down. I was not going to cry.

“Ready?” I said, putting on my best cheery face to the girls.

“Yes, let’s go” they said and we walked out of the building.

Luckily, conversation at lunch wasn’t focused on me, I was grateful for that. Instead, we talked about Kayla’s upcoming wedding.

An hour later we walked back into work and I felt a lot better, lunch with the girls had been just the tonic I needed after such an awful morning. I sat down at my desk and unlocked my computer, noticing an email from Nick sitting in my inbox.

I locked my computer again and got up from my desk. I knocked on his door before opening it.

“You wanted to see me?” I said nervously.

“Yes. Look Rowena, I’m sorry about today, I’ve just got a lot to catch up on. I shouldn’t have ignored you” he said.

“That’s OK, I know you’re busy” I said. But manners cost nothing!

“There was something else…I think we should keep this” he indicated to himself and me “to ourselves”

“Why? Are you ashamed of me or something” I suddenly blurted out. It’s not as if I wanted to shout it from the rooftops or anything as drastic as that, but I thought that after last night things would be different. I thought he wanted a proper relationship with me. How could we have that if he didn’t want to acknowledge it?

“No, of course not. How could you think that? It’s just that I don’t know…I don’t like to mix my personal life with business” he said, looking towards the floor.

I snorted a laugh. How could he say such a thing after all the sexual encounters we’d had in work?

“Yes…I know what you’re thinking. That’s not exactly what I mean either. It’s just that we don’t want to be the subject of gossip do we?” he said.

“What you really mean is that I’m good enough for sex, but you don’t want people knowing we’re together? You‘re the boss and I‘m the hired help” I said as I shook my head in disgust “thanks a lot Nick”

“Rowena…please” he begged “that’s not what I mean”.

“No Nick” I said “I thought you were different, I thought that underneath the bastard façade you were a nice person, but I obviously judged you wrong”

I left the office and slammed the door before he had a chance to say another word. I switched off my computer, grabbed my bag and stormed out of the office. I needed to get some air; I needed to get away from here before I broke down in tears.