Chapter 13:A Painful Confession 1

Damien's P.O.V.

I got out of the car, and rounded it to open the door for Leslie. It was such a small gesture, but it'd been ingrained in me from a young age to just be polite. 

After a long day in the office I decided to take her out for company dinner, since she hasn't really had one after joining the company. Although heaven knows I do have some ulterior motives behind asking her out to dinner.

Since confirming that I wasn't the only dying and feeling this attraction I have to find a way to make Leslie admit how she feels.

Hell, if someone opened the door for me, I'd be delighted. Nobody ever did that."She murmurs as she climbs into the car.

After driving for like 30 minutes I parked.

"Is this place good?" Leslie asked. "I've never heard of it."

"No. I'm deliberately bringing you somewhere where I know the food is bad." I say teasingly as we stepped out of the car.

"Shut up." She nudges me flashing those sweet smile my way, Damn how in hell does she not know how beautiful she is, as I opened the door to the restaurant and motioned for her to go inside. "You don't have to do that, you know. The doors."

Am no damsel in distress"She says 

I can open my own damn doors"She says sternly.

"Hold it Miss independent I do need to open the doors" I say giving her a small smile. "It's called being a gentleman."

"I know. I just wanted to let you know that you still don't have to."

"And I'm telling you that I do. Stop arguing." I put my hand on the base of her back and took her to the hostess' station.

"Good evening, sir. Do you have a reservation?" The young woman asked me with a bright smile.

It was almost as bright as Leslie's but definitely not hers.

"We're here on a reservation under Boyce Romano," I replied.

She scanned the book and nodded, picking up two menus. "Please follow me." 

We followed her through the restaurant to a table in the corner. A Two scented candle burned in the middle of it, and I wished I'd thought to make a point that this wasn't a date. 

Now, the atmosphere seemed romantic, although am a bit glad it is but on second thought I don't want Leslie running out of here with the way she behaved the other day am sure things are going to end in the latter.

Damn it.

I pulled out the chair for Leslie. She shot me a half-smile, lips just curled up, and took the seat. I knew what she was going to say, so I shook my head and cut her off. She could tell me that I didn't have to pull her chair out, but here we were.

I did have to.

And I wanted to. 

I took my seat and the menu from the hostess. She smiled and said a waitress would be right over to take our orders, then left us. 

"So," Leslie said, opening the menu in front of her. "What's the real reason you asked me to have dinner?" 

"You think there's a reason other than the fact I owe you dinner for helping me out?" 

"Hmm. You sure it's the only reason because am not so sure have been all that helpful and adding to the fact that you have a klutz for a secretary." She peered over the top of her menu at me.

Part of me expects you to have fired me "She says 

I laughed out loud not caring if I laughed too loudly "All right, there is a reason. I-"

We were interrupted immediately by the waitress. I ordered a bottle of the house white champagne, not that I'd drink a lot since I was driving, but one glass wouldn't kill me. 

We ordered our food, and as soon as that was done, Leslie pinned me with a sharp gaze.

"Dinner. Why?"

I tapped my fingers against my chin and regarded her. Aside from the black dress that hugged her stunning figure, her hair was still up in a bun-although a few more wisps of hair framed her face now-and her lips were just as red as they were this morning. 

I shrugged one shoulder slowly, sitting back. "For what it's worth, I did mean that I owed you dinner. You did me a huge favor."

"It's my job."

"No. It's not your job to run around after me because I forgot to get the files and didn't plan my morning well enough. It's your job to answer phones and emails and schedule appointments and make coffee. You helped me a lot, and I appreciate it."

A light flush ran up her cheeks, and she glanced down. "It's okay. It wasn't a big deal."

"It is a big deal, I called you out when it wasn't even work hours to prove a point your hair was wet."I say all memories of that day clear as day.

"I'd just gotten out of the shower when you called. It was no big deal." She shrugged one shoulder and smiled at me. "It wasn't like you asked me to come to work naked It was just some files."

"Added with an unexpected incident in my kitchen."

A light flush clouded her face and it became darker by the minute "Mr Boyce, I-"

Please call me Damien, like I said am not my father"I say liking the fact that she blushes just by remembering that day .

"Look Leslie". I leaned forward, pausing right as the waitress arrived with our wine. I waved for her to pour it and as soon as she had, she left us, allowing me to dive right back into the conversation. "Look-it happened. You've been weird ever since."

"Weird?"

"Yeah. You were all jumpy and that day at the office too.

"Its not bad to be jumpy besides how could I not have been especially with what happened in the office"She says going fifty shades darker.

You shouldn't be embarrassed cause I enjoyed every moment of being with you"I say coming clean with my feelings.

She gasped, pressing her hand to her face. "What are you trying to say?"

"That you're human and am am man too and we're both adults and I--)"Before I could finish.

she groans and leaned forward a little. "All right, all right. I see what you're doing here. You want to talk about the fridge incident."

I barked out a laugh. "Really? We need to refer to it as an incident?"

"Don't make this more embarrassing than it is."

"Why are you embarrassed? I'm the one who was practically naked."

"Because I-" She clamped her mouth shut after that. She shook her head, refusing to say a word as she picked up her wine glass and sipped nervously. 

"Leslie. Come on."

"I can't." She held up one hand and met my eyes. "It's just...awkward, okay? You're my boss. Maybe if I never had to see you again, I'd be able to tell you, but I can't."

I raised one eyebrow. "And you think you can work for me now knowing that I know you have a secret?"

"I don't-" She paused again, taking a deep breath. She eyed the wine glass as if it had something incredibly interesting inside it. Wine swirled as she tipped it side to side. "I don't think this dinner was a good idea."

I held up a hand just like she had to stop her. "The situation was embarrassing and Ignoring it isn't going to make it any better. I felt awkward, too. But if we're going to move forward, we have to address it, not ignore it."

She said nothing, and she still didn't look at me.

"Leslie its not like you walked in on me in the shower or caught me jerking off or anything. I was in my towel, with all private areas covered appropriately and in my own damn kitchen. It was partially my fault for not realizing that you're so damn good at your job and that you would arrive so quickly with the files.

Finally, she looked back up at me, with indecision swirling in her eyes.

"You don't have to tell me why it's bothered you so much. Just drop all this act of you being nervous, jumpy and anxious"I say a little strenly , seems this whole conversation is going side ways.

"You aren't bothered that I practically saw you naked?"She asks a bit shocked.

"But was I naked?"I asked to emphasize, judging from the way she's real bothered with the situation it seems am not wrong on the fact that What we have is quite mutual.

Her lips twitched. "No."

I held out my hands and grinned. "Then what's the problem?"

"I guess you're right." She visibly swallowed. "There isn't one. I just-I was worried it would be awkward."

"It's only as awkward as you make it. It happened; now we move on. Okay?"

"Okay." She nodded and pushed some hair behind her ear. "So this whole Dinner was to talk about it?"

I nodded. "I figured you wouldn't talk about it at work, so I decided to pull the dinner card and make you talk."

She rolled her eyes, once again picking up her wine glass. "Is that like your thing? Making people do what they don't want to?"

"Only if it doesn't hurt them." I winked.

Laughing quietly, she pressed one hand to her mouth and let her giggles fall into her fingers. "Great. Good to know my life isn't in danger, at least.

"Nah. Not yet, anyway."I say smirking

She quirked a brow, but she smiled, her eyes shining a little. If she was going to say anything, it was cut off by our food being brought, and that was the end of that conversation. 

I hope not tho.