Read Online Falling Under You: A Fixed Trilogy Novella (1001 Dark Nights) by Laurelin Paige - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Laurelin Paige
Ads: Link
sat down next to him. “I’m sorry to hear he’s gone.”
Boyd shrugged, spinning spaghetti around his fork. “I don’t miss him. I know that sounds terrible, but I didn’t even know him.” He opened his mouth to take his bite.
I took the opportunity to do the same. We ate quietly for several minutes.
After a while, when we’d finished half our meal, and as if he hadn’t been silent for more than a second, he said, “That’s the part I’m sorry about, really. That he was never around. He hungered for that success, and he got it, at the loss of everything else.” With his thumb and index finger, he wiped sauce off his lips. “I decided a long time ago I never wanted to be that guy. I’m fortunate to have money. It gives me the opportunity to do whatever I want.”
I took a sip of wine and raised a brow. “And you want to be the assistant of a pretentious bitch?”
“Well, I didn’t know what you were going to be like when I took the job.”
I narrowed my eyes, and he reached out to run the back of his knuckles across my cheek. “I’m joking, Norma. I like working for you. A lot.”
I took a shaky breath in, my body growing warm.
Thankfully, he dropped his hand before I overheated. “I like business,” he said. “I know a lot about it. I didn’t have a head for the tech stuff, but I was great with the numbers, and I spent a lot of summers working in the financial department of my father’s company. That’s where I discovered how satisfying it was to put in a full day of meaningful work and then go home and not have to think another second about payroll and unsigned contracts and projects that I should have followed up on. Without that burden, I have time to pursue the thing I’m really interested in.”
“Which is…?”
“You.”
Never mind not overheating. I was in full too heated mode now, feeling more like I was wearing a sweatshirt than a T-shirt. “Be serious.”
“I am being serious.” He was looking at me—I could feel his stare—but I couldn’t look at anything but my plate.
He bent down to catch my eye. “You’re going to have to get used to me saying that I’ve wanted you, Norma. Because I have. And I do. I’m not going to hide that when we’re together like this. Okay?”
I nodded, not sure if I could speak.
“Good. And okay, it wasn’t always you, specifically. Before I met you, I’d been interested in pursuing a serious relationship that involves an exchange of power. With that as my goal, and in order to maximize the potential of that sort of situation, I decided I couldn’t have a career that would distract from that. I chose to find a job that didn’t drain all my time and energy so that I could put all of that into this.”
I studied him a moment. I’d never given much thought to Boyd and his career except to hope that I never lost him as an assistant. It was thrilling to have this view of him. He was magnificent and assertive in so many ways I’d never noticed before. Strong-willed, even. More like me than I had imagined. “You were born with one kind of power and craved another.”
He considered this, amused. “I guess that’s one way to look at it.”
I pondered my own quest for success. “I didn’t have any power growing up. I had nothing. I think I thought that if I was perfect, if I worked harder, excelled at everything I did, that it would make up for all the shit years of being powerless. That I could make a difference for Gwen and Benjamin. That I could make up for the happiness we never had.”
“Did it?”
I’d been mulling half to myself and was almost surprised to hear him chime in. It took another second to digest his question. “It’s nice to have things now that I didn’t, I guess. But sometimes I think there’s something missing.” A lot of times, actually.
“Maybe we can fix that together.”
There he was with the romance thing again. This time I managed to hold his gaze. “Maybe.” But what I meant was, I’d
Boyd shrugged, spinning spaghetti around his fork. “I don’t miss him. I know that sounds terrible, but I didn’t even know him.” He opened his mouth to take his bite.
I took the opportunity to do the same. We ate quietly for several minutes.
After a while, when we’d finished half our meal, and as if he hadn’t been silent for more than a second, he said, “That’s the part I’m sorry about, really. That he was never around. He hungered for that success, and he got it, at the loss of everything else.” With his thumb and index finger, he wiped sauce off his lips. “I decided a long time ago I never wanted to be that guy. I’m fortunate to have money. It gives me the opportunity to do whatever I want.”
I took a sip of wine and raised a brow. “And you want to be the assistant of a pretentious bitch?”
“Well, I didn’t know what you were going to be like when I took the job.”
I narrowed my eyes, and he reached out to run the back of his knuckles across my cheek. “I’m joking, Norma. I like working for you. A lot.”
I took a shaky breath in, my body growing warm.
Thankfully, he dropped his hand before I overheated. “I like business,” he said. “I know a lot about it. I didn’t have a head for the tech stuff, but I was great with the numbers, and I spent a lot of summers working in the financial department of my father’s company. That’s where I discovered how satisfying it was to put in a full day of meaningful work and then go home and not have to think another second about payroll and unsigned contracts and projects that I should have followed up on. Without that burden, I have time to pursue the thing I’m really interested in.”
“Which is…?”
“You.”
Never mind not overheating. I was in full too heated mode now, feeling more like I was wearing a sweatshirt than a T-shirt. “Be serious.”
“I am being serious.” He was looking at me—I could feel his stare—but I couldn’t look at anything but my plate.
He bent down to catch my eye. “You’re going to have to get used to me saying that I’ve wanted you, Norma. Because I have. And I do. I’m not going to hide that when we’re together like this. Okay?”
I nodded, not sure if I could speak.
“Good. And okay, it wasn’t always you, specifically. Before I met you, I’d been interested in pursuing a serious relationship that involves an exchange of power. With that as my goal, and in order to maximize the potential of that sort of situation, I decided I couldn’t have a career that would distract from that. I chose to find a job that didn’t drain all my time and energy so that I could put all of that into this.”
I studied him a moment. I’d never given much thought to Boyd and his career except to hope that I never lost him as an assistant. It was thrilling to have this view of him. He was magnificent and assertive in so many ways I’d never noticed before. Strong-willed, even. More like me than I had imagined. “You were born with one kind of power and craved another.”
He considered this, amused. “I guess that’s one way to look at it.”
I pondered my own quest for success. “I didn’t have any power growing up. I had nothing. I think I thought that if I was perfect, if I worked harder, excelled at everything I did, that it would make up for all the shit years of being powerless. That I could make a difference for Gwen and Benjamin. That I could make up for the happiness we never had.”
“Did it?”
I’d been mulling half to myself and was almost surprised to hear him chime in. It took another second to digest his question. “It’s nice to have things now that I didn’t, I guess. But sometimes I think there’s something missing.” A lot of times, actually.
“Maybe we can fix that together.”
There he was with the romance thing again. This time I managed to hold his gaze. “Maybe.” But what I meant was, I’d
Similar Books
