I give in, deciding it’s not worth the fight, and climb into the back seat of the second car. This is going to be a long drive.
George climbs into the driver’s seat. “Are we heading to Tooting, Elly?”
Before I can open my mouth to speak, the opposite door opens and Tristan climbs in.
“You can have this car,” I stammer, my hand latching on the door handle. “The underground is fine for me.”
“Stay,” he growls with such ferocity I freeze. He makes himself comfortable by spreading his thighs wide. His trouser covered knee brushes against my bare knee and I flinch.
“Most people would appreciate airtime with the owner of the company,” he mutters.
I bite my lip to stop what is in my head from shooting out my mouth. I need to be careful here. He’s still the boss. He could make or break my legal career.
I focus on a spot above George’s ear.
“Where do you live?” Tristan asks.
“Tooting,” I reply, trying to sound natural. “But you already knew I was travelling south.”
He leans forward. “George, we’ll drop Elly first in Tooting, then you can drop me off.”
George twists around in the seat to face his boss. “Sir, can I get a second car for Elly? That would be much more convenient for you.”
“One car is fine,” Tristan responds, his tone laced with irritation. “South London first.” George looks confused but quickly turns in his seat and revs up the engine.
“Water?” Tristan offers me a closed glass bottle.
“Thanks.” My voice comes out breathy.
As he hands it to me, his fingers brush against mine.
I stare out the window at the roadworks trying to calculate how long the journey to Tooting will take.
“I would prefer not to have a conversation with the side of your face.” I force my gaze from the window. “That’s better.”
“Mr. Kane,” I start briskly, deciding to use this airtime with the CEO to my advantage. “Do you have advice for me starting out? Is there anything I should focus on in my first year? Or areas I should research? I know data protection and GDPR are boring topics, but they seem so important these days no matter what sector you’re-”
“Elly,” he cuts me off softly. “If you want mentoring, I’ll give you all the mentoring you need. That’s not what I’d like to talk to you about now.” He presses a button to his right, and a divider starts rising, separating us from George.
“What are you doing?” I ask in a shrill voice as the divider closes at the roof of the car.
“It’s soundproof.”
I shoot him a look. “And that’s not at all creepy?”
He shrugs. “It’s for confidential calls and conversations, that’s all. George is used to it.” He drapes his arm across the back seat so that his hand is dangerously close to my neck. “Do you want me to put it down again? I will if that’s what you want.” I shake my head.
“You seem to have gotten the wrong impression of me. I want to rectify that.”
“Oh really?” I raise a brow. “So, seeing you play happy family the same day as we had sex in the morning gave me the wrong impression?” Heat floods my face at the memory of that morning. He made me come twice. I take a large sip of cold water.
His eyes fill with frustration. “Yes, actually it did.”
I fold my arms across my chest. “Why did you and Gemina split up?”
He sighs softly. “So, it’s still about my marriage.” His jaw tightens like I’ve hit a massive nerve. He doesn’t speak for a long moment.
“She cheated on me with some rich old fuck.”
“A richer older fucker than you?”
“Ouch.” He chuckles. “Always the smartass. That hurt. I tried to search for you. I thought you’d be easy to find. Not having a second name didn’t help. They wouldn’t disclose your contact details at Swansea University because of data protection.”
“I thought you didn’t want to talk about data protection,” I say dryly. “Contacting my university could be considered romantic or stalkerish depending on your point of view. What would a court say?”
“It was a risk I was willing to take. Would you have preferred I forgot about you and moved on?”
I don’t respond.
His fingers lightly touch the base of my neck sending a shiver coursing through me. I shift in my seat. He’s only touching my neck but with the way I’m breathing you’d think he’s giving me a tantric massage.
“Elly.” His quiet voice broke the silence. “What’s stopping you from giving me a chance?” I ignore my common sense and lean into his touch sending a trail of goose bumps down my body.
His eyes fix on mine telling me he knows exactly the effect he’s having on me.
“I’m not risking my first job on a fling,” I say, my voice shaky. “It’s not the boss that loses out in these situations. What’s going to happen to you, you get a warning? You get fired?” I let out a humourless laugh. “Me? I’ll be the office gossip until the next poor sod sleeps with the wrong person or sleeps with you.”
“I haven’t dated an employee before you,” he states simply. “We don’t know that this will just be a fling.”
I eye him sceptically.
“Am I so far off the mark?” he asks when I don’t respond. “If I recall correctly, you came on to me.” He winks. “There was even some begging involved.”
I narrow my eyes and open my mouth then snap it closed again. Actually, I couldn’t deny that.
“You could ruin my career,” I whisper. “You have the power to.”
“I could,” he agrees. “But I’ve no intention of doing that. I keep my personal life separate from my professional life. I expect you to be able to also. If we date and it doesn’t work out or if you cheat
on me, that’s not a reflection on your professional ability. Your reputation won’t be impacted.” I stare at him, deadpan. If I cheat on him?
“Why are you on this case, Tristan?” I ask. “And more importantly, why am I on this case?”
“You’re a junior lawyer. We always have the juniors shadow cases like this. You told me in Mykonos you wanted to experience criminal law. Aren’t you an obvious fit?” My eyes narrow. What bullshit.
“Do you want to be taken off the case? If that’s what you really want, it’s done.” “No.”
“Good.” He smiles at me. “Do you think about me, Elly?” I don’t answer him.
“Have you thought about our nights together?”
“No,” I whisper, turning towards the window. I won’t disclose that my vibrator is named after him.
“Your face says otherwise.”
I roll my eyes. “There are pictures of you all over the internet with different women. Don’t tell me you’ve been pining for me. Is this how you woo women?”
His lips twitch. “So, you did some research on me. Don’t believe everything you read. Stories are exaggerated. I’m often photographed at events. And it’s not a line. I think about you all the time.”