SEVEN DAYS INTO THE TRIP
Cade heard a knock on his door; he opened up, and Harper was standing there in a full-floor-length dress. “Did you forget anything?” he asked, stepping out and closing the room door. He had to try his best to keep her out of the room because he did not know what she was planning to do.
“Yes, it seems that you have been invited to a party this evening, and I totally misread the details on the calendar,” Harper said. She was lying; there was no official event, but she knew that the only way to get him out of his room and out with her was to cover it up as a work thing.
“Are you trying to tell me that we have been invited to an event and I did not know about it? When does it start?”
“In a few minutes, maybe you need to go in and put on your tuxedo, and we will be on our way.” Cade turned around to go into the room but stopped and turned to Harper, who was standing there in a red floor-length dress. Looking at the dress, he could not tell what he was looking at or how to describe it, but it seemed extravagant for an assistant to wear even though it was a party.
“What are you wearing though?” he asked, leaning onto the wall and tilting his head.
“I thought, assistants are allowed to dress up for events? Did I get it wrong?” she asked, pretending to panic.
“Of course, I just feel like you might be overdressed considering that you might need to do some running around all night,” his eyes darted to her legs. She was not at least three inches taller than she was before. He pointed to her feet and shook his head with a confused expression across his face. “Do you think you can walk in that?”
“Of course, how hard can it be?” Harper knew that there was no way she would be comfortable, stadming in that all night, but she’d to make him believe that or less she might be able to get home to the expensive dinner that Cael had helped her organize that night. She knew that she had to make do with this.
The trip had been such a drag that with every opportunity she tried to find a reason for them to spend together, he turned it down immediately. If Cade was to rate her, she had been a pretty good assistant for the past seven days, and he had no complaints aside from the fact that she had tried to make them get into secluded situations by themselves. One time she even suggested that they get to the beach.
“I am going to go change now; go get the car ready,” he said, opening the door and entering inside. He could forgive her since she had made sure that he got to all his events with enough time to spare. She had been doing a good job so he could forgive just one minor slip-up on her path. Of course, missing a fancy party like this was not that big of a deal for ordinary people, but not for people in his line of work. It was like they would judge you for missing out on it.
He got dressed in a black suit, not wanting to steal the shine away from the organizer because he knew that he looked good in whatever he chose to wear. He was down in the parking lot after a few minutes and met Harper in the driver’s seat. “You are driving? What happened to the driver we hired?” he asked as she rolled down the window for him.
“He got sick all of a sudden, so I had to send him home. I can drive us there using the map so we will be there in record time,” Harper said, and suddenly it began to smell fishy. The driver was fine when he last saw him, but now he was so sick he did not even say goodbye. It was strange seeing that he had been a loud chatterbox their entire trip here.
Cade nodded and went to the passenger’s side of the car as he waited for her to come and open the door for him. She rolled down the window before him and ducked her head so she could see him. “What are you doing?” she screamed at him so he could hear her voice.
“Do I need to ask you to come open the door before you do so?” Cade asked, feeling a bitter taste linger in his throat.
“Can you just sit up front and open the door yourself? I have never driven this kind of car before, and I am really nervous to leave the steering wheel now,” she lied. She was not afraid, but she wanted the full experience of him driving her to the restaurant and them having a fun time together. She was going to take a picture and post it and then later issue an apology that it was just a work thing
However, the plan was that later on they would find out that it was not a work thing. It was a date; she needed Cade to just suffer a bit; he was going to be called out because he was on a date with another person, and she was sure that he would take care of it with effective time.
“Turn off the ignition,” he said, walking over to the driver’s side. He knocked on the window and waited for her to safely turn off the car and unlock the door before he pulled the door and asked her to step out. “Come down,” he said when she sat there, not wanting to get out of the car.
“I can drive; I would just be a little careful,” she said, like she wanted to do her job.
“Get down”
“How can I let my boss drive?”
“Should I let you drive and kill all of us?” he asked before letting his tone down and whispering in a tired and harsh tone, “Get down.” When he heard that there was a party, he thought that he might unwind there; now he had to drive himself there, meaning he could not drink.
Harper suppressed her smile and got out of the car; she did not care if he did not get the door for her; to him, they were just boss and assistant heading to a work thing, but to her, this was a date, one that she had anticipated having for years. She sat up front and put on her seat belt.
“I cannot believe I have to drive you when you are the one who works for me,” Cade sighed as he started the car.
“I already told you I would do.”
“And risk killing me before I achieve all of my goals?” he said and shook his head. He began driving away.
By the time they got to the venue of the supposed party, Cad could tell at once that this was a set-up. “Ms. Davis,” he said, his tone rising high.
“Come on, Cade, can’t you just let loose? We have been here for seven days now, and all we have done is nothing but work.”
“It is Mr. Vale to you, and we are here because of work,” he said, his tone rising from anger.
“Oh, come on, we are not at work now; this is just a friendly dinner between friends.”
“This is a work trip.”
I know, but that does not mean that we can get to have fun,” she said.
“I am turning this car around now,” he said, ignoring her words and starting the car again.
“Cade, this is unfair; I just want to catch up.”
“I do not want to do anything like that.”
“I am sure that the media would be very interested in seeing the pictures you took while all dressed up with a woman who is not your wife while you were away on a work trip.”
“WHAT?!”
“Let’s have dinner together, and this picture never has to leave my camera roll.”