Cade knew that there was no escaping this; as much as he had tried to stop her from taking pictures on their way to this place, he could never control it because he was behind the wheel. “If you wanted to have a meal together, would you have to blackmail me to get it?” Cade asked.
He knew very well that he had been blowing her off so frequently, but he still had to sound like he would have been a gentleman and done what she asked of him in the first place. “Would you have come if I asked?”
Cade felt cornered; he knew that this was bad for him. A single image can cause so many problems for him.
“This is wrong,” Cade murmured out of frustration.
“Is it?” she asked with a smile on her face. He nodded, and she pressed her lips together and nodded. “It would not have gotten to this if you had just given us an opportunity to be together,” she added.
“Harper I am having this dinner, but this means nothing, and I hope you can understand that,” he said angrily and got out of the car. He walked to the entrance of the restaurant and turned to see her still seated in the car, staring at him with a creepy expression on her face.
He took a deep breath and walked back to the car and tapped on the window. She rolled it down and shrugged at him.
“Are you not going to get down?” he asked.
“You should be a gentleman and get the car door for the lady,” she said, and he shook his head.
“A gentleman would get the door for his lady,” he said, stressing the word his. “And you are not my lady,” he added spitefully.
“It would be a pity if you had to get a divorce so soon into your marriage,” she said, waving the phone at him. Cade felt like snatching the phone off his hand and deleting all the images she had taken.
“I mean, there are so many ways to spin the story, but I believe my favourite would be one that goes like this,” she paused as if she were giving him a chance to right his mistakes. When she saw that he stood there immovably, she smiled.
“Maybe I should just tell the media that you hired me as your assistant, brought me out here, and forced me to have dinner with you so you can take me later to sleep with you,” she said, and he shook his head.
“And you think anyone would believe that poorly spun story?” He knew that this world was a very angry place and that most of the time if a lady cried out that she had been taken advantage of, the man was automatically put at a disadvantage.
“I know they would believe me. There might not be any proof of that, but trust me, before they get to know that, I must have gotten your life ruined,” she said.
Cade narrowed his eyes; all she needed to have was a hat and a broom, and then throw in a bit of a wicked-sounding cackle, and she would be a witch.
“Is this the way you show your love?” he said bitterly.
“Whatever method I can use to get what I want is the right way.” She hated that she was put on the spot with that question.
“I have to tell you this though: even if I end up leaving Ophelia, I would never come to you.” His words were sharp, and they pierced her heart, but she did not show him that he had an effect on her because that would make him have confidence.
“Just get the door,” she said, pointing to the handle. Cade knew that he had to find a way to get her fired as his assistant before she got any more ideas and did a terrible thing.
He took a long sigh and opened the door. She smiled and held his hand even though he did not stretch it out to her and got herself out of the car.
“Thank you,” she said in a mocking voice. She leaned into him as his perfume engulfed her nose. She leaned in more, and they were now touching chest to chest.
“What are you doing?” he asked, trying to take a step back, but she held him with her hands interlocked at his back. “What the hell is this?” He said he was trying to control his voice so he did not attract attention to himself.
“Don’t be too sure that you won’t come to me,” she said, and then released her hand and took a step back.
Cade took a step back and felt anger pulsing through his veins.”Don’t ever try this again,” he said, and she nodded.
“Shall we?” she asked. Cade took a step forward and she fell in line with him.
“We are not spending more than an hour here.”
“You think we would be able to eat a full meal and have some wine in an hour?” she asked, mocking him for thinking that way. “Buckle up because we would be here for a while. I already pre-ordered, so we can’t waste a single thing,” she said, like she cares about things like that.
They got in and were ushered to their table, and they began to bring all of the things she had pre-ordered out.
“You know you would not die if you wiped off that frown from your face and replaced it with a smile,” she said through gritted teeth. “You make it like I am holding you hostage.”
“But you are holding me hostage,” he said with a tilted head. He took up the cup with water inside and drowned it.
“Take it easy on the water; we don’t want you drunk on it,” she says in a sarcastic tone.
Cade was trying his best to avoid any stories, so he kept clear of any alcohol and just drank water all night.
‘You might want to mix that a bit with the wine,” she pointed to the glass that he had not taken a sip out of and had been the same way since the waiter poured it.
“I should drink so you can plan to do something worse,” he said, then shook his head. “No thank you,” he added before pouring himself some more water.
“Cade, I have only ever loved you, and yet all you do is treat me like a criminal,” she said as if she were sad. “I do not mind though; I know that we can be together someday,” she said, finishing the statement with a wink.
“Dangerous dreams and ambitions like this can end your life,” his voice was low, as if he were threatening her. She smiled, knowing that he was not going to do anything to her.
“You know what? I want to see what is at the end of that dangerous ambition,” she said, taking up her cup and gulping down the contents.
“At your risk.”