CHAPTER TWO: FALLING FOR LILY

Simon

Before now, I thought kissing her would permanently bind me to her spell and I couldn’t allow it. Distraction was a luxury I wasn’t prepared to afford. Not now, I still had revenge beclouding my better judgment. I’d be terrible for her. None of that mattered now; I was about to be entrapped. Damn…I knew I had lost the battle.

"Yes, I want to kiss you," I admitted.

"You can't. I work for you," she said, her voice trembling.

"You do," I acknowledged, yet it didn't stop my hands from caressing her arms.

"That's against your principle. You don't have romantic relations with your employees," she said restating my words back to me, trembling under my touch.

"No, I can't," I agreed, yet my hands continued their slow exploration.

"You're not the type of man that kisses his employee in his office during work hours," her words said one thing, but her actions betrayed her.

"I'm dying to kiss you," I confessed.

She placed her hands on my chest and softly moved them until they were across my neck. "We'll be breaking company policy if you kiss me," she whispered.

"It won't matter anymore. This is the last day of your six-month internship, and I have waited so long to do this," I said. "Do you want me to kiss you?" I asked.

She nodded, her eyes blazing with intensity. I flashed a charming smile, cupped her face, and then captured her lips with mine, tasting her as our tongues entangled. She rapidly pulled away, but I didn't release her.

"Why did you pull away?" I asked, concerned. I knew she loved me, but why was she resisting? We had spent months together, working closely. I knew her—something was bothering her.

"I'm afraid," she said.

"Of what?" I asked, ready to hold her fear captive and release her from its grip like a soldier on the battlefield.

"I have fallen in love with you, and it scares me to death," she said, biting her lip. From the way she kept her face, I could tell she felt she had said too much.

I smiled, elated. She loved me. I knew it already, but hearing the words come from her mouth as I watched her lips had my heart pounding. "Why do you fear loving me?" I asked.

"I don't know…maybe it’s the fact that you’ve been blowing hot and then you’re cold and it confuses me or that being with you all these months just seems too good to be true. I feel like there's some tragedy waiting ahead," she expressed, apprehensive.

"I love you with all my heart, and you love me too. Trust in us," I said, clinging tightly to her. I watched her eyes widen in shock. I bet she didn’t think I could come out with it. The way we both feel for each other was not a secret for either of us. I’ve just fought too hard to keep myself away from loving her. Now, I couldn’t anymore, not now her internship was over. I realized how much I needed her close to me.

"It's hard to just… let go and… only love without thinking," she said, pouting her lips.

I ran my fingers through her hair. "Love me… please," I begged desperately. I wanted her all for myself—she consumed my every waking thought.

"I love you, but I don't want to get hurt if we try and it doesn't work out. I'd rather hold on to what we have now than wreck it," she said.

"If we feel what we feel with the barriers of this office, how much more would our love explode now that the boundaries will be lifted and we'll finally be together? Would you deny your heart the pleasure of knowing the depths of our love?" I asked.

She stared at me, grasping every word I said. I saw her taking in my words. "Don't give me an answer now. I won't pressure you. But think about it. I will go through the reports," I said, releasing my grip on her and going back to my seat.

“I know you have this other part of your life tucked away somewhere in your heart. I want you to show me the other side to you. What are you keeping away from me” she asked.

But I froze, I couldn’t give her an honest answer, so my best option was silence. How could i tell her my mother was murdered or worse, I suspected my father and step-mother as the culprits. I’ve justified in my head hiding from her the secrets of my past. First, leaving her out of it was the best way I could keep her safe. The only way to truly have my fresh start and finally to have my revenge against the people who killed my mother.

She shook her head, disappointed.

My eyes watched as she hastily ran away.