Chapter 9

Willow.

I stood in front of Sebastian’s desk in his office. I had my hands clutched in front of me nervously. I had been standing for a whole minute, and he hadn't let me know what he wanted yet.

Is it…because of that? No way, right?

After worrying about him only wanting me for sex for weeks, I did something about it. I didn’t have the courage to ask him outright, but I did do something for myself. I stopped taking all his summons. One out of five times he asked, I still went, but I was tired of getting led by the nose already.

If he was going to ignore me at work, unless I needed to work with him, I was going to do the same. Also, if all he was going to do was ask me over for a fuck and nothing else, I didn’t always have to do what he wanted. I didn’t know if he would get tired of me or what, but if he stopped calling me over, I would be disappointed, but I would move on.

Does he want to talk about it?

This was what I’d been hoping for when I started changing my attitude. We’d been in this sort of relationship for a month and a half already, and if I was going to keep working with him, I couldn’t keep up the relationship we currently had, or I might grow to dislike him. Maybe it was unfair of me to wait for him to speak up first, but I’d been fine with keeping my crush under wraps, he was the one to seduce me first.

Sebastian was hot, but we either moved forward, or we stopped. I wasn’t a masochist, after all.

“Willow.”

I startled when he called my name. I’d lost myself for a moment there, and I blinked at him. He had a slight frown on his face that told me he’d tried calling me a few times before catching my attention. I felt my cheeks warm up.

“Yes,” I said quickly, straightening my spine.

He arched an eyebrow, then folded his arms on the desk. He looked to be done with whatever he’d been doing when I came in, and it struck me at that moment that this was the first time in a long time he was looking right at me.

For a long moment, neither of us spoke.

Now…what?

He wasn’t saying anything, and I didn’t know what to say, so I was standing there awkwardly meeting his gaze. But pretty soon, I started fidgeting, feeling awkward from the searching stare he’d aimed at me.

Was something wrong?

“Sebastian, what is it?” I was annoyed about going to his office and even more for him not just being a man and saying what was on his mind. Then again, I wasn’t much better, acting like a child.

“What did you need me for?”

He pursed his lips. “It’s…not work-related. We’ve both gotten a lot done over the past month, everyone is impressed with your work, too, not just me. Pretty soon, you won’t have to keep following me around. You will still be working for me, though.”

“Oh,” I murmured, both surprised and just a little disappointed.

“But, as I said, it’s not work-related. I wanted to ask if you had plans after work today.”

My heart stilled for a moment before it started beating in double time. Was he going to ask me to go home with him after work or something? We’d never done this before. He’d found a different nanny to look after Andy, and he spent time with his son when he got home, then called me after Andy had been put to bed. It wasn’t like he always went to sleep early, either, like the day I took him back home. He was usually asleep around eight or nine, and that was around the time Sebastian called me to go to his place.

It was late, but it wasn’t as if he lived that far away, and his area was relatively safe, anyway. Then I usually had to leave early in the morning before his son got up and go home to get a bit of extra rest before I had to start getting ready for work.

Thinking about it now, a month was way too long for me to be keeping that kind of act up. I couldn’t expect Sebastian to be the one to come to me since he had his son to look after, but I was barely getting enough sleep, though it wasn’t like we did it every night in a row, either.

“I have no plans for this evening,” I said slowly, wondering if that were the right thing to say, next thing I’d be over his knee like some submissive. That was where it went wrong the last time; I never said exactly how I felt until it was too late. Until my old boss got tired of treating me like some toy and decided that he wanted a new one. A younger one. And I was left broken-hearted. Once bitten twice shy, I wasn’t going to make the same mistake again, but then part of me felt as if I’d already done that with Sebastian.

He smiled. “Good. Then, would you like to go out with me?”

I blinked, slowly as I was just about to tell him that I wouldn’t be some toy. I was a lawyer. A good one and I were acting as if I was some teenager in desperate need of the attention of some boy. “Huh?”

“Would you like to go out with me after work today?” he repeated. “I won’t tell you where it’s a bit of a surprise and I hope you’ll like it. Your answer?”

“Um…okay,” I was totally surprised, there I was ready to tell him that I won’t be some sex toy and he wanted to ask me out. “I’ll go out with you.”

His smile widened. “Great. I know I probably should have waited to ask you after work, but I wanted to make the reservations.”

“No problem,” I murmured, then turned to leave the room.

My feet were a little unsteady as I walked, but I made my way back to my desk without falling or bumping into anything.

I spent the rest of my afternoon in a daze, and before I knew it, it was time to leave work. I didn’t have a car of my own, so I usually took a taxi to head home, but this time, Sebastian came to my desk to escort me over to his car. He opened the door for me, before circling to get inside.

“Am I dressed all right?” I thought to ask while we were en route to wherever it was we were going.

He was in his suit, and so was I, only my skirt suit was more suitable for work than going out on a date. Men had it easy with their multi-purpose suits. But he wouldn’t take me someplace I’d be embarrassed not to be in a dress, right?

“You’re just fine,” Sebastian said without looking at me. “You always look good, Willow. That’s nothing to worry about.”

I took his word for it, and besides, it seemed like we’d already arrived. The car was slowing down, and Sebastian moved toward the curb to park.

We stepped out of the car, and he rounded the front to my side, then took my arm in his and led me into a building. We entered a spacious lobby filled with a tiny crowd of people, walking or standing around, chatting. He pulled something out of his pocket, and it wasn’t until he led us to the ticket booth and handed them over that I realized what they were.

I was surprised because I didn’t think we were going to see a movie or anything. And I was surprised again when we walked into the theater, and I realized what we were there for.

“Opera?” I said, shocked.

“Yes,” Sebastian murmured, leading us to a set of stairs, all the way up above the rest of the crowd, and let us inside one of the private booths. “I used to love coming to the opera, but I haven’t in a while because I’ve been busy. Have you ever been?”

“Uh, no.”

“Then I hope you’ll enjoy. Today’s show is going to be beautiful.”

He smiled at me as we sat down in our seats, and he held my hand in between us.

I was still in a bit of a daze. A date to the opera? Hand holding? We had not done this before. As the show went on, though, I started to pay attention. With the never-ending surprises for the night, I found I loved the show. It was simple enough to follow, and there was a brochure of it, too, that Sebastian handed to me.

At the end of the night, we got back to the car, and he asked me to give him directions to my place.

This is it, I thought. What he’s after…

I gave him the directions, and he drove me back to my place. When we arrived, and he found a place to park, we both stepped out of the car, and I led the way inside with Sebastian close behind me, a hand on the small of my back. We got to my door, and I unlocked it, my heart already beating fast, then I turned to him.

Sebastian smiled down at me, took my face in his hands, and pressed a peck to my lips.

“Good night, Willow,” he said.

Then, he turned and left.

…what?

What the hell?

Wasn’t he going to try anything?

I was watching his back, gaping, until he disappeared. Then I started a bit more before closing and locking my door. I leaned back on it, suddenly feeling weak.

“Maybe… I was wrong?” I wondered to myself.

Just maybe, Sebastian did like me and not as a toy, but as something more than that?