When she walked into her office, she slowly shut down her computer, in no hurry to get home to her empty house. She was about to walk down to her car when her phone rang. She looked down at her phone, wondering who would be calling her at ten o’clock at night at the office. The caller identification told her who and her heart tripped back into double time when she read the name ‘Attracelli, Michael’ on the screen.
“Hello?” she answered the phone. She hoped her voice didn’t reveal how excited she was just because he called her.
Michael was straightforward in his phone conversation. “Stay where you are and I’ll walk you to your car. I didn’t realize how late it was,” he said.
She was already shaking her head by the time he finished. “There’s no need,” she said, not wanting to trouble him. “I walk out of here late at night all the time,” she explained.
“I’ll be there in a moment. Don’t move,” he said in a no nonsense tone of voice.
Darcy shook her head when the line went dead. She picked up her purse and her shoulder bag and went down the hallway, intending to wait at the elevators for him. She didn’t want him to have to find her office which was in the middle of the floor. After a few minutes, she felt a little silly waiting for him and was just about to push the down button when the elevator doors opened instead. Darci had to snatch her hand away from the call button but even so, she knew she’d been caught.
He noticed her action and rolled his eyes. “You weren’t going to wait for me were you?” he said, making it a statement instead of a question. He put a hand to the small of her back and guided her into the waiting elevator.
“Well, I didn’t think it was necessary. It is very chivalrous of you but there really wasn’t any need,” she said in her defense.
“Well, then just chalk it up to gallantry and let me have my way,” he said, pushing the button to the parking garage, his dark eyes looking down at her as he smiled.
Since it was so late at night and almost everyone was already home, the elevators arrived quickly. Darcy was grateful for that. She wasn’t sure what to talk about with the gorgeous man if they’d had to stand at the lobby, waiting for an elevator to come back up. They rode down the elevator in tense silence. Darcy was relieved when the doors opened to the now nearly empty parking garage. “I’m over there,” she said, pointing to her small, ten year old, brown Mazda that had definitely seen better days.
She thought he’d just walk in the direction of the gorgeous black jaguar in the opposite corner, the only other car in the garage. But he walked with her to her car and took the keys, opening the door for her.
She’d never been around men who did things like this so she was a little taken aback by the actions. She wasn’t exactly sure what to do. “Thank you,” she said, staring at the cement floor.
Once the door was open, he turned back to her but didn’t immediately hand her the keys. “Why do you work so late?” he asked softly.
Darcy looked back up at him, instantly mesmerized by his small smile. “I like it,” she said.
His eyes turned curious. “Why aren’t you out having fun, partying and doing thing normal thirty something women do?”
“Well, first because I’m only twenty eight,” she started.
“Even more reason to go out and have fun,” he emphasized.
“What were you doing when you were twenty eight?” she challenged, thinking he’d have to have put in the midnight hours in order to be in his current position as a vice president.
Michael looked up at the ceiling, thinking back in time. “I think that was the year I took off a month and went hiking in the Andes Mountains.”
“Oh,” she said, deflated. Darcy had assumed he’d say he was working long hours just like she was in order to get ahead professionally. “Well, I guess I just enjoy working.”
“Since college, have you ever done anything besides work?”
“Not really,” she admitted, a little uncomfortable with that admission.
“What about before college? Did you ever do anything besides study?”
Darcy crossed her arms over her chest, not feeling like he was invading her privacy but wishing she could tell him something more interesting about her life. “Grades and school were pretty important in my parent’s house. So no, not really. I haven’t done much but study and work,” she replied.
“Why not?”
Darcy thought back to her childhood. “My parents never went to college. I was the first in our family to attend. So I guess the pressure was on for me to perform.”
“And have you?”
Looking down again, she wondered about his question. “I think I’ve met their expectations.” But the idea bothered her. Was she living out her parent’s dream?
“Well, I’m sorry. None of these questions are any of my business,” he said. “It’s just odd to see someone with your kind of energy and enthusiasm waste it working these kinds of hours.”
Darcy was flattered. “Thank you, I think” she laughed. She was glad to know that he thought of her as energetic, but not that he thought she was wasting her life away.
“Isn’t there something you’ve always wanted to do? To be?” he asked.
She smiled impishly. “Vice President of Technology,” she stated blandly.
Michael laughed, cheered that she felt comfortable enough to tease him with wanting his position despite her obvious nervousness and her wariness at his line of questioning. “Well, that’s a good sign,” he said, handing her the keys. “I’ll call you later this week with some news on your proposal,” he said and waived to her as he started off towards the black jaguar.
She got into her car and revved the engine, waiting for it to warm up a moment. She knew that if she put it into gear too quickly, it would stop again out of protest. She also knew she should get out and buy a new car. She definitely had the money for it. But living with parents as thrifty as hers, she had grown up knowing that one didn’t get something new until the old was long past dying.
The car rattled to life and she was able to shift it into gear and reverse out of her parking space. She rushed a little because Michael was waiting on her to leave in front of him. He obviously wasn’t going anywhere until she was safely out of the parking garage.