He made a rude noise and looked at her patiently. “What part of me would you classify as weak?” he demanded of her, taking one of her vinegar saturated fries and dipping it in his ketchup.
She blushed with his question and had to acknowledge that there really wasn’t a weak bone in his body. Or even mentally. He was fair and tough, hard on those who were mentally lazy and generous with those who had what it took to make it in the business. She couldn’t fault his work ethic. She just faulted the way he’d treated her.
And physically? No, there wasn’t anything weak about him physically. He had muscles everywhere. And she knew that for a fact, thinking about all the times she’d explored all those delicious muscles.
“You’re twisting the issue,” she accused and stabbed a fried calamari ring with her fork, dipping it into the marinara sauce. When she’d finished chewing the delicious bite, she used her fork to point at him. “And don’t even try to bring sex back into this argument.”
She couldn’t see it, but she knew that he was rolling his eyes behind those dark glasses. “God forbid we bring sex back into the relationship.”
“Exactly.”
He snorted and took a bite of fried flounder. “But it will be,” he told her firmly.
She stiffened, instantly worried. “No. We’re done with that.”
He didn’t respond immediately, but watched her nibble on a fry. “Think so?” he asked ominously.
She held her breath for a long moment, then shook her head. The man terrified her in that area. She knew how many nights she’d longed for him to just come to her room and take her into his arm to make love to her. She’d missed that so much. But she didn’t want the Emerson. She shouldn’t want the Jack side of him either. But she did.
If only…
No, there was no reason to come up with a list of “if only” thoughts. It was an unproductive exercise.
“Look, we tried, it didn’t work out. Let’s just…” she couldn’t finish that statement because it hurt to even say the words.
“We’re not over,” he told her firmly and stabbed a shrimp. “You just need to see the other side.”
She stole her own shrimp, chewing while contemplating his words. “What’s the other side you keep referring to?” she asked with irritation.
He slowly shook his head and took the last piece of calamari. “You’re going to have to learn it. I can’t explain it. Just like everything else I’ve taught you over the past month, experience is the best teacher.” He stabbed the last calamari, earning another glare from across the table.
“So you’re a calamari thief and uninformative.” She shrugged her shoulder. “Are there any redeeming qualities in you?”
He chuckled again. “I think I can figure out how to remind you of a few of my redeeming qualities.” He took another fry. “As for a calamari thief, I won’t accept that label. If you’re too slow to grab what you want, then I’m not going to sit back and wait. That should have been something you learned early on in this whole endeavor.”
Her lips compressed because he was right. He’d taught her to grab what she wanted, to know what it was and reach for it before anyone else might steal it away from her. He’d also taught her the skills to research things carefully – to evaluate the pros and cons. In doing so, she would discover the strengths and weaknesses, both in what was being desired and in herself if she obtained whatever it was she was aiming for. “Fine. I’ll just sit back and try to wait. Since you’re not going to tell me what’s going on or why we’re here, then I’ll just sit back and relax.”
“Exactly,” he said and stole the last piece of shrimp. He changed the subject at that point, asking her questions about one of the companies she’d been investigating. As they finished off the platter of fried seafood, they argued back and forth about the various company pitches they’d listened to over the past few days. With the sun shining down on her head and the marvelously fresh air, the argument with him was much more lively and informative, almost humorous this time. It was much better out here in the open versus being cooped up in the conference rooms or offices of his Manhattan headquarters. Everyone there was tense and speeding down the hallways, working at top speed in order to get the best deal in place which would make them the next deal. Everyone was trying to break the record for the highest profiting deal. But she’d looked at those figures, wanting to achieve that goal herself initially. All of the top ten deals had been put together by Emerson. He was a genius at finding what might be profitable and bringing the parts together. As she’d worked beside him, absorbing everything she could, she knew that she’d never achieve the kind of insight he’d obtained. He had years of experience and even if she were to reach his level of expertise, she’d still be behind him.
As they walked out of the restaurant, she realized something important. She’d stopped even wanting to top his profit records! When had that happened?
She suddenly realized that two weeks ago, she’d simply wanted to survive as his trainee. She’d stopped caring about winning and wanted only to get through it, to prove to herself that she could do the job. Well, since she was being perfectly honest with herself, she wanted to prove to him that she could do it too. But at some point, being the top earner hadn’t seemed so important.
They walked down the sidewalk and she felt awkward, remembering when they would walk down the street and he would hold her hand, they would laugh about one thing or another, argue with each other while chuckling at the other’s point of view. It had been nice and she missed it a lot.
“This is our last stop before we get back on the ferry,” he told her, putting a hand to the small of her back to guide her into a yellow store.
She looked around, cringing at all the candy and kid paraphernalia. “I don’t want any candy,” she said, trying to keep her expression bland.
“Good. Because you’re going to get some ice cream.”
She groaned, almost painfully full from the meal she’d just consumed. Perhaps if she hadn’t been arguing with him so forcefully, she might have thought to slow down, but probably not because the food had been incredibly delicious. “I don’t think I can eat anything else,” she told him. “The donuts and the fried food from lunch was too much.”