“I don’t know…” Cassie hedged. She hadn’t dared look at the price tags. She really did love the feel of the fabrics, but the skirts were a bit shorter than she normally wore and they were a lot more fitted. She knew she could stand to lose five pounds, but she felt slim and attractive in the perfectly cut clothes.
“Oh, please, you look so incredible in them,” Amy told her.
“Alright, you’ve talked me into it,” Cassie caved. She hadn’t bought herself new clothes in a long time and she deserved it. She’d charge them to her credit card and pray she got hired immediately after the amazing article she was going to put her heart and soul into.
If she didn’t get a job at the paper right away, she could always find something else until she got hired. It was better to have the right kind of clothes when she went for interviews, she justified to herself.
They went to the register and Cassie was thrilled with the total cost. Amy hadn’t been kidding when she said she got an amazing discount. She wanted to turn around and add about twenty more items to her pile. As if Amy could read her mind, she giggled.
“I told you I get a great price. We’ll have to do more shopping after you land your dream job. Seriously, all you have to do is call me and I’ll be there. As you can see I love to shop, and it’s even better having someone to go with. I think this is the start of a wonderful friendship,” Amy said and surprised Cassie by giving her a hug.
“I’m starving after all this walking. Why don’t we grab a bite to eat before we head back to the offices? I think Lucas will be done by then. He’s taking me on a romantic drive to the coast tonight. I can hardly wait,” Amy said, once again dragging Cassie away.
They passed by a mother who had her hands full. She had a crying baby and a toddler, who was trying with all his might, to escape her. She looked frazzled and Cassie wanted to stop and help. The sight of the precious little one made her heart swell. She’d given up on the idea of having children a couple years ago. You had to be in a secure relationship and she just didn’t see that happening anytime soon. She didn’t have time to meet the right kind of guys, and she didn’t want to find her future husband in a bar. Most men there only wanted a woman for the night. She felt doomed to eternal singleness.
The girls ate their meal and finally made it back to the offices. Amy promised to call, before rushing off to Lucas’s floor. It was in the building beside Max’s. There was a skywalk connecting the buildings, so the girls had ridden to the floor together before Amy walked across to meet Lucas. Cassie wanted to see the spectacular view of the city sometime from the skywalk, with its floor to ceiling windows all along it. She knew the view at night would be glorious.
Some people didn’t like the hustle and bustle of a large city, but the longer she was in Seattle, the more she fell in love. There were quaint little coffee shops, beautiful scenery, plenty of shopping, and parks, and if you did want some peace and quiet it wasn’t far away. She still hadn’t gone on a ferry boat ride, which she promised herself she’d do soon. She couldn’t imagine ever getting bored in the beautiful Northwest.
“You’ve been gone a long time,” was the first thing she heard as she stepped into Max’s office.
“I ran into your cousin’s wife, Amy, and we had lunch and did some shopping. We had a wonderful time,” Cassie said, before she realized she didn’t need to explain herself to the man. He wasn’t her employer.
“Well, you missed out on some valuable training Cynthia was going to provide you. You aren’t acting like you want to go on this trip,” he stated.
“Of course I want to go on this trip. We were shopping for cold-weather clothes,” Cassie snapped. If he was going to act this way in Alaska she may have to bury him in an avalanche of snow, she thought with evil glee.
There was a long pause as he looked from her to the bags dangling from her fingers, then to his desk. She was getting tired of feeling like she was being called into the principal’s office.
“Did you and Amy have a nice afternoon?”
She felt like she was being interrogated. Was there something wrong with her going out with Amy? Maybe, he was a snob and thought she wasn’t respectable enough to spend the afternoon with the president of the company’s spouse. She wiped that thought from her mind the second she had it. She knew the Andersons weren’t snobby people. She just couldn’t figure out why he’d care if she spent time with Amy. It didn’t affect him in any way. Then, it hit her that he would figure she’d drilled Amy the entire time about him.
Amy had shared some information, but nothing that would reflect on him in a negative way, she actually liked Max. She said she hadn’t gotten to know him until his family moved back home to Seattle, but since the move the cousins were closer than ever. Family meant everything in their large group and they got together for any excuse they could find. Heck, they didn’t even need excuses. They just dropped in on each other whenever they could.
“Amy is fantastic. We plan on going out again,” she stated stubbornly. Let him try and forbid her from having a friend.
“Don’t get too cozy around my family, Cassie. You’re doing an interview about me, then you’ll be gone,” he said lazily like he didn’t care, but Cassie heard the threat behind the words. She felt like she was going to explode, she was so angry with him. After they got done with the Alaska trip she was certainly going to tell him what she really thought about his arrogance. For now, he had her, and he knew it.
“Don’t worry, Max. I’m not secretly trying to get close to your family, so that ultimately I can continue to trail you. You may believe the world thinks you’re irresistible, but all I’ve ever wanted from you was an interview. When I’m done with it we’ll part ways and you never have to look at my face again,” she reassured him. She hoped she’d been successful in keeping the anger from her tone. By the narrowing of his eyes, she thought she may need to try a little harder.
“Just as long as you don’t forget that,” he said in an almost seductive tone. She fought the shudder his voice invoked. He made her angry one moment, and burning with need the next.
Cassie took a deep breath, making sure her voice would be under control before she spoke again. She didn’t need their argument to escalate any further.