Page 10 of Falling for Mr. Corporate

A pity Tate wouldn’t be around.

“Don’t you ever get bored up here on your own?” I asked to find out where his head was.

He shrugged. “I like my own company.”

“Is that so?” I asked, giving him a side-eye. “You don’t seem to mind having me around.”

“Well, you’re not as annoying as some,” he grumbled, then changed the subject. “You going back to your job when you leave?”

“I have to,” I answered. “It’s my job. Whether or not I still have a job, that’s the question.”

“You know he can’t just fire you because you refuse to sleep with him, right?”

“Yeah, but he can make my life a living nightmare.”

“Oh? Guy sounds like a douchebag.”

“He is,” I acknowledged because it was true. “Do you ever spend time back in the real world?”

He laughed in amusement. “And this isn’t the real world? This is more real than the city you live in. Here there is no pretense. Nature is what you see around you, stripped bare and exposed. In the city, people keep secrets, make judgments and discriminates.”

It was the most intense little speech I’d heard from him since I arrived on his doorstep. It also gave me much insight into the man that was Tate. Whatever he had faced in the city had left him broken and he still hurt because of it. I wished I was brave enough to ask him outright what had happened to the woman and girl in the picture but, I had only two days with him. I didn’t want argument between us. Not when I was trying to find a way to suggest he look me up if he ever did come to the city.

“This is a good spot,” he mentioned and dropped his sack with the tackle box he’d brought along.

“I’ll just watch,” I told him as he began to line up his fishing rod.

He glanced up at me. “I told you I’ll teach you,” he replied. “I promise, it’s not as hard as it looks. I’ll outfit the line with the bait.”

I really wanted to get it right, so I watched him, paying attention to every single thing. I was grossed out a bit that he chose to use live bait but I should have known Tate wouldn’t be a plastic worm kind of guy. He spoke while he added the line, telling me at the same time he showed me what to do.

He made it look as easy as he said it was when he caught his first two fishes, and then passed me the hook. I didn’t really want to but something inside me wanted his approval. He moved me in front of him and couldn’t resist copping a feel of my ass. I gave him a mock glare but inside I was pleased he found me to be so irresistible.

“It’s just fishing, Bry,” he said with a chuckle. “Don’t be so tense about it.”

After a few casting errors, I finally landed the bait.

“Now what?” I asked Tate.

“Now watch the bobbers,” he explained. “If the bobber sinks, you’re getting bites from a fish and should get ready to reel in.”

My tongue peeked out the corner of my mouth as I concentrated and relaxed. This didn’t seem so bad after all.

“Do you ever get into the city?” I asked Tate as I watched the handmade cork bobber religiously.

“From time to time,” he answered. “I’ve business in the city.”

I remembered the financial magazines in the living room and inclined my head towards him. “Really? What business?”

“Just business,” he replied with no further explanation.

“And how do you get into the city?” I prodded.

“A spaceship,” he remarked sarcastically. “A car. What do you expect?”

I frowned at his waspish tone. Why did he always get so abrasive sometimes when the questions became personal? I decided to push him, get him out of his comfort zone.

“If you own a car, how comes you didn’t just drop me off instead of making me wait for my ankle to heal?” I quipped.

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