Page 22 of Attorney Privilege
"That can wait." He takes a step back and puts me on my feet. I want to jump into his arms again, but he takes my hand instead. "You didn't eat your dinner, so I'm going to feed you."
“I had a few bites,” I mumble, but he’s right. I basically pushed it around my plate.
“Not enough.” He leads me deeper into his suite, and I let out a gasp when I see what he has arranged in the living room. The whole room is filled with candles, and the fireplace is lit. Rose petals are scattered everywhere and on every surface, and a small circular dinner table has been prepared for us.
“You did this for me?” My eyes fill with tears at the sight of it. No one has ever done anything so special for me, let alone romantic.
“Don’t cry, precious,” he says, and I sniffle, trying to hold back the tears.
“This is too much,” I say, but his expression turns irritated. “You’re mad?”
“Not at you.” His face instantly softens. “This”—he waves his hand around the room—“took me no time at all. It was the least I could do. It pisses me off that a gesture so small can make you want to cry. It shouldn’t be that way, Emerson. You’re the kindest person I’ve ever met.”
“In all fairness, you don’t know me super well.” Our chemistry has been explosive since the instant we met, but we haven’t had a lot of time together.
"I don’t think you’re giving yourself enough credit. It's easy for me and everyone around you to see how sweet and good you are. You care about everyone even when they are assholes. It’s why your family takes advantage of you.”
"I know," I admit. "I wish I had more of a backbone, but I don't have that luxury."
"But you do." He makes it sound so easy. "Come on, let’s eat." Gideon pulls a chair out for me and gives me a wicked grin. "The least I can do is feed you before I feast on you again."
"Gideon." My cheeks heat at the memory, and I look down at my lap to hide it.
"Don't hide from me. Your blushes are as sweet as the rest of you." He uses one finger to lift my chin. “You’re so beautiful.”
“You’re not so bad either,” I tease, placing my napkin in my lap and watching him sit down. “Tell me things.”
“Things?”
“Yes, things.” I laugh as he reaches over and takes my hand. “Start with where you were born and go from there.”
His smile is playful as he begins talking. We eat and talk, and I learn that Gideon didn’t grow up with money. He went out and busted his ass to make a life for himself, and I can’t help but find it admirable. He tells me stories from his childhood and then college. I love hearing how close he is to his two best friends and how they started the firm together.
At some point we move to the couch where we sip wine and share stories. He asks me a million questions, and it feels like I’m talking non-stop, but it's so easy to talk to him. Natural, really. With the way we go back and forth, it feels like we’ve known each other for years.
“I bet your mom is proud of you,” I say, and he nods.
“She’ll adore you.” He seems so certain when he says it, and I don’t know how to respond.
He acts as though we have a future, but we can’t carry on an affair. I wouldn’t do that to Gideon. He’s a good man and deserves a woman who is educated and fits in. I might have experience with rich people, but I can barely function in the real world.
"Do you want a different path, Emerson?"
"I think that time has passed. College or whatever was never really offered to me."
"Do you want to go to college?"
"I don't know." I shrug. "Maybe I spent too much time reading cheesy romance novels because that's what I wanted for the future."
"How so?" Gideon's hand rests on my thigh, his fingers lazily stroking me.
"My parents' marriage is terrible, but I was able to see the possibility of love in romance books. I told myself one day I'd have that because I didn’t want the same life as my mother. Do you think that’s silly? That all I dreamed about for myself was love?"
“No, Emerson.” He tucks a piece of my hair behind my ear. “I think with your family it’s what anyone would dream of. We all want what we’re lacking in life.”
“But mine could have been an education. I could have dreamed of going to college, but I didn’t.”
“Not everyone needs to go to college, and there is nothing wrong with wanting traditional things. Maybe if you’d had love, you would have dreamed of something different, but the point is that it should be your choice. Your life shouldn’t be decided by others and forced on you.”
