Page 21 of Now and Forever
She was driving him mad.
Toggling through the feeds, Grayson stopped when he found the lovely figure of his assistant standing at the elevators chatting animatedly with his sales manager, Nathan. Leaning back, Grayson let his gaze linger on her while idly twirling the fountain pen between his fingers. Wearing a simple black dress that fluttered around her hips and black heels that strapped delicately around her ankles, Golden was mesmerizing. A flicker of annoyance crossed Grayson's features as he noted Nathan'sblatant admiration; clearly his sales manager thought the same thing.
Annoyed, Grayson pushed away from his chair and stood up. Walking to the window, he stared out at the street below. This was only supposed to be a favor, an absolution for his mistake two years ago. This was supposed to be a way to help someone he cared for, that's it. Grayson wanted to laugh. Even he couldn't convince himself and say all his motives were altruistic.
At some point, the sweet girl with lonely eyes wormed her way into his very being. She had sunk her teeth into his heart and would not let go. He cared for Golden, probably far more than he should have, but what choice did he have? She had needed him—someone to talk to, to pay attention to her, to rely on, and to make her feel special as every young woman deserved. The problem was when those beautiful brown eyes turned to him needing more, needing love. It had stopped him like a gunshot.
Grayson wasn't blind. Back then, he had recognized the girl's growing infatuation with him. He had schooled his expressions at her obvious lust when she caught him getting out of the pool. He had secretly enjoyed her whispered arguments at Gaige's teasing over her lack of a poker face. He even somehow endured her attempts to capture his interest from time to time. The memory he thought he long since suppressed of her dressed in a red bikini walking around his pool still haunted him to this day.
Grayson closed his eyes and tilted his head back. Her love for him had been painfully obvious. And despite that, he still tried to give her everything he could back then, but he could not let himself give her what she truly wanted—as much as it pained him.
Grayson's eyes opened and his body stiffened as the sound of his office door opening and shutting behind him. He felt her soft feminine presence fill the room.
"I'm back and on time," Golden added proudly as she walked to her desk. "I'm just going to pop back out and take these revisions down to the editors and then stop by the art department to see if they have those additional mockups. Be right back," she chirped before dashing back out of the office.
Grayson didn't move, he just continued to stare unseeingly out the window as his mind raced. Goddammit, nothing has changed, he savagely reminded himself. She was still the sweet friend of his son who needed his help. Simply a family friend. So why in the hell did it feel so different now?
Why did he feel like locking the door and demanding she stay in the goddamn office? Why did the thought of her fluttering around the building befriending everyone in sight fucking kill him? Since she arrived, countless friendships had formed right in front of him. Admirers from his staff to clients, old friends from high school meeting up for lunch, even delivery men were affected by her.
But what made it worse was that the palpable reverence she once regarded him with, the unmistakable adoration she had showered him with daily, years ago, was all gone—or so it seemed. Sure, he caught her appreciative glances every now and then, but they felt hollow, fleeting. Instead, she gave him openly wary looks, as if she were trying to decipher his every move. During their handful of dinners together and their time in the office, she regarded him with a casual indifference that did nothing for his pride. He couldn't detect a single trace of those overtly displayed feelings she once wore openly on her face, dealing a blow to his ego nothing short of crippling.
Going back to his seat, Grayson checked his emails, annoyed with his line of thinking. He wasn't even sure why he was thinking this. This was how it should be. He wanted to help her and he did. When she was in school, he had made it his mission to keep the besotted girl at arm’s length—mission more than accomplished considering she had moved across the country, he thought bitterly.
"Everything is as it should be," he muttered grimly to himself.
He heard a loud thump from outside his open office door followed by his executive assistant, Mrs. Baker's, high-pitched voice. "Oh no, Golden! Are you okay?"
Grayson was already up and out of his chair in seconds. Rushing through the door, he almost stopped at the sight of Golden sprawled on the ground right outside the elevator. Coming toward her, he noted the turned-over yellow wet-floor sign across the floor and quickly surmised how she fell. With her leg slightly bent underneath her and her black dress pushed up high enough he could see a glimpse of silky blue material underneath, Golden was slowly pushing herself up onto her elbow holding her head with her other hand.
Mrs. Baker was coming around her desk as he knelt in front of Golden. "Mrs. Baker, call the medical concierge service-"
"Please don't," Golden moaned, horrified at the mention. "Please don't call anyone. I can get up."
Grayson didn't give her a chance to try. One arm under her knees and one arm under her back, he lifted her easily into his arms.
"It's okay Mrs. Baker, I got her," he called out to the worried woman over his shoulder as he walked past her desk into hisoffice. "Just have someone come up and dry the floor by hand so we can avoid any other accidents."
He shut the door to his office behind him.
"I can't believe I slipped," Golden groaned. "You can put me down, it's not that bad. All I really want is to crawl off somewhere and die of embarrassment."
Grayson ignored her request with a smile and carried her over to the couch on the far side of his office. The little sitting area was rarely used. He couldn't honestly remember the last person who sat on the couch.
Sitting on the edge of the coffee table he looked at her. "How is your head? How hard did you hit it?"
Not meeting his gaze, her hand went up to the back of her head and held it. "I promise I'm fine."
"Golden," he said warningly. "Answer my questions or I will have you carted off in an ambulance and then send out a memo detailing to everyone to be careful on wet floors."
"It's just a light bump," she whined and gave him a pouting yet defiant look. "The only thing hurt is my pride. I felt so cute today too, and then I do the most uncute thing ever and fall flat on my back in front of everyone."
"You're still very cute and Mrs. Baker isn't everyone." Reaching for her head, he gently speared his hands through her soft, short curls feeling the shape of her head. Ignoring the warmth of her skin and the sheer softness of her hair against his fingers, Grayson pulled away when he felt no bump and looked down at her foot, motioning for her to raise it to his lap.
Gingerly, she lifted her leg and placed her foot on his thigh.
Her voice was smaller when she spoke again. "Nothing you say will make me feel any better…I know…" her voice lowered to a whisper, "I know you saw…my panties."
Grayson glanced up at her and watched her face grow red. Everything inside him told him to deny her statement for her sake. But then he thought of her cool indifference as of late compared to the girl he knew a few years ago and he leveled his gaze on her lovely face—he wasn't that noble. "I did," he finally answered.
