"Ms. Gildon, have a crawfish," Dominic said, peeling one and cing it on her te.
Vespera paused for a moment. Then she responded enthusiastically, “Thank you!"
After she had eaten the crawfish, he added a plece of searedmb chop to her te. "Ms. Gildon, have some meat."
"Okay!"
"Ms. Gildon, have some soup," he said,dling a bowl for her.
"Thank you!"
"Ms. Gildon..."
"Okay! Thank you!"
Vespera froze. She bit her fork, turned her head slightly, and closed her eyes briefly, groaning to herself. She had spoken too soon.
Dominic looked at her-half amused, half speechless. After a beat, he said, "You can stop thanking me. Why don''t you peel one for me instead?"
Vespera turned to look at him and set down her fork. "Sure. I''ll do it."
She began peeling crawfish carefully. One after another and another....
The crawfish were pretty big, and in less than two minutes, a small mountain had formed in
front of him.
Dominic stayed quiet. He picked one up, took a bite, sighed, and looked at her. "I just came to have a meal with you. It''s not like I''m selling you off to traffickers after this. You don''t need to
be so nervous:"
Vespera gave him a look, like she had no idea what he was talking about. "I''m not nervous. Why would I be nervous? Mr. Reid, hurry up and eat your crawfish before it gets cold."
Dominic fell silent.
Vespera had r ''dea what to say either. She felt like she was crumbling, piece by piece.
Dominic quietly kept eating.
When they were almost done, Vespera quickly snatched the check. "Mr. Reid, seriously, thank you so much for today. I can''t even put into words how grateful I am. Let me get this."
Dominic''s expression cooled. "Ms. Gildon, with the way you''re burning bridges, you might as well join a demolition crew."
Vespera went quiet again. She pressed her lips together awkwardly.
Dominic stood up and walked out, expressionless
Vespera quickly got up and followed, jogging to pay the bill before rushing outside to get to the car first.
Earlier, Gerard had dropped them off at the restaurant and left. Now, on the way back, her thoughts began to whirl.
She was just a secretary. Was she supposed to let thepany''s president drive while she sat in the back seat? If a sharp-eyed employee from thepany saw them, they''d probably think she''d put some kind of spell on Dominic.
But if she sat in the front... she''d bebeled as his mistress.
Dominic''s dark mood lingered from the restaurant back to the office. He''d wanted to ask what exactly had happened with Luke earlier, but seeing how hard she was trying to keep her distance, it just made him feel ridiculous.
She clearly didn''t want to owe him even the tiniest thing.
Back at the office, Gerard saw them return so soon and thought, "Well, Mr. Reid does have some boundaries after all."
Earlier, when Dominic told him to head back first, he''d figured that maybe Dominic was nning to take advantage of the situation. If anything had happened, they probably wouldn''t be back until muchter in the day.
The moment Vespera walked into her office, Gerard followed and handed her a set of keys. Vespera, I grabbed your keys from your bag earlier and brought your car back."
She hadn''t even realized how bold she''d been earlier-clinging to Dominic like that. If he hadn''t seen what led up to it, he might''ve assumed she had feelings for him and was trying to
seduce him.
Vespera was genuinely grateful. "Thanks."
"No need for thanks. It was nothing," Gerard said. Then, he asked with concern, "Are you feeling better? Do you want to take the afternoon off?"
"No need. I''m fine now."
Some things couldn''t be fixed just by resting a little.
Seeing that she did seem okay, Gerard left her office.
At 5:00 pm sharp, Vespera clocked out. She called Reba and found out she was still at herw firm. workingte.
Vespera decided to go straight there. She had barely pulled out of the parking garage when her
phone rang