Sweet Persuasion (Book 4 of the Girls In Suits Series)

Thirteen

Seconds after Steve dropped me off at the firm's building; I walked into an elevator with Reed in it.

My heart nearly leaped out of my chest. But I was able to compose myself as I quietly stood by the right corner beside him.

"Ms. Nolan," he softly greeted. "I presumed your lunch meeting went well."

"It did, Mr. Seymour. And you?" I countered, peering at him in the corner of my eyes. "Did you have a good lunch meeting?"

"Well, as a matter of fact, it was slightly unappetizing," he replied without a moment's thought. "If you didn't know, I was having lunch at one of my friend's workplace. Do you know the Grand hotel? He's the general manager there."

My stomach churned as he upon hearing him indirectly referring Jensen. It took me a second to reply.

"Ah, yes, I do know. Actually, I had lunch there earlier. Where were you? I was dining at their exclusive top-floor restaurant."

"I hadn't. But I was dining at the top floor restaurant as well. Why haven't I seen you?" He asked in feign innocence and turned slightly in my direction.

"Well, we weren't actually inside the restaurant," I timidly replied. My face slowly heated up. "Anyways, the details of my lunch won't be much of an interest to you, Mr. Seymour."

"Oh, I am very much interested in the happening of your lunch, Ms. Nolan," he quipped. "And was our common friend who took you to lunch treated you well?"

"He did, as a matter of fact," I tersely replied. "He wasn't inquisitive with his questions throughout the meal."

He pursed his lips and arched an eyebrow. "Am I being untoward with my queries?"

I cleared my throat, feeling the eyes of strangers in the elevator with us. "Yes, you are, sir. Not to sound rude or anything."

He smirked. "Well, then, I apologize for prying, Ms. Nolan. It wasn't my intention."

"No worries, Mr. Seymour. No harm, no foul," I said and smiled in assurance.

Mercifully, the elevator ride ended as the door opened to our floor. We both quietly exited and gone separately to our respected work station.

After settling down in my cubicle, Lilian peaked up from the partition with a worried knot between her eyebrow.

"Did the lunch date not go well?" she asked.

I turned my chair to face her and shook my head. "No. It did go too well than I hoped." I forced a smile to prove my point.

"Oh, that's great. Where did the other casanova take you?" Her eyes twinkled with interest.

"Somewhere private and expensive," I replied with a wicked grin. "It was so romantic and heart-racing, Lil."

"I would take your word for it based on your expression," she jested.

I chuckled. "Oh, you have no idea."

"Then, what got you in a sour mood? If not the wonderous lunch date, what was it?"

My lips pursed to a mutinous line. "I was stuck in an elevator with Reed Seymour. And he admitted that he was in the same building as Steve and I when we had our lunch date."

Lilian covered her mouth to muffled her gasp. "He saw you with Steve?"

"He did, or he won't have been a bit of a jerk about it." I grimly informed, reminiscing our conversation earlier.

"Are you sure he was being or jerk, or just 'jealousy' jerk?"

"Is there a difference?"

"Yes, there is a huge difference. Was he a bit snarky yet playful?"