If You So Desire (sequel to Turn... and Walk Away)

Chapter 11

A/N: The image above does not belong to me. It belongs to the person who uploaded it on the internet.

Godt's POV

I did my best to hide my attraction towards Max, but holy sugar honey iced tea, he was the most gorgeous specimen of mankind I had ever come across in my entire life.

I was able to find an excuse to get to know him better by treating him out to lunch.

Over an order of smoked salmon and herbed jasmine rice with asparagus sticks, I tried to draw him out of his shell. He didn't seem to be the talkative kind. I know that he tried to join in the conversation as much as he could but I could feel that he was holding back.

Finally I could not help it anymore.

"Are you single?" I asked, holding my breath for his answer.

"I'm newly separated," he replied. His face looked bitter and sad at the same time.

"I just recently broke up from my partner myself," I informed him.

"But I am not looking to get into another relationship," he declared firmly.

There goes my dream, vanishing into thin air like it never existed.

I tried another course of action.

"Of course if you're newly separated you would not want to enter into another relationship," I said, pretending to agree with him. "It will take some time before you recover from the pain of separation. I know the feeling, believe me."

He did not respond to that. He grabbed his tall glass of ice cold coconut water and took a sip from it.

I wanted to ask how long he had been separated but decided to hold back the question for now.

When our lunch was finished, he thanked me saying that the food was delicious and that maybe he would come back and try the other dishes as well.

"Let me know when you want to come back," I offered. "I could treat you to another lunch or perhaps an early dinner after office."

He smiled and shook his head.

"It's okay," he said. "I can always treat myself."

I did not want to push my wishes so I kept quiet.

On our way back I asked him if he lived nearby or far from the office.

"I live fifteen minutes away from work," he replied.

"That's so convenient," I said. "The company temporarily rented a condo unit for me while I'm substituting for Sandra. It's a good half hour from work. Maybe I should just a rent a room in your unit and let the company pay you for my stay."

He laughed out loud.

"You are kidding of course, right?" he said, still laughing.

"I have never been more serious in my life," I said, looking at him intently.

Then I noticed that he seemed to realize something.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I gave you wrong information. I actually live farther away. When I separated from my partner, I moved to a different address which is much farther away. It's about half an hour away, about the same distance as your current address. And also, there's no extra room where you can stay in the apartment where I live."

I could tell that he was making up excuses. I could tell that he did not want me to live in close proximity with him. Which was perhaps for the best because it could endanger the supervisor-subordinate boundaries.

Well, maybe for now, I should just be content with seeing him at work and working closely with him during work hours.

After office hours I noticed him stopping by the receptionist's desk. I hadn't met the receptionist officially yet. Tomorrow I should approach her and get ourselves introduced to each other officially.

As I walked into the company parking lot, I noticed him getting into the receptionist's car. Didn't he have his own car? That wouldn't do. He would be needing a car to go and meet potential clients in order to get them to sign contracts with us.

I walked quickly towards the receptionist's car before she could drive away.

I motioned to Max that I needed to talk to him.

Max said something to the receptionist and then stepped out of her car and approached me.

"Yes, what can I do for you, sir?" he asked.

"Godt," I corrected him.

"Oh yes, sorry about that," he apologized with a sheepish smile.

"I'm concerned that you don't have your own car," I told him.

"Oh no, no, no," he said waving his hand dismissively. "I have my own car. I'm just car pooling for today because Debbie and I ... "

He stopped midway in his sentence.

Okay so Debbie was the name of the receptionist.

"Yes?" I prompted him to continue what he was saying.

"Debbie and I are neighbors," he said, "and I thought I could save on gas by car pooling with her."

"That's a good idea," I agreed. "But I might need you to drive over to a potential client's address and it would be inconvenient for you to have to commute in a taxicab or worse in a bus."

"I will bring my car with me tomorrow then," he said, starting to walk away.

"Wait," I said. "I don't have anything to eat at my place tonight so I'm planning to have dinner at that same restaurant where we had lunch today. I don't feel like eating alone. Would you do me a big favor and dine with me. I will take you home in my car."

"Gimme a second," he said walking back to Debbie's car.

I saw Debbie roll down her window and Max bent to say something to her. Then he walked back to me with a guilty smile.

"You've got yourself company for dinner," he said.

"Why thanks a million!" I exclaimed. "But why are you looking so guilty? It's not as if you were cheating on any one. You just told me earlier that you're newly separated."

"I'm sorry," he said. "It's exactly because I'm newly separated that I still tend to think that I should not be going out with anyone. Besides we're just having dinner and nothing more."

I almost blurted, "Not if I had my way with you." but of course I had to keep my peace so as not to scare him away.