The Way to a Man's Heart

Chapter 26

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

Dome's POV

At the stroke of five I locked my desk drawer, stood up from my swivel chair and locked up my metal filing cabinet.

I quickly pocketed my set of keys and with a fast beating heart I stepped out of my office, locking the door after me, hoping hard that I could quickly make it to my unit without meeting Pavel in the walkway.

I was sure that his working hours also ended at five, so, hopefully, at this time he was still on the road trying to get through the Monday rush hour.

The reason that I didn't want to encounter him was because I was still suffering from the memory of kissing him back passionately, digging my fingernails into his back as I allowed him to explore my mouth with his agile tongue. We were gasping for air after the kiss and he was holding on tight to the sides of my arms. I could tell that he was just as turned on by that kiss as I was.

I was hurriedly turning the key in my door knob when "Hey", I heard his now familiar voice right behind me. How did he manage to creep behind me without my noticing, dammit.

"Hey," I responded, turning my face around, my hand still holding the key that I had pushed inside the door knob. "Why are you back from work already?"

"And I'm so glad to see you as well," he said with a smirk.

"Sorry," I said. "Nice to see you, Pavel."

"That sounds so much better," he said with a smile of approval. "Listen, okay, the reason I asked to leave work early was because I wanted to invite you to that seaside restaurant that offers the best seafood menu in all of Thailand. It's a bit out of the way of course because it's by the waterfront. Don't unlock that door. I won't give you a chance to think it over. If we leave right now we will get there just in time to be the first guests."

With those words, he grabbed my wrist and pulled me in the direction of the parking lot where he had parked his SUV in his allotted space.

I felt like I was being ambushed and I had allowed myself to go along without giving my brain a chance to think of a way to go against it.

When he reached his SUV he opened the front passenger door, and moving his arm with a flourish, he said, "At your service, your highness".

"Stop with your theatrics or I will change my mind about going with you," I scolded him.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry," he said, pretending to sound apologetic, "I'm just really happy that I will get to have dinner with you tonight."

"What happened to your boyfriend for whom you turned down your ex employer's offer to move you to Singapore?" I asked.

"You actually still remember that part of my personal history?" he asked, amazement appearing all over his face.

"I have an elephant's memory," I warned him.

"Is that why up to this very day, you won't forgive your ex ... "

He stopped mid sentence when he noticed the grim look on my face.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I seem to be saying all the wrong things this evening. I hope this will be the last time that the wrong thing comes out of my mouth."

I tried to suppress the pain that welled up in my chest at the mere mention of the one and only person I had ever loved in my entire life, Tae Darvid Kreepolrerk.

"Let's go to that seafood restaurant by the waterfront right now before we get caught in the rush hour traffic," I said, even though I knew that it was already the rush hour.

"Good idea," Pavel said, turning the engine on before fastening his seat belt.

"You're not yet belted," he said turning to me.

"Oh oops sorry," I said, my face turning red because for some reason that phrase didn't sound proper. It sounded like a phrase straight out of a BDSM lovemaking session with him.

After I had fastened my seat belt I did not fail to notice the naughty gleam in his eyes.

Shit, he had read my mind.