Charity Night (english)

7

He slowly withdraws from me and stands up. "Wow, that was amazing! You're driving me crazy and you're going to cost me my sanity when I see you in your office next door to me every day and can't touch you all day." His voice is so rough and sexy that I stare at him unblinkingly.
As soon as we're done he starts having such lewd thoughts again. Apparently he is a bit insatiable and knows exactly what effect he has on me with such sayings.
I stand a little distance away from him and adjust my clothes. He does the same and turns around. Since I still don't know exactly what to say, after an oppressive silence, I just turn around, leave his office, take my jacket and my bag and almost run towards the elevator. There I press the button that should take me to the building's reception hall.
The metal doors are just about to close when I hear him screaming my name and rushing toward the elevator. "Charlotte, wait!" His words are cut off and the elevator starts moving.
When I get to the bottom, I decide that I'd better walk home today because I urgently need to cool down. I'm still completely confused and what feels like thousands of thoughts are running through my head.
This man is confusing me and that's the last thing I want.
In recent years, the most important thing to me has always been to be able to pursue a career and Tom has always supported me completely. I feel very comfortable at Hyde Inc. and actually wanted to continue to advance there and possibly work in New York or take over Tom's job myself at some point, but right now I'm no longer sure if it's a good idea, if at all stay with this company.
There will only be problems if I have to work with Zachery Hyde... How is it supposed to work? There is this constant tension between us and I don't know if I can or want to resist it.
He's a beautiful, attractive man, no question, but he's also dangerous... Men like him are always dangerous! First they seduce you, then they win your heart and then they throw you away like you're worthless! I've seen this happen so many times and never wanted to be one of those girls who gave themselves up like that for a man who didn't really want them anyway. Or rather, who just wants her body... After a few streets I notice that it is now almost 9 and I decide to walk straight to my apartment without any further detours. Either way, I won't be able to get rid of the thoughts that torment me so much, so I move quickly through the dark streets of London. I'm just turning the last corner when I notice a black SUV parked in front of the apartment building where I live. I slow my pace a little and look nervously at the car parked so conspicuously there. The vehicle door opens and Zachery Hyde gets out and takes long strides towards me. "Why do you always run away, Charlotte?" I like the way he emphasizes my name, but I'm just not ready to admit it to myself. "Mr. Hyde..." I start, but he immediately cuts me off. "Zachery... don't you think we should leave out the Siezen after everything we've shared?" At first I thought I heard a smile, but his face is very serious when he says it. "And what is now? Why do you always run away from me? This is the second time you've left me alone after we slept together. Can you explain that to me?" His voice is gentle but also serious and unyielding and I know he won't leave until he gets an explanation from me. I shake my head slowly, a little depressed. "Look... I'm not normally like this and I've never done anything like this with you before, even though you probably won't believe me. I don't want them to feel like I'm trying to take advantage of them, but that must never happen again. You really are a very attractive man and I can't deny that there is this attraction between us, but I'm not interested in being your playmate. That kind of relationship doesn't suit me and I'm not looking for anything else." I finish my speech and he just looks at me thoughtfully and a little overwhelmed.

"Charlotte, I think you completely misunderstand the situation..." he tries to explain himself, but I immediately interrupt him by simply raising my hand and smiling apologetically at him.

"Mr. Hyde, I really hate to interrupt your explanation, but I'm tired and tomorrow is going to be a long day. Don't be mad at me, but I would prefer if I could just go to bed now."

And then, for the second time that evening, I just turn my back on him and just leave him standing in front of the house.

Inside, I simply drop my shoes and my coat, put my bag on the table and flop forward onto my sofa... How can my life become so complicated in just a week? The frustrated sigh that comes out of my mouth doesn't suit me at all and I really wonder what I've done wrong...

Slowly and as if he were tons again I lift my head because the doorbell has rung. When can I finally have some peace and quiet?

There's no one on the intercom, so I open the apartment door straight away and Zachery is standing in front of it, looking at me like he's about to explode.

"What's that supposed to mean? Do you think it's fun for me to run after you all evening? I understood what you said to me, but don't you think I also have a right to express my thoughts and opinions on this whole 'thing'?"

He waves his arms around to show that he's pretty upset about my behavior at the moment.

"I'll say what I have to say now and then I'll leave and you can think about how you want to act afterwards, but I'll only say this once and if you interrupt me now then I'll leave. I won't do this anymore! I'm your boss, have you forgotten that?"

He looks at me expectantly. "No, I haven't forgotten that and that's exactly our problem, or do you see it differently?"

A mild smile appears on his face. "You're scared... That's the problem, right? You are afraid of what I will trigger in you and what others will think of you and above all you are afraid because it is not what you expected for yourself and what you have been trying to protect yourself from for years."

He has no idea how right he is, but I definitely don't want him to realize that, so I just snort dismissively and don't even look at him while he says it.

For how many years I kept all men away from me just so I wouldn't get hurt like I did back then. It's not that there weren't any interested parties. There were enough of them, but I just didn't want to let anyone get as close to me as Nickolas did back then.

Nick, he was my first boyfriend and I would have done anything for him. When we got together I was just 16 and he was two years older. He was the school crush and an absolute eye-catcher and he knew it very well. It wasn't until much later that I realized that he had slept with almost every girl in our school while I was at home waiting for him to finish football practice.

We even got through the years when he was already in college and I followed him there when I was old enough and that's where I caught him one evening in our apartment with my best friend.

The two of them didn't even try to apologize, but even blamed me for saying that it was my own fault because I couldn't give him what he so urgently needed.

Whatever that was...