Smile

5 Chapter

"You're Nick Holmes?" Rory's blue eyes widen because of the unexpected revelation.

"Yeah," Robert answers smirking, sitting next to her on his brown leather couch, leaning his arm comfortably on the arm rest.

He found Rory intriguing. He felt something special when he was with her, so when he heard that Rory would be the reporter doing the job, he accepted the interview. What a nice and unpredictable coincidence it was for him to see her at his club. He never thought he would see her again after Yale.

"You're a mysterious man, my friend. I never knew that you were into photography." Rory admits to him, shaking her head.

She was surprised that Robert managed to keep such a big secret from the Life and Death Brigade (LDB) and the Yale Daily news. Rory was more than impressed. She never thought that Robert would be so successful. She thought that he was just another rich, snobbish, cocky trust fund baby.

Smiling, she thought back to their first date at Yale, he was kind of cute, asking her to go with him to Finn's birthday party. She thought about how she used him to make Logan jealous. She still felt guilty for her behavior at the party. He was the perfect gentleman, he tried to entertain her, bringing her drinks and respected her wish to not get as drunk as the other guests. He didn't try to convince her to drink stronger drinks or to get her drunk so that he could take advantage of her. Robert never complains that she just used him. Perhaps her life would have changed if she had chosen him and not Logan. Who knows?

"Well, this is something that many people are not aware of," he explains. In fact, he has not shared this with any of his friends or even family. It was the one thing he achieved completely without his family's name or money and he is proud of his success. Why he decided to let Rory know his secret is still a mystery to him, however he has a feeling why he has chosen her.

"Why?" Rory replies, holding her pen ready to write.

Robert glides nearer to her and stops her hand gently, grabbing her pen. "Sorry, Rory, this isn't part of the interview."

"But," she tries giving her bambi-look with her eyes to convince him, batting her eyelashes, looking as innocently as possible without laughing.

"I never did an interview before, because I couldn't trust any reporter to keep my secret, but I thought I should give you the chance. However there are strict rules for our meeting today."

"Dirty," she grins mischievously.

"Dirty?" He questions, wondering what she's thinking. He loves her cheekiness, she is full of surprises, but naughty ones are the best ones, especially when they include this gorgeous reporter girl.

"This reminds me of a book with lots of grey," she smiles seductively, but her cheeks were definitely pink. Was she blushing?

"Rory Gilmore, have you just compared me to Christian Grey?" Robert chuckles, his eyes clouding a bit with lust. And this sexual innuendo surprises him.

"Perhaps," she grins, trying to look naive, batting her eyelashes again.

He glides nearer to her, begins to tenderly caress her right knee.

She enjoys the contact, admitting to herself that she has missed him during the week, especially his skilled hands and tongue. Before she can respond, he stands up.

"Okay, let's go to the room where the magic happens," he says, his voice sounds husky, offering her his hand. He smiles at the cute way she pouts after he abruptly left the couch.

Taking his hand, she walks with him into his impressive office with its mix of modern and antique furniture. The walls are covered with a huge black and white picture he took of himself.

Smirking, she teases, "I thought you couldn't take self portraits."

"Why shouldn't I?" He asks puzzled.

"I did some research and found none of the famous Nick Holmes," she replies, sitting on the armchair in front of the desk after he gestured for her to sit there.

"Perhaps you did it wrong," he teases back, relaxing in his office chair.

Seeing her getting angry, he continues before she starts to ramble, "I am joking, there shouldn't be any pictures of me with my pseudonym outside this apartment."

"Oh, that is sad, that you can only live out your narcissistic side here, poor boy," she provokes him tenderly.

"This is why everybody needs to satisfy my wants in here," he responds, his voice taken on a husky quality.

Suddenly he recognizes how hard it will be to do this interview with her after they shared those kisses in his club. He originally planned to impress her and ask her out for dinner afterwards. Now he feels the room growing thick with the sexual tension that is between them. That is why he needed the desk between them before he starts to act on the indecent thoughts he has of her.

"Let's talk about the rules for the interview," he explains, trying to reduce his arousal with business talk. "No pictures, no mention of my real name or physical description, no identification of my location and last..."

"You must agree not to interfere with the integrity of the event," she interrupts him, chuckling.

"What?" He replies puzzled.

"Your rules are very similar to the ones of my first LDB event," she explains.

"Oh," he stutters. They never talked about the LDB or exactly one male blonde member the last times they met. Robert feels uneasy about the topic. Logan's proposal was many years ago, but it's still something nobody talks about. Logan told the boys what happened. She was not ready to marry him and he was not ready for another long-distance relationship. Colin, Finn and Robert knew it hurt both of their friends; however, in the end they stuck by Logan after she never tried to get in contact with them again.

Rory notices his tension. "Robert, the time we spent with the LDB were fun. My memories of Logan are good memories, but nothing more. I have moved on and I read that he did as well."

Seeing his tension begin to fade, she smiles and says, "Let's go back to the interview, so that we can enjoy our time together after." Rory leans on his desk while talking, making sure he knows how much she wants him.