Falling Tower

Chapter 8

We waited for about a minute until Susan's SUV left the property. Once she was gone he exhaled. He looked at me with sad eyes.
"I'm sorry," he said as we began to drive away from the house.  "This is why I've been ignoring her."
I had a million questions to ask him, but I decided I'd ask only one. I wanted to enjoy my sleep over.

"So you were in love with her?"
He glanced at me upset and then turn back to look at the road.
"Yeah. I'm not proud of it. She was the daughter of a client. We went out a couple of times. I fell for her but quickly learned how stuck up and horrible she was. She has a bad habit of belittling my staff at home and work. Any one she felt had no class would feel her wrath. After a year I told her I had no interest in a relationship anymore. She agreed. She said she would continue to have sex with me if I bought her whatever she wanted. I agreed to it. I know it sounded insane but I only wanted to concentrate on building my Empire. As long as she didn't pester me to much, I was content."

"She became annoying rather quickly. It didn't stop me from allowing her to come to the house though. We did this for about 2 years. A month before you started working for me, she disappeared. I figured she died or married a wealthy man."
He shrugged his shoulders. Horrible, I thought.

We pulled up to a restaurant. The valet opened my door and I got out. I waited for Luke to give the guy the keys and looked up at the sign above the Restaurant.
The Ledbury.
"Luke, we are way under-dressed for this place. And don't we need to make reservations?"
He walked up to me and pulled me towards him.
"Really? Hmm..."
"Let's go back to your house. And I'm cold and forgot my sweater because of your ex."
I tried pulling away from him. He held on tight.
"Let's make a bet Jas. If you win, and we don't get in, I'll let you work from my desk all week. And lunch from wherever you want. Sound good?"
"Nope. You already owe me that. Remember? I have the email you sent."
He laughed and put his hands up.
"You're right. I'm sorry. How about I throw a pair of Black Saint Laurent Heels. The ones you've been eyeing on the computer."
My eyes grew wide.
I agreed. I've been dying to get a pair of those shoes forever. They were gorgeous.
"And if you miraculously get us in, what do you want?"
His smile slowly turned serious. "I want you to stay with me..."
My mouth fell open.
"Well at least until renovations at your apartment are done."
I backed away from him.
"What?" I asked shocked.
"I know I didn't tell you but I own that building. It hit me when I pulled up to it earlier. I called my guys while I waited in the car for you. They are fixing the entire building, from top to bottom. Someone obviously dropped the ball. I don't understand why any of my properties would look that way. Uh, It was going to be a surprise, but I didn't want you to walk in and think someone else moved in."
I didn't know what to say. "Are you serious?"
He shook his head.
I smiled. It was all I could do. This guy had no boundaries or limits. This happens when you are King of everything. I also didn't want to start any drama. We got enough of it tonight. Lucas noticed that I started to shiver. He grabbed my hand and led me into the restaurant.
"Do you agree to the bet?" He asked as he held the door open for me.
"I am a size 8 in shoes Mr. Bower."

We walked up to the Hostess. She scanned me from head to toe. I'm sure she was getting ready to show us the door because of how we were dressed. Everyone coming in and out had cocktail dresses, suit and ties; we were the only two idiot with t-shirts and jeans. She looked at Luke and turned bright red. She grabbed her phone quickly and loudly whispered "Bower, party of 2. Private!"
She put the phone down and smiled kindly at the both of us. "Welcome back Mr. Bower. Please follow me."

We were lead to a private room. Very cozy. Warmly lit. The waiter pulled my seat out and pushed it in as I sat. Luke said something to him, but I didn't catch what it was. The liar knew we would get in and made that bet.
"You're a cheater. You knew we would get in." I whisper to him annoyed. He chuckled as he placed his napkin over his lap. I do the same.
"Yeah, you're right. So since I cheated, you win. You get to work from my desk and free food all week, and some size 8s."
That made me smile.

The waiter came back with a bottle of wine.
"Chateau Margaux 1787, sir?" The waiter showed Luke the bottle and he nodded with approval. He served us, and placed my glass in front of me while I looked through the menu.
"Lucas, this is embarrassing but I'm not a wine drinker. Well, at least Dry wine."
"Oh, why didn't you tell me before?"
"I didn't want to be rude."
He smiled at me and motioned for the waiter.
"It's fine, Babe. If you don't like something, you can always tell me. I won't judge. It's only a Liquid."
I smiled.
"What would you like?" Luke asks me.
"Pepsi. Or Coke. Doesn't matter." Those were my two favorite drinks in the entire World.
He smiled. "Okay, two Pepsi or Cokes please."
The waiter looked at us both and bent over to whisper something in his ear.
They exchanged words and the Waiter left in a hurry.
"Is everything okay?" I asked.
"Yeah, he went to go buy some soda. They don't really get requests for Soda often."
"What?! I could've drank water. He didn't have to run out and-"
"No, it's fine." He says and he grabs my hand.
"I'll leave him a huge tip okay?"
I nodded.

The waiter returns 10 minutes later with two glasses of Pepsi.
"Do you want me to order for you? I know you have no idea what anything on that menu says."
"Okay. I do want a salad and some type of meat on the side. Wait does that sound weird?"
He laughed at me.
"Of course not, you want what you want."
He ordered us both a Chef Salad and Lamb. I've never had lamb. It was delicious.

"...and that's not the most embarrassing thing. I didn't learn to ride a bike until High School."
Lucas laughed so hard. We had been exchanging embarrassing moments all night.
I really like this side of him. I've never seen him laugh so hard and realized how beautiful his teeth were.
"So," he says as wipes his mouth of. We have just eaten New York Cheesecake with Vanilla Bean Ice Cream. So good! "... this morning you were strictly my employee. Can I ask where we stand?"
I looked up from my plate not expecting the question. I take a sip of my Soda before I start choking.
"I, I don't know. So much has happen since this Afternoon. Any sane person would think we were rushing into this, right?"
"Fair enough. Can I be honest with you?" He says as he grabs his napkin from his lap, wipes his mouth and throws it over his plate. I put my fork down and listen.
"It might be too much to ask of you, but I really want to be with you. If you would have me. We can take it as slow as you want." He looked like a sad puppy and then got serious when I didn't reply fast enough.

It took me a second to process what he just said. Was I ready to dive head first into a relationship? With this Billionaire bachelor of all people? Maybe it was a bad idea to sleep over. Going home and letting myself process this would probably be best.

I got up slowly and walked over to him. My napkin fell to the floor and I didn't care. I threw my leg over his lap and sat down. I put my hands on his chest.
"When Susan put her arms around you, I wanted to rip her hair straight from her scalp. From the moment I saw you I was kidding myself but I knew wanted you." I paused trying to think of how to say my next words. "Luke, I was yours the minute you asked me to spend the weekend with you."

He forcibly grabbed my head and we began kissing. I think I even tasted blood. I didn't care. I was falling hard for this guy. And it wasn't at a healthy pace either. I knew my life would change at Bower Tower, but I didn't think it would this drastically. He stopped kissing me and held onto my face with both hands. Scanning every inch of my face. "So, Girlfriend, ready to go?"
I grinned. "Thought you'd never ask."