I Do

Ethan was looking at her as he sat there, fighting against the most primal instinct which was just to lean in and kiss her. He wanted to hold her. He wanted to smell that perfect rose scent he caught a whiff of every time she was around.

“I know,” he said in a soft voice.

He could not understand how somebody had such an amazing woman and messed up by letting her go. He would have secured his position in her life as soon as he had the opportunity. She was too perfect not to anyway.

“What?” she asked and he noticed that he had been staring. And then he realized, this was his opportunity.

“Have dinner with me,” he said in a soft voice.

Josie did not know why she was surprised. This was not the first time Ethan was propositioning her. She was, however, sure of one thing. The words had not just slipped out of Ethan’s mouth. For starters, they had not had that much to drink and secondly, the way he had maintained that gaze after asking her made her realize that it had been an intentional statement. The few seconds it took for her to process what he had said seemed like an eternity but she finally gave him an answer.

“Can I think about it?” she asked again and he nodded yet again.

“Sure.”

If anything, he was a patient man and he was willing to go to great lengths just to prove that to her.

He then insisted on taking her home. Josie would have preferred simply getting out of there on her own on a rideshare so that at least she could continue processing the question in peace but Ethan was relentless. The ride back to her apartment building was uncomfortable. She was happy when Ethan’s town car pulled up in front of her building.

“How long?” he asked without looking at her.

“What?” she asked.

“How long do you want to think about this for?” he turned and looked at her. “I just want to know so that I don’t seem like I am bugging you. The last thing I want is to put you off.”

She nodded and sighed.

“I don’t know… I mean, it is not like you asked me to take on a new responsibility in the office or anything like that.”

Ethan nodded.

“I get it. It was a big thing to just spring upon you.”

Josie bit her lower lip.

“Yeah, it was.”

She looked at him and exhaled loudly.

“I don’t know what I can say.”

“That’s okay. I am leaving for New York tomorrow. I’ll be gone for a couple of days. So, there’s that.”

Josie forced out a smile.

“Yeah, I guess.” She took a deep breath. “Well, thanks for bringing me home.”

Ethan smiled.

“You are very welcome.”

“Well, goodnight,” she said in a soft voice before she held the door handle.

“No. Please, let me.” He got out of the car and walked round to her side before he opened the door.

Josie could not help but think that was a reckless move for someone who had a chase car.

“Thank you,” she said in a soft voice before she began walking to her building. He waited until he was inside to get back into the car. Josie loved the fact that he was such a gentleman. He was a breath of fresh air after spending so much time with Lucas. Her ex was the definition of ‘letting yourself go’. As she made her way up the stairs, she wondered what the sudden urgency to go to New York was. She was in charge of his schedule and she had not booked any flights or even had to move any of his meetings around because he was not going to be around.

She was still deep in thought when she walked into the apartment.

“You’re home!” Dani said excitedly when she saw her.

“I thought I was going to find you asleep. It is way past your bedtime.”

Dani shrugged.

“Can you imagine I am the only person working in media who has not watched the R. Kelly docuseries?” she asked. “I am playing catch up because we are doing a feature on how the Me Too movement has impacted the entertainment industry and I cannot be the one person in the board room who doesn’t know what is going on.”

Josie collapsed next to her on the couch and gave her a sad look.

“That’s a six-part documentary and each part is almost an hour long.”

Dani nodded.

“Yeah, it is riveting. I thought I was going to doze off or something but this is just too good.”

Josie raised an eyebrow at her.

“Good?” she asked.

“Not good… obviously. You know, just, sad and kind of depressing that I have been blasting his music for a really long time. Hell, I even went to one of his concerts!”

“Yeah, that would have been you,” Josie said in a soft voice and Dani shuddered.

“That freaks me out honestly,” she said in a soft voice. “I’m really happy to be doing this feature though. I mean, just knowing that I am going to be part of a movement that is working hard to shut down domestic and s*xual violence is an amazing thing.”

Josie reached for her hand and smiled.

“I know.”

“So, what about you? How is the job working out?” Dani asked.

Josie shrugged.

“Good. Maybe I should actually be saying great…but I need to talk to you about something.”

Dani nodded.

“Sure. What’s going on?” she asked.

Josie’s mind was working on overdrive as she tried finding the right words. She was not so sure that she had the right vocabulary to explain what she thought was best at the moment. She did not want to sound like she was under duress at the workplace because she wasn’t but at the same time, she had not really been very open about her feelings for Ethan. All that Dani knew was that she worked late a lot ever since she started working for Ethan. She had never mentioned the late-night dinners in his office or the late-night conversations that had nothing to do with work.

“Well?” Dani presses and Josie exhaled loudly.