Chapter 382 Asking her out
Chapter 382 Asking her out
She was confused about her own reaction. 'What are you afraid of, girl? Haven't you dreamt of this for weeks on end?' she scolded herself, willing her body to quit its panicking.
"What are you scared of?" Edward asked, mirroring her thoughts again. 'Don't think I haven't caught you staring longingly at me all these past few weeks.
'You want me, don't you, Red?' he thought but decided against saying. He had had his fair share of women in his young life but never one quite like Amy.
He could sense some vulnerability in her, but something told him he would be absolutely mistaken to think of her as fragile.
She possessed a calm strength that was unforced. In fact, looking at her, he could almost be certain that she herself was unaware of the effect she had on people, especially him.
And that was the most amazing kind of strength that was raw natural energy. This thing that she was, drew him to her irresistibly.
He leaned in and peered into her eyes intensely. Her heart beat erratically within her chest, but his was beating even faster, despite his stoic demeanor.
He had never been more grateful for three-piece suits and years of practice at maintaining poise even if he was in fact going to pieces on the insides.
He had several years of being at the meeting table where important decisions were supposed to be made and everyone was trying to make sure that their interests were adequately represented, even to the detriment of the others.
Even before assuming his father's role as Chief of the Wu Corporation, he had been privy to those kinds of settings and he had watched his old man remain as still as a stone statue regardless of whatever spin the table was taking.
And in all those years, he had subconsciously ingrained in himself the hard to master art of the poker face.
He was wearing the very best of his almost bored expression at the moment but there was a twinkle in his eyes that he could not make disappear even if there was a gun to his head.
Edward broke the stare moments later to rummage through the pocket of his suit jacket. After what he adjudged to have been the right amount of time, he slid his hand out and held out a couple of tickets between his thumb and index finger, so that they cut a sharp V-shape.
"How do you like Rock," he asked in the most casual way he could muster. 'Please, say yes,' he sang repeatedly in his head, before giving himself a mental kick in the knee. '
You are only trying to seduce a woman, Eddie boy. You are not trying to get her to fall in love with you, so behave.
After all, no woman could ever say no to all of this.' A wry smile appeared on his lips, as his thoughts reinforced his macho ego.
"I…" Amy started to say, then froze again. How did he expect her to think clearly when he was staring at her so intently, with his lips all turned up at the corners in obvious mischief?
He looked every inch like the wicked playboy that he was rumored to be, and Amy wanted nothing more than to blurt out a curt 'no' and then get on her way out of his office and away from him.
But instead, her brains seemed to have ceded control to her woman parts and so she stood there, gawking at him, inhaling his mild but very present manly musk and feeling his warmth try to cling to her own skin.
"Yes, Red?" he prodded. "It's the Midi Modern Music Festival. No one could possibly say no to that.
Plus, you strike me as the kind of girl who would love what they are about. Saving the planet and all whatnot."
He chuckled at the last bit and the note of mockery underlaying his laughter was not lost on Amy.
She lowered her eyes in response, causing Edward to pause. Men like him could never really care about anything other than expanding their empire and widening their harem, she thought.
There was no surprise there, yet she could not stop herself from feeling some kind of disappointment.
Because he was in fact right. She did care and she had always wanted to go to the Midi Festival since she first got wind of it as a pre-teen girl, but her parents would never let her go to something like that.
They had been highly conservative, bless their souls.
"No way," he said, surprised and understanding fighting for dominance across the features of his face.
He put a finger under Amy's chin and gently lifted her face up. She was biting her lips and fighting back embarrassed tears.
"Come on then, you redhead," he said, no longer waiting for her to come to a decision. He took her by the shoulder and steered her towards the door.
She followed willingly. Some people might have said like a lamb to the slaughter because nothing was ever going to come out of this trajectory that her relationship with her boss was starting to take but she had neither the will nor the intention to stop it.
They rode the elevator together in silence, but it surprisingly felt far from awkward. There was something companionable about the way that the quiet, accentuated by the nearly imperceptible mechanical hum of the steel contraption, enveloped them.
It was moments like this one that made Amy want to believe that there was more to the man than most people were privy to.
Soon, they reached the parking lot on the ground floor. This part of the building looked alien to Amy who had never been privileged to be in the exclusive space.
Apparently, it was reserved solely for the Chief and other top executives of the Company. She looked around discreetly, admiring the assets sitting pretty in the form of exotic cars.
But her vicarious enjoyment of the wealth she could not even begin to dream of, was cut short by Edward's driver pulled up in front of them.
She had not noticed him make any calls to the older man, and she wondered what their communication system was like.
'Right on time, old guy,' Edward thought, smiling, pleased at his driver's well-timed response to his text barely a minute ago.