One Night With The Boss

CHAPTER 13

"You don't really mean that." Kate made a depressed voice and paced back up the path, rubbing her wet arm with her hands. "I told myself that you can't be as cold as everyone says. That you are having a hard time in your life and it will definitely make things difficult."

Elgort gritted his teeth in frustration. Why do women always do that? Why do they always try and dissect every situation to the bone?

"If there's one thing that puts a damper on my libido than a liar, it's an amateur psychologist" he said, swinging the backpack over his back and stepping past Kate onto the trail. "Sek$' is sek$', passion, it's just that very few women dare to admit that fact. They prefer to dress it up with feelings, tie a man with commitment and then whine when appetite is satisfied and everything falls apart. That's why divorce rates remain high."

Now who's dissecting it to the bone?

She is aggravated by Kate for directing her to a topic she avoids and is astonished by herself for not stopping at the beginning of the conversation. Elgort clenched his mouth and started down the path.

"Is that what happened to you?" Kate's voice came from behind Elgort.

He turned around, a frustrated growl coming out of his throat. "What did you say?"

Kate stands on a drenched street, her blue eyes bright and intense on Elgort, no trace of a smile on her face, and her simple, direct surveillance annoys Elgort more than she could possibly imagine.

Without understanding why, Elgort steps back toward Kate, anger mounting within her, though whether the anger is directed at herself or the girl, she is unsure

All he knew was that he was fed up with the conversation. And she's fed up with Kate Rutherford. From now on she will cover her curves, her dimples, and her shiny blonde hair, as some women put too much effort into it and Kate is one of them.

And now Kate looks at her like women do when they want Elgort to open up and spill all sorts of deep and deepest secrets, and they can sell it to the mass media for an undeserved amount of money.

Elgort almost laughed. What's he gonna say? Elgort wonders, if Kate knew that the truth about her could be sold for a little money?

"I asked," Kate said slowly, "Is that what happened to you. There must be a reason why you feel and behave that way."

Elgort swallowed a bitter laugh. Oh, ada.

But what would a woman like Kate Rutherford do with that information?

Undoubtedly using it to secure the loan he needs to continue his corrupt small business.

Suddenly transported back to his childhood, Elgort looked around the forest but there was no fear for him now. No dark memories. In fact, the place became his refuge. He succeeded like that.

"Why am I behaving the way I do? Because I'm a man, and that's how men think." Angry at Kate's determination to suck in information from her.

Elgort could not help the impatience from his voice and heard Kate take a deep breath.

"I just can't believe that you're as cold and insensitive as they say."

"Well, it is." The boiling tone of Elgort. "Remember before you ask a personal question, I have no intention of answering."

Elgort asks what possessed her to consider walking through the tropical forest with Kate, she grits her teeth and turns away from Kate, but before she sees the question in the girl's eyes.

Women, Elgort thought, the sooner they reach the coffee garden, the sooner she can uncover the game Kate is playing and end this prank. And then will send the girl home.

Kate walks in silence, keeping her eyes on the road so she doesn't lose her stride on rough, slippery terrain.

But his mind was not fixed on the physical challenges presented in the forest. It was about that kiss, that amazing and amazing kiss woke her previously inactive body from sleeping to an almost state of overwhelming excitement.

And now he hopes, desperately hoping that he should keep his mouth shut.

Maybe Elgort is right that sek$' is better without conversation.

Words, the deadliest weapons given to man.

He hoped he would not ask if Elgort would extend the loan because the man clearly interpreted his question as a signal that he would sleep with her if Elgort gave a positive answer.

But most importantly, she wished she hadn't asked him questions about the man's marriage. It is personal and inappropriate.

When Elgort stepped back onto the road leading towards him and the expression on the man's face was so black and threatening, he knew he had gone too far.

And he's scared.

Afraid of himself.

Afraid of that guy.

And then he saw Elgort's eyes. And what he saw was no violence but bitterness, pain and cynicism and his fear had turned into concern and affection.

What caused the darkness that he saw clearly in him?

What memories haunt his nights and keep him locked securely in front of a computer screen?

And why did he kiss her?

No matter what derisive comments Elgort made about women's attitudes toward sek$', Kate wasn't so naive and stupid that she interpreted their hot encounter in the woods as just physical lust.

He knew that chemistry existed, even though he had never experienced such a demanding explosion before today. He understands that sek$' can happen without love. He understands all of those things. But that doesn't mean he doesn't believe in love.

Never finding it does not mean that it does not exist. And never finding it doesn't mean Kate doesn't want love.

Maybe it would never happen to her, but that did not stop her from hoping, because what kind of life was hopeless?

What is life like without love?

And he suddenly understood the expanse of dark void that he saw in Elgort's eyes.

Elgort Downey is a man who lives a life without love.

Wh why?

Why did he make that choice?

And why does he care?