Chapter 15 - Fifteen
"This is..." Delia began, her voice trailing off as the words died in her mouth. The sheer shame of her wild, scandalous assumptions washed over her, and she could feel a hot blush creeping up her neck. She had imagined a den of indulgence, and instead, she was standing in a business man’s sanctuary.
Eric watched her, a knowing and deeply amused glint in his eyes. He seemed to understand everything she had been thinking without her saying a word. "I come here when I have urgent work and require absolute solitude," he explained, his voice calm and even. He strode over to a small table that held several crystal decanters and a set of clean glasses. "I brought you here since you said you needed somewhere private. You sounded like you were proposing a business deal."
He poured water from a glass pitcher into one of the glasses, the clear liquid sparkling in the lamplight. He walked back towards her, his movements smooth and unhurried, and handed her the glass. His eyes danced with amusement as he looked down at her.
"Or," he said, his voice dropping slightly, a smirk playing on his lips, "perhaps this wasn’t what you meant by ’private’, and you had other thoughts in mind?"
He had caught her completely. The blush on her cheeks deepened to a fiery crimson. She was mortified. To hide her embarrassment, she took the glass from him and took a large, quick sip, the cool water doing little to quell the heat in her face.
"You were the one making me uncomfortable," she said, her voice coming out a little defensive, a little flustered. She refused to meet his teasing gaze, focusing instead on a particularly thick book on a nearby shelf. "Talking about... about knowing it was my first time and trying not to be hard on me."
A light, genuine smile touched Eric’s lips. He seemed to be thoroughly enjoying her reaction. " Well I thought it’s your first time proposing marriage and I thought I should go easy on you." He smirked.
He walked back over to his desk and rested against it, crossing his arms over his broad chest. The posture was relaxed, yet it commanded the room. "But thats fair enough," he conceded, his smile lingering.
"So, now that we are in a suitably private setting, why don’t you tell me what you were saying earlier? You made a rather bold proposal."