Chapter 70: Trying New Things
As a human being, as a leader. There were many instances where Derek was not alright and he carried on as though everything was fine and dandy. His mask firmly in place, not a single crack showing anywhere.
It was a learned skill, one that had taken him many years of trial and error to master. But he liked to think that he had finally managed it.
After all when his uncle had pulled his stunt with the solar power plant, Derek had kept his cool outwardly. The only person who’d had an inkling of how much the whole thing was weighing on him had been his PA.
But now the tables had turned, the person right after his mother, whom he could trust whenever he was feeling out of sorts. Was the very reason that Derek was feeling out of sorts. The very first thing that had come to mind when he had seen Emily on Monday morning had not been the good morning that had ended up leaving his lips.
Instead, it had been ’ Emily Molson, please spend the night with me. I promise it will be the best sleep you have ever had. Just spend the night with me and you will see,’ Even to his own ears he had sounded like a villain in a bad movie. Luckily he had been able to stop such cheesy words from leaving his mouth.
But the problem had not ended there, it had persisted throughout the week.
On Tuesday, he had called her in for their regular scheduling meeting. And while Emily had been the picture of professionalism, carefully taking down notes and asking questions where it was relevant. Derek, a man who prided himself in his iron-clad control over himself, had not been in control of himself at all, let alone acting professionally.
Throughout the meeting, he had been leaning over Emily as much as he could. Going back to sit down on his chair and then getting up in the next, just so he could go lean over her shoulder, pretending to read something. Each time he had leaned down, he had tried to get closer. Hoping that her magical ability to get him to sleep could be transmitted through the air.
It had not been transmitted through the air and Derek had gone home to spend yet another sleepless night wondering what he had done that was so bad that it deserved lack of sleep as a punishment.
On Wednesday he’d happened to catch her eye. At first, he had thought that she was staring at his chest, but then she had undone her hair clip. Letting her hair flow down one shoulder and Derek had chastised himself. Of course, she had not been staring, she had just been thinking about her hair and whether or not she let it down. The action of letting her hair down had probably been an innocent one, but it had wreaked havoc on Derek’s poor soul.
The last time that he had seen her hair down, had been just after waking up at the motel. Waking up, because he had actually slept that night. With a wistful sigh, Derek had forced himself to look away from her wavy hair and back at his work. By that time, Emily, unaware of his reaction was already hard at work.