Silver and Bold

by Amber Burns

  Enya shifted in her seat. Too hot in this restaurant.

  “It’s simple. I ask questions. You give answers.”

  “With one condition,” Enya shot back. “If I answer your question, I get to ask one in return. Fair, is it not?”

  Two could play this game, though Enya wasn’t sure she could ask any of the questions that she really wanted to. Like “Your place or mine?” or “Is the backseat of my car ok?”. Still, she was going to use this game to her benefit. The more she discovered about Mr. Silversson, the better strategy she could come up with to stand against him.

  “Fair. I’ll start.”

  Enya shifted nervously, trying to prepare answers to any of the questions he could throw at her. She recalled profit and loss figures, annual growth, anything and everything she could use to defend the existence of her business to this tycoon.

  “Will you go out on a date with me?”

  “Is that your question?” Was the only response Enya could manage.

  She was expecting him to ask about her ambitions, her business. Probing questions he could use to figure out how to play her. But this? Especially when they just met for what Enya continued to assume were negotiations.

  “Yes,” he responded simply. “And yours counts as a question too. Now, answer mine!”

  “No, wait. You said this was strictly business!”

  “This dinner is. Strictly business, as you sid. Or did you have other expectations, Ms. Williams?”

  She did, but he didn’t know that… or shouldn’t have known that. Enya took a moment to collect herself, once again, and form an argument.

  “Yes, Mr. Silversson. I came here with expectations to find something human in you. To learn that you feel at least a tiny bit guilty for stealing my business. Yes, I hoped you’d get out of your Mr. Perfect persona and show there is something real about you.”

  “Agree to a date and I’ll show you all those sides you want,” he winked.

  It was one thing to pretend this was not a date. But agreeing to his offer would officially mean mixing business with personal. That was one rule Enya did not want to break.

  “Is that how all your business meetings end, Mr. Silversson?”

  “No. This is quite the exception, Ms. Williams. And I suspect you haven’t been asked on a date for quite a long time.”

  How dare he?! Enya’s mind raced. She knew that this was his plan all along; to get her angry, to make her say things she would not say otherwise. As much as Enya knew she was playing into his hands, she couldn’t help her anger.

  “Wrong!” she spat back. “I had a date a few weeks ago. On a rooftop and it was hot.”

  As soon as the words spilled from her mouth she knew it was a mistake. She had hid the roof-top rendezvous from her best friends for weeks, but now she was just spilling it out here to a stranger.

  “Brave!”

  No other word. No reaction on his face. Was that what he thought of her? Was he waiting for her to elaborate more details? Enya did not like not understanding men. That’s why she had always chosen boring guys like Jake.

  “What about you?” Enya tried to break the awkward pause.

  “I don’t do dating, darling. As I said, you are an exception.”

  The silence that followed next, when both of them were busy eating their salads was unbearable.

  Is he still waiting for her answer or simply checking my reaction?

  As much as the person sitting in front of her attracted her with his looks, her mind always skipped back to the guy she had not mentioned to anyone else until now. She was comparing them, something that was always a bad sign in Enya’s world.

  He watched her as she ate. He watched her as she talked to their waiter who brought their main course and refilled their glasses. Everything about Thomas Silversson charmed her. Yet, he was like a dangerous predator; stalking his prey, luring into his claws. Waiting until it, she, was begging for him to devour her. If this was his game, the man was damn good at it. She had no way to win it. Still, Enya was not a woman to give up.

  “Are we still playing at questions and answers?” Enya asked when his silence was unbearable.

  “Yes. My turn,” he grinned.

  As much as it angered her that he twisted this to his benefit again, Enya also found some sense of thrill to it.

  “How did you break up with your ex?” Thomas asked.

  Enya never remembered mentioning her ex to him. She guessed that he was just assuming she would have one and not currently be in a relationship.

  “He broke up with me,” Enya was surprised that the statement did not hurt as much as it did before.

  She was used to being the one to let them go, to figure out they had reached a dead-end. With Jake, things had been different. Everything seemed perfect, until one day he asked her to choose between him and her business.

  “He thought I was too busy and did not give him the attention he deserved,” she shrugged.

  Ironic, her ex had asked her to work less and she had chosen her work over him. Now, she was sitting here and breathing unevenly for a man who was not asking but crashing her business and enjoying the whole process of it at a nice dinner in a fancy restaurant. And Enya still considered herself the reasonable smart woman.

  “Did he break your heart or hurt your pride?”

  “You’ll get to ask it next time. It’s my turn. Tell me about your family.”

  “That’s not a question. Try to ask something.”

  “Who are your parents? Do you have siblings? Are you close with them? Did they help you with your career?”

  She might’ve had all of those answers if she had done proper research about him. Usually, there would be complete biographies about persons as renowned as the founder of Silversson Industries. Enya was pretty sure she remembered Karo complaining that his life story started from the moment he dropped out from Harvard to start his first business initiative. Enya was quite sure the interesting part of the story lay way back in his past.

  “That’s four questions,” Thomas clarified. “Lucky for you there is only one answer to all of those questions: no. No siblings. Not close with my parents, and they didn’t help me one bit. The last time I saw my parents I was five. They drove me to my grandma’s place and as I was walking out of the car, they promised to be back soon. That never happened.”

  For just a moment his arrogant billionaire mask started to fade away. It was only for a moment though, when he mentioned his grandmother. Enya leaned closer to hear the rest of the story. Thomas Silversson brought his glass of wine to his lips, drank it all and one blink later, he was back into the playful bad boy skin again.

  “Four questions from me now,” he warned her. “Will you go out on a date with me?”

  “No.”

  “Will you go out on a date with me if I promise to behave?”

  Highly suspicious offer. “No”

  “Will you go out on a date with me if I offer you a new location for your shop – in the city center? For free.”

  “No.”

  “Will you go on a date with me to my grandma’s place where I grew up?”

  If she ever got to see the true face Thomas Silversson, this was going to be the only place he would be exposed. Meeting the grandma of the person who was crushing her dreams was not really a promising start of a romance either. Enya chewed on a huge mushroom, devoured two small broccoli florets and several arrows of asparagus while she tries to consider all the pros and cons. Who was she fooling, though? She knew the answer all along.

  “Yes,” she said and stuffed her face with another mushroom hoping that it would prevent her smile from being too obvious.

  9

  Tiny raindrops hit the windshield of Thomas Silversson’s car, reflecting the bright yellow street lights. Those shiny droplets reminded him of something he was not sure he liked to be reminded of. They were as lively as Enya’s freckles. He wasn’t sure why the sight of them turned him on so much.

  “Perfect, no
w even the rain is about her,” Thomas was not sure how he liked that realization.

  He liked beautiful women, in fact, too many of them. He adored edgy, smart and stubborn ones, though as sexy as such women were, Thomas valued his drama-free life too much to get involved with a complicated woman. That was not a rule or anything, he simply knew his priorities.

  Enya Willams featured all of those qualities: stubborn as the wind, unpredictable as thunder, yet cute as tonight’s rain. All he could think about was seeing again her tonight. He could think of nothing but her since he woke up that morning. He had rescheduled several meetings just to give himself the time to collect his thoughts and figure out what he expected from tonight. Holding business meetings when Enya’s pretty face occupied most of his mind could not be exactly qualified as being cool-headed and he couldn’t afford being known as anything but that.

  Thomas’ phone buzzed. His favorite personal assistant mobile app informed him that it was Daniel - his business associate. He had canceled this afternoon's meeting with Dan as well. Thomas considered not answering the call but knew better than that. If Daniel wanted to talk to him, he would not stop calling until he answered. He was surprised Dan had been okay when he canceled this meeting earlier today. Though apparently not as okay as he might’ve thought, being that he was calling again. Thomas answered the phone and turned on the loudspeakers.

  “Daniel,” he greeted him formally as was expected from him.

  “I hope I am not interrupting anything important,” Dan spoke in his flattering voice. This was going to be a long conversation; Thomas knew it from Dan's tone immediately.

  “Driving. Has Meredith rescheduled our meeting to tomorrow morning? Can it wait until then?”

  Thomas was trying to get rid of Dan and if he didn’t terminate the conversation quickly, that was never going happen.

  “It can if you want to,” Dan did not sound very happy with that. Still, he knew disagreeing with the head of Silversson Industries was not a thing to do hot-headedly. “Let me just remind you that we are already one week behind our schedule. The deconstruction of the area for the shopping and entertainment center was to start last Monday. As of today, we still have one small shop declining every offer that we've made.”

  “I’ve told you I will deal with that shop.”

  “And I respect that decision, Thomas, you know that.”

  “Then, I do not see the emergency of this conversation.”

  Dan might’ve had a reason if the money was what mattered to Thomas. Supervising the finances was Dan's responsibility and Thomas could not be angry at him for wanting to do his job properly.

  As the head of Silversson Industries, Thomas had things to consider other than just money. Sometimes, a week's loss was the least he could pay to have his future customer's loyalty and satisfaction. However, a week's worth of profit or costs was also not a joke. Luckily, Thomas L. Silversson could afford to pay that cost if that meant solid foundation for his new project. He could pay good money for not compromising his principles. That was how he had made it big before he was even thirty. That was how he kept his corporation flourishing for the next seven years. He was not changing any of it or having it any other way.

  The fact that the one resisting stubborn business lady was also the woman who had stolen his breath from the very first moment he laid eyes on her was an additional challenge. He might’ve not wanted it that way but the challenge was worth the game.

  He was early. Driving another circle around the neighborhood would be a good way to kill some time while enjoying the rain softly drumming against the windows of his car. A part of him, the introvert hidden deep behind the mask of the billionaire bad boy, wished he could spend this night alone. He would take a long walk wondering in the streets, laughing at those idiots who ran through the rain as if they had something more important to do. As if they could save themselves from getting wet. Not when the rain had targeted them and doomed to its wet embrace.

  He could also have spent the night in his penthouse. He could have opened a bottle of fine red wine, turned off the lights and sat by the window as he watched the city be washed in thousands of shiny lights from every window around him. This was a fine night to be alone. Yet, he also couldn’t wait for the minutes pass by so that he could park in front of Enya’s shop and pick her up. This rainy night was an intimate thing to share with a woman. As powerful as Thomas was, he wouldn’t interfere with the decision the rain had made for them.

  He drove past Enya’s shop for the third time. My fault for arriving so early. He could see several customers enjoying their after-work sweets. None of them hurried into the rain. Not when they could ask the cute shop assistant for a refill of their coffee or chocolate and enjoy another piece of those magnificent desserts. Enya was nowhere to be seen. He imagined she was inside, probably getting ready for him to pick her up, maybe looking at herself in the mirror and trying to choose shoes to go with her dress.

  It took all the willpower Thomas had to make another circle around her building until it was the time to pick Enya up. He was glad for the rain. She would not feel his palms were slightly damp with nervousness.

  “Beautiful!” Thomas greeted her; though he hated the scarf that she had wrapped around her shoulders. He knew he would have to get it off of her.

  “Beautiful yourself, Mr. Silversson,” her smile gave away the confusion and unease she still felt around him. Feeling that was not there when they first met. A meeting that she did not relate to their relationship and that hurt him more than anything else.

  “Thomas,” he corrected. “We are not in a business meeting. No need to address each other so formally.”

  He opened the door and she rolled her eyes at him before getting into the car. If she only knew how happy that little gesture made him feel. The ride to his grandma's place was surprisingly friendly. She did not blame him for ruining her dreams, he did not try to buy her business. It was as if the conflict between the pair did not exist. She was just a woman worried about meeting a man's grandmother on their very first date.

  The second, he reminded himself bitterly.

  Thomas surprised himself every time realizing how that little disappointment got into him. She could not see him, did not see through the mask he was wearing. Not the one he wore that night, but the one he had right now.

  “Any hints on dos and don’ts when meeting your grandma?” Enya finally asked.

  “Nothing to worry, my darling,” he enjoyed her misery.

  And he could always add more to that by looking at her from the corner of his eyes, knowing how she flinched under the piercing gaze of his. He enjoyed how she shifted in her seat and started playing with the hem of her dress.

  Beautiful.

  Thomas found himself hating the steering wheel that he held in his hands. Despite it luxurious finish, it was not the touch he wanted in his palms. He hoped his hands would be elsewhere soon.

  As soon as they arrived, Thomas rushed out of the car. He was so impatient, and uncharacteristically nervous, that he didn't open the door for her as he typically did. Once he realized his error he found Enya already standing next to him on the sidewalk approaching his Grandmother’s house. Thomas chided himself for the misstep, though he was sure she'd forgive her that small misdeed.

  The pair approached the modest house and Thomas leaned in, opening the door. Enya paused, her eyes wide with surprise.

  “Will it not be better to ring the bell?” she whispered.

  “I have the key to this house too,” he simply said.

  “But you are bringing someone to your grandma’s. Someone she does not know,” Enya still insisted.

  Thomas seemed to ignore Enya’s comment and entered the home. He found the switch to turn on the lights in the corridor and invited Enya in. She hesitated but took his hand as she walked into the house. Something in this moment reminded Thomas of the very first time he had walked into this place and met the unfamiliar woman who was introduced as his grandmothe
r. For a five-year-old boy, it was such a shock to discover he had a grandmother.

  Shaking his head, Thomas worked to clear his mind; childhood memories were not the part of his plans for tonight. As soon as he closed the door, he knew he was probably pushing his luck too far, but couldn't resist hugging her waist from behind. It felt too good to finally have her soft body pressed against his chest again.

  “What are you doing?” Enya asked in a terrified voice. She was whispering and that made him laugh in response. “Your grandma will come to greet us any moment now. What will she think if she finds us like this?”

  “Don’t worry, beautiful, Grandma does not live in this house anymore.”