5 Chapter 5: Call Me Richard

The two of them, Richard and Samantha, kept each other company for a while longer that night. They took a small break and went to the coffee room once all documents had been printed and talked about many things.

“Wait, wait, wait,” Samantha said as she waved her hand in front of her face. Her sides were hurting as Richard, who sat in front of her, laughed as well. “So you ended up just staying there the entire night?”

He nodded, and she gasped.

“Well, what was I supposed to do?” he asked as he laughed with her.

For a short while, Samantha could not breathe. The image of this larger-than-life man, in his pristine suit and standing at least six feet, being scared into a tree by the mother of a litter of feral kittens he had disturbed was nothing short of hilarious.

“It is not like I just sat there in the branches the entire night,” Richard said, rolling his eyes as he took note of Samantha’s red face. “There was a treehouse there, and it had plenty of blankets and food.”

“Mr. Washington,” she gasped for air, “It does not matter if there was a five-star hotel up in that tree; you were still chased up there by a cat!”

He grumbled as she laughed at him; but, when he took a closer look at her reddened cheeks and watery eyes, he decided that he didn’t mind her laughing at him. Her giggles came to a stop when she realized he was staring at her.

He cleared his throat and looked away, and Samantha couple have sworn she saw a faint blush rise on his neck. “Anyway I was six,” he continued to elaborate on his story. “I was a scrawny kid, you know.”

“Well, it doesn’t seem like much has changed,” she teased him as she swirled her dark coffee in her cup and took a sip. Then she stuck her tongue out of her mouth at the bitter taste in the liquid; Richard noticed this silently and took her cup from her to put in more sugar.

Samantha knew her statement was not true. He was not a scrawny man by any means—and by the sly smirk on his face when he caught her staring, she knew he knew that as well.

“Maybe I can blame it on the work food. Corporate life barely leaves time for good, hearty meals these days,” he told her as he handed back her now-sweetened coffee.

“Well, that is horrible, indeed,” Samantha agreed as she took back her beverage. “I suppose you don’t visit your mother often then?”

Richard shook his head. “No, my mother and I are not particularly close.”

Then her eyes widened at the rather personal question and she quickly made to apologize. “I didn’t mean to sound—”

But Richard sat back in his chair as he observed her.

“I just meant—you know people should have good meals at least once during the day.”

For some strange reason, a need overtook her to make the man before her food. She was not sure whether it came from knowing he did not have anyone to do it for him—and no one should live that way—or something else she had not recognized yet. Her mouth was speaking before her head could catch up.

“I mean… I could make you some food if you don’t have…” Then her eyebrows furrowed together as she stopped herself, and she wondered just what in the hell had come over her. ‘He is your boss, Samantha,’ she berated herself in her head.

But, when she raised her eyes to meet his and retract her offer, she saw him leaning back in the small-looking plastic chair with his arms crossed over his chest and a sly smile over his face.

One of his eyebrows rose as if he was asking her whether she would continue her sentence.

Just as he had done before, Samantha cleared her throat and took a sip of her coffee to distract herself. A sudden tension had entered the room uninvited, and Samantha continued to avert her gaze from his as it drilled into her.

Her saving grace was the arrival of Ryan, who walked into the break room and stared at them both. Samantha did not miss the momentary look of shock on his face as he stared at the blushing Samantha and his boss, who had an equally teasing smile on his face.

“Ryan,” Samantha greeted him in surprise. “Did you work this late, too?” When she took note of the small clock on the tiled wall, she saw that it was almost three in the morning. She stood up as Ryan began to give his response.

“No, Miss Williams, I am here to pick up Mr. Washington.”

Samantha gave a dramatic gasp of horror as she pointed a finger at Richard.

“Shame on you,” she said as she gathered her own documents from the table, “Making this poor man work at this ungodly hour—oh you poor thing,” she cooed at Ryan as she patted his arm gently.

Unknown to her, the look on Richard’s face had turned from an adoring gaze to a somewhat sour expression as he watched her fuss over Ryan. Something throbbed in his chest that he had not felt in a long time—jealousy? Over a woman he had met not three weeks ago?

Ryan noted the look on his boss’s face immediately, but, having never seen this side of Richard before, only moved to milk the situation in his favor. Ryan hung his head low as Samantha still fussed over him and nodded at her questions about whether he was tired at all.

Samantha only turned her scouring eyes to Richard and chastised him for overworking his employees. She noted the tick in his jaw then, but thought nothing of it and laughed as she walked away. But Richard’s rough voice called out to her.

“You are right, of course, Samantha.” Richard used her first name pettily as if he was trying to prove their closeness compared to hers and Ryan’s. Then he looked to his right-hand man once and gave him a nod, indicating that he could take Samantha home, though he seemed to grimace at this thought.

As Ryan led Samantha to the door, Richard suddenly called, “I’ll take you up on that offer sometime. To make me some food.” He grinned. “I can’t wait to see what your cooking is really like.”

Samantha blushed.

“But since it’s already so late,” Richard continued, “why don’t you get takeout from that great Chinese place down the street. My treat.” He handed his card to Ryan before turning on his heel and shutting himself into his office.

-----------A Few Weeks Later

From that day on, Ryan and Samantha often teamed together to tease Richard whenever they had the chance. Those chances were few and far between with the uptight CEO, but it served as one of the many bridging points in their friendship.

Samantha had grown to see Ryan as a dear friend, to the point where she had even valued his opinion on her project development. Which was why she was searching for him all throughout the office on that Tuesday afternoon.

Instead, she ran into the hard back of Richard Washington as she tried to rub the sleep from her eyes.

“Oh,” She said as he turned around and greeted her. “Do you happen to know where Ryan is?” She looked around, not really taking Richard’s presence into much consideration.

“I haven’t. Do you need help with something?”

She looked up at him then and bit her lip in consideration. She wasn’t sure what the rules were exactly about asking your boss for help with a project he had assigned to you. So, she shook her head as she made to move past him.

She stopped in her tracks, however, when he caught onto her elbow softly and asked her, “If you’re looking for Ryan to help you, can’t you use me instead?”

Her stomach did a twirl at his honest request, and she nodded slowly as she tried to pull her eyes away from him.

So, she presented her current dilemma with regard to the structural aspects of her plan. She wasn’t sure where to find the balance between aesthetic and convenience for the specific layout of the main room.

Richard gave some pointers where he could, and offered his strong opinions on what he was looking for. Moving to a small desk located near them, Samantha pulled out her pencil from behind her ear and sketched a small design according to both his needs and wants.

When she pulled the final print away and held it up for both of them to see, he whistled once and placed his hand at the top of her back.

“I’m impressed,” He told her honestly. “You didn’t seem to need much of my help. Are you sure you weren’t just looking for an excuse to speak with Ryan?”

She laughed at his teasing voice and thought she might hear something else under it.

“Nonsense.” she waved him off. “You helped plenty. Thank you, boss!” she told him as she began to walk away.

Suddenly, her boss twisted around, his large hand catching her wrist. She felt a searing heat run up her arm from where his fingers were wrapped around it, and her eyes shot up in surprise to meet his. They seemed to bore into her, with a dim, shrouded glow like embers in a fireplace. The blood rushed to her face unbidden.

“Richard,” he said.

“What?”

“Not ‘boss,’” He clarified. “Call me Richard.”

And she found her stomach doing that similar twisting motion it always seemed to be doing around him. She nodded slowly.