“It means exactly what I said. Where would you like to eat? The Crown Jewel again or someplace else? I have standing reservations at three restaurants not too far from here.”

“I bet you do,” I mumbled, still perplexed that he was standing in my office. Before I could utter another word, my stomach growled, embarrassingly loud. “Sorry, I skipped breakfast this morning,” I admitted.

Robert frowned deeply, eyes narrowing. “You haven’t eaten anything today?”

I thought about it and began shaking my head. “Oh no, I did have a granola bar this morning.” It was the last one in my desk. I often kept them in my office since I had a tendency to skip meals throughout the day. It was a bad habit, I knew, but working long hours didn’t exactly lend itself to being able to cook three meals a day, everyday.

“A granola bar …” he uttered, sounding pissed.

“I was supposed to go to lunch with Cohen—”

“Cohen.” He lifted a dark eyebrow.

“My, uh, boyfriend.” Why did saying that to him feel like some sort of betrayal?

His frown deepened as he glanced around. “Looks like he’s not here and you’re hungry.”

I didn’t need much convincing after that. I was hungry and had been expecting to actually leave my office for lunch. Why not with Robert?

Because he’s the man you’ve secretly pined over for five years.

“Everything alright?” he asked in my ear, as my own wayward thoughts had stopped me in my tracks.

I glanced back over my shoulder and nodded. “Yes, fine.”

Fifteen minutes later, I found myself being seated in one of the finest French restaurants in downtown Williamsport. It was only a few blocks from my office building, but I was surprised to come out and find Robert had a car waiting for us. Like he’d already stated, he had a standing reservation, ensuring that we didn’t have to wait in the crowded rush hour line to be seated.

“Thank you,” I thanked Robert after he waved the host off to hold my chair out for me. I got comfortable in the soft cushioning of the cream-colored, wooden chair. I watched him as he rounded the table, taking his own seat. “I love the food here,” I stated, covering my lap with the white linen napkin.

“You’ve been here before?”

I nodded, setting the glass of water back down that I’d just taken a sip of. “Yes, last year. The CEO of my company held a dinner here to celebrate the merger.”

Robert nodded. “I read about that in the paper. Glamour Cosmetics bought Enchanted, making it the second largest cosmetics company in the nation.”

I smiled, feeling proud even though the praise didn’t belong to me at all.

“I received an invite to that dinner. If I had known you were there, I wouldn’t have turned it down,” he stated sincerely.

“Why did you turn it down?” I wanted to know even though I was surprised to hear that someone in his industry had been invited to the dinner. Though, I shouldn’t have been. I was learning that many of those in the upper echelons of society often rubbed elbows with one another, no matter what industry they were in.