She pushed herself away from him.
"Alex..." She said.
He held onto her tightly.
"Where are you going?" He said softly.
"Alex--"
"This turbulence isn't done yet. We need to stay here and ride this one out together." He was staring deeply into her eyes, just inches away from her, his hand still pressed firmly to her lower abdomen, and hers still resting on his inner thigh.
"Alex, is there something going on here?"
"I don't know." He said. "You tell me."
She couldn't answer. She was confused. Maybe she did want to be a rich man's plaything after all. Just for one night. Maybe it would be an experience, like climbing Mount Kilimanjaro or trekking through the Himalayas. Take a few pictures, write a letter home, and then tell the grandchildren about it one day.
She pushed herself away more firmly, extricating herself from his arms.
"Alex, I really can't do this. I'm sorry. I've been hurt before."
He sat up quickly, a furious look in his eye.
"Who? Who was it?"
"It's okay Alex, I don't mean like that. I just mean that I've gotten involved with someone I worked with before and it didn't turn out well."
"Someone at Drummond?" He sounded intense now, as though he would throttle whoever it was who dared to come near her. She couldn't possibly say it was about Mitch. As much as she despised her manager, she didn't want Alex to fire him. She knew it was absolutely against company policy for romantic liaisons to take place between employees at unequal levels of seniority. Mitch would be fired immediately and that was still a step beyond what she was willing to do.
"Don't you work for Drummond Corporation, too?" She said.
"Damn it." He said. "Yes I do. But that can be fixed. I can resign."
Was she hearing right? Why would he have to resign? He owned the company. He could do whatever he wanted.
"Alex, we don't even know each other. I don't know you at all. "
"What is there to know?" He sounded urgent. The two of them were still sitting on the bed together; he put his big hands to her shoulders and turned her to face towards him. Melanie felt like warm putty in his hands and she wanted him now and desperately wanted him to just take her, so that she wouldn't have to take responsibility for the consequences.
"Why does life have to be so damn complicated? Aren't we just a man and a woman? Just two people like any other who--"
"Know absolutely nothing about each other." She interrupted.
"That's not true." He insisted. "You're Melanie Hutchinson. You're the most beautiful woman I've ever seen. You care deeply about people. You're a loyal person, a good person and all you want to do is be happy and to do the right thing."