“Good morning,” I told him. He kissed my cheek and pulled me into an embrace.
“How are you feeling? You feel so thin… have you been eating?”
I pulled back and smiled at him. “I feel much better, thank you. I may have lost a little weight from throwing up, but not too much. I’m eating fine now.”
“Good, I’ve been worried. I think just to be sure, I should take you out for a nice dinner tonight.”
I was shaking and I hoped that he didn’t notice. I wasn’t sure how I was going to spend time with him without him knowing something was wrong. I’m not that good of an actress and I’m a terrible liar. But, if I stopped spending time with him I was losing out, and he would start asking questions that I couldn’t answer.
“I’d love that,” I told him.
“Good, I’ll make reservations. I have meetings all afternoon but I should be finished up by six.”
“That sounds perfect,” I told him. “How did the rest of the party turn out the other night?”
“It went well. Did you see the write-up and the photos in the paper
s?”
“No, I missed them.”
“You can look at them online,” he said. “They got some great pictures of you. You looked amazing in your gown.”
“Before I puked in the gutter?” I said with a smile.
“You looked gorgeous after that too,” he said. “You were as pale as a sheet though, that worried me more than anything.”
“I’m sorry I worried you. I’m good now though, lots of color in the cheeks.”
He kissed me on one of them and said, “Much better, beautiful.”
Aaron kissed my lips then. His kisses caused me to feel like my insides were melting and there was no way to stay stressed or anxious whilst we connected. By the time he left and went back to his office I was feeling almost normal again. I didn’t even need the kiss. Just being with him gave me such a warm, safe feeling no matter what else was going on. I turned the monitor back on and looked at it. The sick feeling returned in the pit of my stomach as I started once again deciding how to go about embezzling seventy-five thousand dollars.
I managed to get some real work done and “borrow” twenty-five hundred dollars that first day. I’d managed to just move things around so that on the books it looked like the money had gone towards departmental expenses. It was a very small start, but it was a start. I wasn’t proud of myself in the least, but I was at least relieved to know I was beginning to figure this all out. It would be over soon and I’d be rid of Igor and Aaron’s reputation wouldn’t be in jeopardy any longer.
I went home right after work and got ready for Aaron to pick me up for dinner. He got there at exactly seven and we went to a nice, quiet little Sushi bar that he knew I loved. I ordered a veggie roll and iced tea. Aaron asked if my stomach was still bothering me and I lied and said that it wasn’t but I wanted to ease back into eating for a few days. The truth was, just looking at his beautiful face sitting across the table from me was causing me to feel sick again. It was like the guilt was eating me from the inside out. I tried hard to push it down and concentrate on Aaron. I really didn’t want to go through all of this and lose him anyways because he found me to be distant and emotional all the time.
I did my best to make pleasant conversation as we ate and then afterwards he drove us to the park for a walk in the moonlight. Winter was slowly turning to spring and the night was alive with the smell of freshly blooming flowers and the new leaves on the trees were dazzling against the moonlight. As we strolled along the cobbled paths hand in hand I was able to, for just a little while, let my mind and body both begin to relax.
We walked in mostly comfortable silence until we came to the edge of the little man-made lake in the park. Aaron put his arms around my waist and looked down at my face. He smiled gently and then he cupped my chin in one of his hands and brought his lips down to meet mine. The connection of our lips sent hot sparks of electricity racing through me. No matter how many times we kissed, or in how many different places he still made me shudder. The warm, soft texture of his lips was intoxicating in and of themselves, but when our lips parted and our tongues joined together in a beautiful dance, the weight of the world fell completely off my shoulders. My blood was boiling by the time he broke the kiss and pulled me deeper into his chest to nestle my head against him. I felt so safe standing there in his arms, like nothing could ever hurt me.
"Can I tell you something?” he asked, looking down at me.
“Always,” I told him.
“The first time I saw you… the day you stepped on the elevator as I stepped off, kissing you was all I could think about. I imagined it, fantasized about it, built it up in my head, so much so that I was afraid the real thing could never measure up…”
“Did it?” I asked him.
“No,” he said with a straight face. Then with his fingers still on my chin to tilt it upwards he kissed me softly again and said, “It surpassed it by miles.”
“You make me so happy,” I told him.
“I hope so,” he said. “Lately I’ve been a little concerned that you’re having regrets about us. Your moods have been a little off…”
“Oh no! No! No! No! Please don’t ever think that. Nothing makes me happier than being with you!” I had tears in my eyes again.
“Shh! Shh! Baby it’s okay. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you.”
I threw myself back into his arms and said, “You didn’t, I’m sorry. I’ve just been emotional lately. I think it has something to do with being sick. I’m not sure. Please don’t ever think I don’t want to be with you. I would do anything to be with you… anything.” I meant that. I couldn’t tell him outright that I was stealing from him in hopes of staying with him. It didn’t make any sense at all when I thought of it like that. I couldn’t start trying to talk myself out of it now though; it was already in the works.