Red Ink

The Better to Hear You With

Eleven: The Better to Hear You With

It is going on five days. Four nights and five days since he saw Red at her place.

When he left her to think, Wolfe felt an incredible feeling of nirvana. The dinner they shared was more like a date, despite the alien feeling of vulnerability. Wolfe has opened up to her, easily. It has been too easy to say all those words to Red, to tell her the truth of what has happened between him and Caroline. But has he said too much? He refuses to admit to the possibilities. It cannot be the reason why she hasn't called or contacted him in any way for five days. He will give her what she needs - time to think things through. But what if she somehow lost his number? Will she still find a way to see him? The waiting and guessing are nagging on his skin. He hasn't slept for four days . He has only thought of her, of their coupling in her office, of the way she looked out of the shower in that white shirt, of the feel and taste of her skin, her lips, and of the warmth that filled him when he was inside her. Wolfe wants it all back. He wants it all again.

"Wainright?" A faraway voice calls up to him but doesn't tug him away from his ministrations. "Wolfe. Wolfe!"

"What?" He turns to them, irritated.

The men seated at the conference table surreptitiously look at each other with questions in their minds. Micheline purses her lips.

"Do you have anything to add?" Micheline tilts her head towards the men, an eyebrow quirks.

They want his opinion. He still has a company to run after all. Red should only come secondary. This is his empire. In here, people do not ask how high before they jump, they just do, only because he hints that they should jump.

"Everything's great." He tells them but it doesn't escape him that they even look more worried than before. No, not worried, suspicious. They must think he's losing his mind. And maybe he is, but he's losing more than that to one woman. There's a tug in his chest that he has been incessant since seeing Red.

Micheline turns back to the group. "Perfect. The new directives should be implemented immediately. Anything else, you know how to find me." She dismisses the group right away. Once the door closes behind them, she turns back to Wolfe. "Tell me."

Wolfe avoids her glance. He knows that Red hasn't spoken to her too. "There's nothing to tell." He says but hopes that he isn't correct.

"Wolfe," Micheline pauses, formulating the right words to say. "She'll call. I'm sure of it. Just give her more time."

"It's been five days, Micah." He shows her his phone, displaying the the day's date.

"Then give her five more. There's nothin you can do. You'll only scare her to bits." Micheline gets up from her chair, piling her work together. "Maybe, just maybe, it's better you go away as planned, then when you come back, see her again."

Wolfe shoots up from his seat. "Leave without seeing her? I will be gone a while. Red isn't the type of woman to wait for a man."

"And you know this how?" Micah challenges.

Wolfe tugs at his ear. "I don't, clearly, I know nothing but I can't take that risk." He walks out of the conference room, ignoring every secret stare and wonder from every employee he passes. When he gets to the ante chamber of his office, his assistant stands.

"Someone's here to see you, Mr Wainright." Amber's bright smile is all fake to him. Every woman he will meet from here on in is fake, in comparison to the one woman he knows is not.

"Who?" Maybe it's her. Maybe it's Red, he secretly wishes. Before Amber replies, he opens the door to his office, and is surprised and dismayed to see who is waiting for him.