His Dark Obsession

Chapter 8: Chance Encounter

Tara's cab headed down Fifth Avenue as the sidewalk brimmed with frolicking tourists and New York's own. Tara carried with her a picnic basket she had prepared for herself and Jake, she wanted to surprise him with a picnic lunch at Central Park. Jake had called her a day before, to ask her for a lunch date, they had planned to meet at his office and head to a restaurant from there. Tara, however, decided to give her boyfriend, a sweet surprise - she concluded that a routine lunch at a restaurant didn't hold a candle to a lunch prepared by a doting girlfriend. She was excited about her plan and she hoped that Jake would love her little surprise. She had been in her kitchen all morning fixing up a delicious meal for the both of them.
In the two months that Jake and Tara had been dating, they had gotten to know each other a lot; Tara knew that she truly liked Jake and she felt that Jake was developing a deeper interest in her as well. The surprise picnic was her way of showing him that he was special to her.
Tara entered the sixty story, marble encrusted building - adorned in black windows and stone, and headed to the reception.
"Hi, I am heading to Blaine Advertising?"
Tara informed a stately, petite blonde at the front desk.
"Yes, ma'am. Their offices are on the 55th floor. You can use one of the elevators to your right." The blonde pointed to Tara's right and gave her a dignified smile.
"Thank you, have a nice day."
When Tara got close to the elevator, she found the door closing so she hurriedly pressed a button for it to open for her. The doors re-opened and she started stepping in.
"Hello!" Two electric blues eyes stared at her with what could only be called amused fascination.
"Hi. Ian? Right?" Tara replied feeling startled by his presence. This was the second time she was meeting Jake's friend and he still jolted her a little.
"Yes, you remember!" He smiled as he said this, and then looked at Tara, holding her in his deep, intense stare,"You are here for Jake?"
"Yes, we have a lunch date." Tara replied and when she saw his expressions change a little, she asked, "Is something wrong?"
"Um...I hate to be the one to spoil your plans but Jake had to go meet a client in a hurry....Didn't he mention it to you?"
"No, he didn't." Tara replied, suddenly feeling sullen.
"It was an emergency meeting, Tara. He must have forgotten." Ian wanted to let her know that it wasn't Jake's fault that he wasn't at the office. And also, he didn't want her to assume that Jake was casual and unconcerned about his plans with her.
Tara listened to him like a young child getting important lessons from her tutor. When she heard him say her name in that husky voice of his, it did strange things to her inside. She concluded that men like Ian should not be allowed to roam free in the world. His kind was extremely dangerous for women's mental and physical health.
"Is something funny?" Ian asked Tara when he saw her concealing a smile.
"No, nothing!"
Ian smirked at her reaction. "You can tell me, you know."
"It was a funny observation. Nothing much."
"Oh!" Ian felt intrigued, here was a girl whose date had forgotten to cancel their plans, and yet somehow she had found a reason to smile. Whatever inside joke Tara was smirking about, seemed to be about him!
Before Ian could prod further into Tara's cause for amusement, the elevator door opened on the 55th floor.
"Oh boy! I suppose...I'll leave now. Since Jake isn't here." Tara announced to Ian and started to press the ground floor button.
Ian, as he was stepping out of the elevator, turned around and held a button so that the elevator door won't close.
"Would you like to have an office tour before you go? I'll hate sending you away from the elevator like this. Jake won't let me hear the end of it!"
"Oh! That's kind of you but I wouldn't want to impose. I know you are a busy man."
Ian still held the button,"I am not busy right now. It is the lunch hour."
It was a strange moment between the two of them, Ian's eyes held Tara's gaze - they persisted that she stay and she didn't know what else to do but adhere to their command.
"I suppose...I could take a look around...." Tara agreed with a weak smile.
Tara stepped off the elevator and Ian finally let go of button, closing the elevator door.
They stood facing each other for a few seconds too long, before Ian decided to say something, "I suppose starting the tour with my office is the sensible way to go about it?!"
Tara laughed a little, "Makes sense, you are the boss!"
Ian was surprised to find out that she knew he owned Blaine Advertising; seemed like Jake discussed Ian with his dates -- he didn't know why that was though! Tara walked alongside Ian as he led her to his office.
Tara decided that making conversation might rid them of all the awkwardness, "How long have you known Jake?"
"We have been friends since the first day of highschool."
"Wow, that's long! And then you decided to work together?"
"Yes, you see, we also attended college together! We never lost touch. It seemed natural progression to be working together after all that! We have always been very close. When I came up with the idea of this company, the first person I went to was Jake!"
"Jake's always telling me you are his closest friend."
"Well, it is the same for me. He and I are more brothers than friends....Ah! We have arrived."
Ian's office had glass walls. Looking inside, Tara could see a huge space with white furnishing and a black desk with a black swivel chair. Ian lead her inside and stopped by his desk giving a cursory glance to documents that were placed on his table.
As Tara was scanning Ian's minimalist office space, her phone started to ring. It was Jake.
Tara grabbed her phone and answered, "Jake, hi! Yes...I am at your office! I ran into Ian, and he let me know that you had to head out for an emergency meeting."
She paused a little as she heard Jake on the other line and then replied, "No, it's fine. He is actually giving me a tour...no, we can have our lunch some other day...he wants to talk to you."
Tara handed her cellphone to Ian, "Jake!...Yes, I thought you won't like it if she turns back from the elevator. Ok...sure. You take your time. See ya!"
Ian turned off the phone as he handed it back to Tara, "He wants you to have lunch here before you head back. He feels terrible about not being here. He has instructed me to order lunch for you!"
"Ian, you don't have to!" Tara already felt that she had overstayed her welcome.
"I think you have no choice in the matter! Plus, I also need to eat." Ian persisted.
It was then that Tara was reminded of all the food she was carrying. She decided it was better to eat lunch and then head back.
"Ian, this totally slipped my mind. I have all this food with me. I was thinking of having a picnic lunch with Jake and I had prepared all this."
Ian looked at the picnic basket in her hand, "I was wondering what that was...didn't seem polite to just ask."
"Well, it's lunch! Are you up for some picnic food in the confines of your office?"
Ian's smile broadened, "This is turning out to be a fantastic day!"
Tara reddened a bit thinking that Ian really liked the idea of a home-cooked meal.
To Ian it was not just the meal that had made the day fabulous, it was Tara's presence in his office; for once he wanted to forget the fact that the girl standing in front of him was his best friend's girlfriend, he wanted to indulge in the pleasure of Tara's company and eat the scrumptious food she was setting on his office table. It was an awfully fetching picture. The girl he had been dreaming about was suddenly in front of him, in his office, setting up food for him, food that she had cooked herself. He wanted to get up, grab her by the waist and give her a thorough kiss.
He checked his thoughts as soon as they crossed his mind. "This looks delicious, Tara! I can't believe you were going to rob me of the pleasure of having a home-cooked meal by leaving immediately!"
"Oh, I don't know if you'll like it much, I am not the greatest of cooks!"
"I am sure it'll be great." Ian kept staring at her perfect form as she finished setting up the food. What have I gotten myself into? Ian silently rebuked himself for the vile things he was thinking. If things were different, he would have taken her right here - on his office desk.