24

Karter

Almost immediately after snapping at Marie, I regretted it. But me being the dick I am, I didn't bother apologizing.

The entire long car ride to the restaurant was silent. It was very obvious that Marie was mad at me, I don't blame her. It's just that I get very touchy when people ask me questions about my family life. She told me about her family and everything, why couldn't I have simply told her that I had a daughter? I didn't have to give her all the details just tell her about Millie.

I'll be honest, I was going to tell her one day. I was, I really was and it sucks that she found out this way. I really should apologize to her.

I open my mouth to speak when I was interrupted by Richie, "Sir, we're here" he says.

I simply smile at him and walk out of the car. I see Marie already out of the car and standing in front of the restaurant.

"Shall we?" I ask extending my hand towards her.

"That's not very professional of you." She gestures to my hand. She's clearly mad.

"We should get going before our clients leave." Marie says avoiding eye contact. I nod my head and walk inside with Marie beside me.

We were greeted by the waiter who showed us where Mr and Mrs Jackson are waiting for us. We thank him and walk to their table.

"Karter, good to see you. This is my wife and business partner Amelia" Charles smiles at me.

"Pleasure to meet you" I shake his wife's hand.

"This is my assistant, Marie." I say.

Marie smiles, "Hello, nice to meet you" they exchange their hellos and we all take a seat.

Marie and I on one side and Charles and Amelia on the other.

The dinner was going quite well, without the fact that Marie was completely ignoring me. I really should apologize to her.

After ordering dessert, Charles suggested that we have a few drinks.

"The bar's right over there, Marie and I can get the drinks for everyone!" I smile.

As soon as the words left my mouth, Marie was glaring at me.

"That'd be nice. Thank you" Amelia smiles.

I get up and look at Marie ,"Come on Marie. Let's get the drinks"

Marie gets up from her seat and follows me to the bar.

"We'll have 2 bourbons, a whiskey and Marie what would you like?" I ask looking at her.

Marie doesn't bother looking at me, "I'll have a vodka cherry" she smiles at the bartender.

"You're pretty good at this you know? Ignoring me. Makes me wonder how often you do it." I say.

"I'm not ignoring anyone" Marie mumbles still not making eye contact with me.

I grab one her hands and she immediately looks at me, "Look Marie, I'm sorry. I really had no right to snap at you like that. I'm sorry"

Marie glares at me and snatches her hand from me, "That was not very professional of you. Let's just take the drinks and get back to our table okay?" She grabs two drinks from the counter walks away without even waiting for an answer from me.

The dinner was great. We all settled on a perfect negotiation and we have two new clients so as far as I know, I'm happy. However I still have one person that I need to cheer up.

We say our goodbyes to Charles and Amelia and head to our car where Richie is waiting for us. As soon as we sit inside the car, Marie takes out her phone and scoots as far away from me as possible.

I move closer to her without her notching until I'm right next to her. She looks up at me, "What?"

"I want to talk to you." I say.

"Well you can talk to me from all the way there" she points to the end of the seat.

"No, I can't because you wouldn't listen" I say.

"What makes you think I'll listen if you sit this close?" She cocks an eyebrow at me and averts her attention to her phone.

"Marie?" She continues to ignore me.

So I snatch the phone from her hands and she immediately glares at me, "Give me my phone back!"

"Not until you listen to me!" I say.

Marie huffs in annoyance," Fine. What do you have to say?"

"First off, I'm really really sorry for snapping at you like that. You didn't deserve that at all. It's just that the subject of my personal life is a very touchy subject for me. That's still no excuse for me to snap at you but is it possible that you can forgive me?" I ask.

She sighs and a half smile appears on her lips, "I guess you're forgiven"

I smile at her," Well thank you. So I bet Millie was a handful right?"

Marie smiles, "Not at all. She was so sweet and funny. I actually find it kind of hard to believe that she's your daughter!" Marie chuckles.

"Hey! I'm nice and funny!" I say half offended.

"Yeah, Of course you are" Marie says sarcastically, "She looks just like you though."

I smile, "I know. I get that a lot. She's basically a female version of me!"

"How old is she?"

"Turning 7 soon"

"This is a personal questions so don't go all Godzilla on me but has it just been you and Millie all these years?"

"Yeah. It's just the two of us." I say.

Marie opens her mouth to say something when she's interrupted by Richie, "Ms. Rodrigo, we're at your apartment building."

Marie smiles at him, "Thank you Richie"

"Goodnight Karter" Marie smiles at me.

"Actually, let me drop you to your apartment" I say.

"No, it's alright. You don't have to. I can go by myself." Marie says.

"Nonsense, I insist. It's decided. I'm going to drop you upstairs." I smile and we both exit the car.

As we reach the elevator Marie speaks up, "So what's it like having a kid?"

I smile at her, "It's a huge responsibility. It really is but she's my life. I'd do anything and everything for her."

Marie smiles as she steps out of the elevator with me following her, "I'd always knew you had a heart!"

We walk down the hall and stop at Marie's apartment. She turns around and smiles at me, "Well this is me. Thank you for dropping me. You really didn't have to"

I couldn't help but stare at Marie's face. She's so perfect. My eyes kept looking down at her lips. I look up at Marie's eyes to see her staring at me as well. I move closer to her so our foreheads are almost touching. I wrap an arm around her waist, "There's something I've been wanting to do since the first time I saw you" I say.

"And what's that?" Marie whispers.

"This" I say and crash my lips onto hers. I wrap my other hand around her waist as well. Marie starts to kiss me back and her hands are around my neck. I pull her even closer to me and give her waist a squeeze, she gasps and I slide my tongue in her mouth. However seconds after we pull away to catch our breath.

We breathe heavily, our foreheads together. Once our breathing is normal, Marie unwraps her arms from my neck and mine leave her waist.

I lean in and kiss her cheek, "Goodnight Marie" I smile at her.

"Night" Selena says shyly as she turns around and walks inside closing the door behind her.

As soon as her door closed I touch my lips remembering that barely minutes ago, Marie's lips were on mine. I smile. I've been wanting to do that since I spilled coffee on her that day. Finally got the balls to do it and the kiss was even better then I had ever imagined. My smile gets even bigger thinking about it.