and looking into her microscope, hoping he would take the hint and simply go away. She couldn’t even lift her hands to adjust the slide under the scope though because her fingers were shaking so much. He needed to leave! Just his presence was making her nervous.
When she looked up again a moment later, noting the silence behind her, she found that, not only was Gaston still standing there waiting for her, but so was Tom and as well as about ten other sets of eyes. Apparently, when the CEO of their company came down to the laboratory, people tended to obey his orders. Was she the only person who would stand up to him?
Tom cleared his throat. Stepping forward, he nervously glanced up at Gaston, then at Elana again, actually wringing his hands together worriedly. “Elana, surely it wouldn’t be too much trouble to take a little time off to have lunch with Signor Montebello. You were here pretty early this morning and have been staying late most nights. A bit of relaxation really does help the process.”
Elana stared at the man, wondering why he was acting like this. “I don’t have time for lunch or relaxing. I have work do to.”
Again, Tom glanced back at Gaston, then back to her with a tense smile pasted on his face. “The work will still be here when you get back. It wouldn’t hurt, would it?”
She looked up at Gaston, amusement on his handsome face. “Why do you want to have lunch with me?” she asked with an almost belligerent tone of voice.
Gaston looked at Tom who immediately received the message to disappear. With Tom’s absence, the other eyes all looked back at their work as well, but Elana was sure that the others were still trying to listen in. Of course, why wouldn’t they? It wasn’t very often that the CEO came down to their hallowed ground.
Gaston moved closer, looking down into her wary eyes. “Are you afraid to be alone with me?” He smiled slightly. “Again?”
She inhaled sharply, wanting to step back but the counter was behind her and his large, muscular frame was in front of her. “I’m not afraid of you. Why would I be?”
He considered her question, thought about the many different ways he could answer her. He went with the truth. “Because I want you,” he said simply.
She gasped and shook her head. “No you don’t,” she countered. “Why would you? You didn’t want me seven years ago. Nothing has changed.”
He shrugged slightly, not contradicting her as she’d hoped he would. “Seven years ago, you were too young to realize what I wanted. Now you’re not.”
There was that trembling again. More intense this time and her heart felt as if it were going to burst out of her chest. “That’s not going to happen, Gaston.”
His smile increased and a light shone from his eyes that hadn’t been there a few moments ago. “Are you challenging me?”
“No!” she gushed out. “I’m not challenging you at all!” She remembered his win or die attitude when it came to competitions. She thought back to the time he’d taken her to the beach for the day. They’d been swimming in the water, just frolicking around and having a good time. She didn’t remember how it started, but someone challenged Gaston to a swimming race. She’d thought it was just good fun initially, but Gaston wouldn’t let anyone beat him. Even this man, who turned out to be an Olympic swimmer, wasn’t immune to Gaston’s competitive nature. Gaston had won, but the effort he’d employed to win was shocking. He’d almost drown himself to win. It had been a heady lesson about his personality and she’d never forgotten.
He laughed at her frightened expression. “Good call,” he said softly. “Gather your purse or whatever you want to bring. We’re going out for lunch.”
She glared at him for a long moment, but in the end, she knew that he was the boss and she’d never live it down if she didn’t follow him out of the lab. She made sure that he knew that her agreement was in protest, not that he would care though. He actually chuckled as he followed her out of the building.
She started to head for her car, but he steered her towards a limousine waiting by the curb. “Why are we taking that?” she asked, her step faltering because she didn’t want to get into that vehicle. She’d be completely alone with him and that was to