The Perfect Seduction

CHAPTER EIGHT: JUMP

A day that was supposedly supposed to be Semi’s worst day had turned into one of the best days of her life. Besides Neil buying her ice cream, she got to see the side of him that she had never seen before.

 The Neil standing before her was kind and compassionate and exceptionally smart, as he should be, keeping in mind that he had the best education that money could buy. Not once did Semi think that he sounded like a rich spoilt brat but rather he was well grounded.

Could I have been wrong about him all this time? Semi though to herself a couple of times but she had to remember that the man before her was her ticket to success and she would let nothing interfere with that no matter the cost.

“So did you enjoy the trip today?” Neil asked Semi as they walked into the hotel lobby; he could not help but to keep his eyes on Semi. It had been a long time since he had had an intellectual conversation with a woman that did not involve her asking him for money or how much he had in his bank account.

The woman walking besides him was smart and whenever she spoke, she made sense. Semi was truly a one of a kind woman.

“How can I not enjoy the trip, when I am accompanied by a man like you?” Semi told him, her response left Neil blushing. He could not help himself, all of a sudden Semi made him feel like a high school boy falling in love with his first love.

“I think you are giving me too much credit Semi, don’t you think?” Neil asked Semi in which she smiled at him. Her smile was angelic, not forced but it came naturally.

“I am just being honest, you did make this trip fun, keeping me company when I got bored of the overflow of information from the tour guide” Semi confessed and Neil too understood how she felt.

As they approached, they entered into the elevator in which the door slammed shut, Semi pressed the button for the third floor and to her surprise Neil pressed the button for the eleventh floor.

“Wow, the eleventh floor” Semi commented and just then Neil realized that he had made a big mistake on his part.

“Oh yes, I have a room on the eleventh floor” Neil confessed, meanwhile he thought of an excuse.

“That’s great, your job must pay you really well for you to book a room on the eleventh floor” Semi commented and to her surprise Neil smiled at her.

“No, it’s just that my friend canceled his wedding and since he could not get his money back, he told me that I could take his place” Neil lied. He had always prided himself as an honest man but telling Semi this lie had left him feeling like a cheat, something that he did not like.

“Oh! I feel very bad for your friend but he’s a great friend for allowing you to take his vacation, friends like that are hard to find” Semi smiled. She turned her back to Neil, and then rolled her eyes, knowing quite well that he was indeed lying to her. Semi knew that there was no such friend and she knew that Neil was not the kind to make friends.

The elevator door came open and Semi walked out and to her surprise, Neil walked out of the elevator to.

“I thought your room was on the eleventh floor?” Semi reminded him but Neil simply smiled at her.

“I was raised to walk a woman to her door and to only leave once she entered and shut the door behind her” Neil told Semi in which she thought that was very gentlemanly of him to do such a gesture.

Or he just wants to sleep with you, you know his type very well. Semi reminded herself that no matter how nice Neil was to her, in the end he was only interested in one thing and that one thing was to have her in his bed.

In her profession she had come across so many men like that, who would want to sleep with her just so that she could get the latest scoop on them. Her refusal to bed such men had been the reason her career had delayed.

Semi walked to her door and she stopped right in front of it, turned to Neil and smiled at him.

“Thank you for walking me to my door and making sure that I am safe, I really appreciate it” Semi thanked Neil as she waited his next move. Neil simply stared at her for what seemed like an eternity. She patiently waited for Neil to do something inappropriate but he did not, he simply smiled at her.

“You can enter your room otherwise we’d both be here for a long time” Neil joked and Semi smiled back at him. Without another word from Semi, she entered her room and shut the door behind her. Her back now firmly pressed to the door, Semi had not realized that she had been holding her breath the entire time. Being that close to Neil had its effects on her and it was not welcomed.

**

Not that Neil took note of the simple things in life but this night felt as though the elevator was taking extra-long to get to the eleventh floor. Standing in front of Semi’s room with her being close to him drove Neil out of his mind.  He had used every will power that he had possessed to stop himself from kissing her soft lips.

He was not a man to act on impulse but being around Semi had its advantages and disadvantages and unfortunately, for him, he dealt more with the disadvantages than the mare advantages.

Get a hold of yourself; you are not some lovesick puppy. Neil repeatedly slapped himself until the doors to the eleventh floor flung open and he exited. How he had unlocked the door to his room and entered, Neil had no idea, all he could remember was looking into the eyes of the most beautiful woman that he had ever met and being lost in her eyes.

Neil flung himself onto the couch, looked up at the ceiling and smiled at himself that he was actually acting like a child.

“How is it that you do this to me, Semi?” Neil asked himself, knowing quite well that he had no answers to his own questions.

**

Two weeks later

It had been a two days since Semi had arrived home but the feel of her new office and her promotion did not sit well with her. In the last two week that she had spent with Neil, he had opened up to her but at the same time keeping his identity from her.

In a few hours, the story of Neil’s secret project would be out and she would be the culprit behind his ruin. She had always hated Neil and the influence he held but destroying his life works like this was not what Semi had wanted, all she had wanted was a promotion and her big break but it came at a cost.

“Congratulation to the chief reporter and most importantly, editor” Blaine called out to her from the entrance of her new office, in his hand he held two glasses and in the other a bottle of pink bubbly.

Semi tried to smile and it did not reach her eyes, Blaine noticed this and he walked towards her office desk.

“Oh no dear, why are you not excited? This is what we have been praying for” Blaine reminded Semi. In truth, she had wanted this very bad but not at the cost of someone else’s hard work.

“I don’t even know who published the story!” Semi slammed her hands on her desk and got up from her office chair. She had always wanted an office with the perfect view but that all seemed useless when she felt this empty on the inside.

“What is wrong with you? Who cares who published your story, all I know is that you followed this man all the way to Kenya and you got what you wanted from him” Blaine tried to reassure her but Semi was not in any way interested in what Blaine had to say. She turned her head and looked at Blaine and a tear fell from her eye.

“Oh no Semi, you broke the number one rule” Blaine exclaimed in shock as he placed the glass and bottle of bubbly onto Semi’s desk. There was no need hiding it, Blaine knew everything by simply looking into Semi’s eyes.

“It just happened” Semi confessed.

“Oh no sweetheart, you slept with him”

“Yes I did and I might have gotten a little attached to him” Semi confessed to Blaine, for the first time she was admitting that she truly had feelings Neil Droviski. Over the course of the two weeks that she spent with Neil, she had seen a side to him that no man had ever shown her.