“Not for you, darling, since you have trouble handling me in the first place.Withyou. I’d love to create the perfect marketing campaign.”
“Excellent. By any chance would you have champagne?” Andres asked. “We should celebrate the beginning of a fabulous partnership.”
“I believe I can scrounge up a bottle or two. I’ll be right back.”
“And I’ll help,” Vanessa suggested.
She followed behind me, and the moment we were in the galley, I pulled her into my arms. “You’re quite the actress.”
“Smoke and mirrors, baby. A lesson for you to learn.”
“Something you think you can teach me?”
“Hmmm…” she purred as she placed her hand on my chest. “It might take more than a single lesson.”
“Don’t worry. I have time. Perhaps the rest of my life.” The comment struck us both at the same time.
She pulled away, a moment of uncertainty creating tension. “I’ll keep that in mind. Let’s get the champagne.”
I watched her walk away, my entire body becoming fully aroused. The few words had come naturally. Whether said playfully or not, I meant them. In my mind, the contract was null and void. I didn’t need it nor did I want a contract coming between us.
I simply wanted her in my life for the rest of it.
“Are you certain you don’t want me to go with you? I’ll be happy to help.”
Vanessa walked closer, taking a few seconds to adjust my tie. “It’s Monday morning.”
“So?”
“The start of a work week. Remember?”
For the first time in as long as I could remember, I’d taken a full weekend off. We’d done nothing. No dinners out. No additional time spent on the yacht. We’d simply stayed at my house enjoying the outdoors, cooking amazing food, and watching movies.
Without outside interference. At least for the most part.
I couldn’t remember when I’d had so much fun partaking in simple activities. She had a way of making everything enjoyable.
Maybe I’d simply not wanted to share her with anyone else. Whatever the case, I could get used to having quiet weekends.
Maybe I was getting too old.
“So what? I am the boss. I can afford to take time off to help my girl.”
“Your girl, huh? You need to finalize the contract with Barchella today. Michael is counting on you. Remember? He did call you four times to ensure you were going to be at the meeting this morning.”
“I talked to him on Friday night, ensuring him I’d be there.”
She arched her eyebrows. “Then you ignored him the other three calls. Maybe he needed something important.”
“Nothing he can’t handle.” I’d lied, telling him we were remaining on the boat for the duration of the weekend and heknew with spotty coverage and my hatred of bringing business onto the boat that the likelihood of me answering was slim to nil.
Yet he’d continued to try. I’d give the man credit. Maybe the huge bonus he was set to obtain was the reason he was so insistent about getting ahold of me. Leave nothing to the misinterpretation.
His favorite phrase.
“You’re his boss.”
“Exactly, which means he can wait until I arrive at the office. Regular business hours. You can’t pack up your brother’s things alone.”
