“No. It’s stupid and unprofessional!”
“Well, I take that personally. The contract is beyond professional!”
“But not what it says, Gareth!” she retorted loudly.
Cian grinned and took the folder from Penny. “Oh, it’s such a beautiful day,” he said happily, opening it.
Penny didn’t look. Apparently, she knew most of it, or at least parts of it well enough to quote it.
“Additional clause X-1: Physical favors are encouraged — and are to be treated with absolute secrecy!What the fuck, Gare?”
“Hey!” Cian complained. “No spoilers.”
Gareth rolled his eyes. “We wanted to…handle it responsibly and do it right.”
“Do it right?” Penny echoed angrily. “You're in business together. I repeat: This is unprofessional!”
“Says the woman who sleeps with her player. At least I’ve covered myself. The contract is bulletproof.”
“Bulletproof? In what respect? In the sense that you contractually state that you have no feelings? That you’re lying to each other in an extremely professional way? Although you both seem to have realized that your plan had a few holes in it. God, Gareth.” She tugged at her hair. “You should have just told me you were in a relationship!”
“We’re not in a relationship.”
“This contract says otherwise! It may have started as a behavioral contract and then a sexual contract, but you’ve slowly but surely defined a relationship, you idiot!”
“Hmm, she’s got a point,” Cian muttered, still frowning and studying the folder. “Your new rules are very clear. You have to finish on time and make time for Hazel. She has to say goodbye to you and contact you while she’s away on business. You can’t sleep with other people, and you have to feed each other. You even have the other’s favorite sweets on hand, for God’s sake! Sounds like a relationship contract to me too.”
“Fine!” he snapped, annoyed, and got up from the bench. “Maybe I subconsciously wanted to turn the contract into a relationship!”
There was no point in denying it anymore. He had succumbed to chaos and to Hazel. She might be scared, and that was okay. She should have talked to him seven years ago instead of just breaking up with him. He understood how panicked she must have been at the thought that he had become more important to her than her ambition and the financial security she had fought for her entire life. He could understand that the idea of spending the rest of her life in his shadow and, therefore, not receiving the respect she deserved for her success had made her unhappy. Perhaps it was better that she had first found her own way and achieved her goal independently of him. But that was then, and it didn’t mean he wouldn’t still take every precaution today to convince her that a relationship with him was a brilliant idea.
“Speaking of contracts,” he added in a businesslike tone. “Penny, I’d like to hand over all of Hazel’s contracts to you. Or to Cravitz. He should be promoted. He’s wasting his talents if he continues being just my assistant, and I need someone to take some of the work off my hands.”
If he and Hazel didn’t negotiate the players’ terms between them, she might be less afraid of losing her clients if their relationship became public knowledge, or even if they broke up. They would have to keep their jobs clearly separate so that she didn’t feel like her entire existence depended on Gareth and their marriage. Because, yep, he’d marry her if she agreed.
Penny looked at him in shock. “What? Why? Are you sick? Have you been hiding that from me too?”
“No! But I can’t continue negotiating business contracts with my girlfriend. Some might consider that unprofessional!” He looked at her meaningfully. “Hazel and I should keep thatstrictly separate. We’ve gotten a bit carried away with it. And I need more time. A wife and a family need more time.”
Cian dropped the folder. “Girlfriend? Wife? Family?”
Yep. Hazel wanted children, and shit, with her, he wanted them too. For that, he needed enough time to make her and himself happy. That is, assuming she could overcome her panic. Assuming she even liked him enough.
Fuck. What if over the past few years, she’d inevitably come to the correct realization: That she was too good for him?
“So you’re really messing around with anagent? I was right?”
Gareth looked up abruptly. Five minutes ago, he would have sworn things couldn’t get any worse, but seeing his father’s face proved him wrong.
Anger pooled in his stomach. “Watch what you say, Dad. You’ve already done enough damage. And if you imply again that Hazel is using her body to negotiate better contracts, I’ll end up not just in a holding cell, but in fucking jail!”
“He didwhat?” his sister asked incredulously.
“I was just surprised,” Clark Senior replied, defending himself. “That’s all. But I admit my statement was unfortunate…”
“I don’t give a damn, Dad. You’ll apologize to her — and fuck, Penny. Who all did you call?”
“He just happened to be in the office when the call came in,” she replied, pained. “Because he wanted to talk to you.”
