Page 16 of The German's Guilty Pleasure
“Is. He. In?” I asked in a tone that said all it needed to.
“His office.” She turned back to the copier while I spun on my heel and stomped down the hallway.
I threw the door open and stomped in, slamming it behind me. “Why didn’t you tell me your mother is coming tonight!”
He glanced up from his computer and straightened his tie. “Was that a question? It sounded more like an angry statement.”
“Lexie just told me Gretchen Jäger is flying in tonight. Is that or is that not your mother?”
“She is definitely mymutter,according to my birth certificate.”
I threw my arms out wide. “And you didn’t think it was important for me to know that she was coming?”
“I was going to tell you this morning.”
“This morning! This morning! Gee, thanks for the advanced notice. Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”
He motioned at me with both hands. “I need not say more.”
My shoulders deflated, and I fell into the chair opposite his desk. “Wait. Why is your mother coming, and why does she need to see third-quarter financials?”
He leaned back and steepled his fingers together. “She owns the business.”
“You’re her son. Doesn’t she trust you?”
“She does, but you have not met mymutter. She has a hand in every part of this business, and that will not change until the day she no longer draws a breath. She wants to meet the people I have hired and talk to them about their vision for her company. She is not an ogre to fear, Serenity. She is not interested in presentations and flowcharts. She wants to sit down and talk to you over dinner about what you see as our strengths and weaknesses. Take a deep breath and relax. She has already seen the financials, of course. Lexie is simply running off copies for everyone. We will discuss them together and find ways to improve our bottom line.”
I sucked in a deep breath and held it before I let it back out. “Okay, I’m sorry for overreacting. Gretchen is so,” I motioned around with my hands, “important, and I’m so not important. I don’t want to do or say something that will put me out of a job.”
He stood and came around the desk, resting his butt on it and swinging his leather-clad heel against it. “She is no more important than you are. We all play a role in this company. If you are not here working your magic to sell the product, we do not have a company.”
I tossed my hand out to the side. “Sure you would. You’d just hire someone else. I mean, let’s face it, I’m replaceable, she’s not.”
“We are all replaceable if we go at it from that angle, Serenity. It is not about being replaced. I know you struggle with that concept because of your childhood, but she wants the U.S. division of the company to succeed. She will give us anything and do anything we need her to do to ensure that. Deep breath. No one is getting fired. I happen to know that she is already happy with where we are. We are turning a profit early when we should still be in the spending phase. That profit is due to you and your skills, do not underestimate your importance here.”
“I’ve never been good at that.”
He finally cracked a smile and winked at me. His long lashes brushed his cheek in a way that made me more than a little hot under the collar. It made me burn bright with desire. “I had no idea it was not your strong suit. You are always so confident.”
“Wow, Lars Jäger knows sarcasm. I’m impressed,” I teased, brushing off my pencil skirt.
“Lars Jäger knows a lot that you would be impressed with. Until he can show you those things, he wants you to know that the owner of this company will be arriving at midnight to Miami International. You will not have to meet with her until tomorrow early evening. Due to the time change, she will be going to bed about the time you get up. You will have plenty of time to prepare for the meeting. I have her scheduled in blocks to meet with other people in the building throughout the afternoon, but you do not need to worry yourself with that. The three of us will sit down here in my office around six to go over everything closely and then have a private dinner in my penthouse directly after. Acceptable?”
I nodded once. It didn’t matter if it was acceptable. He was paying me to be available at any and all times. He was asking as a matter of manners, but he expected no answer other than yes. “I’ll be ready. That gives me time to buy a power suit. I’ll need it to hold my own with someone like your mother.”
He propped himself on the arms of my chair and held my eyes. “Darling, you do not need a power suit to hold your own. You hold your own against me every single day. If you can do that, you have nothing to fear from her. Confidence, remember?”
His lips came down on mine again, and he kissed me with far less tongue and for far less time than I had hoped. When he stood up again, he licked his lips, making me whimper. I had to start carrying panties around in my purse. I was tired of running back to my apartment to change them every time his kisses made my lower half dewy.
“What does your day look like today?” he asked, slipping back around to bring up his calendar.
I cleared my throat before I spoke, so I didn’t sound needy. “I have a meeting in twenty minutes with Seth about the café. We also have our potential client meeting at two p.m. Why?”
“After our meeting this afternoon, I have a field trip planned.” He motioned at my bag where my phone was. “Mark yourself as out after the meeting. We will have dinner when we are done.”
I raised my head from typing into my phone. “A field trip? Where are we going? The zoo?”
“Some might call it that, but no, not technically. You will find out when we get there. In the meantime, I expect a full briefing about the café before our next meeting.”
