Page 48 of His Secret Virgin
Chapter 19
Christopher
The problems kept stacking up. I had to think about how to get Emma out of the trip with her parents, when all I really needed to be thinking about was how to solve the difference of opinions between myself and my potential clients.
“We’re talking about a few cents, guys,” I told the gentlemen, who wouldn’t budge a penny on their offer.
Sebastien showed up, coming in only a couple of minutes late. “Sorry, everyone. I got tied up.” He took the seat at the other end of the table, and I let him have the floor. I was tired of trying to get the men to understand my reasoning.
“I’m going to take a break. I’ll be back in a little while, Sebastien.” I left the room, feeling worn out.
I had a stack of problems in front of me and no idea how to handle any of them—except for the issue of my ex-wife wanting to come to my home for the holiday weekend. That one was easy. I’d told my daughters that they could tell their mother it wouldneverhappen.
The four-day weekend had crept up on me. That could be attributed to Emma; my mind had been occupied with nothing but thoughts of her for the past two weeks. All I wanted to do was spend that long weekend with her, but it seemed that wasn’t going to be as easy I wanted it to be.
If Emma and I could’ve just been honest about our relationship, then this wouldn’t have been a problem. But since we couldn’t, it felt like an enormous issue.
I supposed it wouldn’t have seemed like a big deal to most people.So what if I couldn’t spend the holiday with Emma; it’s only one weekend, right?
The thing was I’d had a hard enough time letting her go just the night before. Knowing I would have her back in my arms in only four days was the only thing that got me through it. If I couldn’t see her that weekend, it would be eleven days before I got to hold her, kiss her, make love to her again.
I just couldn’t hold out for that long. And by the desperation in her voice and expression when she’d surprised me on the elevator, Emma didn’t think she could hold out that long either. Funny how a couple of weekends together could make us so needy for each other.
Going into my office, I sat at my desk and opened my laptop. Whenever my own brain wasn’t working as it should, I always turned to the web. When I searched, ‘great excuses to get out of plans,’ the first excuse on the list I’d found was to fake illness.
I thought about that for a second. Emma could tell her parents she felt sick or had a stomach bug and didn’t want to ruin their trip by getting everyone sick.
The idea sounded great until I really thought about it. Her parents would most likely put their trip off and stay home with her. And that would still mean she wouldn’t be able to spend the weekend with me.
Onto the next idea. The old, ‘my boss is making me work’ excuse. Another one that just wouldn’t work for us, since I was her father’s friend, and I would never pull rank on his family outing.
Then there were a bunch of other excuses that wouldn’t work: ‘I’ve gotta clean my house;’ ‘I’ve sprained my ankle;’ ‘I’ve got personal family issues;’ ‘Car trouble;’ and the best one I’d ever heard: ‘I’m ovulating and we’re trying for a baby.’
So, no luck there. I sat staring at the screen, trying to come up with anything better than the garbage I’d just read, when there was a knock at my door. Closing the laptop, I called out, “Come in.”
Sebastien strode in like some kind of a hero, swaggering with each step. The smile on his face told it all. “So, I’ve come to an agreement with our new clients, Christopher.” He came to my desk, placing the signed contract on it. “And we didn’t lose a cent.” With his chest puffed up with great pride, he took a seat in the chair opposite me.
I didn’t care how he’d accomplished it, I was just happy he’d done it. “Well, congratulations, my good man.” I got up and went to pat him on the back then poured us a couple of glasses of my good Scotch. And as I did that, an idea formed in my brain. “Don’t you and Celeste have an anniversary coming up?”
“We do. It’s this weekend.” Sebastien took the glass I offered him. “Thank you.”
As he took a sip, I came up with a plan on the fly. “As a token of my appreciation for this job well done, I would like to offer you and your lovely wife a five night, six-day anniversary trip to Bora Bora.”
He looked properly stunned. “When?”
“Well, for your anniversary of course.” I retook my seat then sipped the Scotch.
“But we’ve already made plans to go to Canada. Celeste rented a cabin, and we were going to go fishing.” He took another drink as he seemed to rethink things.
I could see I needed to sweeten the already sweet deal. “Of course, there’s also the big bonus you’re getting for bringing me a signed contract—you’ll probably want to celebrate that, too.”
Taking out my pen, I jotted down a very nice number on a piece of paper then slid it to him. He picked it up, looking at it with wide eyes. “Is this the amount of the bonus?”
“It is.” I opened the laptop to send an e-mail to Mrs. Kramer. “My assistant will have that amount deposited into your bank account by tomorrow morning. That should help you and Celeste have a nice time on your little anniversary vacation. I expect she’ll be pleasantly surprised that you two will be having a little fun in the sun, instead of fighting off bears in the Canadian wilderness.”
“Yeah, she’ll be surprised alright.” He took his eyes off the paper and then shook his head as he looked at me. “But Emma.”
I held up my hand. “She’ll be fine, Sebastien. Go have a nice anniversary with your wife. Taking your daughter with you everywhere you go has to have been cramping the romance in your marriage all these years?”
