Page 32 of At Your Service
She smiled up at him and, in that moment, it didn’t matter what his siblings were doing or saying behind him. Major smiled in return and went to the bar thinking of the ring in a black-velvet bag in his pocket. Before learning she’d been invited tonight, his plan had been to take it to her after dinner. Now he was thinking there didn’t need to be any special moment or perfect words said; he should just give it to her. That idea was tabled when RJ moved to the side while Major reached for a glass.
“Ain’t that cute, you know what she likes to drink,” RJ jokingly whispered until Major elbowed him and continued.
He did know what she liked to drink and that she only liked extra cheese and onions on her pizza. When he kissed her neck and palmed her breasts, she melted in his arms. And on the two occasions he’d spent the night at her hotel over these past two weeks, he noticed she liked to sleep on the right side of the bed. But none of that meant anything—it couldn’t.
“It’s a drink, don’t get it twisted,” he replied, keeping his voice low, as well.
“I think I should be saying the same to you.”
Major frowned. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Where’ve you been spending the bulk of your evenings? At your place or at her hotel? And before you answer, think about why you really got that apartment for her. After that, think about how this is going to end when the six weeks are up.”
“Dinner is served,” Kemp, the Golds’ longtime butler, announced just in time for Major to slip away from his brother and the assumptions he was making.
“You were very quiet during dinner,” Nina said later as they walked along one of the many stone pathways outside the main house.
He’d needed some air after sitting at the table listening to the talk about work and wedding plans. Major wasn’t usually the quiet one of the family—laid-back, but not quiet. Riley had taken that torch and held it for years. Now that she was in love, that seemed to have changed.
“I know, sorry. I’ve got a lot on my mind.”
“About the fake engagement? Because, really, I think that’s going well.”
She was right. The charade was going well. Desta’s last email to him asking that they keep up whatever they were doing had confirmed that. What had they been doing? In the last few weeks they’d been dating. That was the simplest way of putting it. Dinner out, even more dinners in, watching movies, laughing, touching, sleeping together—all the things a dating couple would do. All things that had tabloids abuzz with wedding speculation, which always included comments about Nina’s wedding gown. He was pretty sure they were doing a great job as far as the campaign was considered.
“It’s not that,” he said, stuffing his hands into his pockets as he walked.
It was a warm evening, not humid as it had been earlier. A summer thunderstorm had rolled through while they’d been inside having dinner, cooling the air down slightly.
“But whatever it is, you don’t want to talk about it.” She didn’t pose that as a question, just a simple statement she let hang in the air like bait.
After another few steps, Major gave up the pretense. He didn’t know what it was about her, but whenever they were together he was always changing his mind about something, doing more than he’d anticipated, adjusting. It wasn’t something he did often, there wasn’t usually a need. He knew what he wanted and he did whatever it took to get it. Simple. But not this time—at least not when she was around.
“It’s business, but not RGF business,” he said, feeling a bit uneasy about what was on his mind.
“Okay.”
That one word didn’t seem like enough and, after a few seconds, he realized he wanted Nina to ask the question so that it wouldn’t seem like he was giving her the information. To the contrary, she seemed content to give him space to decide when and if he wanted to tell her more.
“I’m starting my own company. It’s called Brand Integrated Technologies.” And it might be your biggest competitor. For some reason, he couldn’t bring himself to say that part.
“Good for you,” she said when they took the curve that would lead to the garage or down farther to his mother’s gardens. “Starting a business can be a mixed bag—exciting and daunting.”
“You’re right about that.” He managed a light chuckle. “Launch day is a few weeks away, so we’re just ironing out some final things. But the last couple days, there’ve been some wrinkles.”
She nodded, her hair, which she’d left alone so that it lay straight down her back, swished a little with the movement.
“That’s always the case. And it probably won’t get better after launch. I know I was troubleshooting almost 24/7 in my first couple of weeks. But what got me through was knowing that it was all mine—my concept, my execution, everything. That motivated me to keep going and to get it right.”
Looking over at her, he saw the light in her eyes as she talked about her business. He’d seen it before and realized it was always there when they talked about work.
“My dream,” he said and only briefly wondered why he’d found it so easy to admit that to her. “I’ve wanted to do something like this for a long time and now that it’s happening, I just want it to be perfect.”
“Perfection is a myth.” There was an edge to her tone, but when she glanced over at him and caught him watching her, she smiled. “It’s designed to pull every bit of action and reaction from you until you’re either spinning in circles in search of more, or falling flat on your face from exhaustion. Completion is a more attainable goal.”
He thought about that for a second and eventually decided there might be some truth to her words. “Brand Integrated is a consulting and design firm. We’ll assess the technological needs of a fashion house and design unique software to facilitate their growth. Kind of what I’ve been doing at RGF, but on a larger scale.”
“That sounds amazing, Major. And there’s definitely a need. The shield program you’ve developed to seamlessly combine all aspects of RGF is phenomenal.”
