I bring his hand up to my lips and kiss his knuckles while keeping my gaze right on his pretty brown eyes.
“I called my clients while I was familiarizing myself with my desk and setting everything up...” He starts out slow, but then gets into it and spares no details.
A smile spreads on my face just from seeing him so happy, just from listening to his ideas. I can see the enthusiasm he has for his job practically pouring out of his skin.
“And then I started looking at the CVs you left for me,” he says, right when our dinner arrives, but he picks right back up when the waiter leaves. “I’m excited to contact a few of them who look promising and get some help, though it’s going to take some time. There’s one in particular I have a good feeling about, but we’ll see when I meet them. I’m so excited to order some furniture too. I looked at some pieces online, and I’m ready to order the biggest bookshelf I could find.”
He finally takes a breath and looks down at his plate, finally picks up his fork and tastes the beef Bourguignon. The little moan that makes it out of his mouth is cut short when he startles and looks up at me with wide, nervous eyes.
“That’s okay, right?”
“Of course that’s okay,” I assure him. “It’s your company, your office, you can do whatever you want.”
“No I can’t,” he says and rolls his eyes in a move I didn’t know could be adorable.
“Yes, actually. You can do whatever you want, and?—”
“No, I have to answer to you. You’re my investor.”
“That means we talk every quarter, maybe for the first year, to talk about goals and metrics, but day-to-day you reallycando whatever you want. Even when we have those meetings, you can still choose what we do and don’t do. I’m not exactly your boss.Youare your own boss now, Noah.”
He doesn’t seem to know what to say to that, and when he pointedly turns his face down to stare intently at his plate, I let him. I let him stay silent for a few minutes until I reach for his hand again and tell him about my day.
I let him process my words, even while he listens to everything I did and asks interesting questions.
He wants to know more about what I do, and I have no problems whatsoever talking about it. I love it after all.
When we’re done and walking out, I stop us by the curb while we wait for Grant. I pull him flush against me and cup his cheek, bringing our mouths almost close enough to kiss.
“Will you come home with me again?” I whisper.
“Yes,” he says simply, then sighs into the kiss.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Noah
I standin my new office and take a breath. And then another. I love it, of course. It’s large and has great views over the city. Also, it’s mine. I want to personalise it in a way I never did in the two years I was at ANC. I’ve already ordered some bookshelves, as I want to keep and display my clients’ books. Maybe I’ll also get some plants, especially if I can task someone else with remembering to water them as I don’t know if I will.
The enormity of thesomeonecrashes down on me. An assistant, a responsibility, someone I need to earn enough money to pay as well as myself. As well as this grand new office with its reception area and kitchenette. I suck in another breath trying not to let it get to me, this huge task I’ve taken on.
A part of me wants to run upstairs and seek out Chase and get him to tell me it’s all going to be okay. Then I remember he’s not here. He’s back at his house after saying he wanted to focus on his book today, and suddenly I’ve never felt so aloneas I do right now. I know I’m not, but despite the investing and helping me with setting everything up, Chase made it clear this was mine. I make the decisions, so its success or failure rests with me. I’d better get to work, then.
I set up my laptop first and check my emails. All of the contracts for the four who have followed me are signed and returned—I will forever be grateful for their belief in me—and I start reaching out to their publishers about the change in contact. But those four, five now with Chase as well, are not enough. I’m going to need a lot more. I make a list of all the places I need to market myself and anyone I feel I can reach out to personally. Then I start going through it.
“Hello, Noah, how are you?” A voice makes me jump and I clutch my chest as I see Elsa standing by the door.
“Hi, Elsa, you scared me there.”
“I did knock,” she replies. “Four times.”
“Oh, sorry.” I grimace and she smiles kindly.
“Your first candidate will be here in ten minutes.”
“Is it that time already?” I glance at my watch and see that two hours have passed already without getting even a quarter of the way through my list.
“I thought you could use some help to welcome them.”