“I would say I couldn’t believe this . . . but that would be a lie. I can totally believe this since I’ve met that sleazebag,” she muttered, and I couldn’t help but laugh.
“I love it when you curse because it doesn’t suit you at all,” I joked and she arched her brows and glared at me in mock anger.
“You mean that I don’t say motherfucker, right?” she asked and I laughed even harder.
“Please stop!” I begged through my laughs and covered her mouth with my hand. She fell back on the pillow. I leaned forward to kiss her and she kissed me back harder.
“Just because you’re from Brooklyn doesn’t make you the authority on cussing,” she said. I kissed her neck and the top of her cleavage. She bit down on her lip and lifted the tray off her lap to put it to the side.
“We really shouldn’t, though . . . It’s going to take a lot of time to get to New Haven,” she protested when I stretched myself over her, my hands seeking out the elastic band of her pajamas.
“One hour,” I said gruffly and she shook her head.
“I don’t want to be late.”
“You’re right.”
“But why do you have to be so sexy?” she squealed and jumped on my back as I made to get out of bed. We were laughing as I carried her on my back. She had her arms thrown around my neck and her legs dangling on the sides of my waist.
I carried her to the bathroom where I watched her brush her teeth and then jump into the shower.
I was shaving while she shampooed her hair.
“Jack,” she called out to me, sticking her head in the shower so I could look at her. Hot, steamy water poured down over her and I stopped midway in my shave.
“Louise,” I said in our usual way. She was smiling at me.
“I just wanted to say that no matter what happens or what Father tells you today — nothing is going to change my mind about you,” she said.
“You don’t have to worry, Louise. There is nobody I trust more on this earth than you,” I reassured her.
Smiling still, she popped back into the shower and quickly, we got ready to go to New Haven. I was going to be introduced to Mr. and Mrs. Downing, and as much as Louise had tried to warn me against them, I was actually looking forward to it.
Chapter 27 - Louise
Breda took our coats when we entered the house, and I didn’t smell potato gratin being cooked in the kitchen.
Ever since the shockingly rude conversation I had with Father five months ago, my parents and I had spoken very little. This was the first time since then that I visited them and to say that I was a little bit nervous would have been an understatement. No matter how bad things had gotten between us before, I had never been estranged from my parents.
A few days ago, Father had sent me an email – something he never did. I didn’t even know Father knew how to use the internet. In the email, he had written that mother was at her wit's end and was desperate to see me again and they wished that I would join them for a meal. He had also mentioned that they wouldn’t mind if I brought my ‘new man’ along.
I had mentioned Jack in a previous phone conversation with the mother. It was a short phone call where she had hesitantly asked if I was seeing someone and I’d told her about Jack in brief. Father no doubt knew who Jack Gowler was whether he knew how to use the internet or not. He knew how to keep himself up-to-date with the goings-on of the business world. Besides, we had discussed it already. He knew Jack Gowler was the CEO of Prisma and a man who did not belong to the Downing social class.
Jack was walking beside me now,while Breda led us to the parlor. He was wearing a modern, smart navy suit and a purple silk tie – clothes I knew father would not approve of. Jack was too fashion-forward, too modern and nouveau-riche for father’s taste. I had stuck to the usual conservative style to match my family’s sensitivities. I was in a comfortably loose turquoise dress with a high collar and a skirt that reached my knees.
Before we entered the parlor, I reached for Jack’s hand and he gave it a squeeze, turning to me with a smile. I felt comforted by his presence. I knew that whatever happened, I was going to eventually go back home with him.
My parents were sitting around the unlit fireplace while Beethoven played on the record player as usual. Father stood up when I entered, fixing his spectacles on his nose. He moved towards us but kept his eyes fixed on me.
“Louise, you look well,” he said and shook my hand formally as he always did.
“Hello, Father,” I said and smiled weakly at him. “This is Jack Gowler,” I said, turning to the handsome man beside me who still did not look as petrified as I was feeling.
“Mr. Downing. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you,” Jack said. He was the first one to extend his hand. Father stood in front of him, his eyes traveling from Jack’s top to bottom, assessing every inch of him carefully. He grunted deeply before he shook Jack’s hand.
“And Mrs. Downing, what a lovely home you have!” Jack turned to mother, and he rushed towards her to shake her hand as well.
Mother seemed in shock with the forwardness of Jack’s greeting, and he surprised her even more by bending forward to hug her tightly. Mother’s face flushed. When Jack pulled away from her, I saw her hands rise up to her curls to test their neatness. She clutched her pearl necklace and smoothed the front of her blouse.
I had to do everything I could to stifle a knowing smile. Jack’s charms did not fall flat on her. She had been quick to notice just how handsome he was.
“Well, shall I ask Charlie to make us some drinks?” Father asked and Jack walked briskly towards the bar in the corner.
“What will you have, sir? I used to be a bartender for a few years. Allow me to make you something,” Jack suggested with a smile. Father seemed too stunned to respond.
“Mrs. Downing?” Jack looked at mother instead, who still seemed flushed and excitable.
“I’ll have a gin martini?” she said in a weak voice.
“Think bigger!” Jack said with a laugh as he looked around the bar for a mixer.
“All right. A Mai Tai?” Mother asked, a pleased smile spreading on her face.
“A Mai Tai coming right up for the lady. Have you ever tried a Moscow Mule?” Jack had already started working behind the counter, and Mother shook her head.
“That shall be your next drink. And you, Mr. Downing?” Jack asked, slipping his jacket off his shoulders. When I looked at Father, I could see that he was still in shock . . . Or was it awe?
“Umm . . . I usually take an old-fashioned,” he mumbled like he was at a loss for words.
“May I recommend the Singapore Sling for you?” Jack replied while he rolled up his shirt sleeves. A soft laugh escaped mother’s lips and father gulped.
“Never too old to try one, I guess,” Father said, holding his chin high up. Jack nodded his head. “And a Vodka martini with a dash of orange for
you, my lovely?” Jack asked me. I was smiling widely by now as I nodded my head. “Your orders are coming right up,” he declared.
“Louise, dear, won’t you come and sit here with me? I want to know all about how the two of you got together,” Mother patted the seat beside her. From the expression on her face, I could see that she was excited to hear the story. There were just going to be some details I would have to leave out.
***
“And then I turned to him and said, watch me fly!” Father said and roared out laughing along with Jack while Mother giggled beside him at the dinner table. The four Singapore Slings that father had gulped down had taken their toll on him and I couldn’t remember the last time I had seen him laugh this hard. Mother had been giggling the whole time too. Jack sat beside me, enjoying making my parents laugh.
I was the only one who hadn’t been drinking as much as the rest. For starters, I couldn’t believe how well my parents had connected with Jack. He had put them at ease at once with his presence.
“Of course, you must have encountered several such situations,”
Father commented as he stuck his fork into a pea and popped it in his mouth.
“You mean because I grew up in Brooklyn?” Jack arched his brows mockingly at him and father laughed and shook his head.
“No, that is not what I meant,” he said and Jack stood up so he could serve himself some more of the mint peas.
“Well, you’re right either way. My neighborhood was rough, to put it gently,” he said and sat back down on the chair.
“Was there a lot of violence?” Mother asked – almost like she was scared of asking.
“There was always a threat of violence breaking out, yes, but my brothers and I stayed out of trouble,” Jack said and our eyes met. He was smiling, he was comfortable . . . Things were going according to his plan. Jack had been fully confident that he would be able to win my parents over, and I realized that I should never have doubted his capabilities.
Before my father could start with another one of his stories, I cleared my throat to direct the attention to me again.
“Mother, Father, I have a small announcement to make,” I said and my parents stared at me in the middle of their chewing. They were way more relaxed now in Jack’s presence than they had ever been in that of any of the other guests we had ever had. I’d caught Father chewing with his mouth open a few times, even.
I reached for my purse that was hanging on the chair behind me, and from it I extracted the ring I had taken off in the car earlier. I gazed at Jack, who was smiling, and without a word, I slipped it on my ring finger.
Mother gasped and Father stood up.
“You two are engaged?” he roared, glaring at both of us. Mother couldn’t take her eyes off the ring on my finger, the sparkling diamond and the set of sapphires that were in a circle around it.
I gulped as I stared back at Father.
“For God’s sake, Louise! You allowed us to just sit here the whole night, without giving us the opportunity to congratulate you!” Father came rushing around the table to where we were sitting. Jack stood up and I watched, with some tears in my eyes, as the two men hugged. I hadn’t realized that it would mean so much to see the two of them hug.
“Oh, Louise! I am so happy,” Mother cried and I stood up so I could go to her. Mother and I hugged tightly and I saw that there were tears in her eyes.
“You did good, dear. I am delighted with him,” Mother whispered in my ear and I tried hard not to burst out sobbing.
When I turned, Father was standing behind me and he hugged me too. I couldn’t remember the last time the father had hugged me . . . Perhaps in my teenage years? Maybe on graduation day?
Jack and Mother hugged too and we all forgot about our dinners. Charlie brought in a bottle of champagne and Jack popped it open, pouring drinks for everyone in the house. Charlie, Breda, and the cook had all assembled in the dining room as Father cheered and Mother dabbed tears from her eyes some more.
“Welcome to the family, Jack!” Father declared and we all sipped our champagne thirstily.
I felt Jack’s arm around my waist as he pulled me close to himself. Amidst the clapping and the cheering, we kissed deeply. When I pulled away, Jack was looking into my eyes.
“I love you, Louise Downing,” he whispered and my cheeks flushed just the way they always did when he looked at me.
“I love you, and I’m the luckiest girl in the world,” I said and I threw my arms around him to hug him close. Some of my champagne spilled on the carpet, but nobody cared. Mother didn’t even bat an eyelid.
After we had drank our champagne, I led Jack by the hand into our expansive backyard. The sky was clear and Jack looked up at the stars.
“I’ve never seen stars in New York,” he commented while we clung to each other.
I couldn’t stop looking at him. I couldn’t stop thinking about how lucky I was that Medusa had happened, and it had brought us closer together.
“Me neither,” I said.
“We should come here more often just to see the stars . . . and to drink with your parents, too, of course,” he whispered in my ear and I bit down on my lip, still trying to control the extreme happiness that I was feeling.
I would never have thought that it would be Jack Gowler who cracked my Father. He was a part of me now. He was a part of my family and a part of my story. We had been engaged for three weeks, but now that I had broken the news to my parents, it felt real.
Jack lifted me up in his arms and swung me around and I threw my head back and laughed. Ever since that first night with Jack, I had been laughing louder and harder and more often and I knew that would never change. I would never stop laughing as long as he was with me.
*****
THE END
Hungry Boss
Description
What do you do when the hottest, most annoying billionaire on the planet wants a fake marriage... with you?
I’m a twenty-eight-year-old gal, saving myself for the one.
The perfect one. So definitely not for him.
He’s one of the world’s most famous playboys and not interested in relationships.
Did I mention he’s my boss? He is.
But he’s in trouble.
His old man has given him an ultimatum: he has to settle down in three months or he won’t be president of the family’s multi-billion company.
One mistake, one night with too much liquor, and I wake up married to the guy in Vegas the next day.
So we just get an annulment, right?
Right. Until he makes me an offer I can’t refuse.
He’ll give me the thing I want most if I continue with our legal but unconsummated marriage.
What’s a girl to do?
Chapter One
Matt Cross made the trip to his father’s office feeling like he had as a small child when he’d been called into the old man’s study. Somehow, in some way, he had disappointed his father yet again. The elevator dinged and he got off on the old man’s floor.
Bypassing his father’s assistant, who just waved at him with a smile, Matt knocked on the door and let himself in. His father, Richard, was on the telephone when Matt entered, so he made his way to the small bar and poured himself a bourbon. It was too early, but if he were going to get lectured, he needed the drink.
He settled on the leather couch as his father finished up his phone call. Running a multi-billion dollar luxury hotel chain was hard work—and it was work that Matt looked forward to undertaking. His sister was a stay-at-home mom with four kids. She didn’t come anywhere near the business.
Their parents were well into their late-thirties before they had married, and forty before Matt was born. Matt was thirty—young to take on such a role—but his father was seventy now and ready to retire.
Matt had worked for the company since graduating college at twenty-one. He’d worked his way up to a vice-president position. It didn’t take a lot of thinking to conclude that he would become CEO and president when his father retired in just three months.
Finally, his father hung up the conference call and gave Matt an assessing look. “It’s a little early for alcohol, isn’t it?”
“I’m still on London time. It’s past five there.”
Richard shrugged. “Well, thankfully, I’m not here to talk about your drinking. That’s one problem you don’t have.”
Matt leaned forward on the couch. “Exactly what problem do I have?”
“Flitting around the world, for starters.”
“I don’t flit, father. I travel for work.”
“Meh, there’s no point in it, son.” Richard waved a hand in dismissal and sat back in his buttery cream leather executive chair. He left one hand to rest on the steel and glass modern desk.
“I fix the problems no one else can handle. Those hotels, every one, are either in crisis or running at a loss. Without my intervention, those locations would have been shut down within the year.”
“You’re putting out fires. When you’re this high in the company, you don’t put out fires. You hire
good managers who can do it for you.”
Matt stood up to pace his father’s large office. “Why hire someone to do something I can do better?”
“You’ve got to learn to look at the big picture. You’ll never become CEO at this rate.”
Frozen, Matt stared at his father. His blood turned to ice water in his veins. “What the hell does that mean?”
With a sigh, his father leaned his head back against the headrest on his seat. “It means that I’m considering making Gary interim CEO and president until you get your life together.”
“My life is together. What is this about? And don’t tell me it’s just about how I do my job because I can tell that it’s not.”
“I’m talking about marriage and children. Things you’ll be—you are, the way you work—too busy for if I make you president. Without an heir, who will this company be passed down to?”
Matt threw himself into a soft armchair in front of the desk and ran a hand through his perfectly trimmed hair. He’d tried marriage once already, when he was younger. He’d wed his college sweetheart. Matt had insisted they didn’t need a prenup because they were so in love. Months before he turned twenty-five and came into his trust fund worth billions, he caught her cheating on him. They’d divorced and she’d taken half of what he had at the time.
Now, he knew women were only interested in him for his money. He dated the most beautiful actresses and models. He bought them jewelry, paid for expensive trips, took them shopping. It satisfied both their desires. He had no intention of ever marrying again. “Diane has four children, in case you’ve forgotten. Your legacy is already assured.”
“She’s not raising them to be in the business. You knew how to balance a ledger at twelve. How to—”
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