A Perfect Business Arrangement

by Gemma Arlington

  Mr. Crawford was the CEO and owner of Crawford Enterprises. I suspected he was some old man who inherited the company from his farther and his father before him, regrettably I hadn’t gotten time to browse through his online profile, so I was in the dark.

  “Mr. Crawford is a busy man, which is why we contacted you. I want to apologize; my emails were a little cryptic, I might have even implied you were being hired for your accounting and management skills, rather than for what we intended you for.”

  “I beg your pardon?” I asked. The emails said I was being employed to handle the company’s books. I was a top accountant; I had worked with some of the biggest names in global business.

  “Like I said, I do apologize for the misleading information, but if anyone got wind of what the company is about to do, then we

  would have a crisis on our hands,” he grinned. That smile should have calmed my nerves, but instead it seemed to fuel them.

  “What exactly is the company about to do that involves me?” I asked, curious as to how I fitted into this equation.

  “I won’t beat around the bush; we want you to head up the company, become the face of Crawford,” he stated, leaning against his desk.

  “You what?” My head was spinning, I wasn’t sure I was hearing him correctly. “You want me to become the face of the company? Is this some joke, or a tax dodge because you know I am a numbers wiz? I can probably get you out of any financial problems,” I nervously remarked.

  He laughed, “It’s no joke and certainly not a tax dodge. We want you to be the face of the company.”

  “Why?” I asked again. I still didn’t understand what was going on.

  “You’re from a very wealthy political family; you’re beautiful, smart, and someone we can see helping us further expand what we have already grown here.”

  “But just because I come from a political family doesn’t mean I’m the best for this job,” I remarked, trying my hardest to comprehend the conversation.

  “Miss Wright,” he sighed.

  “Please call me Blake,” I interrupted.

  “Blake...” he began.

  Shit. I shouldn’t have allowed him to say my name, it sounded like a heart-warming plea. I needed space, some fresh air, and a good stiff drink. “Would you excuse me?” I asked, standing on shaky legs and walking toward the door. I knew this wasn’t the end. Mr. Harris wanted to discuss more, but I couldn’t. At least, not today.

  “Blake,” Mr. Harris called from behind me. I stopped in my tracks. Taking a deep breath, I turned around. “Take the rest of the day off, think about it, and come back tomorrow,” he offered.

  Chapter Six

  Blake

  “How could you, Mom? How could you?” I yelled into the phone. As much as I didn’t want to see her, I almost wished she was here right now.

  “Don’t you raise your voice at me. I spoke with Crawford himself and had this arranged for your benefit. I knew you would come home if you were given the right amount of money,” she barked.

  Ugh, I wanted to throw the phone across the room. She was so frustrating and still trying to control my life. How I missed Australia, the wide open spaces and freedom.

  “You don’t get it. You’re still trying to control me; you’re punishing me because I didn’t pick a career in politics. I’m twenty-seven, not a child.”

  “I’m not controlling you, and as for politics, yes, I would have loved you to follow

  me in the political world but I am very proud of

  your career and your choices. I just thought that being closer to home would be something you would enjoy. Besides Crawford Enterprises is a major company and when they contacted me the first person I thought about was you,” she sighed.

  “I understand Mom, but you… you could have contacted me and told me about Crawford’s intentions,” I groaned.

  “I wasn’t allowed to. I was sworn to secrecy but now you know we can discuss it. I just pray you take the job,” she probed. I knew she was fishing for answers but I couldn’t give them to her. I didn’t even know what I wanted to do yet. I turned off the tap, my bath hot and steamy with the fragrant smells of jasmine and vanilla.

  “I have to go Mom, my bath is ready,” I said, trying my best to quit the whole conversation. She was giving me a headache worse than the one Carter Harris gave me. I wanted to soak my body and try to forget that a very sexy-looking man with the most delicious looking dark-chocolate skin had made me feel wonderful. As much as he freaked me out by asking me to become a CEO and the face of a company I knew little about, I still felt like a giddy school girl. The last time I actually felt like that was back with my hot surfer on Bondi Beach.

  I bathed, dressed in my PJs, and crawled under the covers. It was only just going on two in the afternoon but with the block-out blinds it could have been nine at night. I needed sleep and a clear head before I returned to the office to decide if I was going to accept the position I had just been offered.

  ***

  “So what do you think you’re going to do?” Lily asked me over the phone. I still didn’t know what I was going to do but I knew I had less than fifteen minutes to decide. I was in a taxi on my way to the Crawford building to meet with none other than Mr. Crawford himself. Lily was on the phone with me trying her best to help me figure out my next move. Did I want to accept a job with Crawford Enterprises or did I want to head back to Oz?

  I felt refreshed as I had slept surprisingly well. It’s amazing what a hot bath and a warm bed can do. I felt relaxed and ready to tackle the day, but I still had no clue if I was going to accept or not. I wanted to crawl back on a plane and head back to the comforts of Oz.

  “I don’t know Lils, but I think I am going to have to take the job. As much as I have nervous butterflies right now, I need a job because I hate not working,” I

  groaned thinking about it.

  “It could be interesting, besides, you have a hot boss right?” she asked, trying her best to distract me. I loved her even more for it.

  “What do you think?” I laughed. She knew he was gorgeous and every chance she got she would remind me. “Lils I better go, the taxi’s just about to pull up and I’m about to take the biggest gamble of my life.”

  “Where is Percy?” she enquired.

  “I gave him the day off. Cabbing it to the office isn’t so bad. I’ll catch up with you once I have decided if the job is yay or nay,” I replied.

  “Good luck,” she said before hanging up. She already knew the choice I would make even if I didn’t tell her.

  The truth was my nerves were getting the better of me. I never got nervous about anything but being asked to become the face of a company I was not familiar with was mind-blowingly scary. The last thing I needed was to be fired, hated, or worse, to fuck up royally and blow my own reputation.

  I loved what I did for a living; accounting was my life. I got a thrill from dealing with some of the world’s leading companies’ financial portfolios, not to mention the people I worked with. They made me love this career even more.

  As I walked into the Crawford building, admiring the architecture, the pretty indoor

  rainforest-like garden, and the sun reflecting off

  the glass windows, I begin to realize that maybe a change in career wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.

  Waiting patiently as I rode the elevator to meet with Mr. Harris, it suddenly dawned on me that I was going to jump head first into this. I was going to become the face of a company about which I knew nothing. The truth is Crawford’s was such a large and wide-spread company, and always in the public eye, that accepting this job would be the death of my private life. For some reason the thought of that stopped my nerves and for the first time since landing back in the States, the confident, bright, and very determined woman returned, ready to fight.

  Chapter Seven

  Blake

  Patience is fundamental in most things, but right now, sitting in Mr. Crawford’s office — with no sign o
f the man himself — it was all a little more than I could take. The confident woman who was kicking my butt only minutes ago seemed to be hiding once again. She had abandoned me just when I needed her the most.

  Mr. Crawford came bounding through his office doors.

  “Asher!” I shrieked, standing up in surprise.

  “Hello Blake,” he smiled as he looked down at me. Those big beautiful baby-blue eyes I remembered so well twinkled at me. How I ever thought I was free from his charms was beyond me. Those eyes knew too much about me; those lips were the devil in disguise; and that body of his was just so good that even the sanest woman would be melting into mushy goo at the glimpse of hair you could see from his open collar.

  Shaking off the memories, I tried my best to regain some form of sanity and focus on what was happening.

  “You look stunning, as always,” he remarked.

  “What do you want, Asher?” the words were riddled with distain. The last time I saw this man he‘d promised that I would never be able to hide from him, and he was correct. No matter how much I tried, he found a way to invade my life, professionally and personally. Asher was a ruthless man and when he wanted something he usually got it. Which meant even if I tried to step out and decline this job offer, there was no way in hell he would let me. Asher was persistent and I should know it, since we shared a sordid past. I was young when he seduced me and made me fall for his charms, only to have him rip my heart out at the tender age of seventeen.

  “You know what I want, Blakey,” he joked.

  “Don’t call me Blakey, you know I hate it,” I stated, which only made him laugh and take a step closer to me.

  “You’re still as fiery as ever.” He grinned, “I like it, and I think it will work for what I have in mind.”

  “And what do you have in mind?” I asked.

  “And arrangement which I am sure will benefit the both of us,” he spoke elusively, gesturing to the chair I was previously sitting in.

  “First of all, I want to apologize for having Carter Harris drag you into this deal with false information,” he remarked.

  “Cut the bullshit Asher, you know I hate beating around the bush,” I said, raising my voice and cutting him off. I had many pet hates and not getting to the point was at the top of my list. Asher loved to sweet-talk and sugarcoat things and I swear I wasn’t having a bar of it.

  “What do you want, Asher?” I asked again, more forcefully this time.

  “You,” he replied with a grin. I cocked an eyebrow, warning him that my patience was already wearing thin.

  “Lighten up, Blake; the truth is you need me far more than I need you,” he stated.

  “I beg to differ, since you’re the one who requested my presence and paid me five hundred thousand U.S dollars to return to the states,” I retorted, insulted by his comment. “What do you want Asher, and I am not going to ask again,” I groaned.

  “I want you Blake. I said I would never let you go and I meant it. No matter what you do or where you go, I will find you.”

  “I’m not a possession and I told you the

  last time you spewed this rubbish that I wasn’t

  having a bar of it. And I meant what I said,” I

  replied. He was still the same old Asher, with his demands and controlling persona. He was always going to be this way and I would be stupid to think otherwise.

  “You hate me still, don’t you?” he enquired, cockiness behind his words.

  “I should hate you, especially after the last time I was with you,” I spat back.

  “How many times do I have to apologize for that?” he enquired.

  “Asher,” I warned. He smirked and moved round his desk, coming to a stop in front of me and bending down on one knee.

  “What are you doing?” I asked, my voice slightly shaky as I gazed into those beautiful eyes of his. Those eyes should be illegal to look at. I had to leave now; Asher was bad news for me.

  “I have to go,” I whispered standing from my seat and grabbing hold of my clutch.

  “Blake, I need you to marry me,” he stated.

  “I beg your pardon?” I coughed.

  “You heard me,” he smirked. “I want you to marry me.”

  “You’re fucking shitting me,” I said.

  “I shit you not, little lady. When I said you need me more than I need you, I was telling you the truth. Your mother is a persistent

  woman and I can guarantee she will leave you

  alone if she knows you’re happily married,” he declared.

  “Just because my mother is a pain in my arse, it doesn’t mean you can propose to me,” I protested.

  He chuckled, “Oh sweetie, I have been keeping a close eye on you and I know what you have been up to in Australia. Did you tell your mother that you had a weekend fling with a politician’s son... or maybe about your one-night stand with a hot surfer, who I just so happen to know is actually a nightclub owner? I doubt your mother would approve.”

  Shit, shit, shit. Fuck Asher and his stalker ways. When he said he would find me and make sure that I was never alone I thought he was being sweet. It wasn’t until he started to use information against me that I figured out he was trouble. Naive seventeen-year-old me thought Asher was telling me in his own way that he loved me. He was always protective, sweet, and kind. That was until I opened my eyes and realized the sneaky, cocky prick was actually manipulating me, and it seemed he was back to his old ways. I knew better than to trust him, he would and could so easily turn on me in an instant.

  “Vile threats Asher, so I slept with a politician’s son: who cares? My mother would probably throw me a party, she always told me

  she wanted me to end up with a wealthy, civil

  man,” I retorted.

  “And I guess I am not wealthy and civil enough for your tastes?” he replied.

  I laughed. “You’re certainly wealthy enough,” I joked.

  “Marry me, Blake, and I promise I’ll keep those little hiccups a secret and your mother far, far away from you,” he vowed.

  As tempting as all this seemed, Asher would have to throw in a hell of a lot more incentives for me to accept any deal from him. “Tell me why, why you want me?” I asked, looking out the window at the beautiful city of Chicago. From forty-five floors up it seemed you were on top of the world. This was Asher. He was a king in his high tower overlooking the checker board and placing his pieces where he wanted them.

  “Does it matter?” he replied.

  “Asher, if you want anything from me, you’ll tell me the truth. Not some washed-up version of what you think I want to hear,” I barked back.

  He laughed, those lips of his becoming even more seductive. I should slap his smirk off that gorgeous face of his and then run for my life, because he was starting to melt away those walls I had put up just to protect myself from him.

  I had never once questioned my actions but when I looked back at the relationship with him,

  I knew all-too-well that I was a naïve, stupid little girl, so head-over-heels in love with him that I couldn’t see how blind he had made me to all his scheming actions.

  “When I acquired this company from my grandfather, he put a clause in the contract. In the contract, which my lawyers have gone over numerous of time, there is a stipulation which must be met in about four months’ time,” he stated.

  Seriously, was it so hard to reveal a little bit of information? “What clause, and what does this company have to do with you marrying me?” I questioned.

  “The company needs a new face, and according to the lawyers, my grandfather wanted a woman at the head of the table. That’s where you come in,” he replied.

  “What exactly does marriage have to do with this whole equation?”

  “As you can gather, my grandfather was pretty specific on who actually heads up Crawford. The new face and CEO has to be a woman, but not just any woman,” he smiled.

  “Wait.” I didn’t need him to elaborate any further. I kne
w where this was going.

  “In order for me to retain my current position, I need to marry, and stay married for a couple of years. Unfortunately for the woman I marry, she also has to be the face and CEO of Crawford,” he continued.

  “Your grandfather must have hated you,” I replied. “Either that or he clearly doesn’t know you too well, as even I know you never want to marry. At least that’s what you told me,” I sneered.

  “I never said I wouldn’t get married. I just said I wasn’t ready to marry you at that particular time in my life,” he groaned, running a hand through his hair.

  “Cut the bullshit Asher, you know you’re not the marrying type. You’re a playboy at heart who likes to play the field, but I am not the same girl who used to indulge you,” I declared.

  “There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do to keep Crawford Enterprises. It’s been in my family for years. I am not about to give it up without a fight. As for my playboy behavior, I might still enjoy a little bed-hopping, but when I commit to something I commit completely Blake, I’m not going to sleep around if that is what you’re asking. This marriage is something I will take seriously,” he stated.

  “How on earth did I not know you owned a company? We dated, planned a marriage Asher, you know me and I know you, yet this,” I said, looking around his office. “I didn’t even know you worked for this company, let alone had it in your family for years.”

  “When we met and dated, planned a life together, I went under my maternal

  grandfather’s surname to deflect the media’s attention. I said there wasn’t anything I wouldn’t do to protect this company Blake, and I meant it,” he replied.

  It explained why I never made the connection, why I didn’t know when I accepted this job that Asher was the CEO and owner of Crawford Enterprises. Well, I’ll give him that, he knew how to fight for what he wanted, and he was telling the truth: he wouldn’t give up on something he thought could benefit him. When he wanted something he usually got it. If he wanted me to help him out with his little situation, then he would find ways to make me cave in, but it would cost him, and cost him dearly.