His limousine was waiting for him right out front, the driver standing at attention with his hands clasped behind his back as he waited. Upon seeing Gerard, he immediately pulled open the back door of the limo, holding it open so that Gerard could climb inside. He smiled at the spacious interior of the limo, reaching forward to pour himself a glass of Coca-Cola from the small bottle that the limo kept stocked for him. It was one of his few guilty pleasures, and while he didn’t drink it often, there was something satisfying about the taste that always brought him back for more. After he cracked open the lid of the bottle and took a deep gulp, he let out a satisfied sigh and glanced toward the driver, who had been waiting patiently this whole time for him to give an order.
“Take me back to my house, Simon. I have a date tonight, and I would like to change my outfit before that happens,” he said casually, feeling his phone buzz in his pocket.
“As you wish, sir,” Simon replied courteously, the limousine pulling away from the curb and starting to make its way down the street.
Gerard pulled his phone from his pocket and glanced down at the screen, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips as he read Elena’s message. I got the flowers. They are very pretty. Thank you. As for your invitation to have dinner, I would love to. Do you think you have me picked up, though? I might feel like drinking tonight and don’t want to have to worry about driving home afterward.
My reply was short but sufficient. Sounds good to me. I’ll see you at 7.
Chapter Six: Elena
Despite it seeming to take forever for the designated time to arrive, Elena soon found herself receiving a message from Gerard telling her that he was downstairs waiting for her. She found it somewhat strange that he chose not to come up to her place for a bit, but given the fact that they had thirty minutes until seven o’clock, it didn’t come as too much of a shock. He was probably worried about them getting to the restaurant late, though the fact that Elena hadn’t heard him say anything about having made a reservation for them somewhere she didn’t understand why he was so preoccupied with being on time. He has always been like this, though. He loves nothing more than being on time.
It had been one of the many things about him that used to irk her when they had first been partnered up. Elena was a far more laid-back type of person and preferred to live her life in such a way that she didn’t have to spend her time rushing from place to place to try and meet up with other people’s arbitrary senses of time. Gerard had been quick to tell her that he didn’t approve of her lack of timeliness, and she had lost track of the number of times that he had chastised her for being late to something. She couldn’t help it, though. She had been born on June 19th, a day that was dedicated to taking your time with things. She believed that had something to do with her carefree attitude, and she wasn’t going to apologize for something that she didn’t think she could control.
This time, however, he would have no reason to complain. She had taken a shower to freshen up, going so far as to spend a half an hour in front of the mirror doing her makeup. She wasn’t trying to seduce him or anything, but she did like to look good when she went out, and this seemed like as good a time as any. As she gave herself one last lingering look in the mirror that hung in her living room, she smiled at how good she looked. If she didn’t turn any heads tonight she would be very surprised. So long as I catch Gerard’s attention, I don’t care if I don’t get a single glance from anyone else tonight.
She paused, a small frown spreading across her face then. Just what was it that she wanted from Gerard? Sure, he had been her partner for quite a long time, but he had never actually shown any interest in her as a woman. To be fair, that was probably because of her having been in a relationship for the longest time, and she had been the one who insisted on repeatedly telling him that she wasn’t interested in him. Add to that the fact that they always seemed to be arguing in the aftermath of her breakup with Jeremy, and she could easily see why he might have chosen to keep himself somewhat distant from her. Now, however, she was single. That meant that she was fair game, and she was going to make sure that Gerard knew it by the end of the night.
The sound of her phone ringing from the small purse that she had chosen to use tonight broke her out of her thoughts, making her blink as she fished the small pink cellular device out and glanced at the screen. Gerard was calling, and she knew better than to not answer his calls. “Hello, Gerard? I’m making my way downstairs right now. I just wanted to make sure that I didn’t forget anything before I left the house.”
“I just wanted to make sure that everything was alright. I texted you but you didn’t send me a reply, and it’s been about five minutes since I sent that message. I don’t mean to sound impatient, but I am rather eager to get to this restaurant. I want us to be able to get a good seat before the other tourists and hotel guests start crowding up the place, which is why I got here a little earlier than I had originally planned to,” he said casually, his deep voice making Elena shudder gently with sudden desire that caused her to blush from just how powerful the sensation was.
She fought the urge to roll her eyes at his words, biting her bottom lip to stop herself from smiling. Despite how subtle he had tried to be, she could tell that he was trying to make it sound like he wasn’t excited for the two of them to be going out, which only made it even more obvious to her. She chose not to call him out on it, though. She would play along with him for now; she didn’t want to risk the two of them arguing when this dinner was supposed to be a way for them to make up for all their previous arguments. “No worries. I’m heading out the door right now. I’ll be down in a few moments.”
“Sounds good,” he replied, the line going dead a moment later.
Figuring it would be best not to keep him waiting much longer, Elena locked the front door to her apartment before making her way down the multiple flights of stairs toward the entryway of the apartment. She could already see the limousine parked in front of the building waiting for her, her heart beating a little faster in her chest at the sight of Gerard standing beside it, waiting for her. He was dressed impeccably in a midnight blue suit and matching pants, a golden necktie serving as the only variation of color in his outfit. His eyes were closed as he leaned gently against the back of the limo, no doubt doing his best to make sure that he didn’t wrinkle his outfit in the process. Pushing open the front door to her apartment complex, she plastered a smile on her face and began to saunter over to him.
“I didn’t make you wait too long, did I?” she asked playfully, a knowing look on her face telling him that she was making fun of him slightly.
“A little longer than I would have liked, but I suppose I won’t complain. At least you didn’t keep me waiting as long as you did that one time back in France,” he said, a smile on his face as he brought up one of our very first missions together.
“I had been kidnapped from my hotel room the night before and had to wait for my captors to leave long enough that I could pick the lock on the handcuffs they had used on me and escape. I’m sorry that my having to break out of Notre Dame and avoid people trying to kill me inconvenienced you,” she said teasingly, sticking her tongue out at him.
“You never did tell me the full story of how you managed to get away,” he said, holding open the back door of the limo for her to climb inside.
“Maybe, someday, I’ll tell you,” she said with a smile, climbing inside and scooting to the other side to make room for Gerard to climb in as well.
“Now that is a story I would be interested in hearing,” he said, glancing toward the driver and nodding his head wordlessly.
The limo began to drive off, Elena allowing herself to enjoy the feeling of the comfortable leather seats. She could smell the slightly tangy scent of Gerard’s cologne, the scent one that she thought suited him quite well. She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath to draw the scent further into her nose. She did it as subtly as she could manage, casting a sidelong glance at him to make sure that he h
adn’t noticed her actions. “So, what brought about this sudden change of heart? You seemed pretty angry at me earlier when you left Charlie’s place,” she said curiously, resting both of her hands in her lap.
“I figured that I wasn’t being as empathetic as I could have been, and I thought that this would be a way for us to bury any possible bad blood between us. You are my partner, after all. I need you on my side, and having you angry at me makes it so that there is a possibility that you could be persuaded to side against me at some point. I would rather avoid that,” he said, his arms crossing gently in front of his chest.
“Do you really think, after these three years of us working together, that I would honestly ever consider betraying you? Especially since we both know what happens in our organization to traitors?” she asked incredulously, shaking her head in disbelief at his words. “Besides, I might have been in a bad mood lately, but it would never drive me to turn on you. You mean a little more to me than that.”
“What exactly do I mean to you, Elena?” he asked softly, his voice only loud enough so that she could hear him.
She didn’t answer him right away, looking out the window so that she could watch the buildings pass by. They were already approaching the hotel, which meant that she didn’t have much time until they arrived. She bit her bottom lip as she considered how she might respond to his question, worrying that she might unwittingly admit more than she was willing to were she not to carefully consider her words. “You are important to me, Gerard. It is just hard for me to say in what way.”
“I suppose I’ll let that suffice, for now,” he said with a smirk. “However, I do intend to make you tell me eventually.”
Elena didn’t reply to that, simply smiling. “Let’s go eat. I’m starving.”
Chapter Seven: Gerard
The two of them were lucky enough to manage to find a table right next to the windows that gazed out onto the Thames River, the setting sun offering a beautiful view as the many colors were reflected on the surface of the water. It reminded Gerard a little of the kinds of paintings that he used to see on The Joy of Painting, a show that he had enjoyed greatly when he was younger and still put on every now and then when the mood struck him. The vibrant orange, pink, and red in the sky offered a breathtaking sight, and he couldn’t help but say as much to Elena as she sat across from him. “We’ve got a really good view from here.”
“We certainly do,” she said distractedly, her eyes gazing out onto the river with a distant look to them.
“Something on your mind?” he asked softly, his gray eyes gazing at her somewhat intensely.
“N-Nothing important,” she stammered quickly, clearing her throat as she turned her attention back to him. “Just thinking about how I am going to enjoy this week off is all.”
“It has been a while since we last had a break from assignments, hasn’t it?” he asked aloud, the question being more of a rhetorical question rather than one he expected her to answer. “At least the job’s we’ve been doing for the last few months have all been relatively small scale. Nothing excessively dangerous has happened, which is honestly the way that I like things to go,” he said, rubbing the back of his head gently.
“I know what you mean,” Elena replied, lifting her menu and flipping it open to look at all the offered dishes. “If I could make my entire living by doing only slightly dangerous missions, I would be a happy woman.”
“Yeah, I imagine that the possibility of getting kidnapped or killed is not the kind of thing that creates a whole lot of excitement for one’s job,” Gerard said with a laugh, the sound deep and full of mirth. “However, you know what they say. No risk means no reward, and I would like to think that our rewards are usually worth the hassles that we go through.”
“I suppose so,” she relented, sighing gently as she rested her cheek against her open palm. “I just wish sometimes that I could work a more normal job that didn’t include the possibility of not coming home again, you know?”
He nodded but didn’t speak, Gerard having had those kinds of thoughts countless times before. When he had first become a secret agent for the Night Hawk Foundation, it had been one of the most exciting moments of his life. His love of the works of Ian Fleming and other spy novels when he was younger now seemed to be rewarded with the opportunity to actually live the life of a spy, but even he had not given the proper thought to the kind of dangers and situations that such a career would constantly find him in. You would think with all the spy films he had watched growing up that he would have been prepared for what seemed to be inevitabilities in the profession, but he chalked those instances up to his own rookie status. He was proud that he had made significantly fewer mistakes as time had gone on. “I know that feeling all too well,” he said eventually, picking up his own menu and allowing himself to look at it silently for a moment.
“What do you think you are going to have?” Elena asked curiously, offering him a shy smile over the top of her menu. “I am a huge fan of their seafood, so that is probably what I am going to go with.”
“Sushi doesn’t seem like a bad idea,” he replied, setting his menu down and pointing to one of the open pages. “Shall we just have them bring us a bunch of different kinds of seafood so we can try them and see which ones we like the most?”
“If that is the case, then we have a choice between salt and pepper crispy squid, wasabi salmon skewers, and coconut crumbed prawns,” she said, looking at the section of the menu where the only food items were listed.
“Those all sound quite intriguing,” he said, tapping his finger on the menu as he pointed toward one of the food items listed. “I also have to say that their bourbon pork belly bites are also really tasty.”
“You’ve had them before?” Elena asked curiously, not really knowing how familiar her partner was with the bar and the food that it served.
“I came here for a dinner celebration with some of my employees for a New Year celebration, and I tried it at that time. I might have been a little intoxicated by the time the food came around, but I remember really liking the flavor. I figure that if I was as intoxicated as I was but can still remember the flavor that it must have been good. Wouldn’t you agree?” he asked, his two hands folding together like he was praying as they rested on top of his menu.
“I could probably agree on that, yeah,” she said playfully, her head turning in the direction of the waiter as he finally approached their table, the young British lad looking like he was no older than his mid-twenties.
“Are the two of you ready to order? Or would you like me to bring you something from our liquor menu to tide you over while you decide?” he asked sociably, his blue eyes glittering from behind a mop of brown hair. He was a wiry young man, his face occupied with a spare growth of hairs that couldn’t even be considered a beard. Gerard could only click his tongue quietly in sympathy, wondering how such a guy would possibly be able to gain any kind of female attention when he went around looking the way he did.
“I think that we are, actually,” Gerard said politely, not giving the waiter’s look much more of a thought as he returned his gaze to his menu. “I think we would like to take advantage of your mix and match deal,” he said, his white teeth glinting in his mouth as he offered a kind smile.
Gerard noticed that while he was busy rattling off the items that he would like to try with Elena that night that his companion seemed to not be capable of keeping her eyes off him. Her beautiful blue eyes were twinkling in a way that made Gerard curious as to what she might be thinking, though he could think of multiple things that he hoped were on her mind. She had only been broken up with a short while ago, which meant that she still was technically on the rebound. There would be no better time for him to try and act on his pent-up feelings for her than now, and he was intending to take advantage of that. “So, it really is a shame about what happened between you and Jeremy.”
He saw her immediately bristle at his words, a frown tugging the corners of her mouth do
wn as she looked back at him. He silently kicked himself when he saw the expression on her face, realizing that he could have gone about it in a much subtler way. “I know that it must be hard to have a relationship that lasted that long end.”
Rather than staying silent like he had expected her to, Elena sighed and nodded. “It’s okay; I kind of had the suspicion that he wasn’t being entirely faithful to me anyway. He was always being messaged by women that he assured me were just friends, but with how long I was sometimes away for missions, I would be naïve to think that he didn’t seek some sort of companionship while I was away,” she said, shaking her head back and forth like she was trying to dispel the thoughts that had suddenly popped into her head. “It’s probably better this way.”
He glanced over at the waiter and cleared his throat. “Could you also bring us a bottle of your 2005 Dom Perignon?” he asked, enjoying the look of surprise that flashed across Elena’s features.
The waiter nodded and hurried off to take their order, leaving the two of them alone once more. Gerard smiled warmly at Elena, gesturing towards her dress with the pointer finger of his left hand. “That is a lovely dress you are wearing, by the way.”
“I’m glad you like it. I wore it just for you,” she blurted, her face turning pink as she realized what she had just admitted.
Gerard sat there flabbergasted for a moment, unable to reply. Had she really just said what he thought she had said? Were his thoughts about wanting to get together with her really so far-fetched, or was destiny literally placing the opportunity in his lap? “I am flattered to hear that. It is not often that beautiful women dress up just for me,” he replied suavely, a hand moving to stroke through his black hair gently.
“Yeah right,” she said playfully, that smirk that he was so used to seeing slipping onto her face once more. “I’m sure you say that to all of the women that you take out on dates.”
Serving the Billionaire Boss: A Secret Baby Billionaire Romance Page 21