Revealing Conversations

Haven

The following meetings with Debra haven’t gone as badly as I expected. My father is determined to reject every attempt at understanding, but she has infinite patience and none of his rebuffs seem to affect her. She keeps a permanent smile on her face and I secretly delight in it.

I admire her professionalism, but it also drives me crazy.

Not once has she looked at me—not the way I’m sure I’ve been looking at her—but when she’s near, it’s incredibly hard to keep my feelings at bay.

I manage it because I promised her our relationship wouldn’t get in the way of business.

I try to stay calm as much as I can, even though my body is screaming for me to take her somewhere I can make love to her until I’m satisfied. If that ever happens, which I doubt.

Never in my life have I lost this much control, and it hasn’t been for lack of experience.

I was no saint in college, but Debra sets me on fire from the inside without even trying.

From that first day I saw her, I knew she’d be my undoing.

What we did—what I did to her, more like—in the bathroom was pure impulse.

I didn’t care what she thought of me because in that moment I needed to have her and I went for it.

Now, I can’t imagine being with anyone else.

And I’m screwed because I’m terrified she’ll vanish from my life the moment my father signs the contract.

“I have more important things to do,” he tells her every chance he gets, and he continues to be extremely gruff with her.

Every day I try to show him that the only way to preserve the business my mother loved so much is to give a share to Whittemore Corporation, but he’s still hell-bent on keeping the factory exactly as it is.

I admit I’m being a bit selfish in wanting him to sign with them because every day it gets harder for me to come to work.

Memories of my mother overwhelm me in every corner of this damn place.

Partnering with them doesn’t mean I’ll be able to leave, but at least I hope the changes they bring will help ease the pain.

“You don’t actually need me here,” Debra tells him calmly.

After several days in which my father found ways to keep her from looking at the account books, today she’s finally managed it.

“I can go through all of this alone. I’m sure you both have set aside your own duties to attend to me and I appreciate it, but you don’t need to keep me company anymore. ”

She’s kicked us both out in a very subtle way, but I linger, hesitating. The right thing to do would be to follow my father, but with Debra, the right thing isn’t always what I want to do.

“Go, Haven.”

She decides for me. She doesn’t even look at me and that annoys me.

“You could at least look at me when you’re talking to me.

” I immediately regret the reproachful tone that’s come out.

“Go, Haven,” she repeats, meeting my eyes this time.

And although she maintains that maddening professional air, I catch a flicker of amusement in her gaze that encourages me to ignore her request and sit down beside her.

“Don’t you need anything?” My hand is close to hers and I’m fighting not to touch her. “If you tell me what you’re looking for, maybe I can help.”

“I don’t even know what I’m looking for.

” Her gaze returns to the papers. “I usually figure it out as I review the documents. And sometimes I simply don’t find anything.

I’m just trying to get a picture of what we’d be getting into and what we’ll need to make the company profitable.

Data, statistics—it all comes down to that. ”

“Not for you.” She looks at me for a moment before going back to the papers.

“Not for me,” she admits. “That’s why my father sends me to the family businesses.

The other lawyers are too aggressive in negotiations because they’re used to dealing with big corporations, so they’re not suited for treating decent people who do their best to get by and feel that their businesses are a part of themselves. ”

“Why?”

“Well.” She looks at me again. “Big companies—”

“No,” I interrupt. She’s misunderstood. “Why does your father want to take over businesses like ours when he could make more money with bigger ones?”

“I asked him the same thing before coming here.” She shifts to face me.

“I couldn’t see the point, economically speaking.

I thought it was a waste of time and resources because, even though a hundred percent of the companies we’ve absorbed are already turning a profit, the capital invested won’t be recouped as quickly as with a multinational. ”

“So why?” I ask again.

“Because when he created Whittemore Corporation, his sole purpose was to help anyone who needed it. My father isn’t an ambitious man, though he’s not altruistic either.

He helps because he expects something in return, but he doesn’t mind if the profits are minimal as long as a family can keep their business going or earns enough from the sale not to end up bankrupt.

Not everyone who works for him agrees with this approach—I didn’t either until I knew his true motives—but they respect my father and won’t stand in the way of his less ambitious projects.

My father built the company from nothing and fought hard to succeed, but he never forgot those who believed in him when it all began.

I suppose this is his way of repaying them. ”

“Maybe if your father talked to mine, it would be easier for him.”

“My father trusts me.”

Her attention returns to the papers and I know the conversation is over. She needs to review everything so she can give my father a proposal enticing enough to consider.

“I’ll pick you up tomorrow for the barbecue at the time we agreed,” I remind her, getting to my feet.

“I’ll be ready.”

She doesn’t look up and I swallow the urge to say something more. Or to pull her from that chair and devour her on the spot. She’s got me acting like a teenager in the throes of puberty.

Luckily for me, Joe comes to my rescue that afternoon and keeps me entertained so I don’t give in to the temptation of going to find her and enjoying her company ahead of schedule.

We haven’t been together since that night in her room at the inn and I’m dying to hold her in my arms again.

But I haven’t pushed because I know she won’t allow it.

She wants to stay professional and I promised I’d do the same. I won’t let her down.

“So…” my friend says after pouring us another couple of beers.

We’re at my place, catching up. Or rather, Joe is trying to convince me to come with him.

It’s always the same when he visits, but for the first time since he left, I’m actually considering it.

Not that I’m going to tell him—I don’t want to give him false hope either—but I’m thinking about it as a possibility, which is more than he’s gotten in years.

I’ve refused to even imagine it because my father needed me here.

I couldn’t abandon him after my mother’s death, even though the idea of escaping painful memories was deeply appealing.

But now, if he signs with Whittemore, he may not need me anymore.

It’s possible I could decide what I want to do without the burden of my father and the sinking company.

I wouldn’t stop coming to visit, but I wouldn’t feel chained to him the way I do now.

“Are you listening?” Joe’s voice pulls me from my thoughts.

“Sorry, what were you saying?”

“What’s going on between you and Debra?”

“She’s negotiating with my father for the acquisition of—”

“I’m not talking about your father and her. I’m talking about you two. Is she privately negotiating with you too?”

I try to stay calm. Joe knows me far too well for me to think I can fool him, but I won’t hand over the information willingly.

“There’s nothing to tell.”

“Really? Because I’d say there is.”

“Even if there were, it’s none of your business.”

“It is when the girl interests me.” His honesty is what I’ve always liked most about him. “I want to know if she’s taken so I can set my sights elsewhere.”

“I don’t even know what’s going on between us.” I sound as frustrated as I feel.

“A tough one, then.” He laughs.

“I don’t know what’s happening to me with her, Joe. I feel like an animal in heat when she’s near. You have no idea how much it pissed me off that she went to dinner with someone else. With you, for fuck’s sake.”

“Hey!” He raises his hands. “You saw her first. I’m out now.”

I feel terrible for having thought the worst of them. Joe would never betray me and Debra would never play both of us. I don’t know why I got so worked up.

“I acted like a damn jealous fool when I walked her back to the inn. I don’t know how she didn’t tell me to go to hell after that.”

“Maybe it’s because she’s interested in you too. When I met her, I did everything I could to get her attention and I dropped several hints, but she brushed them off gracefully.”

“When whatever this is started, she didn’t know who I was and our encounters were incredible, but ever since she found out, she’s been trying to keep her distance.”

“Hiding the truth was starting off on the wrong foot, Haven.” He whistles.

“Don’t you think I know that? I had no idea how to bring it up without her getting furious with me because I knew who she was from the beginning.”

“I bet she was furious anyway when she found out.”

“Obviously. That’s when she started pulling away and saying we could only have a professional relationship.”

“Maybe she’s stringing you along now because she’s upset about what you did. Maybe she thinks you were laughing at her.”

“That’s possible.” I frown. “But Debra doesn’t mix business with pleasure. She made that very clear.”

“That’s just an excuse to avoid you. How many times have you two slept together?”

“I’m not telling you that.” I get annoyed.

“Holy shit!” He bursts out laughing. “You’ve got it bad.”