No man could crush her the way he could.
“Isn’t that the risk we all take?” Sera mused as she settled back again.
“Pretty much.” Hallie lay back, too, all three of them looking up at the perfect sky. “We all have to decide if we’re worth the risk. I think Sylvie is.”
“Shouldn’t that be the other way around?” In her head she had to figure out if Rene was worth the risk.
“Nah, you can’t control what the guy does. It’s your heart on the line. Is your heart worth the risk? If you don’t ever take a risk, you can’t get the reward,” Hallie mused.
“I think you’re worth it, too.” Sera’s hand came out and took her own.
Hallie took Sylvie’s other hand. “Though I still think there’s merit to the idea of getting rid of his whole family.”
She couldn’t do that, but maybe she could try harder. She’d used her job as a wedge between them, only spending time with Rene at night.
She didn’t have anything particularly important this afternoon. Maybe it was time to give him a chance. To give them a chance.
Maybe it was time to jump in the bayou and see if she could swim.
* * *
* * *
Rene looked up at his assistant and frowned. “What do you mean, we lost the Gateway deal? We’ve had that contract for twenty years.”
The brunette who was straight out of college frowned and clutched her tablet in a way that let Rene know he was probably letting the fine edge of his temper fray a bit, but there was no helping that.
He was completely distracted by pure lust for his wife. One week in and he couldn’t think about much else but how good it felt to hold her, to kiss her, to touch her.
But he still hadn’t gotten her in bed. He was still at the make-out level, and it was slowly driving him insane.
“I don’t know exactly what happened, Mr. Darois,” the young woman said, her voice tremulous. She was a relative of his, but she used all the formalities. “I guess someone outbid us.”
“Underbid us,” he corrected. It was the third time this year that the company had lost a contract they should have been able to keep. “I want to know how much they bid, Jane. Do I make myself clear?”
“How am I supposed to find . . .” She backed away, moving toward the door though never taking her eyes off him. “I’ll find out and get back to you.”
The door to his office was left open and a familiar figure moved through the doorway, narrowly missing his unnerved assistant. Louis Sylvain was a man who knew how to wear a suit. His father’s closest friend had been the one to take Rene out to buy his first adult suit, a tailored three-piece that had been something akin to armor for him. It had been right before he’d gone to Chicago, and Louis had ensured he’d walked into that office feeling good about himself.
Sometimes it had been easier to talk to Louis than to his own parents. His mom and dad had seemed perfect, but there was always something mischievous about Louis.
“New assistant?” Louis turned and watched Jane scamper off.
“I promoted the last one. She wanted to move into HR and a position opened up.” Rene strode back to his desk and sank into his chair.
“Is that one of Cheryl’s girls?” Louis closed the door behind him.
Louis knew the family situation well. “Her youngest. She graduated a few months ago. If I could have put her in the mail room, I would have. In the last couple of months I’ve been forced to find positions for three of my cousins. Thank god Ashley didn’t qualify or she would be here, too. Jane has a business degree, though I have no idea how. She doesn’t know how to read a bid.”
“You know there’s a difference between school and the real world,” Louis chided. “Give her some time and I’ll find a better fit for her. I’ll start looking for a proper assistant for you. You know if you would stop promoting them, you might have better luck. Sometimes an assistant is just an assistant.”
Not in his experience. He’d worked with a VP in Chicago, a woman who’d taught him to always ask certain questions of his employees, the most important being—what is your goal? A good boss helped an employee achieve his or her goals, and that was how a boss retained top-tier talent. Still, it would be good to have an assistant like his wife’s. Gertie ran Sylvie’s work life like a well-run ship, and no one got past her. Not even Sylvie’s husband. “I don’t suppose you could find me a bossy older woman who takes no prisoners and protects her boss to the point that she can’t be intimidated by her boss’s charming husband.”