“I don’t care. Let it fail.” Antonio looked at her steadily. “I’m not going anywhere. I’m here. For you.”
Her jaw dropped.
He was truly willing to fail, and let a competitor win in his place? Just to impress her? Just to woo her?
No. No way.
“Forget that.” Hana’s eyes narrowed. “We’re going. Right now.”
“We?” Antonio blinked. “But I thought—”
“You thought I’d let the deal we’ve both killed ourselves over for months just disappear up in smoke? No way!” She turned to the bodyguard. “We’re coming now.”
She heard Antonio’s ragged intake of breath.
“Querida...” he breathed, and, pulling her into his arms, he looked down at her with such pure joy that it melted her right through. She beamed back at him, and then her smile slid from her face.
Oh, she was in so much trouble.
CHAPTER SEVEN
TWO HOURS LATER, as Antonio walked out of the boardroom with the Iyokan Airways deal signed and delivered, he looked down at the amazing, intoxicating woman beside him.
“We did it,” he said, still slightly dazed.
Hana turned to him, smiling. “You did it.”
Antonio shook his head. She was the one who’d known every detail necessary to hammer out the negotiations and get everything signed. Her beauty hadn’t hurt either, or her fluency in Japanese. The CEO of Iyokan Airways had obviously been charmed. Even now, as they walked out of the office toward the elevator, trailing lawyers in their wake, Antonio still wondered if the other airline had made the deal in order to partner with CrossWorld Airways—or to partner with Hana Everly.
Either way, with one stroke, Antonio’s airline now had the international reach he’d always dreamed of.
“The deal was signed because of you,” Antonio said quietly.
“I couldn’t let you lose it. Not when it means so much to you.”
He thought of how hard she’d worked, at his side, night and day. “And you.”
“I love our company, too,” she said simply.
Our company.
He’d never thought of it that way before.
“We’re all going to celebrate,” Emika Ito, the pretty young director of the Japanese lead team, called out to them. “Come join us!”
“Thanks, but we have plans,” Antonio replied automatically, not looking away from Hana’s beautiful face.
“We’ll be at the hotel bar in Ginza if you change your mind!”
“What plans?” Hana asked him.
Plans? Antonio’s only plan was that he wanted to feel like this forever, triumphant after their business deal, with this sensual, brilliant
woman in his arms. No one else could have done it—none but Hana.
“You’re right. The company isn’t just mine,” he heard himself say suddenly. “It’s ours.”
“I know,” she said cheerfully. “You couldn’t possibly succeed without me.” Then she saw his expression. Her forehead furrowed. “What are you trying to tell me?”