Giving My All to You

Justin’s head came up and his fingers stilled on the keyboard of his laptop. “Hey, Brandon. Yeah, have a seat.” He shifted the computer to the left of the near empty desk and clasped his hands together.

He dropped down in the chair.

“What’s up?”

“How did you know Siobhan was the one?” Brandon held up a hand. “You can skip the intimate details.”

A slow smile spread across Justin’s face. “I didn’t. I had no intentions of starting anything serious and Siobhan felt the same.” He shook his head. “I can’t put my finger on when or how it happened, but all of a sudden I found myself falling in love.” He angled his head thoughtfully. “Is that how you’re feeling about Faith?”

“I don’t know. It’s just different. I’ve never been distracted by a woman before, but I can’t stop thinking about Faith.”

“Is she still here?”

“Yes, but she’s going back to Portland in a couple of weeks.” Brandon didn’t know how he was going to handle not being able to see her whenever he wanted. Any visits would have to be coordinated between their schedules and with him taking over the company, it could be a few months before his schedule cleared. That didn’t sit well with him, either. “I mentioned continuing our relationship, but we haven’t really had time to discuss it at length.”

Justin leaned forward. “If you care about her, don’t let her get away. I can’t tell you how hard it was when I thought I’d lost Siobhan. Whatever you do, don’t let her get away,” he repeated, as if he were remembering.

Brandon nodded. Now how in the hell was he going to accomplish that?

CHAPTER 15

Wednesday evening, Faith fiddled with the salad on her plate as she talked to Brandon on the phone. They hadn’t spoken since he dropped her off on Sunday, due to his work schedule, and she’d missed his call earlier in the day because of a conference call. He was still campaigning to convince her to continue their relationship. But she knew once she came clean, he would, more than likely, never speak to her again, much less date her.

“How did your conference call go this afternoon?” Brandon was asking.

“It went well. I may have another client, but I have to wait until I send my proposal.”

“That’s great news. By the way, I brought your idea of student interns to my company and got very positive responses, so thank you.”

She hadn’t realized he had paid that much attention to what she said. “You’re welcome. I’m sure it’ll turn out well.”

“I’ve been meaning to ask if things were still going well with your father.”

“Yes. We’re enjoying getting to know each other.” Not wanting to talk about her father, Faith changed the subject. “Have you thought more about working with your uncle’s replacement?”

“No. And we’re going to have to agree to disagree on the subject. Maybe we should talk about something else.”

She sighed inwardly. His clipped tone gave her the impression that he was still angry and resistant to the idea, and made it that much more difficult for her to tell him. “Actually, I need to finish my dinner and get started on the proposal.”

Brandon’s sigh came through the line. “I didn’t mean to snap at you. Can we have dinner tomorrow?”

“I’ll be with my father.” Faith had called Thad and asked if she could come over. She had to tell him about Brandon. Maybe he would have an idea of what she should do.

“What about lunch on Friday? There’s a nice café on the first floor of the building where I work.”

She tried to think of a reason she couldn’t go, but outside of telling him the truth, she couldn’t come up with one. “Sure. What time?”

“Is two okay? That way we can miss the lunch crowd.”

“Two is good.” The fewer people around, the better. She just hoped he didn’t get any ideas about her visiting his office. He gave her the address, told her to park in the underground garage and said not to worry about the cost, that he would make sure to have it validated. They talked a moment longer, then Faith ended the call.