“Thank you for your offer, Grant. I’ll keep you in mind, I have to meet with a few other potential buyers and I’ll get back to you,” she said and I continued to smile. I knew there were no other potential buyers. At least none that were offering her this much money. She was just being prideful. She didn’t want to have to resort to taking money from an old enemy.
I nodded my head in silence, as Sasha and she fled away towards the door.
“Beverley, do you mind we have a quick word?” I said and then looked at Sasha, and said “alone” politely.
“I’ll get on back to the office, Bev. It was nice to meet you Mr. Jennings…Grant,” Sasha said before opening the door and disappearing.
Beverley remained standing where she was, with a slightly surprised look on her face. She didn’t look like she wanted to be there alone with me. I stood up and closed the gap between us, and placed my hands on her arms.
“It’s nice seeing you after so long, Beverley,” I said, looking her straight in her eyes and she looked like she was ready to slap my face.
Chapter 5
Beverley
Grant’s hands on my arms felt like I was being burnt. An electric shock ran down my spine and after a few moments, I jerked myself away from him.
“I don’t understand what’s so nice about all this. It isn’t nice for me,” I snapped at him and Grant’s eyes widened. The lingering smile remained on his face, and I couldn’t help but admire the chiseled features of his face.
“Fair enough. The circumstances are shitty. I agree. And I wish I didn’t have to do this,” he said and pushed his hands into the pockets of his jeans.
I couldn’t understand why he was being so nice to me. But then again, Grant had always been nice to me, even in college. And to me that was even more annoying. It was like he was trying to be charitable to a lost puppy.
“Well, here we are and you’ve made an offer to buy my company,” I said and clenched my jaw. Grant was watching me keenly. He hadn’t looked away once and I was now beginning to blush under his gaze.
“Beverley, my advice is that you accept my offer. I’m not doing you a favor, like you think. I want to keep your company afloat,” he said and I widened my eyes at him.
“You want to keep my company afloat? How?” I said, and realized that my voice was raised.
“By simply taking your company under my wing. I want you to continue heading your team, I want you to continue doing the good work you started. I know you just need more time,” he said in a quiet voice.
“You mean, you want me to come work for you?” I said, placing my hand on my heart from the shock.
“If you put it that way, then yes, but basically I want to give you the freedom to keep doing what you’re doing. There is a brilliant new product waiting to hit the market and I don’t want company financials to get in the way,” he said.
I shook my head.
“I don’t want to work for anyone, least of all you,” I said and Grant licked his lips.
“I understand that it’ll feel strange, but trust me, nothing has to change. You can keep your office and keep going to work. You’ll have all the independence that you need,” he added and I rolled my eyes.
“Other than that, I have to still answer to you,” I said. I didn’t want to look at him anymore. What he was proposing was a literal buy off. Working for him would give me no freedom!
“Yeah, for major business decisions, nothing more,” he said and stepped towards me. I jerked my head around to look at him again. Our gazes were locked. I was squinting at him with a sour look on my face.
“I am not going to work for you,” I said through gritted teeth, and I was surprised to find that his face broke into a smile.
“I didn’t expect you to agree to it so easily. You’re as egotistical as ever,” he said and my mouth fell open.
“Egotistical? You think I have an issue with my ego? How can you even pass a judgement like that? What makes you think like that? We weren’t even friends in college. We were just classmates,” I said with a snarl and Grant slowly nodded his head.
“You’re right. I don’t know you. We weren’t friends…but I wish I knew you,” he said and I stared up at him. I was in shock again. What he was saying didn’t make sense. Why did he wish he knew me? I was the geeky nerdy classmate who his friends jeered at. I was competitive and unfashionable and kept my distance from him on purpose. Why on Earth would he want to know me?
“See, you look surprised. It seems like you have been quick to judge me too. You don’t know me either,” he said and I gulped. He was right. I didn’t know him, but I didn’t want to know him. Grant, for years, had been my ideal man. I knew that if I got close to him, I would never be able to get over him. No other man would be good enough if we even so much as became friends.
“You’re judging me again,” he said in a softer voice. I watched, frozen in my place as he brought his face towards me. I couldn’t do anything, my limbs didn’t move. Grant did it slowly, allowing me the chance to push him away, but I couldn’t. I knew he was going to kiss me and I wanted it to happen.
Our lips met and I gasped. I had fantasized about kissing Grant for so long, that I didn’t think this could actually be happening. I felt my skin sizzling as he kissed me and my hands flew up to his chest. I grabbed fistfuls of his t-shirt and his hands found my waist. Our lips were pressed together and I closed my eyes shut. I could feel the roughness of his be