The Man Who Has No Sight (Soulless 4)

He took a seat and immediately scarfed it down, as if he’d skipped lunch so he was starving. He took a drink of his wine in between bites, but he didn’t pause for conversation.

I guess that meant it was good.

I ate mine, knowing it wasn’t as good as his, but it wasn’t bad.

He finished every bite then finally decompressed, like he needed something in his stomach before he could be himself again. “That was good. Thank you.”

“Yeah?” I asked in surprise, glad he liked it. I loved taking care of him, but I’d never cooked before. When he came to my apartment, he usually was the one who whipped something up in my kitchen. Sometimes he worked long hours, so it was nice to be able to save him time when he came home.

“Yeah.” He pushed his empty plate away and looked at me, his elbows on the table, his shirt open to reveal his chiseled, tanned skin underneath. The previous night had been full of lovemaking, a reconnection of our hearts and souls. That connection was still there now, like we were really getting back to what we used to be.

I hoped we would do that every night for the rest of our lives, that it wasn’t a one-time thing until he was ready to do it again. “How was your day?”

He shook his head slightly. “I had a couple meetings, and I fucking hate meetings.”

“I think that’s universal.”

“I wish someone could run my company so I could just work, but that will never happen. No one would care about it the way I do. No one would take care of it the way I do. So, I’m stuck dividing my time between the two.”

“We could always try to find someone, and I could monitor them.”

He gave a definitive shake of his head. “I built that company from the ground up, and I know I’d never be happy with someone else taking the lead. I may be difficult at times, but I would still do a better job protecting its integrity and virtues than someone else. They would focus on the money. Yes, the business needs to remain profitable, but that’s not my top priority.”

I hated to admit it, but he was right; having a CEO take his place probably wouldn’t work. Deacon didn’t think like a businessman, and while it was counterintuitive, it was the reason he had such immense success. People respected his work and his ideals, so he’d amassed a ton of supporters and credibility. If he released anything into the world, people knew it was safe and had been tested a zillion times. He cared about people, not the price tag. When insulin became monopolized and unaffordable to many, he released his own version at a tenth of the cost just to help those people. “I know I’m not knowledgeable about everything you do, but I’m a quick learner, and I can always help you…if there’s anything you think I can do.” I would never volunteer myself to run his company because I already had a job I loved, but I could carve out some time in my schedule to help him out.

He stared at me, his brown eyes so still they were like marbles. “You mean that?”

I almost rolled my eyes. “Deacon, I’ll do anything for you.” I wouldn’t even charge him for my time.

“I just understand you’re busy.”

“I’m never too busy for you.”

His eyes softened. “I’ll think about it. Since the information is private, I have to pull everything up and go through it myself, because I don’t necessarily want Theresa or one of my colleagues to know every little detail. Just organizing it is time-consuming. And dealing with all the other channels is a lot of work too, like FDA approval, et cetera.”

“I can do a lot of that for you…if you want.” He would really give me access to his private information, like his financial success, because I would probably see his payroll, the salary of his colleagues, his own cut of the company…stuff you may not want the woman you’re seeing to know about.

“I’ll think about it.” He rubbed his fingers over the scruff of his jawline and glanced out the window, which was hazy from the winter snow. He turned back to me after a while. “I’m gonna host Thanksgiving here. I thought about doing it at the cabin, but it’s going to snow every day and the streets might be slippery.”

“That’s probably smart. Let me know what you need. I’ll make sure I grab everything. And if you’d prefer to have a chef, that works too.”

He shook his head. “No. I’ll cook.”

I wasn’t sure where I would be. I didn’t usually celebrate the holidays since I had no one to celebrate with. Most of the time, I worked in my office in case a client needed something. It was depressing, but I chose not to let it bother me since it wasn’t my fault I’d lost my parents so young. I always told myself I would have my own family someday…and I just needed to be patient.