The CEO, the Puppy and Me

She swallowed hard, trying to calm her nervousness. “A proposal?”

He nodded. “It’d be easier if we did this in my study.”

Without waiting for her response, he turned to walk away. Gin was hot on his heels. Gia stood there for a moment, wondering what was up with him. And then curiosity had her following.

When she reached his study, she came to a complete halt. Her gaze took in the scene before her. Ric’s usually clean study, where everything was in its place, was in complete disarray. There were papers scattered across the desktop with his oversize monitor and keyboard in the center. There were coffee mugs, not just one or two but many of them here and there. Empty dinner dishes were stacked on an end table. And the curtains were drawn. There was no indication that it was a beautiful sunny day outside.

“What in the world happened in here?” Gia moved to the windows and drew back the heavy curtains to let the sunshine stream in. It didn’t help the state of the office. “Have you been living in here?”

“Sort of.”

“Aren’t those the same clothes you had on yesterday?”

He glanced down and then ran a hand over the wrinkled shirt as though it might actually improve his appearance in some small way. “They might be.”

She arched a brow. “Might be?”

“Okay. They are.” He sat down behind the desk in a red-and-white gaming chair. “But you have to understand, this is the way I get when I’m involved in a project.”

“So nothing is wrong?”

He shook his head. “For once, I think something is right.”

Her heart seemed to pause. She’d been working so hard to keep herself distracted, but with each day that passed, she grew more anxious.

“Is it my biological father? Is there news?”

Ric shook his head. “I’m sorry for being so cryptic. There’s no news yet, but don’t give up hope. These things take time.”

Her heart sunk down to her new work boots. She didn’t want Ric to see how disappointed she was, so she sucked down her disappointment. “What’s had you so preoccupied?”

“That’s what I wanted to talk to you about. I’ve been working on modifications and scaling down the program. It’s taken a lot of work, but I think it was worth it—”

“Whoa! Slow down. You lost me.”

He visibly drew in a breath and blew it out. “Sorry. I think I need some sleep. You gave me the idea the other day when we were talking. And I thought we could help each other. My program needs a practical application and your hotel business needs people directed to it, so I’ve been working to marry the two.”

“You have?” She hadn’t been expecting this. She sank down on the armchair near his desk.

“Well, not exactly. I’ve been working on modifications to my program to see if it was even possible. And now I think it is. I need your permission so I can access your hotel files.”

“Wait. But I thought your program was to streamline transportation of goods?”

“It is. But I modified it so that instead of goods, it’s moving people to your hotel. So it will access public transportation, airlines, boats, whatever to make the trip to your hotel expedient and economical.”

“I... I don’t know what to say.”

“Say yes. I think it can help both of us.” He paused. His gaze searching hers. “Will you let me access your system?”

“I... I don’t know.” She seemed to be saying that a lot lately. “What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to fine-tune things. I’ll guarantee that your business won’t decline when I’m done.”

“You can’t promise something like that.”

He sent her a self-assured smile. “Sure, I can. Trust me.”

She wanted to trust him. It’d be so easy to trust him. But she had the feeling they were talking about totally different things. While he wanted her to trust him with her business, she was daydreaming about something a lot more personal.