“But it’s not always like that,” Beck said. “Sometimes you have to get to know a woman’s heart first.”
“In my case it took over a decade,” Joshua added. “But there was a moment—or a series of moments—when I knew I didn’t want anyone but her. Ever.”
“And that life without her would be . . . unthinkable.” Gabriel nodded. “Completely and utterly unthinkable. I mean, my hearing would be better because I wouldn’t have to put up with the tuneless musical numbers all the time, but I’d give up my hearing for her happily.”
“God, she really can’t sing,” Dexter said.
“Not a note,” I agreed.
“You lot,” Tristan said. “You’re such saps. Look, Andrew, you want the girl, find a way to make it work. You’ve done that your whole life. You made millions turning around businesses everyone else thought were done. You make the impossible possible for a living. Just apply it to your love life.”
I winced. “But what I do for companies is go in, fix them up, and then move on. It’s been a bit like that with my girlfriends. We date and then we’re over, no second look back.”
“The past doesn’t predetermine the future,” Tristan said. “You’ve proven as much by buying Verity. You committed to one business because it was important to you. If Sofia is important to you, you’ll make that work, too.”
Well, when he put it like that.
“Life is really on its head if I’m taking dating advice from Tristan,” I said.
“This isn’t dating advice,” Gabriel said. “This is life advice. You don’t want Sofia to be just another girl you dated.”
I nodded. He was right. Sofia was my future. I’d known it since before I kissed her. Before I’d met her in the bar. Not because she was the sexiest, most beautiful woman I’d ever seen in the flesh, but because she didn’t let me get away with anything without letting me know she was letting me get away with it.
“I don’t want to lose her.”
“Sack her and she’ll find another job somewhere else. You have plenty of money you can give her to cover her expenses,” Tristan suggested.
That was never going to work. “She would cut off my balls if I suggested that.”
“God, Tristan. You’re a neanderthal,” Beck said. “No wonder you’re single.”
“What? I’m suggesting she give up one job, not trek up Everest naked.” Tristan shook his head as if he were surrounded by idiots.
“Why should she give up her job for me?” I asked. “She’s right at the beginning of her career.”
“So sell Verity,” Tristan said.
“No way. I’ve fought too hard for too long for that business. And it’s not just a business to me. You all know that.”
“Maybe she’ll have an idea if you talk to her,” Tristan said.
If she had, wouldn’t she have shared it with me already? “Maybe she’s moved on,” I said, the words bitter on my tongue. “I was adamant about ending things.”
“I’m not being funny,” Tristan said. “But I saw the way she looked at you. It’s not been long. She’s not moving on this quickly.”
“Thanks, mate. Maybe the solution is for her to start job hunting and for us to work together in the meantime. If it’s short term, that’s . . .” The idea of being her boss felt uncomfortable, but anything was possible if it was just for a few months, wasn’t it? “Maybe that’s an option.”
“Talk to her,” Gabriel said. “Tell her you can’t live without her.”
“So dramatic,” Tristan said on a sigh.
“Just you wait, Tristan,” Joshua said, patting him on the shoulder. “It will happen to you.”
Tristan chuckled. “No way. I’m not wired like you lot. I’m not sitting here waiting to fall in love.”
I hadn’t been either but that’s what had happened. Sofia had come into my life fully armed to disarm me. It was the last thing I’d been expecting. Now I had a visceral understanding that I was meant to be with her. Like Tristan said, I just had to figure out how.
Forty-One
Sofia
I was fired up and ready to wrestle an alligator, or at least ask Andrew for an advance on my bonus. There was no way I was going to try to appeal to his soft side—in business, he didn’t have one. I had prepared myself for a boardroom battle.
I climbed the steps to the Blake Enterprises offices just like I had that first day. Now, like then, I needed something from Andrew. I hoped I’d be as successful today as I had been that cold March morning, what felt like a thousand years ago.
I headed right through the outer office where this had all begun, but pulled up short. My old desk was occupied.
“Hi, I’m Trudy,” Andrew’s assistant said. “Can I help?”
I glanced at my watch. It was ten to twelve. I was early. But I wasn’t going to stand around making small talk. That’s not what Andrew would do.