“While I appreciate the offer, and I have no doubt you’d make a wonderful dinner companion…” Her eyes twinkle with mischief as my jaw clenches tight at her words. “I must tell you that I’m taken… Oh, trust me, he knows how lucky he is… Have a good weekend.”
She hangs up the phone and walks around the desk, wrapping her arms around my neck, and I immediately relax. “Who was that on the phone?”
“Victor Cooper,” she says with a small, knowing smile.
I chuckle. Victor is the city commissioner, nearing his seventies and due to retire soon. His flirting with Camilla is almost completely innocent.
“Do I need to worry about him?” I joke, laying a kiss on her lips.
I wasn’t sure how it would work with Camilla answering the phones and handling everything Elouise handles—especially since Elouise is still under the weather and hasn’t been able to come in and formally train her—but she’s risen to the challenge and has every damn man who calls under her spell. I’m trying like hell to keep it professional, but it’s taking a miracle not to metaphorically lift my leg and piss on her so they all know she’s mine.
“You don’t need to worry about anyone,” she says, kissing the corner of my mouth. “How was your breakfast meeting?”
“Productive.” I grab the globes of her ass and tug her toward me, capturing her mouth with mine. She sighs into the kiss, threading her fingers through the back of my hair. The kiss quickly turns heated, and I force myself to pull away, knowing I’ll have the entire weekend to get lost in Camilla.
“The phones have been slow this morning. Do you need me to do anything?”
“Yeah, shut down, so we can go home.”
Her brows knit in confusion. “It’s only ten in the morning.”
“And we’re starting our weekend early. Did you ask your friend if she can go?”
“She has to work all weekend and can’t bail. I thought we weren’t leaving until tomorrow. I have to go see my dad first…”
“We’re leaving today instead, and we’ll visit your dad on the way.”
Her interest is piqued. “We?”
“Yeah. I got the approval expedited, so I’m on his visitor list.”
Her eyes go wide. “You’re going to visit my dad… with me?”
“I would like to.” I tuck a wayward strand of hair behind her ear. “He’s important to you, and you’re important to me. Is that okay?”
“Of course. I just hate this is how you’ll officially meet him as my boyfriend.” Her lips curl down into a frown. “But I guess it’s something I’m going to have to get used to.”
“For now, yes, but you never know what will happen.” My guy has already told me he’s found tons of incriminating shit on Clint and James. And while that’s good, and when the time is right, I plan to use it, he knows my ultimate goal is to find proof to overturn Daniel’s conviction.
“So, after we visit my dad, we’re leaving?” she asks, changing the subject.
“Yep. Go upstairs and pack and I’ll meet you up there shortly.”
“Is it just us going?”
“Noah’s gonna tag along, but I doubt we’ll see much of him once we’re there. Is that okay?”
She nods. “Yeah, too bad Yasmin couldn’t go. I bet they’d hit it off.”
I chuckle. “You don’t want him for her, trust me. Noah’s my best friend and I love him like a brother, but he’s a womanizer. He has no desire to settle down, ever.”
Adorably, she scrunches her nose up in disgust. “Maybe he just hasn’t met the right woman yet.”
“Maybe.” I kiss the tip of her nose. “I need to handle a couple things at the marina and then I’ll meet you at home. We’re going to go visit your dad then meet Noah at the airport.”
“Sounds good.”
I watch as she saunters away and then head into my office to finish up a few last-minute things, since I’ll be out of the country for the next few days. Once I’m done, I shut everything down and lock up, turning on the alarm system. After what happened at the marina with the fire, I’ve upped my security and cameras. It needed to be done anyway.
When I get down to the marina, I head straight into the warehouse and to my office, where I find Noah and Adrian Burgrov, a business associate of mine, waiting.
“Isaac, how are you?” Adrian asks in his thick, Russian accent, extending his hand to shake my own.
“I’m well.” I gesture for him to have a seat. “How are you? How’s Patrice?”
“Spending my money as always,” he says with a laugh, but the smile on his face tells me how much he loves his wife and is perfectly content with her spending however much she wants. I’ve only met her once in all the years we’ve been doing business, but it was clear how in love they are.