“I looked at the numbers you sent me today,” he says, opening a wine bottle.
“Oh? What did you think?”
“Much better. The lower overhead will handle slower, but more sustainable growth.” He sits down at the kitchen table, eyes on me. “You’re ready to put the plan into motion.”
Excited nerves flutter through my stomach. “I think so too.”
“Carter offered, and I wouldn’t be doing my job as mentor if I didn’t bring it up again,” Victor says. He looks down at his glass of wine, jaw working. “If you put a proposal together I can forward it to Carter. He’s on the lookout for more start-ups to invest in.”
“Do you think that would be a good idea?”
“Investment would get you off the ground faster. He has a network and connections you could use.”
“I sense abuthere somewhere.”
His eyes meet mine. “But I’d rather it was me investing.”
My heart is pounding in my chest. “If I let you, though, we’d only be mixing business and pleasure even more than we already have.”
“I’m aware of that,” he says, voice dry. “It’s a bad idea.”
I turn off the stove and keep my eyes on the food I’m plating. “As bad as the two of us sleeping together?”
“No,” he admits. “That’s probably worse.”
His honesty makes me smile. For better or for worse, Victor always gives it to you straight. I put down our plates and accept the glass of wine he hands me in exchange. “Thanks.”
“No, thank you. Did Bonnie prepare this?”
“I made it from scratch.” His housekeeper hadn’t objected at all when I said I wanted to cook dinner for the two of us. She’d smiled, actually, in a way that was a tad too knowing.
“It’s good,” he says. “Your mother taught you to cook, too? Between all the tantric sex and cow-petting?”
“Tantric yoga,” I correct him, and he gives me a crooked smile. “But yes, she did. For a while we lived in a commune with a big kitchen garden and there was always fresh produce.”
He shakes his head. “A commune.”
“It was great, for a time. There were always other kids to play with.”
“Do you think your mom is the reason you agreed to marry me?”
I look up at him in surprise, and steady blue eyes gaze back at me. I consider the question. “I do, actually. Not directly. But she was never afraid to think big or differently. She always said that the most important thing was a person’s integrity. That going to bed at night wasn’t difficult as long as you had that. She also told me the sky was the limit.” I look down at my food, thinking about her. About the things I haven’t told her. “She’s adventure itself. And if I start this company, if I pursue my own dream, I will have had an adventure in my life. An attempt at one, anyway.”
Victor’s silence is complete. I don’t look at him, embarrassed at my own outpouring of words.
“Are you afraid to tell her about our marriage?”
“Yes, a bit.”
“If you explain it to her in those terms, I don’t think you have anything to be afraid of,” he says. “You’ve been true to yourself throughout this whole thing. And if it’s an adventure you want, well…”
I smile, looking up at him. “Marrying my boss is definitely an adventure.”
“Happy to oblige,” he says.
I bite my lip, considering my words. “Actually, speaking of integrity and mixing business-and-pleasure… I don’t just want to be here for you when you want sex.”
His eyes burn with sudden focus. “All right,” he says. “What do you want? If you’re asking for a relationship, Cecilia, I—”