“Oh, that won’t be necessary—we’ll be taking my private plane.”
Her eyebrows arched. “You have a private plane?”
“I do. I’m guessing this will be your first time on a private jet?”
“It’ll…actually be my first time on a plane, period.”
“Happy to be several of your firsts.”
I didn’t bring up that I suspected I was her first boss-employee hookup.
She rose, smoothing down the front of her floral dress.
“Then I’ll get to it.”
“I’ll let you know when it’s almost time to leave. And, April—”
She raised her eyebrows again, stopping in place.
“Yeah?”
“I’m glad we talked about the…other matter. It’s not an easy subject to discuss, but it’s good to see we can discuss it like adults.”
“That’s what we both are, right? Two adults in a working relationship—er, platonic working relationship.”
“Exactly. And I want there to be open lines of communication between us. No secrets, OK?”
Another pause, as if she were scanning her thoughts to make sure she was capable of such a thing.
“No secrets.”
“See you soon.”
With that, she left. My eyes lingered on her ass as she stepped toward the door, and I had to force myself to look away.
Once she was gone, I made a phone call to my pilot, letting him know to make the arrangements for us to fly out in a few hours. As soon as the conversation was over, my thoughts went right back to April.
I was impressed—I had to admit. Some women might’ve been too afraid to approach their boss about such a matter. But not her. April was confident, strong, assertive.
Just the type of women I could find myself falling for, and falling hard.
And there was more to her than that. There was strength, but there was also the way she was with Willa, sweet and caring and…motherly.
I froze in place the second the thought entered my mind.
Motherly.
It was almost too much. Never once since Megan had passed did I ever think of another woman in that same way. But April was having that effect on me. As much as I wanted to write off what was happening between us as simple attraction, the more time that passed, the more I began to realize it was something more than that.
But thinking about it had to wait. Everything was on the line with my company, and the slightest misstep could bring ruin.
Either way, the next few days were going to make or break it all. No room for failure. Everything depended on it.