professionalism.
But it had to be this way. Or else, if they started something, he might begin to need her—to want her and want things he’d forgotten about a long time ago. Julia had done a number on him, he knew, but he’d deserved it after the way he’d reacted to her. He’d been attracted to her like no one else before, and she’d had a sweet kid who’d needed a father.
He rubbed his hands over his face and thought about the first time he’d met Brent. He and Julia hadn’t been dating very long—perhaps a month—when she’d brought the boy to work with her because her babysitter for the school holidays was sick that day. Brent had been sitting with Julia at the table when Blake had got to the restaurant where they’d planned to have lunch. Blake had known Julia had a son, but hadn’t thought too much about it until he’d met the boy.
‘I’m glad you two finally get to meet,’ she’d said, her arm around her son’s chair. ‘Brent, this is the man that I’ve been telling you about.’
The boy had looked up with solemn eyes, and examined him for a long time. Then he’d asked Blake, ‘Are you going to be my new daddy?’
It had shocked him, and he’d resisted the urge to laugh nervously. But then he’d looked up into Julia’s eyes, seen what he’d wanted to see, and replied, ‘Maybe.’
He shook his head and stood now, his body tight from sitting at the table for the entire day. And from the direction of his thoughts. Being around Callie brought up all sorts of emotions inside him, and awakened memories he’d thought he’d put to rest.
Such as the fact that he had wanted to give that boy a family like the one he’d never had.
His mother had done a number on his father as well, and since then he and his father had always focused on their joint interests instead of on family. He’d never had a normal family situation. Just as he had told Callie.
Which was exactly why being professional with her was so important. He couldn’t afford to fall for her. She was everything he had tried to stay away from, and he’d already revealed things to her that he didn’t even think he’d known about himself.
It was the best decision to distance himself, Blake decided. And he didn’t question why it felt so wrong.
‘CALLIE, BLAKE NEEDS TO see you in Conference Room A.’
Kate popped her head into Callie’s office and then disappeared almost immediately. But not before Callie saw the expression on her face. She recognised that expression. It was the sympathetic one Kate usually wore when Callie told her about a horrible tour she’d been on.
Was Blake annoyed with her? She’d left him a note in the conference room to tell him that she wanted to prepare alone before their first potential investor arrived at ten. As she made her way to the conference room she faced the fact that it was certainly a possibility. He might have wanted to talk to her about the proposal and run through it one last time.
But she hadn’t wanted to deal with him that morning, when her nerves had already been tightly coiled. Just being in his presence made her feel so tense that sometimes she felt sick. So this morning, before the most important tour of her life, she’d just wanted a bit of peace.
When she arrived at the room she saw Blake standing with his back facing the door.
‘Blake? Kate said you wanted to see me?’
He turned to her, his face calm, though she thought she saw an eyebrow twitch. She took a step towards him and then stopped when she realised she’d mistaken calm for professional. It was the same look he’d had on his face when she’d walked in on him and Connor talking the day all this had started.
‘What do you need me for?’
‘Both Mr Vercelli and Mr Jung arrived this morning. Apparently Mr Jung had an urgent matter to resolve in South Africa, and so took an earlier flight to Cape Town. Instead of individual proposals, customised for two different potential investors, we’re going to have to do them both today.’
Callie felt her stomach churn, and sat down on one of the conference room chairs so her legs didn’t give out on her. She closed her eyes and let her mind go through the possibilities. Could they still do two different proposals? No, that wouldn’t work. And nor could they make one of the men wait, do it in two shifts, since both proposals included dinner.
‘Callie?’
Blake was crouched in front of her when she opened her eyes.
‘Are you okay? You’re pale.’
He brushed a piece of hair out of her face and her mind, which had been so busy before, blanked. And then she remembered that they had a job to do and nodded.
‘I’m fine.’ She stood, and he rose with her, and for a moment they were so close she could feel his body heat. ‘What does this mean, though?’
‘It means we need to work on a new plan that merges the two proposals.’ He said it confidently, his voice back to its usual formality, as though this had always been his plan and he hadn’t just shown his concern for her.
‘And you aren’t in the least worried that this might turn out poorly?’ she asked, her own fears motivating words that she wouldn’t have spoken if it didn’t irk her that he had recovered from their contact much faster than she had.
‘No, Callie, I’m not. This is what I do.’
He shrugged and walked around her, and she thanked the heavens when her mind started working normally again.
‘And, today, this is what we do.’
His emphasis stiffened her spine and she realised he wanted her to step up. So she took a moment, searching through the possibilities, looking for some way to maintain the two proposals they’d worked on. She knew both tours like the back of her hand, and before she could consciously think about it she started pulling threads of commonality from each of them.
‘Okay...so Mr Vercelli wants to experience the Italian side of Cape Town—family was our angle on that one.’ She spoke almost without realising it, needing to hear her ideas out loud to figure out whether they made sense. ‘And Mr Jung wants to experience Cape Town culture, which we know is so different from his own Chinese culture.’
She frowned, and then looked up at Blake.
‘But isn’t family in a place fondly called the Mother City an important part of our culture?’
Blake smiled at her, and she felt the knot in her stomach loosen.
‘I’d say so, yes. I think you’re on to something.’
She returned his smile. ‘So we focus on the common aspect of the two proposals—family. We use tour stops and business details focused on that.’
‘Yes, that should work.’
She waited for him to grab his tablet from the table to note things down. But instead he just stood leaning against the table slightly, with a satisfied look on his face.
