Chapter 21
Chapter Twenty-One
Chloe
Placing the last piece of art on the wall, I stood back and studied the display we all helped organize.
“It’s truly a beautiful sight.” Gregory sighed.
“It sure is.”
“Everyone we invited has responded that they will be attending. This is going to be huge.” He smiled.
“What about Mr. Bennett?” I asked as I looked at Gregory.
“He responded with a no.”
“That’s good. It’s probably for the best. I’m going to finish up some work and take the rest of the day off. I think I’ll go see my dad.”
When I walked into my office, my phone rang. It was Sienna.
“Hey.” I hit the answer button and set my phone on the metal stand on my desk.
“So I have a bit of a problem.”
“What’s wrong?”
She rested her cheek in her hand. “I hate that Sam went back to England.”
“Aw, Sienna. I can honestly say I’m shocked.”
“I know, right? Me too. I miss the big goofball already, and he’s only been gone a couple of hours.”
“I think someone is in love.” I smiled.
“Maybe. Who knows. He cried at the airport.”
“He did?”
“Yeah.” I could see her eyes start to fill with tears.
“He told me that he loved me, and if I loved him, he’d stay.”
“I’m assuming you didn’t tell him.”
“I told him that I’d have to get back to him on that.”
“OMG! Sienna.”
“He freaked me out. I panicked. Listen, I have to go. My pain in the ass client is standing at the door looking at me.”
“Okay. Call me later or come over. We can do a girls’ night, sit on the couch with our gallon of ice cream, and watch depressing movies.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
Shaking my head, I cleaned up my desk, grabbed my purse, and headed out the door to see my dad. As I approached East 42nd Street, I saw him sitting on the ground Indian style with his guitar in his hand.
“Hey, Dad.” I smiled as I sat down next to him.
“Hey, pumpkin. You’re going to get your fancy pants all dirty.”
“They can be washed. How’s business?” I asked, looking over at his guitar case, which was filled with green.
“It’s a good day. You know why?”
“Why?”
“Because it’s a beautiful May day, and everyone is in a good mood. Here.” He handed me his guitar. “Drum up some more business for your old man.”
With a grin, I took the guitar from him. This was something we did on occasion. I began playing and singing Tomorrow Is a Long Time by Nickel Creek. Before long, people stopped to listen as they threw dollar bills into the guitar case. My heart started racing as I was singing, and I looked up to see Sebastian standing amongst the crowd of people staring at me. When I finished the song, He walked over with his hands tucked into his pockets.
“Why, hello there, Sebastian.” My dad smiled.
“Hello, Larry. Chloe.” He nodded.
Handing my dad back his guitar, I gave him a kiss on his cheek.
“I’ll talk to you later, Dad.”
“Yeah. Okay. Enjoy the rest of your day, pumpkin.”
I began to walk away, and Sebastian walked with me.
“You were really good,” he spoke.
“Thanks.” I stared straight ahead.
“So how have you been?”
I swallowed hard. “Fine. Busy. You?”
“Okay. I guess. Busy as well.”
“Good.” I turned the corner.
“Chloe, listen. I want to see you.”
“You’re seeing me.”
He lightly grabbed hold of my arm and forced me to stop walking.
“I want to see you. Let’s have dinner together tonight at my place.”
As I stood there and stared into his pleading eyes, a part of me wanted to slap him.
“I can’t. I’m sorry.”
“You can’t, or you won’t?” He cocked his head.
“I can’t. Sienna is coming over tonight. Sam went back to England today, and she’s really sad, so we’re going to have a girls’ night in.”
“I see. How about tomorrow?”
“Sorry. I have an exhibition tomorrow.”
“That’s right. How about after the exhibition? We can have a late dinner.”
“I don’t know.” I began walking. Why was the thought of possibly having dinner with him going through my head?
“Just dinner. Nothing else. I promise.”
“Dinner at your place, and you expect me to believe you won’t try to have sex?”
“I promise. I’ll be on my best behavior. Please, Chloe, just have dinner with me.”
His begging was pathetic. I stopped.
“Fine. I’ll have dinner with you after the exhibition. Gregory told me that you responded no on the invite.”
“Now that you’ve agreed to have dinner with me, I’ve changed my mind. I’ll be there.” The corners of his mouth curved upward.
“Were you going somewhere before you saw me with my dad?”
“Oh shit. I was meeting Damien. I’ll see you tomorrow night at the gallery.”
“Okay.”
As I walked away, Sebastian called my name.
“Chloe.”
“Yeah?” I turned around.
“Have a fun girls’ night tonight.” He smiled.
“Thanks.”
I was nothing but the poster child for being a glutton for punishment.
Sebastian
I barely slept a wink all night. Not only was I thinking about Chloe, but also about this big deal I was signing today. This had been in the making for months and was one of the biggest deals I’d made in a long time.
Sitting in the conference room alone, I had an unsettling feeling. I didn’t know where it came from or why, but something was really bothering me. Ed and John walked in, and Damien followed behind.
“Hello, Sebastian. Do you have your signing pen ready?” Ed smiled as he set the contracts in front of me.
“You’ve made the right decision to become a capital investor in our company,” John spoke as he took a seat.
Looking over the contracts, my unsettled feeling didn’t diminish. What the fuck was going on? “Gentlemen, excuse me for a moment.” Pulling my phone from my pocket, I sent a text message to Chloe.
“Good morning. Are we still in that Venus thing?”
“You mean a Venus retrograde? Yes. For about another four weeks. Why?”
“Just wondering. So now wouldn’t be a good time to make a major business investment?”
“No. Not a good time at all.”
“Thank you. I’ll see you later.”
“You’re welcome. Do you want to tell me what all this is about?”
“Later.”
Walking back into the conference room, I took a seat across from Ed and John.
“I’m sorry, gentlemen, but I’m not signing any contracts at this time.”
“WHAT?!” Ed shouted.
“Sebastian?” Damien spoke.
“I’ll look this over again in about a month. Until then, I won’t be investing in your company. I’m sorry. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have other work to do.”
Getting up from my chair, I buttoned my suit coat and walked out. Fuck. I prayed to God that I made the right decision. Damien followed me into my office.
“What the fuck, Sebastian? What the hell are you thinking? We worked months on that deal. Do you know how much money you just cost us?”
Taking a seat at my desk, I arched my brow at him.
“Us? This is my company, and I make every damn decision about it. Don’t you ever forget that.” I pointed at him. “Right now isn’t the right time to invest in that company.”
“And how do you know that?”
“I’m going with my instincts. You need to trust me on this, Damien. Have I ever steered off course where this company is concerned?”
He sat there shaking his head with a look of anger on his face. Getting up from his seat, he pointed at me before walking out the door.
“You better hope your instincts are right. You’ve been off ever since that girl walked into your life.”
Rolling my eyes, I leaned back in my chair. He was right where Chloe was concerned. I had been off. It seemed like my whole life had been turned upside down ever since that one night in London.