30. Declan
30
DECLAN
“ M r. Byrne. It’s a pleasure to meet you in person.” The middle-aged white man in front of me was short and balding, but his smile was genuine and his handshake was enthusiastic.
“Mr. Ludvik Klima. I presume?” I asked. Ludvik was the CEO of Orel, the video streaming start-up Anil and I were considering acquiring. I appreciated the fact that he’d come down to the building lobby to meet me in person. Many CEOs would have sent an underling to meet me, to emphasize their own power. But Ludvik clearly preferred a more human touch.
It was a smart move. Orel wasn’t a big enough company to pull off “powerful.” But if they’d built a positive, functional workplace culture, one that could retain their best employees over the long run? That counted for something, at least with me.
Olivia would like him , I thought. I shoved the thought out of my head.
“Please, call me Ludvik,” he said. “We look forward to discussing the benefits of Snug acquiring our company. Although, between the two of us, there have been other offers.”
I knew that. Grayson had said as much last night over dinner. The little Czech video streaming start-up had caught the eye of important people in the tech and investing world. But I wasn’t about to let the pull of competition sway my decision.
“I look forward to meeting your team,” I said. “I have some questions about your second-quarter growth records from last year.”
“Absolutely, absolutely.” Ludvik ushered me into the elevator and up to his company offices.
Over the next few hours, I met with every important person at Orel, and some of the unimportant people too. Everyone was cheerful and kind. Parts of their coding were genuinely ingenious. But I couldn’t ignore the fact that their recordkeeping was a mess, along with some of their company protocols.
You could get away with a certain level of sloppiness as a start-up. But not at a global company like Snug. Integrating Orel into Snug would be a challenge, to put it mildly.
Normally I thrived on meetings like this. Anil specialized in charming potential partners, but I was the one who came in, asked uncomfortable questions, and poked around until we knew whether it was a sound investment.
But this time I found my mind wandering.
It didn’t help that I’d tossed and turned restlessly all night, tortured by images of Olivia on the other side of that wall, in her skimpy camisole. Sometime after midnight I’d given up and stroked my cock, desperate for some goddamn relief, however brief.
I hadn’t been this horny since I was a fucking teenager.
I returned my focus to the meeting, where Ludvik’s CFO was explaining the type of funding they’d require to expand their capabilities to the level they’d need if Snug implemented their tech on our app.
My phone buzzed in my pocket. I discretely checked it under the conference room table.
Catie’s face beamed up at me from the screen. She was standing in front of an ornate old clock that took up two floors of an old stone building.
Catie wanted you to see the Astronomical Clock. Next up, we’re catching a puppet show at the National Marionette Theatre.
I grinned, imagining how much Catie and Olivia would both like that. I wished I could see their faces as they explored this beautiful city for the first time.
“Mr. Byrne? Does that answer your question?” the CFO asked.
I snapped my gaze up to find everyone staring at me. “It does, thank you,” I bluffed. “Send me those numbers so I can share them with my team, would you?” And so I can figure out what I missed while I was thinking about Olivia.
The presentation continued.
I should have put my phone on do not disturb after that. These people deserved my full attention. And I owed it to Snug to be at my best.
Instead, I kept my phone at hand, guiltily checking it every time Olivia sent me a photo of her and Catie touring a castle, or eating at a farmers’ market, or wandering through a park. She even sent one of Catie standing in front of what looked like a mural dedicated to John Lennon and the Beatles.
You don’t want to know what we’re spending on taxis, Olivia wrote. But we’re having a blast. Wish you were here.
An ache I couldn’t identify twisted in my chest.
I loved business meetings like this. But for the first time, I found myself wishing I was somewhere else.
When we broke for lunch, Ludvik led me through the streets to a nearby bistro. “I think perhaps there is someone very important on the other end of your phone, yes?”
I started. I thought I’d been more subtle than that.
But Ludvik didn’t seem insulted. Only a little mischievous at having caught me off my game. I could see why his employees liked him.
“My niece,” I said. “She’s touring Prague today. The updates I’ve been getting are pictures of the places she’s seeing.”
“Ah! I’m glad she is enjoying our fine city,” Ludvik said. “Does she have a tour guide?”
“She’s with my girlfriend,” I said, without thinking. It wasn’t until the words were out of my mouth that I realized how right they sounded. Olivia and I might have been a mess. We might have been on a break. But she was mine, all the same .
Some of what I was feeling must have shown in my face, because Ludvik was watching me with a speculative look in his eye. “I sense some complication in this relationship?”
I grunted.
He clapped me on the back. “I will make a reservation for you and your family at the best restaurant in the city. Your woman will love it.”
I didn’t think a restaurant reservation would fix what was wrong between me and Olivia. But I thanked Ludvik. Then I turned the conversation back to business, doing my best not to think of her.
O livia did indeed love the restaurant Ludvik suggested. At least she loved the photos she found of it online. It was a quaint little hole-in-the-wall in the Lesser Quarter, with checked tablecloths, candles on every table, and, if the reviews were to be believed, amazing food. So when I wrapped up my last meeting of the day at Orel, I returned to the hotel to meet up with Olivia and Catie so we could head there together.
“Ready to go, girls?” I called, stepping into the sitting room area.
Catie was sprawled on the couch in her favorite dress, flipping through a picture book. “Miss Olivia’s zipper is stuck. I got a book about puppets at the museum.”
“That sounds fun,” I said. I knocked on Olivia’s partially open door. “I hear you could use some help.”
Olivia opened the door, flushed from struggling with the zipper on a vibrant green dress. It was a lightweight fabric that clung to her torso and hips and flared out around her thighs. It looked classic and glamorous and made her red hair shine like gorgeous fire. I tamped down a fantasy of tipping Olivia back onto her bed and rescuing her from all of that pretty green fabric.
“I swear it zipped this afternoon in the changing room,” she said.
“You bought yourself a dress?” I hoped she’d put it on my credit card. She deserved to spoil herself.
“It’s a celebration dress,” she said. “I got good news today.”
“Oh?” I said.
Was it the kind of good news that would give us more time to figure out what we were, or the kind that would pull her away from me faster?
“I’ll tell you at dinner,” Olivia said. She turned to give me her bare back. The zipper was stuck about an inch below her waist. “Can you zip me up?”
She wasn’t wearing a bra, and that realization went straight to my cock.
I took hold of the delicate zipper and pinched the fabric. My knuckles brushed the warm, soft skin of her back. Olivia inhaled sharply.
I struggled to remember why I’d thought a break was such a good idea. It was physically painful to ease the zipper up, hiding all that deliciously bare skin from view.
“Done?” Olivia asked. Her voice was breathy.
“Done,” I said. My own voice was embarrassingly raspy. You’d think I’d never seen a woman’s back before.
Olivia slipped on her heels, and we headed out to the restaurant.
The reviews were right. The food was amazing. And the waiter was even able to suggest something a picky American six-year-old loved. The only possible criticism was that the place was so small, Olivia ended up all but pressed into my side as we ate—but I certainly wasn’t complaining about that.
“So what’s this good news?” I asked, needing a distraction to keep me from jumping her.
Olivia beamed. “I got word from Molly today. Her publishing friend liked our book proposal. And they had something go wrong with one of their other book projects, so now they have a hole in their schedule. It’s a tiny local press, so we won’t make much money, and hardly anyone will read it, but?—”
“Wait. You got a book deal?” I asked. “You’re going to be a published author?”
Olivia bit her lip and nodded. She might be downplaying her accomplishment verbally, but her face was glowing.
“I’m so fucking proud of you,” I said.
“Bad word,” Olivia and Catie said in unison.
I rolled my eyes, and Olivia laughed.
I watched the line of her throat, the brightness of her smile. I wanted to kiss her so bad. I thought I’d been starving for her before we’d hooked up. But knowing her mouth was a goddamn miracle, and not being able to taste it was…
Olivia met my eyes, and her laughter died out. She must have seen the hunger in my eyes because her own darkened.
“Are you going to acquire the video company you came here to see, Uncle Declan?” Catie asked. She said acquire like it was a foreign word she was very proud of herself for learning.
I turned to her, grateful for the distraction. “I’m not sure yet. If you could pick any company to buy, which one would you want to run?” I asked.
“The zoo,” Catie answered immediately. “Obviously.”
“Which one?” I asked.
“All of them,” she said.
After that, Olivia and I kept the conversation mostly focused on Catie. Olivia was probably doing it because she was a good nanny who loved children. I was doing it mostly out of self-preservation.
I studiously kept my mind away from Olivia in that green dress—and what she wasn’t wearing beneath it.
After dinner, we wandered a bit through the historic neighborhood admiring the dignified old buildings. But Catie had had a long day, and I quickly ended up carrying her. Olivia hailed a cab like a pro, and we headed back toward the hotel.
Catie was out like a light by the time the cab reached its destination. I carried her up to her bed. Olivia carefully peeled off Catie’s shoes and tucked her under the covers.
“You’re going to be a good mom someday,” I whispered, without thinking.
Something wistful flashed across her face. “Maybe.” She kissed Catie on the forehead. “My current career doesn’t lend itself to meeting anyone I could start a family with.”
You met me, I wanted to say, but I stopped myself just in time.
Was I actually considering suggesting I was someone she could plan a future around? Because that was bullshit. I didn’t do relationships. I didn’t even fall in love, not the way Anil and Thomas and most of my other friends did.
We finished tucking Catie in and retreated to the sitting room.
Olivia and I stared at each other awkwardly. Without the buffer of Catie between us, the sexual tension crackled dangerously between us.
“Well. Good night,” I said abruptly.
“Wait. Could you…?” She turned around and gestured to the back of her dress.
I steeled myself to wrestle with temptation. But this time the zipper was easy, sliding down to the sweet curve of her ass in one fell swoop.
For a moment we stood motionless, the only sound in the room our ragged breathing. Then Olivia muttered a thank you and retreated to her room, shutting the door firmly in my face.
I poured myself a glass of whiskey from the minibar and headed out to the balcony. The evening breeze was cool, but it did nothing to cool the heat in my blood.
I stared out at the city surrounding me, an uneven mix of modern and ancient. Architectural purists might have called the juxtaposition messy. But there was something real and wonderful in that mess.
And Olivia could have been out here sharing this moment with me, if I hadn’t suggested that damn break.
“I’m such a fucking eejit,” I muttered.
Yes, I wanted Olivia to understand me, and that meant I wanted her to understand I was absolutely right to hate and distrust the O’Rourkes. But did that truly have to come between us? She was the only woman who’d ever turned me inside out like this, and I had less than a month left with her.
Was I really going to spend it brooding alone on a cold balcony, when I could be in a warm bed with Olivia, driving us both mad with pleasure?
“Fuck that,” I said decisively. I tossed the rest of my whiskey back.
And then I went to go seduce my woman.