25 #2
“Well not hard anyway.”
Jerome’s familiar raspy voice made both Gia and Dani jump.
He’d been quietly observing them for a minute or so while leaning against the door frame.
His eyes glittered causing Dani’s breath to hitch, seeing him so unexpectedly.
He winked acknowledging their private joke, which caused her to blush.
He looked stunning in fitted jeans, a light blue V-necked sweater, covered with a leather biker jacket.
He wore a light grey woollen flat cap that matched the scarf tied perfectly around his neck.
Dani had never seen him in casual clothes before.
He was always in suits, which she loved, but this relaxed look on him had her blood pulsing.
Jerome straightened and paced over to the desk.
“Jerome, I wasn’t expecting you today.” Gia beamed up at him. Dani rolled back her chair so Jerome could kiss his mother.
“I’m upgrading the security. So I asked Paul to come today and install it.” He stepped away after kissing Gia on each cheek, then turned to Dani. “Hi, how’s she doing?”
“Hi. She’s a great student.” Dani smiled shyly at him.
She couldn’t believe he was here. Then she cringed inwardly thinking she must look a mess.
In her rush to leave this morning Dani had pulled her hair into a high ponytail, wearing no makeup apart from a little lip balm.
She’d thrown on some old jeans tucked into her biker boots and a thick baggy cream cowl necked jumper.
“You must have the patience of a saint. No one’s ever been able to teach Mama anything technical.”
Gia squinted her eyes at him in mock anger and rattled off what sounded like a chastising sentence in Italian that had Jerome laughing. He backed away with his hands in front of him as if he was held at gunpoint.
“Okay, okay. I didn’t mean it.” He grinned, causing the wrinkles around his eyes to meet up with the laughter lines around his sculptured mouth.
Dani bit the inside of her cheek to stifle her grin, “I’ll go and make that coffee shall I?”
“Si, Daniella. The flat’s open just go in, you know where everything is.”
Dani rose from her chair and slid past Jerome to head out of the office and up to Gia’s apartment.
“Joking aside, how’s it going?”
“Surprisingly well. You’re right though she does have a lot of patience. It’s really sweet of her to come all this way out on her day off.”
Jerome nodded, “It’s a long way from Harewood.”
“It is. In fact that’s something I wanted to talk to you about. I was thinking we could offer her the apartment.”
“You mean my old apartment here?”
Gia nodded. “Temporarily, until she gets her own place. She’s going to buy a place at the beginning of the year.”
“Yes, I heard.” Jerome’s brow creased as he mulled over the idea. His stomach turned a little at the thought of Dani being so close. “Have you mentioned anything to her?”
“No, no. I wanted to talk to you first. It’s your place tesoro. It’s up to you. I know she’s only been here a short time and normally we need three month probation before staff are officially accepted. But I think she’s an exception don’t you?”
“Yes she is,” Jerome muttered. Exceptional, rather than an exception, would have been his choice of words.
Jerome lowered himself into Dani’s recently vacated seat and sucked on his top teeth as he thought about the prospect of having Dani living in his old flat.
She’d be his tenant. The idea did strange things to him.
“You think it’s a bad idea?” Gia asked.
Bad idea? Thought Jerome. Yes, a very bad idea. She’d be so close to him, day in, day out, almost twenty-four-seven. It was bad enough working alongside her but knowing she was just up a flight of stairs, the idea both thrilled Jerome and scared the living daylights out of him.
“No. I think it’s a good idea. But the flat needs to be repainted and a few repairs to be made. Then once they’re done we can suggest it.”
“Good. So I’ll leave it up to you to sort out, then?”
“Sure. I’ll get it organised.”
DANI KNOCKED SOFTLY ON Jerome’s door. She could hear he was talking to someone, so she waited for him to call her in.
“Come in.” His tone was clearly agitated but once Dani entered his scowl softened.
“I brought you a coffee.” Dani stepped forward and placed the double espresso on his desk.
Paul was sitting in the chair in front of the desk and he eyed her warily. Dani smiled at him trying hard to place where she’d seen him before.
Jerome stared at her, evidently surprised. “Oh, thank you.” Her unexpected visit pleased him.
She shrugged, “I’m sorry I didn’t realise you had company.”
“Um, yes. Paul this is Dani. Paul is my head of security.”
Paul immediately got up to shake her hand. “Hello, pleased to meet you.”
“Hello. I think I’ve seen you at Sky.”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Would you like a coffee?” she asked and her eyes darted to Jerome. Crap, maybe he didn’t want him staying, she thought a second too late. Her worries were quickly dispelled. Jerome had leaned back in his chair and was regarding her with a soft smile.
“No, but thank you.”
Dani said her goodbyes and left them to carry on with whatever they were discussing.
“I thought the restaurant was closed today.”
“It is. Dani’s just here to help my mother out with something.”
“Right. Well, like I was saying, I’ve added more cameras around the back and sensors in the vestibule.
All are disarmed with the key pad. The restaurant also has sensors fitted on all windows and doors.
I’ve connected the system to your home computer, office computer and to Peter’s, as well as your phone. ”
“Good. I think that’s all we can do, short of having a security guard here permanently.”
“We could have someone pass by every hour to keep an eye out.”
“I don’t think so, well not yet anyway. What about at the house?”
Paul scratched his head nervously. “Well, again we’ll be putting in cameras to back up the alarm that’s already there.
But the house is set back and behind it there are only fields, which is a security nightmare.
It’s very secluded. We’re going to need to put floodlight sensors everywhere which will be annoying since any wildlife that passes will cause the place to light up like Blackpool illuminations,” he huffed.
“But there’s really no way around it. I do think a patrol between midnight and five in the morning would be justified there though. ”
“Yes, you may be right. You’ll be there this afternoon?”
Paul nodded.
“I’ve let Nina and Liz know. Any other feedback from your friends down town?”
Paul shook his head. “Nothing, but we had an eventless weekend so I’ve not been in touch.” He got up from the chair. “Right, I’ll head off over to yours then.”
They said their goodbyes and Paul left Jerome alone in his office.
He took a welcome sip from his coffee and checked his phone.
Liz had sent him the details of her flight, so he immediately logged on to the airline website and set about booking his ticket.
Once he’d received confirmation, he then checked flights for Milan over the Valentine’s weekend.
Luckily there were many flights so he booked for all four of them to leave on the thirteenth returning the following Wednesday.
As luck would have it they’d also be in Italy for the annual Carnivale held in Venice.
The children would be thrilled. Jerome’s eyes rested on the black and white photo of his children on his desk and he smiled to himself, deciding to keep his plans to himself and surprise both them and Liz over Christmas.
Jerome picked up his phone again and searched for Graham’s number. He might want to keep the short break a secret from Liz but he needed to let her agent know she’d be unavailable for those dates. He hit dial and waited for it to connect.
“Jerome, this is a nice surprise.”
“Hello, Graham, how are you?”
“Can’t complain. What can I do for you?” Graham inwardly cringed.
If Jerome was ringing it normally meant Liz wasn’t happy or he wasn’t happy.
He never called otherwise. Graham prayed it wasn’t about the fashion show.
He’d confirmation that it had been postponed this morning but had decided to keep it to himself until after Liz came back from her meeting in London.
“I just booked a few days away with Liz in February and I thought you should know so that if any contracts come up over those days you can reschedule them. Liz doesn’t know yet, it’s a Christmas present for her, so it needs to be just between us until after Christmas.”
“Oh. That’s sounds like a lovely surprise. Okay, give me the dates, so I can block them off.”
Jerome gave him the information and Graham duly noted them down, pleased, for once he wasn’t being chastised by the brooding Jerome Ferretti.
Graham often felt intimidated by his high-handed demands, but Liz had been a good steady income to Graham over the years and now with these recent larger contracts he didn’t want to rock the boat.
“I’ll be accompanying Liz on Wednesday. She seemed a little on edge and I think she needs the support.”
“Oh? Well of course, whatever you think is best.”
Jerome noted the surprise in his voice, which irritated him. “Well I’m sure you’ve noticed she’s been quite strung out recently. She practically lives at your office,” he huffed. “She’s edgy and overly obsessed with her weight. I’m concerned and you should be too.”
Graham closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
He’d known it had been too good to be true.
And what did he mean she practically lived at his office?
Jesus, how possessive was he? She popped in twice a week.
That was hardly excessive. Wanting to avoid an unnecessary argument, Graham chose not to point this out.