Chapter 17
Deacon stood in front of the mirror tying his tie and noticed his palms were a little damp.
His heart rate was elevated. He was also slightly out of breath despite not having done any sort of physical activity.
He could deny it all he wanted, but his body was showing signs of nervousness, and he knew the reason. He hadn’t heard anything from Jenna.
The Package, aka dress, shoes, and jewelry, was delivered three days ago, and it had been radio silence from her end. He knew she received The Package. He had the signature to prove it.
“Daddy! Can we watch Nemo?” Tabby called out from downstairs.
“Sure, if that’s what you and Blake decide to do.”
“And can Blake do my nails?”
“Yep, if Blake wants to do your nails.”
“And can Blake do Rocco’s nails?”
“If Blake wants to do Rocco’s nails, then yes, she can.”
“Rocco, we’re gonna get our nails done tonight and watch Nemo!”
Wow. Tabby really heard what she wanted to hear.
He wondered if he suffered the same affliction with Jenna.
She had made it very clear that nothing had happened between them and that nothing was going to happen in the future, both in private conversations with him and publicly at her salon, yet he was still pursuing her.
He knew she had walls up. He knew she’d been hurt. But he knew he could make her life better if she’d give him a chance. He knew he would never hurt her. He also knew it wasn’t his choice to make.
For a man who was used to being in control, to making decisions and people following his directives, that was a very…uncomfortable position to be in.
Deacon checked the time and saw that Blake was set to arrive in less than ten minutes. He wondered if she’d walk, like she had when she’d come over for the interview, or if she’d get dropped off.
He grabbed his jacket, and as he made his way down the stairs, he was still questioning whether or not the dress, the shoes, the jewelry, and the invitation were too much. He could have just sent a dress and a nice, polite invite…but that wasn’t really them.
The night they shared together was a side of Jenna he doubted many people saw, at least he hoped like hell many people hadn’t seen.
Just the thought that other men might have had made his blood boil, which he might need to bring up in therapy because the fact that he felt so possessive, or that he felt he had the right to send over a dress, jewelry, shoes, and an NSFW invitation, might not be the healthiest of boundaries.
He added debauchery to get her out of her head and remind her of the night they’d spent together.
Maybe he overstepped. Maybe the entire thing was a miscalculation on his part.
He was halfway down the steps when there was a knock at the front door.
His heart tripped over itself, even though he knew Jenna wouldn’t be on his porch.
Blake would be, and she might give him a clue as to what his fate that evening would hold.
If she was even aware of his invitation or the package’s arrival.
He’d intentionally scheduled the delivery while Blake was doing Tabby’s interview for the paper because he knew how secretive Jenna was.
But she was a teenager and snoopy, so, maybe she knew about it.
Had Jenna hated the gift? Had she loved it? Had she been indifferent?
When he reached for the door, he saw his hand was trembling.
He also wasn’t alone. Tabby and Rocco had joined him as additions to the welcome party.
The twenty-foot Spanish style, arched wooden door creaked open, and revealed Blake, bright-eyed, looking happy and excited about spending the evening with a five-year-old, bless her.
He hoped she knew what she was signing up for.
“Blake!” Tabby launched herself onto the teenager.
“Princess Ninja Flower!”
Deacon smiled, loving that Blake remembered his daughter’s preferred moniker.
“And King Rocco!” Blake bent down to Rocco’s level, appearing equally as excited to spend time with the other royal in the family. Rocco ate up all the attention Blake poured onto him.
Deacon glanced out onto the street and saw that Blake had in fact been dropped off and that Jenna was driving away from his house.
He didn’t get a good look at her face since the baseball hat she wore was pulled down so low she looked like she was in witness protection not attending the gala this evening, and he had his answer.
“My mom is in-sane.” Blake emphasized the two syllables as she stood up from greeting Rocco.
“What?” Deacon turned to her as he closed the door.
Blake shook her head and sighed. “I told her she’s crazy for not going tonight.”
“Oh.” Deacon blinked.
“I mean, that dress, come on!”
Okay, she knew.
“She’s not crazy,” Deacon defended her. “She just knows her boundaries.”
Blake tapped her forefingers and thumbs together in what he assumed was applauding his support of her mom.
“We love a supportive king, but she is crazy.”
“Come on!” Tabby tugged on Blake’s hand, clearly bored since the conversation had nothing to do with her. “Let’s do our nails!”
“Oh, my gosh, yes!” Blake enthused. “I could totally go for a mani-pedi night!”
Tabby giggled. “Come on, Rocco, mani-pedis!”
Rocco ruffed as he followed the girls up the stairs.
Seeing Blake with Tabby tugged at Deacon’s heartstrings. Tabby wanted a sibling so badly. He hated that he couldn’t provide that for her.
He headed into the office to finish up the last-minute emails he needed to send.
He’d met with Mikayla Parsons earlier in the day.
Six months ago, he’d decided to make her co-CEO of St. Claire Global.
She’d thrived in the role. If Tabby ever did want to be involved in the St. Claire business, she would be an incredible mentor to have.
He owed her some answers that he wanted to send out so she wasn’t waiting for him.
He’d be seeing her tonight at the gala, but he wanted her to know he was green-lighting all of her proposed initiatives.
She had what some would consider radical ideas, but Deacon loved her out-of-the-box thinking.
She was constantly pushing the company toward green technology and employee-centered work environments modeled after Scandinavian countries, including longer maternal and paternal leave, free childcare, four-day work weeks, higher education incentives, including covering costs of living and tuition, and innovative health insurance and sick leave plans.
St. Claire would be one of the first American companies to implement a lot of these changes, and he was excited to be on the forefront.
Mikayla wasn’t worried about making herself a billion dollars richer, she wanted everyone in every part of each company under the umbrella of St. Claire Global to thrive, from herself down to Carlos, a single father of four, who joined the janitorial staff at the airlines three weeks earlier who wanted to be a pilot, or the Claire the part-time hostess at St. Claire vineyards who was working part-time to put herself through college to be a lawyer and had dreams of working for the company in that capacity, or the Tremiane, the dishwasher at St. Claire Montreal Hotel who found out he had a brain tumor eight weeks after getting hired.
She truly cared about everyone equally, Deacon wasn’t sure how she could possibly remember each employee’s story, he supposed having a photographic memory helped and a heart of gold.
He’d actually been surprised his father hired her in the first place until he found out that he thought she was his child. It turned out her mother, who worked in the corporate offices of St. Claire Airlines for forty years, lied and forged a paternity test because she wanted the best for Mikayla.
Mikayla’s mother told her the truth after Deacon’s parents passed in the car accident, and she was angry that his father hadn’t left her anything despite believing she was his illegitimate daughter.
Mikayla came clean to Deacon as soon as her mom told her, but he didn’t blame her or her mother for that matter.
If his father messed around and was that easily blackmailed, that was on him.
And if he’d believed that was his daughter, which he clearly had, and hadn’t left her any of his business, shame on him.
He hoped he was turning over in his grave over the power he’d given her.
He deserved to. After green-lighting all eight of her proposed implementations.
Deacon stood and headed into the kitchen to get dinner out of the oven.
He found the girls at the kitchen table finishing setting up their beauty salon.
After pulling out the roast, he went over Tabby’s nighttime medication with Blake once more. He’d shown her the day she’d come for the interview and texted her the instructions, but he felt better reminding her once more.
She listened intently. “Got it.”
“Call if you need anything, and when Blake says it’s time to go to bed, no bargaining.” He kissed Tabby on the head.
“Okay, Dad.” She shrugged away from him.
Oh no. He’d embarrassed her. She’d never acted like that when he’d given the same instructions to her in front of Poppy, who she now called Aunt Poppy. His little girl was growing up. He wasn’t sure how he felt about that. Not good. Right now the verdict was not good.
When a text came in, he nearly ignored it, but he saw that it was from a company he’d been working on a deal with for two years.
He’d worked on getting We-C-U into Japan, and this was the company that would make it happen.
They had a big meeting coming up next Wednesday, and he needed to make sure nothing was going to jeopardize it.
“Shit,” he mumbled under his breath when he read the message.
“Five dollar word!” Tabby announced.
“Oh, right.” He hadn’t even realized he cursed.