Chapter 54
Per G’s text, I arrive at his condo promptly at nine a.m.
“Welcome,” he says, too formally. It’s an unfamiliar tone, indicating I’m not here for a sexy weekend. G hands me a printed itinerary.
“This is serious.”
“Very. I have a lot to dig into this weekend, and I hope you have fun working on your business too.”
I notice lunch will be delivered at noon, happy hour starts at five o’clock, and dinner will be delivered at six. He has the day blocked in various time increments with different prompts.
“Where’s the house rules handout?” I joke. He laughs, giving me a soft kiss. Grabbing for my bag, he guides me to his bedroom.
“Respect the itinerary, and we’re all good.”
“What happens if I disrespect it?”
“There will be plenty of time for that after business hours.”
I hold in a sigh of relief. Thank God that’s also on the agenda.
“You’re finally letting me see your bedroom,” I tease. We’ve never had sex here. It’s always been at my place since I moved into my new apartment.
The expansive primary bedroom has a king-size canopy bed with his and her nightstands.
The room is all white with white drapes and bedding.
There’s an attached bathroom and what looks like a walk-in closet.
A white chair is placed in the corner and the room is so desperately in need of some art and color.
“I half expected you to put me in the guest room to prevent distraction.”
“My girlfriend isn’t sleeping in the guest room.” His eyes flash me a dangerously sexy, yet sweetly sincere look. An uncontrolled smile beams on my face, hearing the word girlfriend. I’m excited to be officially with Gideon.
“What problem are you solving?” G asks, stepping into the closet and I follow. He grabs a handful of hangers.
“I just packed loungewear. You don’t need to hang it up.
” He sets my bag on the island dresser in the middle of the room, and I pull out a hoodie.
G said we weren’t leaving the condo all weekend, so I didn’t pack anything fancy.
“I’m on the fence about how I should grow my firm.
” I pause, watching him hang up my hoodies and yoga pants—on the “her” side of the closet.
I wouldn’t have hung them up, but I find it cute.
“I don’t know if I should grow the team with contractors or employees,” I continue.
“That’s a good prompt to dig into.” He nods and leans against the island next to me. I take in his body, perfectly snug in a T-shirt, black sweatpants, and no socks. I smirk slightly.
“What?” He squints.
“No socks.”
“I hate socks.”
“Same!” I giggle. “What about you? What problem are you digging into?”
His face is relaxed, enjoying our closet conversation. I love when the tension melts off his face.
“We soft-launched our third development fund to current investors and high-net-worth individuals and will be opening it up to the public soon.” He takes a deep breath, and the tension resumes on his face.
“Pre-launch signups are not where we want. I need to workshop new projection scenarios and ways to minimize the impact if we don’t hit our target.
I’ll be analyzing where we can cut spending and who we could potentially let go. ”
“Intense.” I grab for his hand, and guilt courses through me. Not that long ago, we had an extremely expensive weekend at his business’s expense. Now that I know he is thinking about letting people go to save money, it doesn’t sit right.
“Dani, I’m talking about cutting back on millions. A few thousand dollars don’t move the needle here.” He caresses my hand. “When I have some ideas to share, I’d love to run them by you.”
“I doubt I can add much value.”
Placing a soft kiss on my lips, he whispers, “I disagree.”
I smile at his confidence in my business acumen. “I’ll do the same for you. You can workshop whatever problems you want to solve in your business.”
Pulling me in for another kiss, he says, “You have free rein of the living room and kitchen as your workspace. I’ll be in my office with the door closed.”
“Get to work.” I giggle, knowing that if we keep up our heated stares, we will never leave this closet.