A Business Deal That Starts With 'I Do'

Part 9 - Chapter 8

CH. 8 As the meeting continued, Savannah felt more and more sick to her stomach. And finally it was her turn. Axel got to the point in the outline where he wanted to discuss new ideas. He introduced her to the group, even though everyone knew who she was, and then he turned the floor over to her.

"Thank you Axel, I'm very excited to be here and since I'm new, I decided that before we just launched into a new plan of action to increase our sales, I would get some information and ideas from all of you. I will be circulating a survey within the next few days to get all of your opinions as far as what you feel would be a good direction."

Everyone was nodding their heads like Savannah just had a brilliant idea. It came out of nowhere; she channeled something from one of her marketing classes. She remembered her professor tell them if they were ever stumped for ideas, to make it a challenge for the masses.

"What a great idea Savannah," Axel added, smiling at her.

Savannah was surprised he bought that too, but her relief was short lived. He followed her back into her office and closed the door.

"You don't have any ideas, do you?" He asked, smiling at her.

"None," she said, putting her hands over her face and her feet up on the desk.

"Give it a few days Savannah," Axel said, putting his hands on her desk.

She leaned forward, also putting her hands on the desk.

"Axel, I can barely keep up with the general issues you handled every day, how did you also come up with new programs and new ideas to generate more revenue?"

"I don't know. Genius ideas come when you least suspect them. You are putting way too much stress on yourself."

"How is doing my dad's job going? You seem very capable, like you were meant to do his job."

"It's okay, but we are losing money," Axel said, turning and walking towards the window.

Savannah had temporarily taken over Axel's office, which was right down the hall from her father's office, where Axel now made his office home.

"Seriously?" She asked, spinning around in her chair to face him.

"Yeah, our stock dropped one point already. Joanna's probably throwing a huge party."

Savannah frowned.

"She can't win Axel."

"I know. She won't," Axel said, turning around and leaning against the window.

It was a beautiful day and as Axel stood there, leaning against the window, the sun shining on him, Savannah remembered why she had fallen in love with him the first time. He was amazing. She was still reeling from her father's death. She hadn't even taken a minute to mourn him yet and it was overwhelming.

"I miss him a lot," Axel said quietly.

"Me too," Savannah answered, "I keep picking up my phone to call him and ask his opinion and then I remember that he is gone."

"I keep doing the same thing," Axel admitted, approaching her and pulling her up from her seat, by her arms.

She stepped into his embrace and nestled her face against his throat. This was getting too addictive; she knew she was falling for him again. She also knew that even though her father had not always been reliable, he was still her father and she loved him. And she was replacing her affection and love for him with her feelings for Axel, she knew she was transferring and making a mistake, because she knew from experience that Axel would not hang around. Plus she knew he wanted the company, not her.