Paris

Ch 9 - Nemo

I could smell a cologne I wasn't familiar with, and there was soothing classical music playing in the background. I slowly opened my eyes, and it was bright outside. I looked to my side table clock and found that it was eight in the morning. I could hear the clicking of a keyboard, so I turned in the direction of the sound and I couldn't believe my eyes.

He was sitting at my desk, focused on whatever he was viewing. He was wearing spectacles and I felt my stomach flutter at the sight. His phone vibrated, and he was still unaware that I was watching him as I propped myself onto my elbow.

"She's still asleep. Connie let me stay with her for my own sanity I guess," he told whoever was on the other side.

Connie let him stay with me?

"I don't know Nate. She passed out the moment I said I'm the father. I mean, that probably wasn't the best thing to say, but to be fair, the past three days have been crazy for me. I've barely had time to think about anything. Right now I'm trying to keep myself occupied with the memorandum so that I don't have to think about how worried I am about her. Nothing else matters. She just needs to be ok because I swear time stopped when she fainted."

I knew he was talking about me, and that's when everything dawned on me. This man, this sinfully gorgeous man, is the same man I slept with in Paris, and the same man I haven't stopped thinking about for three months.

And he was here, worried about me.

"That's bull and I don't know, but you need to get them to lower the price. Their share prices are already looking sketchy, so for them to even have the gall to demand such of us is just disrespectful. There's no way we're paying that much for something we know is sinking. The same goes for Ian and his campaign. They are onto something, but it needs to be polished and their budget needs to be scaled way down before we take such a huge risk on this campaign. Their idea has never been done before, so it would definitely boost our sales. Also, I left the Relocate file in my office. I forgot to take the order sheet with me, so please just email it to me. I'll fill it out and email it back to you."

I've heard many, many things about pregnancy, and watching this man talk about business had me wanting to jump him there and then. The longer I stared at him, the longer I realized that seeing him in spectacles is probably a new weakness for me.

"I'll keep you updated. If Lana and Ingrid ask about my whereabouts, remember our cover story."

Silence.

"Alright man. I'll check you later."

"I wonder what lie you're going to tell poor Lana and Ingrid," I commented once he'd hung up.

"Just that I'm in Indonesia for business and I can't be reached because the clients want privacy," he replied, turning back to the laptop screen.

I don't think he'd registered that I'm the one who'd spoken to him.

"That has to be the dumbest excuse in the history of excuses. Really Laz? Privacy?" I asked, laughing a little.

His eyes shot over to me, and they widened. "You're awake."

"Nah! I'm just casually leaning on my elbow and sleep talking," I said sarcastically.

He rolled his eyes, smiling. "How you're this sassy after fainting just puzzles me."

"It's not my fault you expected a normal reaction from someone you know isn't exactly the quintessence of normal," I pointed out.

He got up and I had to keep from moaning at how good he looked as he walked over to sit at the edge of the bed where my legs were. "Touché. How are you feeling?"