page11 (1/2)

I gesture for her to take a seat and do the same for myself

“So, Mr Ives, what brought you to Chelsea this afternoon?” she asks after I order a scotch on the rocks from the server

While I reed to the interview, I didn’t necessarily make it easy on her This afternoon, I officially tossed the ball in her court—giving her barely three-hours’ notice for an interview over dinner

An asshole move? Possibly

But it made her prove just how much she wanted this interview

I didn’t create a thriving business without understanding how to test people’s drive and willingness to follow through

“I had a few errands to run on this side of town”

“Errands?” she asks, and aray eyes “What kinds of errands does a successful man like you still run for himself?”

“I’ll have you know, I prefer to run most of my own errands when I have time And when I don’t, I pay people to pretend I did thehs, thankfully I’ve had more than one interview in the past where the journalist didn’t understandarticle pretty interesting “Today, though, I was ordering flowers to be delivered for my mother’s birthday next week”

Instantly, a visual of the beautiful woman at the Willises’ floral shop filters unbidden into my brain

Gorgeous brown eyes Long brown hair Full, intensely pink lips, and the kind of body that could get a man in trouble

It took every ounce of strength I had to fight rin as she nearly broke the da only added to her charm

Honestly, I’ll be pleasantly surprised if the bouquet actually makes it to my mom next week

Maybe I should head back in tomorrow and order another…just in case

The pure thought of another encounter with the aard goddess with the big, brown doe eyes nearly h out loud, but I s it back and revert my focus to the interview

“Flowers for your h leaves Rosemary’s red-painted lips “That’s really sweet”

“There’s a reason she tells me I’m her favorite son”

She quirks a brow “You have brothers?”

“Only child”

“Successful and funny” Roserin as she taps the end of her pen on her notepad of questions “Shall we get started?”

Oh, here we go…