Page 36 of Rekindling Desire

Dani sat back and lifted her phone. A moment later, she looked up. “The bylaws including the addendum has just been sent to everyone’s inbox. I motion we adjourn today’s meeting of the Sinclair Pharmaceuticals executive board and plan to reconvene a week from today. During that time, I ask that all board members familiarize themselves with the addendum in question and that Mr. and Mrs. Damien Sinclair contact the pharma coalition and return to our meeting prepared to address the board’s concern.” She turned to Gloria.

“Second,” Gloria said begrudgingly.

Dani hit the gavel. “Meeting adjourned.”

Damien came to my side and reached for my hand and spoke low. “This isn’t over.”

“It should be,” I whispered. “You’re married.”

“We need to make the no-confidence go away.” He tilted his head toward the front of the room, where Gloria, Rachel, Darius, and Amber were conversing. “They’d rather take down Sinclair than let me continue as CEO.”

Dani appeared at our side. “Mom was right to ask you to keep Darius and Amber away from Dad. I don’t know what’s with them, but damn.”

I reached out and rubbed her arm. “Thanks for the two votes.”

Her smile grew. “That was fun.” Her expression sobered. “Damien, you don’t really think they’re a threat, do you?”

“Nice try, sis. We’re going through with the bodyguards.”

Gabriella

Johnathon brought Dani, Damien, and me lunch from the second-floor deli to Damien’s office. As for my new space, I’d spent about thirty minutes in the office first thing this morning. At that time, the new campaign was far from my mind. However, now as the three of us ate, I was mentally questioning every member of the coalition, wondering if it would make a difference to them that Damien and I were married.

I turned toward Damien. “Shit, we didn’t ask anyone to sign an NDA.”

His blue stare looked at me filled with puzzlement.

“About our marriage,” I explained. “We didn’t want it announced.”

“You didn’t.”

“Damien, what about my family?”

He sat taller, inhaled, and exhaled. “Should probably call your parents when we get a chance.”

You think?

Moving my chicken salad around in the bowl, I tried to think about our current fires. No doubt, my parents would be a future one, but why add extra flames. There was what Gloria mentioned about the coalition. “I should pass the campaign on to Niles,” I said before taking another bite of chicken salad.

Damien shook his head. “I was clear with Mrs. Barns—you or no campaign.”

Setting my fork down, I exhaled and leaned back against the chair. “The campaign is a good idea. The coalition has agreed. You can’t unilaterally end it.” When he didn’t respond, I added, “You did that to get me here. I’m here.” I lifted my left hand. “We’re married. If Gloria wants to use our marriage against the coalition, I don’t want to be responsible for the dissolution of what Julia worked to accomplish.”

“Losing Moon Medical wouldn’t be a significant loss.”

“One seventh,” I said. “Each member contributes.”

“Moon was always my concern,” Dani said. “Technically, our propanolol is not a competitor with Moon’s anti-anxiety medication. They are two completely different formulas, working on different parts of the brain for different yet similar outcomes.”

It had been a while since I’d been in the throes of the pharmacological world. “With Sinclair’s formula,” I said, trying to remember, “the patient loses the traumatic memories that instigate their fear or anxiety.”

“Exactly,” Damien said. “The traumatic memories are gone—”

“They are camouflaged,” Dani said. “Think of memories as files, such as in a computer. The tricky thing is that one memory, be it body or brain, can spark another. It’s not as simple as deleting the file. The propanolol is truly groundbreaking in the way it hides the trauma. Those memories are still there, but the formula redirects the brain. It’s as if the files are renamed with different pathways.”

Damien smiled. “Yeah, that’s why you have doctor in front of your name.”

“PhD,” Dani corrected. She looked at me. “Do you want to know more?”

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