Page 35 of The Swap After Hours

He nodded, but the tightness around his mouth and eyes didn’t completely disappear. “Of course.”

I took a deep breath as he walked out the door, trying to clear my head. I needed to get my head in the game, focus on my real reason for being in Paris in the first place, which was to convince Mr. DuBois to sell me his company. Everything else could wait.

CHAPTER 13

TREVOR

“Good morning,” I mumbled as I padded out to the living room and joined Donovan at the table.

He was flipping through his phone, but he set it aside when I sat down. A cup of coffee and a plate of fruit were in front of him and there were several other covered dishes on the table. The smell of bacon wafted out from underneath one of them, making my stomach growl in response.

Donovan’s eyes crinkled at the edges as he grinned at me. “Please help yourself. I wasn’t sure what you might want, so I ordered a variety of things. There’s also cold Coke in the mini bar. I’ll get you one.”

I gave him a grateful smile then began lifting the domed lids, checking out the food he’d ordered while he walked over to get my drink. “Thank you. I’m starving. I have no idea how though after dinner last night. Who knew French food was so rich. I’d get fat if I lived here all the time.”

He chuckled as he came back to the table, setting a can of Coke and a glass of ice in front of me. “I don’t think you’re in any danger of that.”

“We’ll talk again after I eat this whole plate of buttery croissants,” I joked.

“Speaking of dinner last night,” he said as he sat down. “Mr. DuBois called this morning and agreed to sign his company over to me.”

My mouth was full of food, so I washed it down with a big gulp of Coke before smiling at him. “That’s fantastic! You must have really wowed him. You thought it would take several days to convince him.”

Donovan shook his head. “Oh, he was wowed all right, but it wasn’t me who impressed him and his son. He told me you were a large part of the decision. He said your knowledge of the company and understanding of the vision he’d always had for it made him feel like it would be in proper hands, with people who would take care of it and help it to grow in the way he’d always hoped.”

My eyes were huge as I stared at him. I didn’t think I’d done anything out of the ordinary, just been myself and offered some input when necessary. “Wow! I…don’t know what to say.”

His tone turned softer. “I do. Thank you. I mean it. This project is extremely important, but even more so was learning that I could count on you. I know I work more than what is considered healthy. My mother worries about me and my colleagues all think I’m crazy, but I don’t have a choice. I have thousands of people counting on me for their livelihoods. If I mess up, if I fail to acquire the right company or let something fall through the cracks, then I might have to lay people off and then how will they provide for their families? That’s a heavy burden to carry. Which is why I hired you to begin with. I needed someone who could help shoulder some of the responsibility.”

My cheeks heated under his praise. “I don’t think I did much, but I’m glad it all worked out.”

Donovan shook his head. “That’s the thing. I didn’t do it alone. You were amazing last night. You were eloquent and professional, and you put your knowledge of the company to use to convince them to sell. For the first time, I didn’t go through a meeting feeling alone. I had you and it felt like we were a team. A pretty unbeatable one, if I do say so myself.”

I felt my blush deepen, but something burned inside my chest. Something that felt a lot like pride. I’d felt the same way last night, like I was more of a partner to him than just his assistant and it meant the world that he’d seen me that way too. I wanted to be someone he could count on, someone he trusted, not only in business, but in his personal life too.

“Thank you. You can always count on me,” I said sincerely. “So, what happens next? Should I set up a time for the two of you to sign the contract?”

“No. I’ve already handed it all over to the legal team back home. They’ll send a copy to him today then he’ll have his team read over it and send it back with any necessary revisions. I didn’t want to cause any delays with us traveling. Which reminds me, I need to call the pilot and tell him to have the plane ready to go in a couple of hours. That should give you enough time to shower and repack your things, shouldn’t it?”

I had to force my bite of food down as it seemed to get stuck in my throat. “We’re leaving today? But I thought we were staying through Wednesday.”

“We were, but that was before you helped close the deal in record time. Now that we have, there’s no reason to stay.”

“Oh.” I ducked my head, staring down at my plate so he wouldn’t see the disappointment I’m sure was etched all over my face. I couldn’t believe I was in actual Paris-freaking-France and wouldn’t even get to visit the Eiffel Tower.

“Is everything all right?” he asked cautiously.

“Yes, fine,” I responded, injecting as much cheer into my voice as I could muster.

“Trevor, look at me.” He didn’t even need to raise his voice for me to feel his command from my head to my toes. It sent a heady rush of desire through me, just like the first night I’d seen him at the swap party when he’d told the other man to get on his knees.

My head snapped up immediately and I pulled my napkin into my lap to cover my growing erection. “Y…yes?”

He cocked his head, his expression serious as he studied my face. “Tell me what’s wrong.”

“Noth—”

“And I want the truth.”

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