Page 28 of Boss's Baby Surprise

“I still like those. I can’t believe you remembered that,” she said. “It’s been a while.”

“I remember quite a few things,” I admitted, thinking about how it felt to kiss her and how her body felt in my bed. “You should go out to dinner with me,” I said.

She leaned forward conspiratorially. “Why would I do that?” Her eyes seemed to almost gleam wickedly.

“Because I seem to recall we got along very well,” I said as I raised my brows in a knowing waggle.

She leaned away from me. This time, there was a slight tinge of blush on her cheeks. “We did, didn’t we?”

“See, you should go out to dinner with me.”

“I don’t think that would be a good idea.” She shot my invitation down.

Before I had a chance to say anything else, James stepped out and asked if I was ready to go. He gestured for me to lead the way out the door.

“Are you stepping out for lunch? When should I expect you back if you have any calls?” Clarissa asked.

“We should be back in the next two to three hours,” James said as we left.

Lunch was only two and a half hours long, surprisingly enough. We skipped the chit-chat and got into some of the more in-depth details that purchasing his architectural firm would entail.

“If you were to do a complete buyout, what would you see my role as in this process?” James asked.

“If we are talking about a complete buyout,” I started, “Your role would be that of a wealthy, retired architect. However, you had mentioned the potential for a takeover process, in which case I would take ownership over the course of a couple of years. If we were to follow that line of thinking, I would see you as a senior consultant. We would discuss what percentage of time I could rely on your expertise, and with each year, that percentage diminishing until you were fully retired. How does that sound?”

“I do like the sound of wealthy retired architect. However, I have to admit the thought of handing all of my clients over for me to just go and sit by the side of the lake with my grandkids is a little daunting. I want my clients to be confident in my choice as well,” he said.

“I think your clients would be more comfortable if you were around in a consulting role for a year or two. I don’t think this is something that we would need to drag out. Watch, you’ll get used to being retired real quick, and you’ll want to shrink those consultation hours down to nothing within a few months.”

I was ready to sign a check and take over, but I did like the thought of having James around for six months to a year to really see how he intellectually translated client needs from initial ideas through drawn concepts and into constructed buildings.

“I think we need to work out some details and maybe get some lawyers involved at this point,” he said.

I couldn’t agree more. We continued to chat about some of the minor details as we walked back to his office. I had questions about how easy the property management company at the current location was to work with and admitted that I was interested in maintaining the same space.

I followed him inside but stayed in the lobby. I wanted to catch a few minutes with Clarissa alone. She wasn’t there, so I said my goodbyes to James and waited.

“Oh, you’re here,” she said as she turned the corner from the back of the office. “Do you need me to call James for you?”

“No, I wanted to see you,” I admitted.

She raised her brows and waited for me to continue.

“If you won’t have dinner with me to catch up on old times, would you come have dinner with me so that I can pick your brain about the Stone Group?” I asked.

“I am not going to give away any business secrets,” she said.

I chuckled. “That’s not exactly the kind of information I’m looking for. I’m more interested in…”

“I know what it’s for. You’re looking at purchasing the business. I guess I could do that.” She bit her lip, which I knew meant she was thinking. “I can meet you for dinner on Friday night.”

“Friday night it is. Should I make reservations?” I asked.

“Do you mind if I pick?” she asked.

I gave her my phone number and told her to text me where she wanted me to meet her.

15

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