Page 63 of The Passion

I close my eyes and just listen to the Coldplay playlist he has playing in the background with my new favorite song, “Feels Like I’m Falling in Love.”

The lyrics are everything that’s in my head that I can’t say out loud. It’s like they read my mind when they wrote this.

I hope Flynn is listening to the words too. Because tomorrow when I break the news about my date, I think all this peace will be blowing in the wind, and I’ll be looking for my favorite fight song.

Pushing that from my mind, I cuddle in harder, making sure I get enough comfort to carry me through the next twenty-four hours.

Buckle up, baby, it’s about to get rough.

Chapter Fourteen

FLYNN

Iwish I had time to spend all day with Felisha, but I have to make an excuse to leave this morning. I have a meeting with the biggest shareholder in Kentwall Estates. If I can get this woman onside and the deal done, then we are off to a great start. If she won’t sell to me then there is no point with the smaller ones because there won’t be enough to overthrow Ewan. All it will do is give him the satisfaction of seeing all my money tied up in his business but with no control over how he spends it.

For all I know, he would just gamble it all away just to spite both Felisha and me. Plus, it would give him leverage over Nic and Darby Hotels when he starts boasting to all his associates about our failed takeover.

I’ve left Felisha still sleeping while I make her some breakfast and reread all the intel I have on Luchia Bianchi. She is an Italian heiress of a wine company with their main vineyards in Tuscany. Her husband died many years ago, and she has a daughter and son who run the wine business while she manages their shares and property portfolio. We have set the initialmeeting up under the pretense of a partnership on a property near one of her vineyards that we would like to purchase, turning it into a hotel that would border on hers, and we could collaborate on marketing it as the perfect wine tasting getaway.

It's not completely a lie, because when I mentioned to Nic what I was looking at, his ears pricked up to another opportunity to add to our chain of boutique hotels. But his thought is that eventually he would love to buy the vineyard off her too. This man always has to take any idea to the next level. Though I also love the sound of it too. We are both wine lovers, and to be able to set up a place where we could create the menu to be paired with our own wines and our favorites from around the Italian wine region sounds like a dream.

But I can’t let my mind get distracted from the real reason of this meeting. Nic will be in on the meeting initially and then will leave me to the other part, as we don’t want him involved in that. Although people will link him to it anyway, but if he wasn’t in the meeting, then he can’t ever be asked to testify to anything in court if for some reason we end up there. And when you choose to go up against Ewan Kentwall, anything could happen, and we need to be prepared.

“Morning.” Felisha’s soft velvety voice breaks me from the intense thoughts that were running through my head. “I woke to a cold bed. How long have you been awake?”

I don’t want to tell her that I hardly slept and have been out of bed for a few hours now, first working out in Forrest’s gym and then working on some paperwork until I checked on her. I could tell she was starting to stir because her cute little snore had gone, and there was movement, so I knew it was time to start cooking.

One thing about being a forty-four-year-old bachelor is that you get to spend the money you make just how you like. Forrest’s apartment has every added extra you could want ina home. A full gym set-up that I think would be good enough for an Olympic athlete to train in. Its own full bathroom in the gym so you can shower after a strenuous workout. Where my kitchen and music room are next level, because they are my loves and the things I need in my home to give me a place to wind down, but for Forrest, he has an entertainment area that includes old-fashioned arcade games, like Pacman, Leap Frog, and Space Invaders. A vintage pinball machine, a putting green, and of course, a pool table. None of which match my brother’s personality of being the strait-laced serious finance guy.

But the other room that is Forrest all over is his home office. There’s a whole wall of televisions and computer screens where he has all the major financial markets in the world running across the screen twenty-four seven, even when he is sleeping. I know we all should be thankful for his dedication to his work because it keeps Darby Hotels at the forefront and us all individually increasing our wealth without having to place our trust in the hands of a stranger.

I focus all my attention on the half-awake, half-naked woman in front of me. Again, she’s wearing my shirt from last night. Not sure I’ll ever be able to wear that shirt again without thinking about her sensual, shapely legs that fit very nicely around my waist.

“Just a little while.” I walk around the kitchen counter and take her into my arms. She is still all warm and toasty from being in bed, and I can’t wait until this is how she gets to wake up every morning. To me and her breakfast, ready and waiting. Although being the businesswoman she is, I doubt she normally sleeps until eight am. Like me, she would be up already and having responded to countless emails and looked at what problems she needs to solve, all before her morning coffee. Actually, I don’t even know if she is a strong coffee in the morning person or,being so English, maybe it’s a good old English breakfast cup of tea. Well, I guess I’m about to find out.

“You should have woken me,” she says, lifting her head to look up at me.

“Why would I want to do that when I could lie there and listen to that cute little snore of yours. It’s adorable.”

Scoffing at my comment, she pushes out of my arms. “I don’t snore, I just breathe heavy,” she says, trying to defend herself.

“Ahh, I can tell you I know the difference between when I make you breathe heavy and when you are snoring. One of them you are wide awake for, the other you are totally out of it.” I tap her on the nose with my finger and go back to my sourdough toast that will need reheating as it popped out of the toaster a minute or so ago.

“I must have been tired. I only breathe heavily when I’m exhausted.” She rubs her eyes and smooths her hair off her face. I love that she doesn’t think she needs to get up and make herself look perfect before she sees me. This is how I want our mornings to be, laid back and real.

“Wellllll, you did exert yourself last night.” Winking at her, I start plating the sourdough toast with smashed avocado, diced tomato, mixed seeds, crumbled feta cheese, topped with a poached egg and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar. Breakfast of champions in Australia and one of my favorite ways to start the morning.

“Fair point.” I know it’s not what the exhaustion is from, it’s all the mental strain we are both under, but who wants to put a damper on the morning with bringing that up yet.

“This looks awesome, and even with your midnight snack, I’m still starving this morning.” She takes her seat on the stool at the kitchen counter. “You are spoiling me with all this homecooked food.”

“I can’t wait to see what your reaction is when I cook you a real meal and not just toast and avo.” Taking the seat next to her, we both start into our breakfast and happily sit in the peaceful silence of the morning. Watching her reach for the pot of tea and cup that I had in front of her instead of the coffee, and I’ve got my answer. I need the caffeine to get me going in the morning, but in some ways, the calmness of a cup of tea might be a better way to start the day before the hustle of our busy lives.

Felisha sits back on the chair and sips on her tea, and I know I’m running out of time and need to tell her that I have to leave.

“I have an important meeting I need to get to today, so I’m sorry, baby, but I will have to get dressed shortly and leave. You are welcome to take your time, shower, and get dressed before you head back over to Harper’s apartment.” I feel guilty for where I’m going, but I can’t let that hold me back on what I’ve started.

“That’s okay, I have work to do too.” As she puts her cup of tea down, her nervous look is worrying me.

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