Page 17 of His Secret Gift

“… he was intrigued.”

I pump my fist. “That’s good news.”

“I hope so.”

“You and me both, buddy.”

After hanging up with him, I call Sophia, my personal assistant.

“Did you confirm our reservations at the Grande Café?”

“Yes, sir.”

“And we have the best table in the house?”

“Yep. I asked for the one with the best view.”

“Great. Thank you.”

I want to show Yannis all the luxuries his new life with me would look like.

With that, I think we are good to go. But when I peek into the bridge, Bryant and the new girl are still talking. Her back is to me, so I can’t see her face. However, she is making him laugh, which I consider to be a good sign… as long as the humor isn’t forced and goes overboard.

I like to think that we run a serious operation here, and shenanigans are only appreciated at a minimum.

That’s something else Harper didn’t understand. She was a prankster, and she loved getting a rise out of me—especially if she happened to get it on camera. I hated it, but I put up with it because she was ungodly attractive, and she had a sexual appetite superior to any other woman I’ve ever been with.

But that’s all over now,I remind myself. Sometimes I swear I can still feel, smell, and hear her next to me. Her warm embrace, flowery perfume, and her charming laugh…

I grab at the bridge of my nose and shake my head.Get ahold of yourself, man!She made it abundantly clear that she wasn’t ready for the “wifely” duties that I expect out of my bride. For instance, she will need to accompany me to professional events where drinking excessively and dancing on tables is frowned upon.

All of that was fine and dandy when we were in some random European bar, but not when all my colleagues are around. So, after the fairytale aspect of my life was over, she couldn’t handle it.

Exhausted by all my thinking, I slump down into the cabin and lay on my bed.

“You need a woman who can do both,” I recall Bryant saying to me after Harper left the first time.

I knew he was right, but I just kept letting her worm her way back into my life.

But that was before all the pictures leaked online about her engaging in heavy PDA with Mateo Vincent, a well-known fashion designer out of New York.

Ugh.Pain still pulses through my heart when I think about it.

“We’re just friends!” she plead with tears streaming down her face.

“Harper, you do not shove your hand down the front of your friend’s pants.” That was one of the more distasteful images I’d seen.

“We were drunk!” She was practically crawling on the floor by that point.

“That’s no excuse.”

“I’m sorry! I love you, Jack.”

She tried to crawl up on me, but I shook her free.

By that point, I was so done with her and her drama… the images surfaced not long after she almost destroyed my reputation at an author’s book release.

I still cringe thinking about that night, too.

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