Page 7 of Liam

Plans that will hopefully include Rachel.

I whistle quietly to myself as I get out of bed, stretch, and head for the shower. No soaking in the big, inviting tub today. I have things to do and places to be. I might not know exactly where those places are or what things, in particular, I’m going to do, but I’ll figure it out bit by bit, piece by piece.

First things first, though. I need to get clean, get dressed, and get out of this house without being seen by Rachel or anyone else.

For that, I’m going to need some help.

I pick up my phone and fire off a text to Hannah.

Good morning. Please arrange for a driver to be here within the hour and clear my schedule for the entire day. Whatever we have planned can wait until tomorrow.

Predictably, I’ve barely had time to set my phone back on the nightstand before it pings with an incoming message.

Lord Rochester? Are you feeling quite well? Just to clarify, you want me to cancel all of your meetings and your two scheduled conference calls, and to reschedule them for tomorrow?

I smirk. Hannah is a great assistant and does a fantastic job of managing my schedule, my household, and most of my personal life. She knows I don’t like to disrupt my normal routine unless I’m deathly ill or an unforeseen emergency comes up, so I’m sure she’s probably freaking out right now.

And as much as I don’t like to cause more work than necessary for either of us, sometimes a few sacrifices have to be made. In this case, my carefully planned schedule is the first sacrifice of the day.

That’s right. In fact, I’d like you to meet me downstairs when the car gets here. We’ll go into town together. I could use an extra pair of hands.

I’m more than a little surprised when she doesn’t text back with more questions. I know the curiosity has to be killing her by now. She’ll find out everything she needs to know soon enough, though.

For now, my thoughts are occupied by another woman. A woman who doesn’t work for me. The only woman I’d consider clearing my calendar for during an important business trip.

Because even though it’s still too early to admit it out loud to anyone other than myself, Rachel is more important than anything else I have going on.

* * *

I’m not nervous.

Just because I’ve walked around the dining room table half a dozen times making tiny adjustments to the crystal wine glasses and the polished silver cutlery, that doesn’t mean I’m nervous.

Just because I can’t seem to keep my eyes off the clock on the wall and have rearranged the ice bucket with the chilled wine, the charcuterie board, and the platter of fresh, sliced fruit to make sure everything is within reach but that nothing is blocking my view across the table… all of those things mean I’m a perfectionist, right?

A perfectionist who happens to be nervous as hell.

“She’s going to love it,” Hannah whispers behind me, making me grin in spite of myself.

“I hope so,” I say, the closest I’ll get to admitting my anxiety out loud. “I want her to love it. I want her to enjoy it. I want…”

Her.

I don’t have time to finish that sentence because the girl of my dreams appears in the doorway just as the clock strikes six. I take a quick glance over my shoulder but Hannah is already gone. Good. There’s only one other person I want in here with me tonight, and I’m staring at her right now.

“You look beautiful,” I say, crossing the room to take her hand and brushing my lips across the back of her knuckles. “Stunning.”

Her hair is pinned up on top of her head and she’s wearing a long, flowing dress that comes down off her shoulders and exposes just enough cleavage to make maintaining eye contact a constant struggle.

Like I said, perfection.

“Thank you,” she blushes, but I’m not sure if it’s because of the compliment or the kiss on her hand. Maybe both. Or maybe it’s the way I’m still staring at her, still thinking about how I’m the luckiest bastard in the whole damn world right now. “What is all of this? Where is everyone? Your assistant asked me to get dressed for dinner, but she wouldn’t really answer any of my questions.”

And that’s just one of the many reasons why I hope I can keep Hannah working as a part of my team forever.

“Everyone else was busy,” I shrug. “This is just for the two of us.”

Her eyes grow wide as she looks from me to the table and back again. “The two of us? As in…us? You and me?”

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