Page 73 of Surviving the Merge
“Doesn’t matter.” Sitting down, I perused through the documents and nearly fell out of my seat as I read through the section on the splitting of assets. “Half of your company? And half of all profits made in the future? And—does that sayalimony?” I should’ve known. My belief in Blake being a reasonable man blinded me from seeing that he’d never allow me to walk away with what I came into the marriage with. Nothing.
“Blake, this isn’t starting from scratch. I don’t want any of this. It’s all yours. You have to see that this would make me feel tied to you out of more than just love. I don’t want to be indebted to you.” My eyes bulged when I turned the page. He was also splitting his cash assets down the middle with me. “Is this how much you’re worth?”
“What can I say? Business was good this year. And don’t look at this as mine—it’s ours. I wouldn’t have all this without you.”
“What about Damon? Shouldn’t he have a say in a decision this big?”
“With all due respect, I built the company from the ground upafterDamon left.”
I shook my head. “Yeah, but this is wrong. He deserves a say.” Leaning back in my seat, I took a real hard look at him. He squirmed under the scrutiny.
I know this man.Blake had to be aware that I wouldn’t sign these papers. “Where’s the real document, Blake?”
After a short standoff, he withdrew something from the inside breast pocket of his suit and slid it over to me.
“You set the stage with the most outrageous divorce settlement you could think of so that this one,” I said, waving the new bundle of papers, “will seem like nothing in comparison, and I’ll sign it, huh?”
“The first one is the better option, in my opinion, and more than warranted. I hoped you would agree. But, yes, I had a feeling you wouldn’t, so I had another option drafted. My intention was never to make you feel manipulated.”
I shot to my feet, and the chair legs screeched against the wood floor. “This is enough company stock for me to orchestrate a takeover if I so pleased, Blake!”
“Justin, please, meet me halfway here. I can’t leave you with nothing. It’s not in me to do so. It’s stock. That’s all it is. No money is exchanging hands, and you never have to think about it if you don’t want to.”
I took my time retaking my seat. Grabbing the pen off the table, I flipped to the last page, and after a few seconds of deliberation, I signed my name. Blake did as well.
An intense swell of grief threatened to crush me, and he drew me against him. Something had died. Our something. Trying to control the shaking in my hands, I fisted the back of his jacket and asked, “What now?”
“Whatever you want, Justin.”
“My name.” It hit me that I might not be a Daniels anymore. “Who am I now?”
“Who you’ve always been. Only more.”
“I like the sound of that.” I gave a shaky smile.
We spent the rest of the night stretched out on the couch talking, wrapped in each other's arms. I was a creature of touch. Whether soft or hard depended on the day, sometimes the hour. I desired intimacy and connection, and being draped across Blake’s broad chest while he petted my body and my hair was pure nirvana.
“Do you have plans tomorrow night?”
“I have to be down at the center for a few hours, but class starts early on the weekends. I’m free after twelve.”
“I’d like to take you on a date.” He leaned down to place a kiss over both my eyelids.
“Oh really?”
“Yes, I would.”
“I’d love that. What do you have in mind?”
“The first portion of the date is a surprise, but for act two, I was thinking….”
Blake whispered his idea into my ear, and my eyes widened. “That’s a brilliant idea.”
“I’ve been known to have one a time or two.” His smile wicked.
Blake spent the night in Chadwick, and the next morning after our run, he claimed half my studio to do calisthenics while I worked through a routine I’d organized for the kids. A tad difficult to do with him sweating bare-chested a few feet from me. From the look on his face every time I completed a split, he struggled with his own challenges of working out in such close proximity to me.
Julie called to ask if we could move our Monday session to that afternoon. She was trying to clear her calendar so she could attend a last-minute seminar. With more than enough time in between my class and our date, we agreed, and I still had more than enough time to work individually with a student. I was surprised the request came from Pete. He always nailed everything perfectly, especially his arabesque, which was what he claimed he needed my help with.
