Page 42 of His Gift
Trudy looked to me, and I nodded slightly. “It’s great to have you here. If you need anything, you know where to find me,” she said.
“Thanks,” Enzo said, bristling with nervous energy.
It would have been great if introducing Enzo to the office and getting him oriented for his new job was the only thing any of us had to do that day, but Trudy dropped a bombshell into everything by stepping back and telling me, “Your father got here about fifteen minutes ago, and he wanted me to tell you he’s calling a meeting with you and Mr. Walter Wythe, and he wants it to happen in—” she looked at her watch, “—twenty minutes.”
The shift from happy, in love Shawn to worried, alpha son Shawn with his father’s expectations on his shoulders happened so fast I was dizzy. “Did he say what it’s about?” I asked, my mind instantly racing through about five dozen things that it could be, Enzo and the baby being high on that list.
“It’s about the Christmas Eve supper,” Trudy said following as I led Enzo down the hall to my office. “He has several questions about the changes you and Mr. Walt have made over the last two weeks.”
I nodded and grunted in acknowledgement, but I wasn’t entirely happy about what Dad calling a sudden meeting first thing on a Monday morning, and including Walt, could mean.
“Thanks, Trudy,” I said once we reached my office door. “Once the meeting is done, can you help Enzo with all the necessary onboarding things for a new employee?”
“I can do that all now, if you want,” Enzo said, gesturing with his thumb back toward the lobby.
I shook my head. “I want you in on this call. I need to introduce you to my dad.”
Enzo looked like I’d told him I was taking him out to a firing squad. “Okay,” he said in a squeaky voice.
Trudy let me know about a few other things that needed to be taken care of that day before heading back to her own work. Enzo wandered around my office staring at things while I booted up my computer and set up the video chat app my dad preferred for our meetings. His office was on a different floor from mine and the entire Wythe Foundation section of the building, and Dad preferred video conferences to dragging everyone away from what they were doing to sit in a different room on a different floor. Which was why he’d invested in one of those bespoke conference apps, which he’d had designed just for us with extra security features.
By the time nine o’clock rolled around, I was seated at my desk with Enzo on a smaller chair beside me.
“I see what you meant about your fantasy of me under the desk warming your cock,” Enzo whispered as I started the app. “I wouldn’t mind getting on my knees and between your legs under that desk while?—”
My dad’s stern face popped onto the screen as soon as I logged into the app. He and my papa, who was at home in his personal office, were already there. My face went bright red, andI prayed to God they hadn’t heard any of what Enzo had started to say.
“Good morning, dear,” Papa greeted me with a smile.
“We’re just waiting for Walt,” Dad said, evidently not catching any of what Enzo had been saying. “He’s late, as usual.”
Enzo looked like he wanted to melt away and slide under the desk, but not for any sexy reasons.
“Is this the new employee with all the bright ideas you were telling us about?” Papa asked.
I’d mentioned hiring Enzo to Dad and Papa, I had to, since it had been a business decision even before it had turned into a personal one, but I hadn’t breathed a word about Enzo and I being together, and I definitely hadn’t told them Enzo was pregnant yet. Although that was the sort of thing that wouldn’t wait forever.
“Yes, this is Enzo O’Neill,” I said with a tight smile, trying to be as professional as possible. “I think he’ll add a great perspective to the Wythe Foundation.”
Before I could finish singing Enzo’s praises, Walt’s window appeared on the screen. He looked much like he had two weeks before, when Enzo had met him at the Pullman Center. I understood why he had only his face framed on the screen, and at an odd angle. If you didn’t know better, like our parents didn’t, you wouldn’t catch that he was pregnant and that his face was slightly puffier.
“Let’s get this over with,” Walt said, as peevish and miserable-sounding as usual. “I have a doct—I have an appointment in an hour.”
“Walter. Is that any way to greet your parents?” Dad snapped.
“Especially when we have a new employee sitting in on the meeting,” Papa added.
Enzo waved at the screen and said, “Hi.”
“Oh, yeah,” Walt said, a strange sort of grin flickering onto his face. “I’ve met him. I know all about Enzo.”
My stomach twisted with sudden panic. I’d told Walt Enzo was my boyfriend. I just knew Walt was going to bring that up. Papa would be furious I hadn’t told him. Dad would be suspicious about why I’d hired him. More importantly, Walt would score points against me in his never-ending attempts to bring me down. Fuck.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Enzo
There was no way I belonged on a call that was basically a family board meeting. I kept trying to catch Shawn’s eye to let him know I wouldn’t be offended if he dismissed me before he, Walt, and their parents got down to the real business of the family corporation, but that wasn’t happening.
