Page 9 of Meeting the Billionaire Boss

‘Daddy!’ Joe tugs his hand from mine and runs towards the man standing in the middle who scoops him up and hugs him.

‘Hey Joe.’

‘We’re rolling down the hill like bales of hay,’ Joe says.

‘I could see that.’

The man who I now realise is Mr Cavendish returns his gaze to me and if it’s possible, my blush deepens. The more I think about how red my cheeks are, the hotter they become. I must look like such an idiot and he’s probably regretting hiring me already. He is impossibly good looking with thick dark hair and a neatly trimmed beard. His eyes are so dark brown they seem black — so it registers with me that he’s unlike Chris Pine in that respect — and I can’t help noticing how his white shirt hugs broad shoulders and that his strong forearms dusted with dark hair are exposed by his rolled-up sleeves. He has the appearance of a man who works out and takes care of himself. There’s an expensive-looking watch on his left wrist and his trousers are slate grey, fitted like they’re tailor made, which I suspect they are.

‘Aren’t you going to introduce us, Edward?’ The man to his right asks and I look at him, taking in his golden-brown hair and matching beard, light-brown eyes and the tattoos on his arms. These men look like they’ve stepped out of the boardroom and into a period drama and I feel incredibly awkward and incongruous.

‘I haven’t been introduced myself yet,’ Edward says, his eyes slipping down my body and pausing for a moment at my midriff so I tug my T-shirt down but that pulls it taut across my breasts and when his eyes rise, I see them widen slightly. ‘I take it that you’re Ava?’

‘Yes.’ I hold out a hand but realise that he’s too far away to shake it, so I climb the steps and stand in front of the men, feeling small and vulnerable.

Edward shifts Joe to one hip then takes my hand and squeezes it. A jolt of electricity shoots up my arm making me gasp. When I meet his eyes, I see that he’s frowning as if he felt it too. Or it could be a frown of disapproval and that thought makes me wish the ground could swallow me whole.

‘Good to meet you, Ava,’ Edward says, easing my discomfort slightly. ‘These are my friends and colleagues, Jack Kendrick and Lucas Barrett.’

Jack takes my hand first followed by Lucas. They are both attractive, Jack making me think of a rockstar with his bushy beard and tattoos and Lucas has that George Clooney sexy grey hair thing going on, but neither of them evokes the spark of electricity that Edward did. It also occurs to me that they are older than me, not much but around nine or ten years. They most likely think I’m a naïve idiot, a girl without a clue about the world. In some ways they’d be right.

‘Can I have a drink, Daddy?’ Joe asks.

‘Of course. You go on up and I’ll be right behind you.’

Edward sets Joe down and he runs towards the house, his blond hair ruffled by the breeze, his small legs jogging him from side to side.

‘We should head up and prepare for the meeting,’ Jack says, nudging Lucas.

‘What meeting?’ Lucas frowns but Jack bobs his head at me. ‘Oh… yes… Of course.’

They walk away, tall, broad-shouldered men in their expensive clothes with their expensive watches and their expensive educations. They are well spoken, confident in their own skin, from a world I could never be part of in a million years.

‘How are you settling in?’ Edward asks, and I meet his brown eyes again.

‘Very well, thank you.’ I’m conscious of how I have to crane my neck to look up at him so I take a step up to stand on the path at his side. But even there, he still towers over me.

‘Do you have everything you need?’

‘Yes, thanks. You have a lovely home.’

He nods. ‘It’s not bad, I guess.’

We both look towards the magnificent property, its windows glinting in the sunlight. Jack and Lucas are standing near the French doors of the library now, their heads close together in conversation.

‘It’s wonderful. Especially the library.’

He raises an eyebrow. ‘You like to read?’

‘Very much. I’ve used the local library in Brixton regularly since I learnt how to read as a young child, so living in a house with its own library is a dream come true.’

Am I gushing? I am. I’m gushing like a fan backstage at a Harry Styles concert.

He nods. ‘Well feel free to read any of the books you like. And please encourage Joe to read too. He likes books a lot and it’s something I want to foster.’

‘Of course.’

‘Right then… if you need anything, don’t be afraid to ask.’

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