Page 74 of Nothing to Tell

“No,” she said, returning to her doodling.“He’s desperate to meet you and wants to take you to a restaurant.If we eat at home, you won’t be suitably impressed.”

“Why not?”

Upon learning she and Bastian were back together, her father almost whooped.Davis didn’t bother to ask what happened, that was irrelevant to the picture he painted his clients.She’d never been his favorite anything and wasn’t sure she liked the new status.

Still, he was her father, she couldn’t refute that fact.

“I don’t know,” she said.“It’s something my father’s constructed in his mind, who knows where it came from.”

“Are your family cat people?That could be a reason.”

“No,” she said, wishing for a view of his dimple.“Would that be a deal breaker?”

“Definitely,” he said.“I could never have a cat loving girlfriend.No one would believe that.”

Sometimes he could be such a goof.CEOs the world over might quake in their boots when he strode into their boardrooms, they weren’t on the receiving end of his sense of humor.So much of him the world didn’t see.

“Much better we should be in a serious, long-term relationship after having met for just a few seconds in a hotel corridor.People would totally buy that.”

“Obviously,” he said on a comic scoff.“Isn’t that how most people get together?”

Pushing back in her chair, she could stay right there on the phone all day.Yes, she had piles of work to do, but she wasn’t ready to give up his voice yet.She may never be, though she should be wary of his responsibilities.

“Do you have work to do?”

“That’s the good thing about getting to the top,” he said.“Everyone underneath takes care of business.I delegate and prioritize what’s important.”

Her?

The Grand empire was a massive operation with hundreds, possibly thousands, of employees spread across the world.The hotels and airline were just the tip of the iceberg, Bastian had interests in industries beyond her understanding.

“Honestly…” she said, “I struggle to imagine it.”

“Imagine what?”

She could tell him anything, he’d told her that numerous times, that didn’t mean she wanted another fight.

“You’ll be offended.”

“I won’t.Trust me,” he said.“You struggle to imagine what?”

She took a deep breath.“I struggle to imagine you in your big fancy office with your minions scurrying around trying foolishly to please you.”

“I don’t own a Dickensian company.I made the conscious decision when I started out that I wouldn’t stand over them with a whip while the foreman stoked the fire.”

She laughed again.“You know what I mean.All that stuff on the internet…”

“I apologized for that, and I’ll keep apologizing, for as long as you need me to.”

Bloggers and the business media loved to comment on his life.The kiss picture fueled another wave of commentary.For the most part, people were complimentary.From what she’d read, Bastian had a good reputation.He was generous with his people, which wasn’t exactly a surprise, though he didn’t always extend that kindness to competitors.To succeed, sometimes he had to be ruthless.

In truth, the sheer volume of what was written about him took her breath away.

“I don’t want you to apologize.”She wasn’t ashamed to be seen with him, even as a hussy enraptured by his mouth.“We have nothing to be ashamed of, I just… I wonder why people should care, you’re just a person.”

“You say that now,” he said.“But when you found out—”

“I was surprised.I felt foolish for not noticing the obvious when it was right in front of me.And you were right, I did construct a new image wholly unrelated to our time together.But… I knew almost straight away that I’d been an idiot.”