Sealing the Deal (Business and Pleasures) (3 page)

Chapter 7

J
ensen had been trying to phone Rin all evening, but it kept ringing off. He could have sworn he had seen her today. She had been walking so fast though, he had not managed to catch up with her before she was lost to the crowds.

He had an odd feeling that he was going to get an earful when he did get hold
of her. Something about the way she moved, so fast and unnatural for Rin’s usual measured wiggle.

Normally, after
meeting up with each other, that would be it for about a week, but he wanted another opportunity to see her and attempt to ask her out, he never quite found the moment before.

He tried calling aga
in but she still didn’t answer.

H
e wouldn’t be put off by technology alone! Turning away from the window he had been stood at, he grabbed his keys and plucked his leather jacket from the hidden closet by the front door, then headed out.

Chapter 8

R
in sank back under the water, concentrating on the tickling sensation of the trapped air bubbles in her hair; escaping their net and making a break for the surface, climbing over her skin to freedom. She knew her phone had been ringing, but she had no interest in talking to anyone, even Cass, her older sister. She was wrestling with issues she didn’t want to share with anyone. No one knew about her sordid little sessions with Jensen anyway, and that was how it would stay.

She broke the surface and reached for the razor. As she went about removing body hair
, she sulked over the Jensen situation. He had a lot of redeeming qualities, but trust is a big issue. She had never allowed herself to trust him, even though she hadn’t realised that probably, she unconsciously had... until today. Wishful thinking, that’s all that was. She was annoyed at herself for feeling like this. She had kept him at a distance for this very reason, but somehow it had still affected her. She was confused and hurt; she felt betrayed, and it made her angry.

Her doorbell rang and she silently cursed them away. It rang again. She
waited, trying to remember if any of the lights were on downstairs. She had just begun to relax when the blasted thing rang again.

Cursing repeatedly she reached for a towel and clamb
ered ungracefully from the claw footed bath. Wrapping herself and quickly squeezing the excess water from her hair. She glanced in the mirror briefly before sullenly trudging to the door.

Upon opening
it, she was surprised to find Jensen stood on the bottom step; half twisting away as if he was about to leave. He didn’t have the usual carefree attitude that she associated with him, instead he had an air of caution.
Good.
She thought, and sighed.
Really though, what is he doing here? I’m so not in the mood to see him or anyone else right now.

“Hey Red. Er, can I come in?” He asked sensing her mood. She exhaled defeated and stepped aside.

“I was in the bath Jensen.” She said huffily. Closing the door behind him, she adopted her default hostess setting and asked;

“Do you want a cup of tea?”
Tea heals all.

“Coffee please, if you have it.” He asked taking a seat at the island in her kitchen. He didn’t say another word until she begrudgingly sat down with him cradling her mug. He sipped his coffee and watched
her. She knew she looked moody, but she didn’t care.

“So… I’m sensing you’re not happy to see me?” He questioned, arching an inquisitive eyebrow.

Rin took a moment to swallow a mouthful of tea, then turned to face him. He looked so innocent she nearly laughed.

“Jensen, I might a
s well come right out with it.”

He remained quiet and
gorgeous, which was helpful. She didn’t want him to gum up her annoyance with his sweet talk.

“I generally have trust issues with
men. You played a big part in that, but that’s neither here nor there.”

She stopped to sip.

“I have let myself get too attached to you, and I think it’s going to end badly for me,” she said, still plotting out what she was actually trying to tell him, she didn’t really want to mention her feelings about this afternoon.

The calm drained away and he suddenly looked
crestfallen. He opened his mouth to interject, but Rin continued.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea for us to see each other anymore.” Her heart screamed at her as she said the words.

“Rin, before you continue can I at least tell you how I feel?” he asked, cool again, but sadness coloured his words. She sat back and looked at him properly. He had obviously not expected this as an outcome when he had turned up. She observed him objectively, his nearly shoulder-length hair, the designer stubble and square jaw, his full lips and chiseled features. She looked to his chocolate eyes last, and instantly they put their spell on her, and she forgot why she had wanted to push him away.

“I don’t usually make much effort with
women. I'm not the kind of guy to settle, so it’s always been easier to keep it simple and quick, and just move on.”

He frowned then tried again.

“Not that anything in the past matters now, I don’t feel like that with you. I… I’m always thinking about you. I had wanted to ask you before, last night actually, how you felt about…us.”

He paused looking away.

“You don’t want to see me anymore?” he asked quietly, and Rin felt like crying, but she held it together.

“That’s not what I
mean,” she said getting confused, she didn’t want him to think she wasn’t interested, but she really didn’t know what to do, about herself, about him. She wished she could pause time to have a real think before she spoke.

“I, I don’t trust you. And I don’t want to ge
t hurt,” she said feeling cruel, the prickle of tears burning behind her eyes.

His expression changed, and conflicted briefly.

“Why don’t you trust me?” he asked flatly. She considered seeing him with that woman again and the rage from earlier flashed before her eyes.

“Two reasons, your reputation precedes you for one.” She said and paused.

“Okay that’s something I’m aware of, but what is the other reason?” he asked and downed his coffee.

“Today I saw you, you and some blonde woman. I saw you give her your card
, and then I saw you hug. But I didn't stick around. I saw enough to make me reevaluate things.”

She watched for his
reactions, but he didn’t squirm or look uncomfortable. He didn’t give anything away. He just half smiled and twirled the empty cup on the work top.

“So anything you want to
add?” she asked beginning to get annoyed.

“Ok, So I wasn’t going to tell you until next week, when I have sorted everything out, but I’ve just got the lease for a shop
front, to use as a studio.”

Rin frowned,
a studio for what? How is this anything to do with that smoker bitch?
She thought bitterly.

“I have been pretty busy arranging
stuff, but I still need a lot done, so I hired a PA to get the ball rolling. The blonde woman you saw me with earlier is my new PA; I have worked with her on another project when I lived in New York, I only found out she had moved to London a week ago.”

He looked at
her, and she saw a hint of pain flash over his calm demeanor. She hurt him with her mistrust.

She was quiet for too long, but finally found her voice.

“What are you using a studio for?”

“It’s actually going to be a gallery
too. I'm an artist. Since I returned home I haven’t had a chance to paint so I found somewhere that I could do that.”

He didn’t look at her again, she could tell that her lack of knowledge
translated as lack of interest in him, it had added to the sting of mistrust. She sighed. He hadn't done anything wrong, she was just freaking out.

“I’m sorry
Jensen. I didn’t mean to accuse you of anything."

She rubbed a hand over her face.

"Can we forget about all this? And carry on like before?”

He looked at the hand she placed on his arm then back to the work top.

“Yeah. sure,” he said avoiding her eyes and stood up.

“I’ll
let you get back to your bath.”

He leaned over her and kissed her cheek bone before walking out her front door.

Rin watched him leave, feeling crappy. She heard the front door close, then burst into tears.

Chapter 9

J
ensen looked out across the city from his lounge window. He had just spoken to his sister and felt conflicted. She had called to catch up but had eventually spiralled into a rant over the shared responsibilities between herself and Rin. Nobody knew that he and Rin had been seeing each other. Anaise had caught them kissing at the wake, but had put that down to his habit of pulling any woman available in a crisis. She would not have been so caustic if she had had the first clue about his true feelings.

It was late Friday afternoon, before the
call, he had been hoping to see Rin. He had been hurt by her confession, but he didn’t blame her. He did have quite the back catalogue, but it still made his heart ache that she would jump straight to the wrong conclusion.

Anaise had just informed him of her latest task for Rin,
a meeting with a longstanding account, the illustrious French Jewellers ‘La Subjectivité.’ She planned to fly out with Rin tonight, but make an excuse last minute and leave Rin at the airport to take the reins.

Jac Babineaux, the owner of La Subjectivité, was notorious for his short temper and general
rudeness, the reason why Anaise was keen on avoiding him. He had been one of his father’s first exclusive contracts when the company was still in its fledgling years, they had always had a good working relationship, but now he was gone, Monsieur Babineaux wanted to sound out the replacements. If he had not have been so close with Rin, he could probably sympathise with Anaise's feelings, but he had heard about Rin's successes from both his father and sister long before he had met her, which was why she had been chosen. He knew that by now Anaise should have gotten over the co-chairmanship and was just being a brat.

He sipped his coffee and debated on what to do, if he alerted Rin, Anaise would know that he had gone behind her back. If he let Rin go to
Paris alone and unprepared, it would reflect badly on the company, Anaise was not thinking past her own gratification here, she was literally willing to affect their business. Furthermore, and most important to Jensen, Rin would no doubt be upset. He couldn’t stand idly by knowing that.

Chapter 10

S
ighing and pacing Rin was getting nervous. She had picked up the envelope containing the tickets and was waiting near the check-in desk as Anaise had asked her to, she knew they were meeting a client in the morning, but she had no idea who. Anaise had been in such a rush when she had phoned, instructing her to ready an overnight bag and meet her at the airport with the tickets. She was already an hour and a half late though, and if she didn’t check in soon they would not make the flight.

Phoning Anaise for what seemed like the thousandth time, she left yet another message on the
answer phone, at a loss at what else to do. Should she just leave without her? As that thought crossed her mind, she heard fast footsteps approach from behind.

“Hey Red! Fancy seeing you here!” Jensen strode towards
her. He wore an Italian charcoal suit with a pale grey shirt and silk tie in a matching colour. He looked a million dollars, and Rin was speechless for a few seconds, then she noticed he had a case with him.

“What the? Did you know I was here?”
she asked, unwilling to believe it could be coincidence.

“Yes, Anaise got called away, something about a massive misunderstanding with some clie
nt files, she didn’t call you?”

Her frown answered his question.

“Well, I’m here in her stead. You are meeting with Jac Babineaux, the owner of La Subjectivité. You will need to bring you’re A game. He's a ball breaker,” he said plucking the tickets from her hand and marching to the desk. Rin gasped. She had heard about him, how she had not met him in all her years at the firm perplexed her.

“Wait a minute, you mean to tell me, she sent you, rather than any of the other staff, any of the long list of brown nosers that would kill for this opportunity to meet a big player. She sent someone who doesn’t even work, at the company?”
she replied skeptically, fixing him with the look.

He meekly avoided replying by taking charge of checking their bags in and hurrying her to the gate.

“You are correct, there are plenty of company men willing to be here beside you, but you are forgetting, that I am Michael's only son. I’ve already met this guy, and I will not allow you to travel to Paris, the city of romance, with any other man.”

Rin smiled to herself as they went to board the plane, she couldn’t argue with that logic.

The flight from London to Paris was short. Rin soon realised that she had no idea where they were booked to stay but that didn’t matter. She was the chairwoman. It was nothing to charge another room to the company and Jensen knew of an extraordinarily expensive hotel that overlooked the Place de l’Etoile and the famous Arc de Triomphe.

Rin had been on countless business trips, but this was the
only time she felt like an excited schoolgirl on her first trip away from home. Staying in Paris in such decadence with the most gorgeous man she had ever laid eyes on was surreal and delightful. The bonus of not having to share this trip with Anaise, her not so best friend, was a massive relief.

The only issue was the weird atmosphere that crept in every time there was silence. Rin had not brought up the trust issue or even spoken to Jensen since he had left her
house. She had dialed his number into her phone countless times, but her thumb would hover over the call button until she lost her nerve again. She owed him an apology. She was still not convinced that she should continue seeing him, but the idea of not being around him anymore terrified her.