“Finish it,” I commanded. “I need you hydrated.”
She glanced at the bottle, then at me, then back to the bottle before she took it and brought it to her lips, taking a small sip.
“Not enough,” I said.
She sighed under her breath but took another.
I leaned back and checked my phone, answering a few messages while she drank. I kept my responses short. Everything could wait until morning, but I didn’t like leaving things open.
“Marley?”
“What?”
“Did you give the wine-tasting experience money?”
I typed quicker now. “Yeah, so?”
“You didn’t need to do that. It’s a lot of money and I don’t want to owe you more than I already do.”
I scoffed. “I don’t need a cent from you, Aurora. Any money you make will go back to the company anyway, so it’s fine.”
“So what’s the reason you did it?”
“It would’ve taken you forever to start making returns on investment. The ventilation system, the stock, the materials and everything? You would have taken a lot longer to get your money back on all that so I just helped. That’s all.”
“So this is because I can’t profit yet? You want me to get the money I owe you together quicker or something?”
“The investment got nothing to do with the money from New York, Rabbit.”
“So why?”
I looked at her. “Because I wanted to.”
Her eyes grew and she sunk into her seat.
I explained further. “I wanted you to run it with no strings. Since you’re under the Sucré brand the board will still need to be advised on any changes but all decisions will fall to you. It’s your responsibility. Understand?”
She nodded.
“Good. Now finish that water.”
She turned it to her head again and I went back to typing. I got five minutes of quiet before she started again. “Why don’t you hold me?”
My hand paused over the screen.
I turned my head and looked at her. She was already watching me.
“Huh?”
“Why don’t you hold me?” she repeated.
I held her gaze for a moment before answering.
“I don’t like to be touched, Aurora.”
“Well I do,” she said.
I looked at her again before I shifted my attention back to my phone, finishing the message I was typing.
