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She regarded him silently for a moment. “I believe you, Brandon. But there’s something I—”
His cell phone rang. “It’s probably my assistant. Let me get this.” He let go of her hand, fished it out of his pocket and answered without looking at the display. “This is Brandon.”
“Where are you?” Morgan asked. “Some people have jobs and can’t spend all day waiting for you, so get your butt up here, Mr. CEO.”
Brandon groaned. He had completely forgotten about the meeting they’d scheduled to discuss the retirement party. “I’ll be there in a minute.” He hung up and pocketed the phone. He really didn’t want to leave right now, especially with nothing resolved between him and Faith. “I have to go. I forgot I had a meeting.” A thought occurred to him. It would be a good time to introduce Faith, since all of his siblings were here. And it would show her that he was serious about them.
“No problem.”
“Would you like to meet my brothers and sisters? They’re all here so we can discuss my dad’s retirement.”
“No,” Faith answered, a little too quickly.
Something—he didn’t know what—flashed in her expression.
“You’re already late and shouldn’t keep them waiting.” She waved him on. “Go ahead. I can take care of the bill this time.”
Brandon ignored her, pulled out his wallet and placed some bills on the table. “You already know my answer to that.” He slid out of the booth and came around to her side. “We’ll continue this conversation tonight.” He bent and kissed her. “You said I was direct, but I can also be persuasive. So here’s a little warning, sweetheart.” He leaned down close to her ear. “I will be taking my A-game to the next level.” Brandon smiled at her stunned expression, then sauntered out of the café, confident she would be his. He had never been one to back down from a challenge, even an unspoken one. And he wouldn’t start now.
CHAPTER 16
Friday evening, Faith chewed nervously on her bottom lip while waiting for Brandon to arrive. Their lunch date hadn’t gone anywhere near how she had planned and she regretted not having the chance to tell him the truth. Though he’d mentioned working on not flying off the handle, she couldn’t help but speculate on whether he’d be able to keep that promise. In a perfect world, he would listen to everything she said, they’d discuss it like two mature adults, and he would respond calmly and rationally. But the world wasn’t perfect. He had said they were good together and she hoped that goodness extended to the boardroom.
Faith glanced at her watch. 6:27 p.m. She desperately needed to talk to someone and took a chance that Kathi had made it home from work. She grabbed her cell and called.
“Hey, Faith,” Kathi answered.
She sighed with relief. “Hey, girl. I need some advice.”
“What’s wrong?”
“Everything.” She and Kathi hadn’t spoken since Faith had told her about Thad’s offer. Faith spent a few minutes telling her about the blowup with Brandon and what she’d found out when she went to the Gray Home Safety website. “And with how angry Brandon got the last time, I don’t know how to tell him.”
“It sounds like you guys have gotten closer and get along great, so I don’t see why he would have a problem.”
Faith told herself the same thing, but didn’t believe it would work out that way. “We had lunch today and he wants us to continue seeing each other after I go home. Actually…he suggested I stay in LA.”
“Wait. What? Hold up, girl. I think you’ve been holding out on me. No man is going to ask you to move there unless he’s thinking about something permanent.” There was a pause, and then Kathi screamed. “Oh, my God, are you in love with him?”
Faith flopped back against the sofa and closed her eyes. “It wasn’t supposed to happen this way.” She groaned. “I don’t know what I was thinking.”
Kathi laughed. “You weren’t thinking. You were feeling. I know how that is. I end up saying those three little words and agreeing to a whole lot of stuff when Cameron gets me going.”
