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ChapterFour
GABRIEL
I gestured to the chair in front of my desk. “Have a seat, Ms. Williams. May I call you Avery?”
She bit her lip and I put that on my list of things I wanted to do to her. “Um, I think maybe we should keep things professional, Mr. Carter.”
So that’s how she was going to play this?Alright, future Mrs. Carter. I’ll play your game. But I’m going to win.
“Well, everyone around here calls me Gabe unless we’re with clients. So, you can call me whichever you prefer.”
Avery shrugged and a pretty smile graced her lips. “I suppose if everyone else uses your first name, it wouldn’t be unprofessional for you to call me Avery.”
I hid my smile and nodded. “Sounds good, Avery.”
Her pupils dilated when I said her name, and she shifted in her seat, uncrossed her legs and crossed them again. I considered poking her further, but I didn’t want to push too hard and mess everything up.
Despite my personal plans for Avery, her job with CM Creative was real, so I shifted into work mode. For the next three hours we went over her duties and discussed how I liked things done. I frequently requested her opinion and was often impressed by her out-of-the-box thinking. She also had a sharp wit that had made me laugh several times.
Eventually, I steered the conversation to her additional responsibilities, ones I’d added when I asked Lily to assign Avery to me.
“I’ll probably ask you to spend some late nights working,” I told her, then waited for her reaction.
She nodded. “Of course.”
“If you ever have a date when—”
She snorted, then realized what she’d done and quickly tried to recover, though her tone was dry. “I’m focused on my career right now, so that’s unlikely to be a problem.”
Excellent. Scaring off potential dates was one less thing on my to-do list.
“We’ll probably work through a lot of lunches, especially when we have an important client meeting or pitch coming up. Also, you’ll be expected to attend events as my plus one. We’ll also—”
“Plus one?” She interrupted.
I played dumb. “I’m a very busy man and my time is in high demand, so it’s easier if I have my assistant with me at events.”
Avery was quiet as she considered my reasoning. Then she nodded. “I guess that makes sense.”
“Not to mention it keeps me from being forced to find a date.”
I watched her closely for a reaction and was pleased to see her perk up with interest, though she tried to hide it.
“I can’t imagine you’d have a difficult time. Women are probably lining up to be your date.”
Looking down at the papers in front of me—so she wouldn’t see the smile in my eyes—I shrugged. “I’ve never been interested enough to find out. And even if there are, they aren’t where I’m going to findthe one.”
“The one?” She parroted curiously. “You believe in soul mates?”
This time, I met her gaze boldly, capturing it with mine. . “Absolutely.”
* * *
At one in the afternoon, we stopped for lunch, and though I was tempted to ask her to have a “working lunch,” I reminded myself that this was a marathon, not a sprint. I wasn’t after Avery for the short term. I was aiming for forever.
However, she’d been gone less than five minutes when I felt lonely and too restless to work. In order to keep myself from going down to the cafeteria and spying on Avery, I hit the speaker button on my phone and dialed Rhys’ number.
“It’s been over twenty-four hours, Gabe,” he said in lieu of a greeting. “What exactly does ‘I’ll call you right back’ mean to you?”
