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“She cooks also?”
“Yes, so you won’t have to worry about doing any of that.”
He walked away, so I followed him back to the bedroom. “What exactly will I be doing if I’m not cooking or cleaning?”
“Anything you want. What did you plan to do when you came home? When you thought Alexander was a different man?”
“I guess I assumed he would have ideas about what I was supposed to do.”
I felt the warmth of his hand on my back as he led me further into the bedroom and took my luggage from me. “I would never tell you what to do.”
“I know that. My mother thinks I should basically lunch and do the whole charity thing.”
“I’m guessing you don’t want to do that.”
“Not at all. I despise charity lunches. The women are so fake.”
“I’m sure not all of them are fake.”
“Probably not, but it’s not my thing. I don’t want to be one of those women who doesn’t have a profession. I don’t want to spend your money all day and buy clothes.”
“That’s a relief,” he grinned. “Not that I’m worried about us going broke, but we might run out of closet space.”
“I think I’ll hire a designer to come in and fix this place up. If we’re going to live here, I’ll need something more comfortable.”
“Okay.”
“And I’m warning you, it won’t be elegant and classy.”
He grinned at me. “That’s fine.”
“I might even paint the walls pink.”
His hand skimmed up over my shoulder as he pulled at the jacket covering me. “If it makes you happy.”
The jacket came off first, then he started working on the buttons of my shirt. “You won’t seduce me into painting the place a normal color.”
“I would never try that. I have other reasons for seducing you.”
I turned and pressed a hand to his chest. “Before this goes any further, we need to work a few things out.”
Thrusting his hand through his hair in frustration, he stood and stalked away from me. “Such as?”
“Such as, why are you so different?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Yes, you do. From the morning we left the island, you’re a completely different man, from the way you dress to the way you talk.”
“Rose, I can’t help it. On the island, I could be myself. But here, I have to be the CEO of a multibillion dollar company. Every decision rests on my shoulders. The success of the company,our future,hinges on me being at the top of my game every day. Not to mention all the employees that are relying on me to make sure they have a steady income. I can’t be the man you want me to be. I hate the suits and ties. I hate the fancy shoes. Frankly, they hurt my feet. I’d rather be wearing a pair of tennis shoes. But if I were to show up to meetings in anything less than the best, people would lose their faith in me. I need to look and act like I am the CEO of this company at all times. I can’t afford to be seen even getting into my car dressed in something else. The press is hounding me for interviews. My parents are already signing us up for galas and fundraisers. Meanwhile, I’m trying to pull the company out of the hole my father was starting to sink us into.”
“I had no idea he wasn’t doing a good job.”
“Why do you think the board was so eager to replace him?” he snapped, making me flinch slightly. “He makes it look like he was doing a great job, but the truth is, he was losing his touch. The company became too much for him to handle and that’s why they wanted to replace him.”
Well, at least I understood a little more about why he was acting like this, but it still didn’t say anything about how we were going to get through this.
“James, there’s still the matter of the contract.”
