AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘Do you really mean that?’ Liz was overwhelmed.
‘Yes. I’ve been waiting for someone like you. I don’t want to mess around, this time. I’m too old for that now.’ He smiled, ruefully. Liz shivered, but it wasn’t the wind up the mountain that was causing it this time. ‘I want you. And…’ He trailed off.
‘What?’
‘You’ll think this sounds hasty, but it isn’t. I’ve been thinking about it for a long time, and then when you joined the firm, it solidified my idea.’
‘What idea?’ Liz stood back a little from Ben, looking up at his handsome face. His eyes twinkled at her. She kissed the end of his nose, playfully.
‘I wanted to put a plan in place so that I could eventually either step down as CEO altogether, or share the role. I want us to run the distillery together. If you want that.’ He smiled soppily at her kiss. ‘Aww. That was nice.’
‘Wow.’ Liz was speechless. ‘That was… not what I was expecting you to say.’
‘What were you expecting me to say?’ He smiled, and brushed a stray hair away from her face.
‘I don’t know. Not that.’ She laughed nervously. ‘You want me to be joint CEO? With you?’
‘Yes. If that doesn’t feel too forward.’
‘It’s diabolically forward.’ Liz let out a laugh.
‘Too much?’
‘Yes. No. I mean… obviously, I do want that,’ she said, feeling a little giddy. ‘Would you still have asked me if we weren’t… you know.’
‘Sleeping together? Yes, I’d still ask you. You could really run the show without me. I think we both know that.’ Ben laughed. ‘But I enjoy us working together. We’ve got great chemistry, as lovers and colleagues,’ he murmured, kissing her again.
‘Mmm. I know.’ Liz kissed him back. ‘But what does that mean, in practice? I’m already a director.’
‘You taste like hot chocolate. How does partner CEO sound?’ Ben murmured. ‘You’ve earned it. And it would allow me to step back a little from the stuff you know I hate. I could concentrate more on the craft and the creative side of things.’
‘I think that sounds amazing, if you’re serious.’ Liz stood back, looking up into Ben’s open face. ‘You mean, I’d take over… operational control? Financial control? Sales?’
‘Yep. All that stuff. I mean, obviously, we’d still run everything together. But you’re so much better at the business than I am. I admit that.’ He chafed his hands together against the cold.
‘It’s your family business,’ Liz argued. ‘I wouldn’t want you to give that up.’
‘And I wouldn’t. But I see us going forward with it together.’ He took her hand. ‘Come on. Let’s go back down, and talk it over a bit more.’
‘I can’t believe this is all happening.’ Liz took his hand.
‘It’s happening.’ Ben held her hand to his mouth and kissed her palm. ‘Are you ready? Because I’m ready for you.’
‘I am.’ Liz’s heart fluttered with excitement.
If anyone had told me four months ago that I’d have fallen for my new boss and just been made CEO of a family business, I’d have laughed in their faces,she thought, marvelling at how quickly life could change, sometimes, when you made yourself open to the possibilities.But here I am. And, more than that, I didn’t think I’d ever feel like things on the baby front were ever going to be hopeful again. But they are.
Trying for a baby had been such an integral part of Liz’s life for so long now that, for her, it was part of any conversation that was worth having.
And Ben was definitely a conversation worth having. Ben could be a lifetime of talking, laughing, working and all the other, physical, less easy-to-describe things that made him so irresistible.
And Ben understood that Liz needed to have the baby conversation now. He wasn’t frightened of it; he knew everything Liz had sacrificed to have a child, so far, and how much it meant to her. And, having had the conversation, he hadn’t run away. She was so grateful for that.
Perhaps Liz could still win that game show; perhaps she could still be a competitor, and reach for that dream. The picture-perfect image of herself with her child, up in lights at the top of whatever pyramid of steps she had to take to get there.
Maybe, even, there didn’t have to be a game show. There didn’t have to be a crazy number of steps to follow, or tasks to master in the pursuit of a child. Maybe she shouldn’t think of it as such hard work. There were other options, like adoption or fostering, or even surrogacy. All of those options brought their own difficulties, sure, but she was up to those challenges.
And maybe that idealised picture she’d thought about so much could also change: maybe it wouldn’t be just her and her baby in the picture now. She realised, all of a sudden, that Paul had never been in the picture when she’d imagined it before.
