Chapter 37
FREYA
Breakfast was good here. Like top tier good. I had never been in the habit of such a spread of breakfast but hey, I wasn’t complaining. I almost held back a moan on biting into a flaky croissant. Gah! This felt good!
“I suppose the breakfast is to your liking. Ms. Wilson?” Carlos asked while expertly folding a napkin. He reminded me so much of Joseph in Dynasty, the majordomo. His ways bore an uncanny resemblance to the character
“You’d be correct to assume that, Carlos” 1 wiped my mouth with a napkin, hiding a smile at Carlos slightly raised brow. He had noticed that I had mimicked his tone of formality. “Please don’t be so formall And call me Freya”
“I’ll keep that in mind” He nodded before something behind ine caught his attention.
“Carlos! I can smell your amazing food all the way to the parking lot.”
My head whipped around to find the source of this familiar female voice. My mood instantly dampened, even if only a little bit. I had met her at the club that night. Erica. She was there with Aiden. A friend, was it?
“Ms. Davis, please take a seat. I will fix you a plate”
Judging by their interaction, they were well acquainted. She probably dropped by every now and then. I don’t know why that left a sour taste in my
mouth
I would love that. Thank you” She flashed a bright smile at him before her eyes zeroed in on me. Took her a second to mentally place me.
“Freya, right!”
“Well I didn’t think that I would be here.She cut herself off but it didn’t take a genius to figure out the rest of the sentence. She gently shook her head once before offering another gorgeous smile. “It’s so nice to meet you. We didn’t talk properly last ume.”
Before I had the opportunity to reply. Aiden cur in
“Erica” He greeted but his tone hinted that he wasn’t expecting to see her here.
“Aiden.” She greeted back using the same tone as him, a playful smile on her lips.
g here?” He glanced down at his watch. “We have a meeting at ten.”
“What are you doing
“We HAD. Change of plans”
In response, he raised a brow and thrust his hands inside his packet, waiting for an elaboration. Erica sighed before taking a few steps in his direction
“You know this client is a little difficult to please. They have requested to postpone the meeting to lunch. They are meeting with the Vivid corp because they want to explore their options. I thought we should be gracious about their request. It should reflect well on our confidence. In the meantime we can discuss a few more things.”
I tuned out the rest of their conversation and just watched them.
Erica was a beautiful woman. The kind that could give models a run for their money. Wavy red hair, long toned legs and skin a beautiful shade of olive. She cluded an air of confidence and if that wasn’t enough, she had a gorgeous smile.
And in case I haven’t mentioned it before, Aiden was equally beautiful. And him in formals was a whole different story. Very easily a straight
woman’s wet dream.
I felt a pang m my chest as I reluctantly admitted to myself that they looked good together. I didn’t know why that bothered me so much. Aiden worked with her, went clubbing with her. They were probably doing
Subdenly the croissants weren’t as appealing any more. I washed down everything with a sip of the juice.
“Breakfast” Aiden offered Erica
trady asked“ just then Carlos set two plates on the counter.
ing my mouth with the napkin, contemplating leasing silently when Aiden finally noticed my presence.
“Good morning. Frya
Chapter 37
Looking up at him, I tried not to be affected by the way he was staring at me or by how good my name sounded when he said it. I pressed my lips together and managed a tight little nod before standing up
“I’ll have to excuse myself. I uhh–need to get Gla ready for school”
Without waiting for a response I started walking towards Gia’s room when Aiden’s voice stopped me.
“Chris can drive her to her school” I halted and looked back at him to find him already staring at me. “You can trust him. He’s been working for a long time.” He must have sensed my hesitation as his gaze softened. He let out a soft sigh before adding, “But if you want you can go along”
I muttered a soft thank you before fleeing from the scene, not quite wanting to bother them
Fine. That had been an
an excuse. After around four hours of staying in denial, I had come to terms with it Earlier this morning I had fled out of the dining hall not because I was worried of being a bother in their work. It was more like my brain was lurking around dangerous territories.
1 had removed myself from the situation before I could come to some undesirable realization. But it didn’t work too well. Halfway into my day’s work and I was still thinking about this morning. What I didn’t know or rather didn’t wanna know is why I was so god damn bothered!
“Freya
“Yes?” I looked up to find a frowning Avery.
“Darling, you seem awfully distracted today. Anything wrong?” she asked, sounding concerned. I didn’t fucking know if anything was wrong needed someone to tell me that.
I
I exhaled. “No, Avery, just- I’m tired, that’s all Yes. That’s it. I was exhausted and I blamed my overthinking on it.
“You should take a day off work. I can manage it here, you know?“She placed her hand on my arm in a warm gesture. I put my hand on top of her and smiled.
“I do know that.” She smiled back.
*You wanted to say something?” I asked, not remembering if she had already said something that I missed
“Oh, yes I forgot. That gentleman there wants to talk to you.” Avery jerked her head in the direction of a man satting at a corner table,
“About what? His order went wrong or something?” I asked, eyeing the man who seemed to be in his early thirties. Probably not. He seemed to like his coffee just fine.
She shrugged. “I don’t know. He didn’t seem angry or anything though”
“Cool. I find out what he needs” I put away the apron before rounding the counter, making way towards the man. He lowered his coffee cup on the table when I approached
“Hi, I’m Freya, Is there a problem?”
“No, not a problem.” He gestured with his hand to take a seat. Confused, I pulled out a chair and sat down. He leaned back in his seat and stared straight at me, the kind of stare that was warm on the surface but could give you jitters.
“I’ll cut straight to the chase. I have a business proposition for you
My forehead creased in confusion. “Business proposition?”
“Connor Warren.” He introduced himself, sliding a card towards me. Contemplative, I picked it up and the very next second my eyebrow hit my forchrad
“You own Ink & Pages? Fuck!” One of the most renowned bookstore chains in the world and my go to place.
“Among others. He muttered with such nonchalance that it made me wonder exactly how rich this man was. Well now that I looked at him, I could tell. Broad shoulders fitted in an expensive tailored jacket, sleek hair styled hack, he looked as out of place as Aiden did in this cafe. He looked like someone who visited high end restaurants for his cup of black coffee.
Kerping aside my detailed analysis, I focused on the conversation at hand. “Well, you said you have a business proposition. You on this huge bookstore chain and I have this small cade. I don’t understand how we can get into business.”
He rubbed a thumb against his jaw. The cafe seems pretty packed today. Should we go somewhere and discuss!”
I did a quick glance over. The cafe was hardly suitable for any serious talk, especially at this hour. The rush was good.
Chapter 37
“Uhmm–yeah, I think–give me a moment. I’ll let my staff know” I said, standing up. He responded with a nad.
I found Avery taking out an empty tray out of the display shelf. She raised a curious brow. “So? What did he want?”
Ishook my head and grabbed at my phone and bag “Tim yet to find out. He wants to talk business. I’ll be gone for a couple of hours. Think you can manage it here!”
“Definitely, honey. You go and make us more money.” I smiled back at her, amused at her enthusiasm.
“I’ll see you
A
