* * *
Blake sat in his office, staring out the huge windows that bordered two sides. It was a stunning corner office—luxurious and extravagant—but it didn’t feel like his. For two decades it had been his father’s office, and he’d been in it numerous times, often when his father was trying to convince him that the company was where he should be. That it should be his dream, as if he should grow up to be a carbon copy of the man who’d raised him. But Blake had never wanted to be his father, had had dreams of his own, dreams that were still with him that he’d been forced to leave behind.
He stood and walked to the window, restless being inside and having to stare at paperwork and sign contracts. The city was alive below him, people milling everywhere, and he wished he could just disappear in the crowd and leave his responsibilities behind. But he’d made the decision to come back, and he wasn’t a quitter.
“This is your life, son. You’re my eldest, and I expect you to take over the business. To look after your family.”
The words had echoed in his mind long before his father had died, but now they were never ending. Every time he wanted to walk away, they haunted him, kept him awake at night. He was the eldest, and he’d always had a sense of responsibility that his younger brother and sisters had never had. But it hadn’t stopped his brother from wanting to run the company, to absorb everything their father had to share and teach.
Everything had been going to plan—Blake was doing what he loved, and his brother was shadowing their dad, learning the ropes, prepared to take over the company one day. Until everything had gone horribly wrong.
Blake clenched his teeth together and crossed the room, reaching for the whiskey his father had always kept in the office, filling one of the crystal tumblers he’d seen his father drink from so many times. He poured a small amount into the glass and downed it, liking the burn. Needing the burn.
The chill he’d felt when they’d died, when his mother had phoned him and he’d heard the choke in her voice, knowing the helicopter had gone down. He’d gotten there as fast as he could, been with the rescue team on the ground, seen the wreckage with his own eyes. At that moment, he’d known he had no other choice—he had to step up and take over the business just like his father had always wanted him to do. He’d lost so many good people in his life, but losing his father had never been something he’d thought about until it had happened.
Blake set the glass down again and went back to his desk. There were things he couldn’t change, memories that would be with him forever, but the only thing that mattered right now was doing the best, given what life had served him. And Saffron would go a long way to helping make his life easier, making sure he secured the deals and the financial backing he needed to take the company to the next level. He needed a wife at his side, and she was the perfect match to him, could be the perfect, capable woman at his side...because they could enter into the relationship with a contract that gave them both exactly what they wanted.
He checked his phone. He’d half expected her to text or phone him after thinking about it, but then he’d also seen the determined look in her eyes, known that she was a fighter from the moment he’d heard about how she’d risen to the top. A ballerina who’d defied all odds and risen through the ranks to become one of New York’s most respected dancers. It wasn’t an easy path, and he doubted she would like having to do something she didn’t want to do.
It was easy for him because it was a win-win situation. He would have a wife, a beautiful woman by his side who intrigued him, and they’d be divorced within the year. He didn’t want a family, didn’t want children, and he certainly didn’t want an actual wife. They were things he’d dreamed of a decade ago, before the only person in his life he’d ever completely opened up to and been himself with had ripped out his heart and torn it to shreds. He wasn’t ever going to put himself in that position again, just like he would never deceive a woman into marrying him without clearly setting out his terms.
Blake smiled and sat back down in the plush leather chair. Usually Saturdays were his favorite day to work, when the office was quiet and no one was around to bother him. But today his mind was wandering, and it was a stunning redhead on his mind that he couldn’t stop thinking about. Whoever said he couldn’t mix a little pleasure with business?
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