Mid Life Love (Mid Life Love #1)(92)

My secretary buzzed my intercom. “Mr. Statham? I have—”

“I thought I said absolutely no interruptions today.” I groaned. “I told you I was going to be extremely busy and can’t afford to—”

“It’s Miss Gracen, sir.”

“Oh...I’m sorry, Angela. Send her in please.”

I let go of my mother and noticed that she was raising her eyebrow, looking as if I owed her some type of explanation.

“Who is she?” she asked.

“Who’s who?”

“The woman who clearly has more privileges than I do...I’ve been turned away numerous times with the ‘Mr. Statham isn’t available for any unscheduled meetings today’ line. Why is this woman so important?”

I sighed. “She’s my girlfriend.”

“Really? Can I meet her?” Her eyes lit up. “Please?”

“You can say Hello, and then you can say Goodbye.”

“Jonathan, I—”

“We’re not there yet. Don’t try to force it.”

She gritted her teeth. “Fine...”

Forget it. She doesn’t deserve to meet Claire.

I reached for her hand so I could walk her out, but the door to my office had already opened.

Claire sauntered in wearing a fitted navy blue dress and a light beige jacket, with matching high heels that made her legs look even longer.

She smiled, and just like that, I forgot all about my annoying mother and the hectic day ahead.

“Good afternoon.” I walked over and kissed her on the cheek. “You look amazing...” I led her over to my mom. “This is my mother, Denise Statham. Mother, this is—”

“Claire,” my mom interrupted as she reached out for Claire’s hand. “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you. You’re absolutely gorgeous... Jonathan’s very lucky to have you.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Statham.”

“I’ll see you next week, son.” My mom gave me one last hug and headed towards the back walls of my office, towards the private elevator.

I pulled Claire into my arms. “Is something wrong? Are you sick? It must be something fatal if you came up here during the hours when people might actually see you.”

She rolled her eyes. “We just wrapped up the sTablet so Mr. Barnes is letting us go home early. My phone died, so I figured I’d come tell you that before you thought I was ignoring you.”

“Good decision. I would take you out to lunch to celebrate, but I’m booked with meetings until six. Dinner? There’s a new bistro down at—”

“Mr. Statham?” Angela’s voice came over the intercom once more. “I hate to bother you again, but Miss Griffin is here with an emergency. She says it can’t wait another second.”

I sighed and stepped back. “Wait here. Don’t go anywhere.” I pulled out a chair for her and walked out of the room. “This better be an emergency, Vanessa.”

“It is. I don’t use that word lightly.”

I followed her down the hall into a conference room and sat down. “What is it?”

“The Noracorps transaction was approved by the board and we were about to fax it off to the bank, but we’re missing your signature on several documents. It’s kind of the most important one, don’t you think?”

“Oh.” That definitely would’ve been a disaster...

I took the folder from her hands and pulled out a pen, initialing every necessary blank, reading over highlighted paragraphs here or there.

“Do I need to sign off on these C-18 forms too?”

She batted her eyes. “Yes...”

Ugh, god...I started signing the blanks faster, purposely avoiding her flirty glances each time she cleared her throat.

Ever since she’d gotten upset with me after that late night meeting, I’d put some serious distance between us. I still spoke with her after meetings, still laughed at her witty jokes, but I never allowed myself to be alone with her for too long.

“You’re really not going to tell me your new girlfriend’s name?” She placed her hand over the documents.

“It’s none of your business.”

“I’m dating someone new...”

“That’s great.” I smiled. “I’m happy to hear that.” Ecstatic to hear that...

“His name is Paul Jordan and he owns a chain of mid-scale hotels. See? I told you his name now you can tell me hers.”

“What does the name of the woman I’m dating have to do with our acquisition of NoraCorps tomorrow? I thought signing these documents was the reason why you came up here.”

She sighed. “It was. Don’t forget that they’re going to be here in the morning. They want to get official copies of the bank’s approval forms. I think this may be the second best investment we’ve ever made.”

“Me too.” I stood up. “I’ll get here early tomorrow. I’ll have the chef make something for—”

“Is it the redhead who works in Marketing?” She grabbed my hand. “The director who did all that work for the sPhone blue?”

I raised my eyebrow.

“I saw you two holding hands in the garage late last night...She’s really pretty—stunning even...I just...” She shook her head. “All these years that I’ve been here, I’ve tried getting close to you, and you’ve always pushed me away...Why? Why am I not good enough for you?”