“You’re way too European to complain about the time,” he said, extending a glass to her. “To new partnerships.”
“Of course,” he said, staring her down.
She took the champagne like she’d taken the meeting: with perfunctory insouciance.
When she didn’t clink their glasses, he handled that as well and tapped them together a tad aggressively, enough that the crystal rang out with the elegance of a cowbell.
She laughed. “The glassmaker is rolling over in his grave right now at how you made his crystal sound.”
“Like I give a damn,” he said, taking a sip of his champagne and finding the yeasty pear notes pleasing.
He was already falling into the moment with her, every sense sharpened. It was like awakening after years of slumber.
Drinking as well, she eyed him over the flute. “You’re grouchier than you used to be—but I’d heard that around the global water cooler.”
That was a clever way to put industry talk. “Running a company with serious financial issues will do that to any man.”
She shrugged. “Still, I won’t deny you’ve retained some of your charm, or that you look dashing in your tailored suit.”
He wanted to puff out his chest at her compliment, but he knew she hadn’t finished.
“You are right, though. You inherited the problems of your older brother. While Connor was wise to leave—or you Merriams were wise to insist he do so—it has not altered the nature of your troubles.”
“You would have checked out every balance sheet,” he said, shifting his weight at the discomfort of knowing what the numbers looked like. “You know I need you.” His heart sped up as he said the words.
“Is that the only reason you need me?” she asked boldly.
“If you’re asking whether I still want you with my last breath, then yes.” He drank deeply, not liking the vise around his diaphragm. “I’d hoped to keep it out of my demeanor, but since I can’t, I’m going to put all my cards on the table. I need you to turn the company around. There’s no one better than you, and we both know it.”
She gave another Gallic shrug as the cool ocean breeze blew in from an open bay window.
“But yes…” His heart started to pound. “I never stopped loving you. You are my soulmate, as trite as it may sound. We both agreed on that point long ago. Now I know it’s a family trait. All of my siblings have recognized their soulmates on sight. Just like I did with you.”
She said nothing.
His mouth went bone-dry. “It doesn’t have to enter into your decision to work with me. I might have gotten grouchier, as you’ve noticed, but I have excellent self-control.” Until she decided she didn’t want him to.
Rising from the couch, she strolled past him to the large bay window. “I was afraid of this. It’s been fifteen years, Quinn.”
And each one of those years had felt colder and lonelier. “The poets say love is timeless.” He lowered his glass to his side. “We used to read Rumi to each other in Hyde Park, remember? ‘You are the root of heaven, the morning star, the bright moon, the house of endless Love.’ I used to believe that. I still want to.”
“Stars die, Quinn. Nothing is endless.”
Her cynicism rendered him speechless. The Francesca he knew would never have said that.
She turned with enough force to have ruffled the curtains, had there been any, but her eyes didn’t seek him out, instead lowering to her glass. “Let’s talk business. You want my help making Merriam Enterprises profitable again.”
The message was obvious: back to business. “Yes.”
“It will take more than restructuring,” she said, tilting her head up and meeting his gaze directly again. “You might have to sell off more divisions. I know selling the pharmaceutical arm hasn’t stopped the financial bleeding.”
“No, it hasn’t. May we sit? I’m worried about that beautiful neck of yours craning to look up at me.” At five foot five inches without heels, she wasn’t a petite woman, but he was six foot four and still towered over her. He’d always teased her about that.
“Hence why I wore four-inch Manolos.” She laughed, extending her foot like a ballerina on pointe. “Why don’t you sit? Then you can crane your neck looking at me.”
She paused, and he felt that old familiar beat in his blood. Her eyes tracked to his pulse point, and he could almost feel her lips on the underside of his jaw. She’d always loved nuzzling him there, saying his aftershave and skin created the most manly of fragrances, one she couldn’t get enough of.
Desire shook the air between them.
God, he’d never felt so alive as when he was with her. “Stand away,” he said, lowering onto the couch. “I’m happy to crane my neck to look up at you. While I may be grouchy, you are as beautiful as ever.”
She raised a delicate brow but took the seat across from him on the couch, sitting sideways. “Thank you. But I wouldn’t want you to need a neck brace after this meeting. You’re so tense, Quinn.”
No shit, he thought. “You always had remedies for that, Francesca.”
Her mouth twitched. “Indeed. Now, why don’t you let me tell you what I have in mind for this consultancy? Since we have a past, I’m going to be more candid than usual. You aren’t going to like some parts of what I’d recommend, Quinn.”
“I figured as much.” He set his champagne on the coffee table and rested his ankle on his other knee. “Shoot.”
“You likely have heard how I work.” She lifted her flute and gestured to him.
“I have,” he said slowly. “You never were one to be on call for anyone.”
“I need full buy-in. Anything less won’t work. My reputation for delivering results is as important to me as turning the company back around is for you. So… You and I will work nonstop on the restructuring plan until we’re both happy with it.”
Music to his ears.
“You’ll have to create space in your schedule. I would suggest you have someone from the family take over your main duties. Flynn is on his honeymoon, I understand, and your sisters don’t fit the profile. Trevor, perhaps? He’s based in Ireland, I hear, but he’s your lead negotiator. Otherwise, J.T. would be a strong candidate. I know he doesn’t work officially for Merriam Enterprises anymore, but he’s on the board. Unless your father is interested in coming back short-term?”
He winced. Asking any of them to step in would be a big ask, but he’d known he was going to have to pony up. He knew her rules, and frankly, he wanted to work with her nonstop as well. For so many reasons. “How long do you think it will take?”
“With your sole focus on the task, three or four weeks. Quinn, some divisions will need to be merged. People will need to be laid off. Those details take time. I can move the debt and the profit around to make a better engine, so to speak, but if we don’t have the right person driving the car, it’s still going to crash. That’s why I insist on the CEO’s total cooperation.”
“I understand the metaphor.” He fought a curse. “You don’t see a way around layoffs?”
Her gaze was as steady as the ocean waters outside her house. “The only way I see that happening is if you reverse some of Connor’s final decisions. His final months with the company were…erratic. Your staff isn’t sure what to expect next. Investors can’t read the tea leaves either, so your stock prices are at an all-time low. You’ve gotten away from your bread and butter, offshore oil and pharmaceuticals. Both profitable enterprises.”