“Love it.”
Jordan turned back to the waitress and said, “You can box it. But I could use coffee and maybe the dessert menu.”
“Okay. I’ll be right back.”
“Dessert?” she asked. “We didn’t even eat our dinner.”
“You can eat the pizza when you get home.”
She chuckled. “Doesn’t that defeat the purpose of going out to eat? I mean I could’ve just ordered delivery if that was the case.”
“Then next time, we eat in.”
“I don’t remember discussing a ‘next time’,” she said flatly.
He smiled. “I mean Saturday. Rosslyn has already called to let us know there is an informal dinner party being thrown by you and we were invited.” Jordan noticed her tense and he added, “Yet you don’t seem happy about that.”
“I’m looking forward to it,” she replied.
“But?” He knew there was one. It was written all over her body language.
“But it might be growing larger than I’d first thought.”
“It’s just the family from what I know,” he stated.
“Exactly,” she replied softly. “There are a lot of you guys and I’ve only met Rosslyn and Charles.”
“And me,” he corrected.
“How could I forget?” she teased. “I don’t normally mix business with pleasure, and you obviously are aware that I supply some staffing for Grayson Corp.”
“Yes I do. And I heard that Rosslyn is pleased with your employees. It’s something I wanted to discuss with my brothers as well.”
“And that is the problem. I never…”
“Associate with potential clients. If you’d rather, I can tell my brothers not to consider Today & Tomorrow and we can look elsewhere,” he offered.
“No! I…I’d like the opportunity to show you what I can do,” Gianna stated.
I’d like that. Unfortunately you’re only talking about work.
“Then why don’t we order dessert while you plan your pitch,” Jordan said.
Gianna snickered and replied, “How about we eat dessert and you can call my office and make an appointment for next week.”
“Agreed.” He picked up the menu and scanned the dessert section. “What’s your feelings on a chocolate lava cake? Feel like splitting one?”
“No way. I mean I love them, but since I haven’t eaten, I’m not sharing one bite,” she grinned.
“You’re right,” he said.
“About the cake?” she asked.
He shook his head. “You’re no pushover Gianna Ionnetty.”
Gianna glared at him. “Please don’t base my business skills around my love of chocolate. I’m not sure which surpasses the other.”
“I’ll let you know next week,” he teased. “Now let’s order and this time, eat it.”
“Sounds good, as long as you understand I wasn’t joking. I’m not sharing,” she smiled.
He was glad she seemed to have relaxed, but even though she wasn’t concerned about Marvin, Jordan was. The only thing Marvin had done over all these years was up his game. Gianna wasn’t ready for it. Jordan was going to need to make sure he was close by to play interference. That meant there was no way was he waiting until Saturday before he saw her again.
“I’ll agree to those terms only if you’ll have dinner with me again tomorrow night.”
“Jordan, I don’t want to spend every night talking about Marvin,” she stated.
“I don’t believe I mentioned his name. What do you say? Want to try actually eating a meal with me?”
Gianna sighed. “And if I say no, does that mean I can cross Lawson Steel off as a potential client?”
He had to give her credit. She was blunt. “Like yourself, I take my business very seriously. If you gain a contract with Lawson Steel, it’ll be strictly based on you being able to meet the company’s needs.” And not mine.
She looked at him as though she wasn’t sure what to say. Eventually she nodded. “Okay. But this time we can be clear as to where we are meeting.”
“Better yet, I’ll pick you up. How about seven?” he suggested.
“Seven it is. Now if we don’t order dessert now, you won’t have to worry about tomorrow. Because I’ll faint from hunger,” she said jokingly.
Jordan waved the waitress back over and placed their order, two chocolate molten lava cakes. He wasn’t sure what her plans were after this, but his was to hit the gym. Hopefully it’d burn not just the calories off, but also clear his head as to why he was doing all this. She wasn’t nineteen any longer. She didn’t need his protection. But you’re going to get it anyway.
Gianna paced the floor. There was so much she could be doing right now, sleep was on the top of the list, but instead she was replaying the entire conversation from earlier. She had wanted to ask what Marvin had said to Jordan. It didn’t appear that Marvin ever told Jordan that it all had been a sham. That left her in a very awkward place. Should she tell Jordan now? Does it even matter all these years later?
There was one problem with all of this. Jordan very well could be just as big of a player as Marvin was. The only difference was she knew what game Marvin was playing and why. Jordan, well he was a lot harder to figure out. Like why ask me to dinner again? It was this kind of stuff that was keeping her up right now.
But it was more than Jordan asking her out that bothered her. Why did she agree? This morning she’d wanted to avoid him, and had every intention of canceling their plans. Each time was stressful. She needed to think before speaking all the time. It was a good practice anyway, but this was for an entirely different reason. And although she shouldn’t, she felt guilty about how she answered his questions. Words formed in a way that never really answered his question.
God. I’m getting as bad as Marvin.
This was the problem of lies. The longer they went on, the more difficult it was to keep them. She knew exactly what she needed to do. Tomorrow night she would tell Jordan the truth, or at least a part of it. There were things that didn’t need to be said. But it was time to come clean about never being in love with Marvin.
Gianna snickered. Maybe I’ll wait until after we eat.
Looking at the clock, it was almost midnight. Even if she went and laid down now, all she’d do would be toss and turn. So she picked up her laptop and headed for the couch instead. There was one thing that couldn’t wait. Today & Tomorrow needed to really find some outstanding candidates if she had any hope of snagging Lawson Steel. Jordan never hinted as to what type of assistance they might need. She could use the same model as Grayson Corp, since they were in the same line of work. Yet that was assuming Jordan planned on utilizing them in the same way. No. She needed to cast a wider net and have skilled employees in a variety of fields. It was something she’d been planning on doing. Now she wished she had already started the process. Gianna felt like she was behind the eight-ball and her business was riding on this.
Gianna had no idea when she had fallen asleep, but the sound of knocking on her door startled her, and the laptop slipped, and she caught it just before it crashed onto the floor.