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His eyebrows raised in disbelief and I could understand why. This was one of those moments where our different stations in life smacked us right in the face. He must have been everywhere. He probably had a plane on standby right now.
"Where are we, anyway? I thought I passed by water earlier."
"That's the River Thames. Do you want to travel?"
"Yes, of course." Travelling was always something that seemed so out of my reach I'd never allowed myself to think about it too closely.
"Where? Tell me."
"Stockholm, Italy, Amsterdam," I checked them off on my fingers, growing in confidence as I spoke, "Norway, Iceland. I'd love to see the Golden Circle. Keira went there once for a bachelorette party of all things. I think Iceland was wasted on her." I stifled a sudden giggle as I remembered her words at lunch the other day.
"Why are you laughing?"
"I was just remembering something Keira said. When I was telling her about you she said that a billionaire was wasted on me." I worried for a moment that he wouldn't appreciate the joke but he just gave a small nod.
"Yes, I'd say that's accurate. Now, tell me more about you, tell me about your family. I already know you have a sister and a nephew."
“She's my half sister. We share the same father and she and Ryan are the sum total of my family. What about you? Are you close with your family?"
"I don't wish to discuss my family," he said, but I just gave him the same ‘go on’ motion he had given me and he sighed as if already bored.
"I have a younger sister, Grace. She's engaged and living in London with her fiancé, Nathan. My father passed away ten years ago. My mother, Carolyn, currently lives in Monaco. We speak occasionally."
"Can I ask what happened to your father?”
"He died of a heart attack when I was 23." He waved a dismissive hand, clearly done with that subject. "I inherited the company shortly after."
“I’m sorry,” I said but he just waved another hand.
“Bad hearts run in my family.” It was a strange thing to say but I decided not to comment on it.
I wondered about the 23 year old Alfie from the article. He was arrogant and spoiled in that interview but he was also playful and wild, nothing like the cold man sitting in front of me who could barely stand to crack a smile.
"Did you want it? The company I mean." I knew from reading the article that he hadn’t ten years ago. In fact, he’d told the reporter to wring his neck and put him out of his misery if he ever ended up working for his fathers company. Now he didn’t just work for it, he ran it.
"Whether I wanted it or not is irrelevant." Something crossed his face, an old memory, a secret. I wanted to reach out and catch it, to ask him what it was, but his face shut down and I knew thatwhatever it was, he'd just buried it so deep there was no way I was getting to it tonight.
"Tell me more about your company."
"It's not interesting, Lola. All I do all day is talk about the company. I'd rather not do the same tonight."
I leaned back in my chair and folded my arms, giving him the same look he gave me when he wasn't going to budge.
"Alright. I'm the CEO of Tell Company LTD, an international luxury hotel chain started by my father in 1980. The company has a net worth of more than 40 billion dollars. It fluctuates with the economy. We have more than 120 hotels worldwide. Our corporate office is located in London. We have regional offices in New York, Canada, Switzerland, and Berlin. I have more than 30,000 employees across all chains and locations…you can Google all of this, Lola." His tone was harsh, biting. It surprised me. I hadn't expected such a vehement reaction.
"You hate it, don't you?"
His eyes flashed in surprise. "Miss O'Connell, I'm enjoying your company but I'd advise you not to discuss matters you don't understand."
I rolled my eyes at his attempt to shut me down. "Don't get your knickers in a twist. I don't blame you for hating it. It sounds boring as hell."
He paused, looking at me the way he did so often, like I was an alien. "I don't have time to be bored."
"Really? It sounds to me like you do the same thing over and over. You get off a fancy plane and get in a fancy car to go to a fancy meeting, then have a fancy dinner with fancy people, before going back to your ultra fancy hotel and doing it all over again the next day. I'd be bored to death."
"I could say the same to you, you know. You've lived in the same town with the same people your whole life," he said.
I nodded and sipped at my wine. "True. Still, I think you're bored."