Page 101

“Navigating LeBlanc-Broussard politics isn’t for the faint of heart, is it?”

I chuckled. “You’ve got that right.”

Chapter Twenty-Six

Zachary

The shipping crisis lasted longer than I’d anticipated, but it seemed to finally settle down a bit two weeks later when the final order was confirmed.

“Hell yes,” I exclaimed, jumping up from behind my desk.

I looked from the window down to the courtyard of LeBlanc & Broussard, feeling like a haze had lifted. I might be good with challenges and maintaining a cool head, but that didn’t mean they didn’t exhaust me. In fact, if it weren’t for Grace these past few weeks, I would’ve lost my cool more often than not. But being with her balanced me. She was exactly what I needed, and I couldn’t wait to see her later this evening.

I really needed to stretch my legs. As I was preparing to go downstairs for a coffee break, I heard the phone buzz on my desk. I had a cardinal rule: I never took it with me on breaks because it defeated the whole purpose. I’d gone against the grain the past two weeks because it was a difficult time, but now I’d fully intended to leave the thing behind.

“Fuck,” I said, going back to my desk. If anyone reported any other delays...

But the name on the screen made me relax.Gaston. I immediately put it to my ear.

“Hello,” I said.

“Hey, Zachary.”

“I haven’t heard from you in a while.”

“Listen, we’d be more than happy to work with you. Your offer is fantastic, and I’m sure we’ll be able to collaborate well.”

“That’s great,” I said. “I’ll get everything approved by our legal department and will send the money maybe as early as next week. Just one question. How about Grace?”

We hadn’t talked about this at all. Partly because we’d both been extremely busy at work, and partly because there hadn’t been much to talk about since I hadn’t heard from Gaston and Felicia much lately.

“She’s not in the running anymore.”

I frowned as I decided to head downstairs while talking on the phone even if it meant I’d keep it with me during my break.

I was very surprised and wondered what made her change her mind. I planned to ask her that tonight, because I would’ve been willing to walk away if it meant she got it. But maybe she decided that she had already her hands full with growing her company. After the grandmothers collaborated with her, it was like the whole city wanted to do business with Grace too.

“So, listen, Felicia and I were wondering if you could drop by the ranch with all the contracts and everything else that’s needed. It’s a difficult time for us to make a day trip to New Orleans.”

“Sure, don’t worry. I’ll go there. But first I need to draw up all the paperwork.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Gaston said distractedly.

“All right, then. I won’t keep you any longer.”

Admittedly, I was distracted as well, thinking about Grace. She’d seemed very adamant about investing in the beginning, so it was strange that she’d no longer be interested. I wondered what her reasoning was to pull back. Was she overwhelmed at work? Because I could help out there as well.

I needed to get to the bottom of this, and I’d do just that during our date tonight.

***

Grace

I sighed as I sniffed the new samples of creams. I loved them. A large segment of the market was looking for fragrance-free creams because they figured it meant they were more natural. But since we worked with all-natural products, I was proudly boasting how nice ours smelled. This particular one had lilac. Yeah, Isabeau and Celine inspired me. I loved the scent, but it didn’t add any benefits to the cream itself, like rejuvenating or calming properties. But it was divine.

I closed my eyes, and for some reason, it made me think of Zachary. The man had taken over my life, and I was enjoying it. I had never imagined this, just as I never imagined that his family was going to embrace me so openly, especially after the debacle with my brothers. I really couldn’t believe the way Kyle had treated Georgie. She was an amazing woman and certainly didn’t deserve that. My brother was a lot like my ex—an asshole through and through.

Opening my eyes, I put down the jar of cream and emailed my team to send this sample to Isabeau and Celine’s store too.