Page 14 of The Temptation (Executive Suite Secrets #4)

“Father, I’m sure you remember my executive assistant, Marie,” I murmured as she placed the tray on the coffee table close to us.

“Yes, the brilliant young woman who accompanied you to the Boston office on your last trip. You’ve done an excellent job of keeping my son focused and prepared,” he said, beaming at her.

“Thank you, Mr. Sutton. It’s wonderful to see you again.”

“See? She’s glad I came for a visit and doesn’t think I’m a distraction at all.”

“Uh-huh.” I flashed a reassuring smile to Marie. “Thank you for your help. Could you clear my schedule for the next hour? I’ll call if I need help with anything else.”

“Yes, sir,” she murmured and beat what looked to be a hasty but relieved retreat out of my office.

When we were alone, I stood and poured tea into both cups, adding a splash of milk and sugar for my father’s and a bit of honey for my own.

“Now that Mom has given her approval of Simon, is this where you tell me your thoughts on him?” I inquired as I held out my father’s cup balanced on a saucer.

“I thought he was charming as well. It’s obvious you’ve known each other for a while, and maybe I am suspicious that you’ve suddenly started dating an old friend just as your parents come to town to convince you to move home.”

“This is home,” I stated, sharper than I probably should have.

Dad returned his cup to the saucer after taking a sip and made a dismissive motion with his hand.

“Even when you initially proposed moving to Cincinnati, you made it sound as if it was a temporary thing. You wanted to use it as a chance to test yourself, to see if you could run a law firm on your own, which you have with little to no interference from me or the other partners.”

“Yes, and we had that conversation nearly a decade ago. I’m sure you understand that over such a length of time, things can change. I like living here. My friends are here. I’m comfortable here. And if I’m lucky, I’ll be able to build a long-term relationship here.”

“So, you’re adamantly against moving back ho—” He cut himself off and cleared his throat. “Returning to Boston.”

I opened my mouth to agree but caught myself at the last second.

My mouth shut without a sound coming out, and I took a moment to rearrange my thoughts.

“The truth is, I don’t know. If I had known that this year would possess a critical deadline for me, I would have already given this issue some thought, but since it feels like it’s coming from out of nowhere, I don’t know what I wish. ”

“And what about Simon? If you fell in love with him and were looking to be in a long-term relationship with him—a.k.a. marriage—would he be willing to move to Boston with you?”

“No clue,” I said sharply. With the way Simon talked, I had little doubt that he’d agree to move with me immediately to Boston. What worried me was whether he’d actually be happy there. “As I’m sure you can guess, it’s way too early in our relationship to be discussing things like that.”

“Yes, yes. That is true.” Father took another drink of his tea before setting it on the table.

“I look forward to seeing him perform with the symphony. Your mother, naturally, did all the social media searching and the googling as soon as we returned to our hotel room last night.” His eyes narrowed, and a smirk formed on his lips.

“Nice picture of you two at the bar, by the way.”

“Thank you,” I mumbled while sending up a greater thanks and sigh of relief to Simon.

He’d been right that my mother would do that background searching.

Whether my parents had bought it was still in question, but it at least covered a base I hadn’t considered.

I might have avoided social media like the plague, but Simon did not.

It would have been strange for him not to post a picture of his new boyfriend.

“She also located a couple of videos of his younger performances. He’s a very talented and determined young man,” Father continued.

That was an understatement and a half. As far as I knew, Simon blew everyone else away with his talent and determination. That was probably part of the reason I was so nervous around him when he’d made it clear that I was the focus of his desires. Did I really stand a chance at fending him off?

“Yes, Simon is incredibly talented. He’s been playing the violin almost his entire life. He also plays the piano and flute. I’m excited to hear what original pieces he creates.”

Father seemed content with his meeting with Simon and what I had to say about the matter.

But then, this was simply the initial skirmish.

Barely more than a basic fact-finding mission.

He would retreat, share his information with my mother, and they would formulate a new line of attack.

This was not my first time dealing with them regarding something I didn’t want to do.

Our conversation wandered away from the personal, and we discussed the firm’s current active client list, projects we were overseeing, and other issues. Nothing too serious. I avoided sharing with my father that I would be handling some legal matters for Simon.

As we drew near the end of the hour, my father pushed to his feet, and we strolled out of my office.

“You know, I was thinking that we should have an office mixer while I’m in town,” Father declared as he passed by Marie’s office, and loud enough for several other people to hear.

I could have strangled him. “You’ve hired several new people since I was last here.

It would give me a chance to meet them as well as chat with some of the senior members of the firm. ”

“I didn’t think you and Mom were planning to remain in Cincinnati that long,” I replied, trying hard not to sound like I was clenching my teeth.

“I figured we’d stay at least two weeks. That would give you plenty of time to hire someone to pull it all together. Nothing too fancy. Just all the members of the company plus significant others.”

And there it was. That sneaky bastard.

He wanted to see if I would bring in Simon to meet everyone I worked with, introduce him as my boyfriend.

“We’ll have to see what can be arranged on such short notice. Not to mention, I don’t know if Simon would be able to make it. He has performances almost every weekend.”

“Informal. Informal,” Father repeated, waving a hand in the air. “Drinks and some finger foods after work one day. Maybe a predinner nosh. It’ll be during the week. Of course Simon can make it.”

Before I could give any further warnings or make more excuses, my father had his coat on and was out the door, claiming he was off to make sure my mother didn’t empty the bank account with her shopping.

That was a master at work.

His entire purpose in visiting the office had been to arrange this mixer under the guise of meeting everyone at this branch, while in truth, he’d wanted to see if I’d be brave enough to introduce Simon as my boyfriend.

This wasn’t about me being gay. While I hadn’t made a general announcement about my sexual orientation, I had never hidden it.

Since moving to Cincinnati, I had never once introduced a coworker to someone I was dating.

The bonus would be that my parents would have another opportunity to chat with Simon and make sure that we were a good fit.

Now, I had to go to Simon and tell him he’d been right about a lot of things.

We were going to need more cute-couple pictures for social media, and I had to borrow him for this office party.

He was going to be thrilled, but would Sawyer have been as understanding?

Was I really sticking to my promise to keep my distance?

This was a friend helping another friend out. We hadn’t crossed any lines.

It was fine. Everything was going to be fine.