Page 56 of Irresistible Love
His entire face lit up. “I thought you’d be busy. I didn’t think you’d want to spend your Saturday babysitting your old grandfather.”
Walking over, she hugged him. “I told you; I love the time the two of us spend together.” Pulling back, she smiled up at him. “What should we do?”
“How about you come up to the house around one and we’ll have some lunch and maybe watch a movie? What do you think?”
“I think that sounds perfect! Do you need me to go to the store for anything?”
William shook his head. “I did one of those online grocery orders and everything’s being delivered.”
“Then I guess I’ll see you at one!” She kissed him on the cheek and watched as he walked out the door and up the path leading to the main house. As soon as he was out of sight, she yawned. Sleep had been non-existent last night, and now that she knew she had a little time, she padded into her bedroom, stripped down and pulled on a pair of pjs, before crawling into bed.
But before she could lie down, it occurred to her she needed to set an alarm and her phone was out in the kitchen.
“Dammit,” she mumbled as she went and grabbed it and brought it back into the bedroom. She put all her notifications on mute, set the alarm for noon, and promptly fell back against the pillows and went to sleep.
* * *
Noah stood on the front porch of the Montgomery home and sighed. He checked his phone again hoping to see a response from Lily, but so far, she was suspiciously silent. He’d driven by the guesthouse first, but her car wasn’t there. Now he was more than a little nervous about this spur-of-the-moment invitation to lunch from William.
Letting out a long breath, he straightened and rang the bell. He knew he was just being overly apprehensive; after all, this wasn’t the first time he’d been invited to the house.
But it was the first time he’d been invited since he started secretly sleeping with William’s granddaughter.
I’m so screwed.
“Noah!” William said brightly as he opened the door. “Glad you could make it! Come on in!” He clapped Noah on the shoulder as he entered. “I appreciate you indulging me a bit today. After being out of the office for most of the week, I was feeling a little out of the loop.”
“I hope everything’s okay,” Noah said as they walked toward the kitchen. “I heard you were dealing with a difficult client in Raleigh.”
William chuckled before walking over to the refrigerator. “There was no difficult client,” he admitted. “I had to have a mildly invasive medical procedure done. Of course, I don’t want that getting out around the office, but I know I can trust you to keep that to yourself.”
All he could do was nod.
“Can I get you a drink? Water? Sweet tea? Soda? Beer?”
“Um…a soda. Please.” Glancing around, he wondered if he should take a seat at the kitchen table or the massive island and waited to take his cues from William.
“Let’s go inside and chat,” William said before leading him into the family room. “Obviously I didn’t want anyone to know about my little health crisis, so I instructed Sara to tell anyone who asked that I was in Raleigh dealing with a client.” He took a sip of his tea. “How are things going for you? Are you able to keep up with all your clients and the ones my sons put you in charge of?”
He nodded. “It’s kept me very busy, but everything’s under control. I had a few lengthy calls with a couple of them, but I was able to put everyone’s minds at ease.” Then he laughed softly. “But I’ll be glad when the guys get back and I can pass all those files back to them.”
“I can imagine.” William paused a moment. “I really appreciate you coming over today. I wanted the chance to speak with you without the usual prying eyes around the office.”
“O-kay…”
“This health issue of mine has got me thinking,” he began after a moment. “I wasn’t interested in retiring, and I’m still not, but I believe I’m going to be less present in the office moving forward. Over the last several years, I’ve talked to my sons a bit about how things would look if and when I ever retired. Jason would take over for me; that’s already been decided.”
“Really?” Noah asked, surprise lacing his voice. “I would have thought Mac would be the one to do that.”
“That was the original plan, but he really has been enjoying spending less time at the office. He and Gina are traveling more and honestly, this is the happiest I’ve seen the two of them in years. I wouldn’t take that away from him. Jason’s the most like me and I believe him taking the helm would be the easiest transition.”
There wasn’t anything he could say to that, so he simply nodded again.
“Mac would keep his position as vice president along with Lucas, but I want them to have a strong executive team behind them.” He paused and took another sip of his drink, even as Noah’s heart hammered hard in his chest. “We have a great team—not only in our office here in Charlotte, but across the country to choose from—but I would like for you to be a part of our team here.”
Noah could feel his mouth move but couldn’t seem to speak.
“I realize you’re already part of the team, but what I meant was…I’d like for you to be a part of our executive account management team.” William gave him a pointed look. “It would come with a significant pay increase, a bigger office, and more responsibility. We haven’t talked about your goals in a while, but I hope they still include a future with Montgomerys.”