Maria motioned her to get inside the car. “Don't worry, honey. Mr. Wilson is aware that Jack and I are using his limo tonight. It's going to be fun. Get in!”

“Alright. You don't want to seat in the back with me? I'm going to feel pretty lonely by myself in there.”

“Jack likes me to seat with him. Sorry, honey. Just make yourself comfortable.”

Jennifer reluctantly opened the door, and entered the long limo. It was dark inside and too big for her, she thought.

She looked around, when a familiar voice made her jump. “Good evening, Jennifer.”

Jennifer quickly raised her hands to her mouth. “Oh my God, Bruce! You scared me! What are you doing here?”

Bruce laughed. “As you can see, I'm going out... in MY car.”

Jennifer looked at the front of the car and saw Maria smiling, giving her a wink. I see. It's a setup. Well done, Maria!

Jennifer sighed, as Maria turned back around. Jack pushed a button, and a black window moved up between her and the old couple. She was now completely alone with Bruce. They both kept silent for a few minutes, before Bruce got closer to her.

“Maria came to me after they dropped you home, and she said you were really sad this morning.”

Jennifer gave a sniff, and raised her eyebrows. “What else did you expect?”

“I just want to say I'm sorry.” Bruce grabbed her hand. “I... I didn't know what to expect from this confrontation last night. I knew it was you all along, but I couldn't figure out what you had in mind. I didn't know if you were trying to get something from me or if you were playing with me.”

“Well, I thought YOU were playing with me, actually.”

“I know, I got your message last night, when you mentioned about my past and...”

“And I disrespected you, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that, it was mean and not appropriate.”

“The truth is, you were right somehow. I tried to imagine how it felt to be in your shoes, since you've always known me as a player, but I've changed or should I say, YOU made me change. At first, I really intended to meet my potential wife from abroad. Everything I told you about me was true.”

“That’s good to hear. Well now, what do you think? How do you feel about me?”

“I was intrigued as I told you, but when I think about it, I realize that you really have guts. It's a very bold plan that you had and, I have to admit that I like that. I respect that. I understand your initial motivation and it's courageous from you.”

“So you're not angry at me?”

“At first I was, but what we experienced, what we shared together proved me you were right. All these years, I've used my status and my money to attract women. With you, it was different. You were the one who tried to make me better, without any hidden agenda. You were not chasing my fortune; you were here to make me a better man.”

“I see, but you didn’t' answer my other question. How do you feel about me?”

Bruce looked her straight in the eyes. “Oh Jennifer, you know how I feel, don't you?”

“I want to hear it from you, Bruce. I need to know for sure.”

“Jennifer: I love you. There's absolutely no doubt about that. You've been around me all this time and I didn't realize it. But now I know it's you. You're the one for me, baby.”

Bruce leaned forward and kissed Jennifer tenderly. Tears were rolling from her eyes. She smiled at him. “Baby, I love you so much. I was so afraid to lose you last night.”

“Never.” Bruce kissed her cheek, giving her a big hug.

“What about my job?” Jennifer said half smiling.

They both burst into laughter.

“You want to keep your job?”

“Sure! As they say in France, I can't live on love and freshwater! I need to pay my bills.”

“Well, Benny is actually very good. I'll figure out something else for you, don't worry.”

Bruce kissed her hair and they both cuddled in silence.

“Where are we going?” Jennifer said, turning her head to see Bruce.

Bruce looked at her, a naughty smile on his face. “To the Opera...”

Jennifer giggled. “You nasty boy!”

Bruce’s phone vibrated. It was a text message. Suddenly, his face became dark and his smile disappeared into a worried look.

“Something’s wrong, Bruce?” Jennifer asked.

Bruce looked slightly disoriented. He kept silent and closed his eyes, trying to gather his thoughts. She had a bad feeling about it. “Bruce, are you okay? What’s going on?”

He pressed her against his chest and said, “Trouble is coming...”

Chapter Two

“Hey Benny, nice to see you again. How are you?” Jennifer said, giving Benny a hug.

“Hi Jennifer, I’m good, thanks! How was your vacation? Come on, look at you: you look gorgeous! This new hairstyle and your tan, wow! It really makes you...” Benny hesitated, winked at her and said, “Sexy!”

They both burst into laughter. The last two weeks, Jennifer had spent her time sunbathing at Bruce’s beach house, in order to relax and come back as if she actually spent her vacation in Thailand.

Bruce and she both agreed their relationship was safer if nobody knew about it at work. Plus, since Bruce couldn’t think of a new position suitable for Jennifer for now, they decided the best decision to make was to keep things exactly as they were before.

Benny lowered his voice. “So what happened, Jen? I thought you were fired and now, you’re back. I was really worried when you called me that day you know!”

Jennifer knew Benny would ask this question and had prepared something to say in advance.

“I’m so sorry for the trouble, Benny. Actually, it was a misunderstanding with the boss. As you know I’ve been working here for five years now and I thought it was time to ask Mr. Wilson for a pay rise.”

“During your vacation?”

“Actually, I asked before leaving and he said he would call me back. We had a little argument, but then, we came up with an arrangement.”

Benny raised an eyebrow and flashed a grin at Jennifer. “Hum, I see. An arrangement, uh?”

Jennifer hit Benny’s shoulder playfully. “Don’t be silly. Come on, tell me what happened during these three weeks...”

Jennifer’s new romance with Bruce was still idyllic in every way, but the time he had available for her was nowhere near what she had expected. Indeed, the busy billionaire was often travelling due to his new joint venture with Japanese businessman Mr. Sakamura.

As a consequence, the time they had spent together had been limited to once per week only. Obviously, Jennifer was a little frustrated she couldn’t see Bruce as often as she wanted and deep inside, she was still pretty insecure about their new relationship.

After all, they had been dating for about three weeks only and even though he had been perfect in every way so far, there was a lot of mystery around this man.

Benny started to brief her about all the activities that occurred during her absence. At 10:00AM, she and Benny had their weekly meeting with Bruce and it took Jennifer about three hours to get back on track and sort out all her emails for the morning.

At lunchtime, she invited Benny to have a salad outside.

They both walked to the elevator, which was still empty, since they were at the last floor. Benny let her get in and followed quietly. Very quickly, the elevator was packed with employees going out to have lunch as well. Each time the doors opened, people moved as much as they could to let others get in. Everybody was very quiet except for two women chatting somewhere near the front. Jennifer couldn’t help, but hear the conversation.

“You know what? He did it again. He has a new one, but she’s not a model this time. Samantha is pretty sure about it: she’s from the office.”

“Samantha... is she the one who used to work in the previous company? How does she know?”