“Um...Am I allowed to go home sir?”

“Yes.” I laughed. “See you Tuesday, Angela.” I pulled Claire up and tossed her over my shoulder, laughing at her pitiful attempt to act like she wasn’t enjoying this.

I carried her into my adjoining suite and hit the bathroom lights. “I guess we’ll just relax until everyone leaves.” I set her down in front of the Jacuzzi and ran my hands across her legs. “You’re amazing...Do you know that?”

“So are you...” She kissed me and I turned on the water, pressing the “heated spa” setting.

I unclipped her bra and let it fall to the floor. Then I reached around her neck to unclasp her white and red flag charmed necklace, but she gasped and defensively held her hand over it.

She stepped away from me and took several deep breaths, as if she’d nearly drowned and come up for air. She leaned back against the counter and squeezed her eyes shut.

I watched as she tried to compose herself, realizing that I’d never seen her without those two flag charms. Even when she wore a more elegant necklace, those charms were always attached—like they were a part of her.

I tilted her head up and looked into her eyes. “You don’t really have a fascination with red and white flags do you?”

“No...”

I ran my fingers across the necklace and tugged at the white charm. “They mean something to you don’t they?”

She nodded.

“Are you going to tell me what that something is?”

She didn’t say anything, but I could see a hint of pain in her eyes, a small lump rising up her throat. The look on her face was something I’d never seen from her; it was a look of complete vulnerability.

“I’m sorry. I won’t try to take it off again...I promise.” I brought her head close to mine. “Is the heated spa setting good enough for you?”

She nodded and smiled, and it looked like she’d completely forgotten about my attempt to take off that necklace. She slid her panties down to the floor and I immediately picked her up and placed her into the tub.

“I’ll be right back.” I adjusted my pants and headed back to my office.

I walked over to the door and let my lead advisor inside. “Are you coming to tell me Happy Birthday, Milton? Someone already beat you to it.”

“No.” He picked up one of the balloons and popped it. “Is that why you gave every employee the day off? Because it’s your birthday?”

“Would it be a problem if I did?”

“Need I remind you that every move we make between now and—”

“The day we go public will be crucial. There’s no need to remind me. I’m aware.”

“Are you? Because halting production for two workdays doesn’t sound like something a well-informed CEO would do.”

“You think I’m well-informed? It’s not too often that I get compliments from you.”

“I think you’re delusional, and if you think that I’m going to sit around and let you drag this company down to the ground because you want to eat cake and play with balloons all day, then you are sadly mistaken.” He shook his head.

“Milton...”

“Your ass isn’t the only ass on the line, Jonathan. There’s too much work at stake and a random vacation isn’t going to get it all done. You need to send a follow up email right now and get your employees back to their desks before they—”

“Milton—” I cut him off. “Go home and enjoy the damn vacation days. You worry too much. Everyone has been stressing out over the smallest things and worrying about stuff that doesn’t even matter. We could all use a break. By the time everyone gets back from vacation on Tuesday, the workplace will be much happier and we’ll be re-focused on the IPO. Trust me.”

“Fine...” He sighed and opened my door. “Enjoy your birthday.”

“Thank you. I will.”

I shut down my computer and turned off all the lights. I locked the door that connected my office to my living suite and went back into the bathroom.

Claire was busy toying with the remote, turning up the volume on a slow instrumental song.

I quickly undressed and slid into the warm tub, reaching for her. “Come here.”

“I prefer this corner.”

I rolled my eyes and moved over to her side, wrapping my arms around her. “I almost thought my lead trust advisor was more difficult than you are. How wrong that was...”

“Whatever.” She laughed. “Guess who I ran into yesterday?”

“Who?”

“Mr. Henderson...He got another promotion. Apparently he’s going to be working at the high affairs office at our other campus across town. Do you know anything about that?”

Yes... “No, but that’s quite interesting.”

“Is it?”

“It is.”

She sighed. “Admit it. Right now.”

“Admit what?”

“That you’re ridiculously jealous—”

“You already know that.”

“And that you gave him a second promotion because you don’t want him anywhere near me.”

I rolled my eyes. “I gave him a second promotion because I looked through his file and saw that he’d actually applied for the same senior position five years in a row and had been turned down. I gave him a promotion because he has a stellar review record and deserved to be recognized. His coming on to you again was just the catalyst that made me promote him faster.”

“Are you going to promote every man that flirts with me?”

“No. I’ll fire whoever does it next.”

She looked like she was about to go into one of her “I just don’t understand you tirades” but then her face softened and she burst into laughter.

I picked up a floating loofah and brushed it against her neck. “Is my birthday dinner tonight non-negotiable, even though I don’t want to go?”

“Yes.”

“Fine.” I sighed. “Should I assume that you used your credit card to hold the reservation?”

“Who else’s would I use?”

“You could’ve asked for mine. I trust you...And I trust that you know better than to actually pay for dinner.”

“It’s your birthday, Jonathan. That’s what happens when you—”

“You never have to pay for anything.” I kissed her shoulder. “Ever.”

I made sure that tonight’s dinner at Sierra Mar would be placed on my card before we walked inside. The restaurant was nestled high into a barrage of cliffs that overlooked the Pacific Ocean; its panoramic windows revealed the entire shoreline of the California coast.

The waitress led us past a full room of white clothed tables and into a private room that appeared to sit amongst the clouds.

My eyes immediately veered towards a table with two sparkling gifts, towards the woman that was sitting beside them.

Hayley?! It couldn’t be...

My sister hardly ever came to San Francisco, even when I begged her to. I always had to meet her in Memphis, or in some other city on the East Coast. She claimed she couldn’t stand “the air” on the West Coast and vowed to never come until she started to work for me.

I stopped walking and looked at Claire. My voice was a whisper. “You got Hayley to come here?”

“Is that not okay? I’m sorry if I overstep—”

“It’s more than okay...” I was utterly shocked. Not much in life surprised me.

“John!” Hayley jumped up as soon as her eyes met mine. “Happy Birthday!”

“Thank you.” I hugged her. “I thought you weren’t coming here until the fall.”

She looked over at Claire and laughed. “I wasn’t! Have a seat, have a seat. I already ordered for the two of you since you’re thirty minutes late. Traffic?”

No, sex...“Yeah...”

She shrugged. “Oh well. Claire, it’s great to finally put a face to the name. How was your—”

I zoned out. I couldn’t believe Claire had managed to get my sister to come to town. I still couldn’t believe that she’d decorated my office earlier or set up a surprise dinner. No one had ever done anything like that for me, and I was trying to determine if it was real or not.

I heard my sister asking me questions as the dinner courses were served, but all I could do was look at Claire and smile as she threw her sexy green gaze back at me. I thought about how much she’d pushed me away in the beginning, how she still had parts of herself that were closed off—completely off limits. I was getting close to her now and she knew it, but she wasn’t pushing me away as much, she was pulling herself closer.