Chapter Nine: Gerard
When Gerard woke up the next day, he found that he was running just a little late for work. It wasn’t like it mattered too much; one of the perks of being the CEO meant that he could pretty much stroll in whenever he felt like it, but it was still not something that he enjoyed doing. He used Elena’s shower, making sure that he was quiet enough that he didn’t wake her up as she lay peacefully on the other side of her bed. They had woken up a few times throughout the night to satiate the rest of their lustful desires, so he had no doubts that he had managed to exhaust the poor blonde. It would be better for everyone if he just let her sleep for a while longer.
As he felt the warm spray of the shower flow over his naked body, he considered what his next move should be. He had already told her that he wanted to date her, so there was no use trying to play it off now. The only thing backtracking would succeed in doing would be to get them back on bad terms, which would have defeated the whole point of having asked her out to begin with. This is something that I’ve wanted for a long time now, so I should just thank my lucky stars and accept it. Elena isn’t the worst woman that I could have ended up with, and I would be lying if I said I didn’t have a great time with her last night. With or without the sex, I can see myself wanting to spend more time with her.
He turned his head slightly when he heard the door to the shower slide open to reveal a sleepy looking Elena. Her blonde hair, which she usually kept neatly brushed, was disheveled from slumber. Gerard felt a shudder of affection at the sight, turning his back toward the spray of water so that he could turn to face her. “Good morning, beautiful.”
She giggled gently at that, offering him a gentle smile as she stepped into the shower with him and slid the door shut. “Good morning to you too,” she said sweetly, leaning up on her tiptoes so that she could press a kiss against his lips gently. “I see that you are running a bit late this morning.”
“Happens to the best of us,” he said, shrugging gently as he moved out of the way of the spray of water, allowing some of it to course down onto Elena’s skin. He swallowed hard as he watched her supple skin begin to glisten with water, feeling some of his blood begin to flood between his legs.
“Here I thought that Gerard Donahue could do no wrong, but it turns out he’s a mortal just like everyone else,” she said teasingly, closing her eyes as she allowed the water to flow over her hair, wetting it down so that she could wash it with the shampoo sitting on the shelf beside her.
“I never claimed to be anything more than human. I can’t help it that people make you out to be bigger than you are when you are as successful as I have been,” he said dismissively, helping to wash down her body as she washed her hair. He was grateful for the distraction, though the desire to have his way with her again wasn’t going away no matter what he did. Had he not been on such a time crunch to get to work he might have done it, but he needed to get going soon. She would always be here for another round when he got off work later.
“So, how are we going to go on our mini-vacation when you have to work?” she asked finally, having just finished rinsing the rest of the shampoo she had used out of her hair.
“I am going to tell them that I plan to leave the country for a few days to consider a prospective business contract if anyone asks. Nobody usually questions me about where I go, but just in case they do I have a backup plan,” he said, turning off the water and sliding open the door to the shower.
They dried themselves off and walked out to the living room where Gerard’s clothes were waiting for him. Elena didn’t even bother getting dressed as she watched him, and once he was fully dressed she moved up to him to wrap her arms around the back of his neck gently, kissing his cheek. “Have a good day at work, Gerard,” she said sweetly, her hands moving to straighten his tie.
“I will try to,” he said with a smile, pulling his phone from his pocket and quickly dialing the number for Simon and telling him to come pick him up at Elena’s house. He was glad that his driver didn’t ask any questions, instead assuring him that he would be there within twenty minutes. Then he placed a call to the office telling them that he was running a little late and would be there as soon as he could.
“It must be hard to be as powerful as you are,” she said with a teasing look, walking naked over to where her coffee maker sat and flipping it on. “So many people have to answer to you. Doesn’t it get tiring having to lead them all?”
“No one ever said the life of a leader would be easy. You just have to take things as they come one day at a time and not allow yourself to get overwhelmed by things,” he said dismissively, pulling a small toothbrush from the inner pocket of his suit and using it to quickly brush his teeth. “Besides, when you work with the kinds of skilled people that I have in my company, you very rarely have to worry about things once you assign tasks out. My employees pride themselves on getting their work done efficiently and correctly, which saves me a lot of headache at the end of the day.”
A text message suddenly blipped on his phone, letting him know that Simon had just arrived. He gave Elena a gentle hug, promising her that he would see her again once he got off work. Before he left, he paused by the door so he could speak. “Why don’t you take care of planning out a trip for us? I’ll cover the costs, but book us a flight and whatever ahead of time. You can just text me the details once everything is said and done.”
“Will do!” Elena exclaimed excitedly, waving goodbye to him as he closed the door, the sound of the lock clicking into place a few seconds later letting him know that she was now secure within her home.
“Did you have an enjoyable evening, sir?” Simon asked in a knowing way as he held the door open for Gerard, a small smile playing at the corner of the Englishman’s lips.
“I certainly did, Simon,” Gerard replied, choosing not to pay too much attention to the obvious amusement that his driver was showing. “Thank you for asking.”
He stayed silent for the majority of the ride, choosing instead to focus on the things that he would need to do today. There was a board meeting in a few hours that he was expected to go to, not to mention the fact that their recent merger with another large company meant that there were still documents that needed to be signed. He shook his head in wonder at just how complicated these sorts of things could get, but he knew that he would be able to deal with it. He prided himself on his ability to work under pressure; it was one of the things that made him such a good secret agent.
The fact that Charlie had not yet tried to even contact him was also slightly strange to him. Charlie was a man of his word, so when he had said they could take the week off Gerard knew he had meant it, but he didn’t think that Charlie would evoke a radio silence for that entire time as well. Maybe he didn’t want them to think that he was trying to pull them away from their vacation ahead of time. Maybe the older man had decided to take a step back from missions for a week himself. It had to be hard to oversee an organization like his, after all.
When the limousine came to a stop in front of his office, he pushed the door open himself and climbed out, shielding his eyes from the harsh light of the mid-afternoon sunshine. Simon handed him his briefcase, which had been stashed in the trunk, and then Gerard made his way inside of the building. He was immediately met by one of the members of the board, a walrus-looking man named Oswald, who greeted him upon entrance. “Gerard, old boy. How are you?”
“I’m just fine, Oswald. Running a little late this morning, unfortunately, but I’m here now,” Gerard said apologetically, walking with Oswald toward one of the elevators.
“What kept you?” Oswald asked, pressing the button that would take them up to the floor where the meeting would take place.
“I decided to spend my night in the company of a woman, and I ended up sleeping in just a little later than I had intended to,” Gerard replied coyly, the memories of the night before causing him to smirk gently. “My new girlfriend was quite loathe for me to leave.”
“You’re finally dating someone? Good show! I was beginning to worry about you,” Oswald said, his belly jiggling slightly as he laughed.
Gerard smiled at that, glancing at his watch to check the time. There was still a while until their board meeting, but it would allow him some time to go over the proceedings with some of his assistants ahead of time. Let’s hope that today goes by quickly.