Chapter 6 - Connor

I stare at my computer monitor while my thumb slowly rubs the underside of the golden band on my finger. 

A small smile slowly creeps out as I remember a particular 24 hours a few years back.  For someone who is normally very serious and always thinking about how to push our company ahead or how I can get one step in front of my brother, the super son, I still can’t believe that I let Ryan actually talk me into going to Vegas for a night. 

I never in a million years would have dreamed that I would meet her there and got married.  Granted, I was drunk, but I wasn’t that drunk.  I should have been the sensible one, but for once in my life, I wanted to walk on the wild side.

Man, did I ever. 

I still don’t know what possessed me to even ask her to marry me. 

My smile widens as an image of her from that night pops into my head.  It may have been a few years ago, but I remember it like it just happened yesterday. 

I knew when I first bumped into her, she was drunk.  However, I ignored that little voice in the back of my head that was telling me to walk away. 

I also can’t claim that I didn’t know she was getting married.  It was written all over her, from her shirt to the cute terra on top of her golden blonde hair. 

I can even remember my stomach fluttering and my heart skipping a beat when her emerald green eyes caught mine.  Something in them flickered when our eyes locked. 

I wanted to find out what that flicker was. 

Her eyes were exactly like ones from many years ago. 

I discovered a lot of interesting things about her that night.  However, there is so much more I want to know.  First and foremost, where is she? 

Cough.  Cough.

I flip my head up towards the door of my office. 

Ryan walks in with a smirk on his face as he playfully asks, “So, were you thinking about her again?  You are practically glowing.”

What the heck?

I furrow my eyebrows and stare at him as he walks towards my desk and sits down.  When Ryan gives me a look like he is waiting, I sigh.  “I’m not glowing.  Okay.  She was the one who brighten up my dull and boring life.  Plus, she is completely different from the women that my parents keep throwing at me.  I’m so sick and tired and them pushing them at me.  I think my mother has finally realized that I will not give in, but my father is a different story.  He keeps harping about heirs and grandchildren.  How am I the one that must carry on the family name and the business?

Shit.  I’m in my thirties, not my fifties.

However, I don’t see the need right now.  Plus, I’m already married.  I can’t legally take on another wife.  I just want my lovely wife back.”

Ryan sighs and leans back in the chair.  “It has been years, dude.  Maybe, it is time to accept that you will never find her again and move on.”

I shake my head.  “No.  I still have my investigators looking for her.  They will find her soon.”

Ryan slowly shakes his head, but he doesn’t protest.  Instead, he asks, “So, why are we looking at a smaller business in the Midwest to partner with?  We have plenty of options around here that we don’t need to go driving through corn fields to find someone else.”

My smile fades and my professional mask slides on. 

I turn towards my computer and begin pulling up my data on the company.  It may be on the smaller side, but in the recent years, the company has been growing by leaps and bounds.  From the buzz in the business world, it is mostly because of a new executive, who is working up through the ranks and fast. 

Someone who can take a stalled company and work it back into a viable and thriving one is someone we need to do business with. 

I pull up the reports and turn my monitor towards him.  “This is why.  Look at the growth that the company has gone through.  It isn’t a fluke either.  My team has done the research.  Unfortunately, the team couldn’t give me specific information, but they mentioned a duo that people like to call the double Ds, for some reason.  To me, it sounds more like some high school or college cliché rather than business partners.  I even had a duo in my high school that went by something similar to that.  Regardless, one of them just joined the company a couple years back.  Between the two of them, they have turned the company around and have it headed for bigger and better things.”

He leans forwards and scans through the reports.  With each page, he nods. 

After he has looked through all the documents and reports, he sits back in his seat and hums, “Now, I can see why you want to do business with them.  The partnership with us will also push them into that next level of business.  Can a company that small really handle going to the next level?  Or even jumping a couple levels to work with us?”

I turn the monitor back towards me and shake my head.  “I don’t know.  I didn’t ask the team to look into the company to that extent.  However, with the way the company has turned around, I’m sure the duo will help the business handle it and expand with only minor issues.”

Ryan shakes his head.  “I’m not so sure.  We may have to help them if we want a smooth transition after the partnership.  Are you willing to do that?  You don’t normally do that.”

I glance across the desk at him.

Do I want to help them with the expansion? 

I shrug my shoulders.  “We will see.  If they are easy to work with, I’ll probably consider it, but time will tell.”

A loud voice booms through my office.  “Time will tell what?  You aren’t going to ruin the family business, are you?”

I mentally sigh before I plaster on a smile.  “No, father.  I will not ruin the family business.  I have no intention of doing that.” 

He smiles and nods as he walks towards my desk and sits down in the chair beside Ryan.  “Good.  I don’t want to leave the company in the hands of someone who will mess up all my hard work.  I require you to keep the momentum going forward.  Your grandfather and I have positioned the company at the top.  We expect you to keep it there for many more years to come.”

His smile fades as he stares at me.  “Now, if we can just get you married and start producing some talented heirs, then I’ll be comfortable with the company’s future.”

Here we go again. 

I glance at Ryan, but neither of us says anything. 

What can you say?  I’ve tried talking until I was blue in the face, and nothing seems to work. 

Then suddenly, a smile appears on my father’s face again. 

My stomach sinks and a nagging little voice in the back of my head keeps saying that I will not like this. 

With a huge grin on his face, my father looks at me and then at Ryan.  He slaps his hands together in front of him.  “Hey, maybe the two of you can find women at the new company that my boy, Connor, is trying to partner with.  From the rumors that I’ve heard two women, who happen to be high school best friends, run the company.”

I can’t bring myself to even say anything.  However, I know one thing for sure.  I will not date anyone at that company. 

My eyes roam over to a picture on the corner of my desk.  A group of high schoolers sits in front of a tall building.  Each of them smiling wide. 

However, my focus zooms in on one particular girl, with sparkling emerald green eyes.  No one compares to my sunshine, my wife.