Blake’s lips curved into a small smile as he stretched a hand towards Russell, a friend of his elder sister. Russell was from one of the oldest business dynasties in the United States, like the Carter’s dynasty. He and Russell had been talking about business for over four minutes before his wife appeared and stood beside her husband.
“Hi, Mr. Carter,” she greeted brightly.
“Hello,” he tried to beat some excitement into his voice. “Mrs. Evans.”
“I’m sorry,” Russell’s wife smiled, her eyes darting from her husband to Blake. “I will have to steal Russell away.”
“Oh, with all pleasure,” Blake said, relieved that the man’s wife had saved him.
“Let’s meet up for drinks before the end of the year.” Russell said, and he took Blake’s. “I will be expecting your call.”
“Of course I will.” Blake made a promise he knew he would not fulfill. “Thanks so much.”
Blake gave Russell’s wife a nod as the couple drifted away. He grabbed a flute of champagne from one of the waiters, who was passing a tray around. Blake took a sip, letting the cool, bubbly liquid warm up his system. He was already getting bored.
“Hey Blake, how are you doing?”
He heard someone call his name and stopped walking. He shook hands with the fellow, who didn’t stop to talk to him. But moved on after they exchanged greetings.
Blake surveyed the large ballroom, which had in attendance the movers and shakers of the business world wearily. It was the Boardroom Forum’s Christmas party. The forum was made up of young business leaders in the United States. Everyone was chatting with animation and cordiality. And networking for business as usual.
He just wasn’t himself today; he used to enjoy this type of soiree. Now he desperately wanted to escape. He checked for the time on his wristwatch and gave himself thirty minutes more.
He dropped his empty champagne flute on a nearby tray, and picked up another one as he pushed his way outside to the porch. He set a hand on the railing and dipped the second hand into his inner pocket to bring out his phone.
“Blake, you are here,” a cheerful female voice said at his back. “I have been searching the entire ballroom for you.”
Blake turned around. “Cassie,” he called out gently.
Cassie tossed her hair over her shoulder and made a catwalk up to where he was standing. “It’s such a nice evening,” she gave him a small, flirty smile. “I was looking around for you. I knew there was no way you would have missed this party.”
He smiled despite himself. “I had to come out here for some fresh air.” He gave her a thorough look and liked what he saw.
She was so breathtaking as always in her long slip dress with a slit by the side. Her blue eyes shimmered brightly at him.
He had never been close to Cassie, even their mothers were a bit close. But her recent promotion to the post of the executive director in her father’s company had brought them closer. And she never failed to show that she was interested in him, though she did it in subtle ways.
Her father, Nick Harrington was a prominent architect. And he ran a construction conglomerate. Cassie herself was a trained Engineer and part of the family business. Carter Industries had partnered together on many projects over the years with them before the merger with Stacy’s father’s company.
But they stopped doing business together when the merger happened. Nick and Blake’s former father-in-law were not the best of friends. But now that Carter Industries was back on its own, the two companies had started doing business together. They just finished a collaboration recently.
“Is everything okay? You look…” Cassie was short for the right word to use.
“Bored,” he supplied him with the right word. “I know.” He smiled genuinely for the first time since he stepped into the gigantic hotel ballroom.
“Please take some time to rest?” She advised him.
“I will,” he robbed the bridge of his nose. “I should have even stayed home tonight.”
Cassie’s phone vibrated in her clutch purse. She took it out, and it was her father who was also in attendance that was calling her.
“Hi, Donavon,” she said after picking the call. She listened to what he was saying and then said, “okay, I’m coming right away.”
She dropped the phone back into her purse and told Blake that her cousin needed her to meet someone.
“You know, for business,” she said apologetically. “We need to talk to Ambrose about a deal tonight.”
“I understand, that’s fine,” he nodded. “I’ll be leaving for home soon. I have an early morning meeting tomorrow.”
Cassie bade him a goodnight and started walking away.
“You look lovely, by the way, Cassie,” Blake said to her back without even thinking before saying it.
Cassie stopped and looked back. “Thank you,” a beautiful smile lit up her face. She was just so beautiful.
“You are welcome,” Blake nodded. “Run along, go make a deal with Ambrose.”
She smiled more and walked away to look for her cousin.
Blake shifted restlessly on his feet. Blake looked out into the dark night and into the half filled champagne flute in his hand. He waited for another couple of minutes before deciding to leave. He dropped his half drunk drink on the tray of a waiter on his way out.
“Good evening, Mr. Carter,” Jeff, his driver, greeted Blake when he got to the parking lot. Jeff quickly opened the door for his boss.
“Hey,” Blake nodded and climbed into the backseat, setting into the leather seat.
Jeff shut the door and hurriedly walked around to the front seat.
“Home,” Blake whispered and laid his head back against the headrest, closing his eyes.
The traffic was not heavy as he expected, so they got home in thirty-three minutes. He opened the car door by himself the moment the car stopped. “Goodnight Jeff,” he said brusquely and stepped out of the car.
“Welcome, Mr. Carter,” Jayce’s nanny greeted as he got into the living room. She sat in a corner with a book in her hand.
“Hello, Sonia,” Blake replied.
It was when he moved further into the room that he realized Jayce was sleeping on the sofa.
“He refused to go to his room,” Sonia said. She closed up the book she was reading and stood up. “He insisted he would wait for you.”
“It’s okay Sonia, I will take him to his room. You can go to your quarters.”
“Okay, Mr. Carter,” Sonia said. “Goodnight.”