CLEAN ROMANCE: Finding Peace (Christian Romance, Inspirational Romance, Second Chance Romance) (New Adult Contemporary Romance/Clean and Wholesome) (2 page)

“You can see his wrinkles all the way
from there? You must have amazing eyesight.”

She burst out laughing again. She laughed
so much her eyes began to well up with tears. They carried on, walking along
the beach, being careful to avoid the naked man along the way.

“Well, I really got to go now,” said
Julie.

“Yes, of course, me too. It was a
pleasure to spend time with you.”

“Likewise.”

They both walked off in opposite
directions.

Should I look back?
She thought.

She did, and just as she did, so did he.
Their eyes met again and they both waved to each other. She’d fallen for him.
Not for his physique, although that was a definite plus, but also his
confidence and charm. He didn’t have an ego and he knew just how to make her
laugh.

Come on Julie, you’re here to do a job,
fun’s over. Time to concentrate.

She quickly showered and then met up with
Janine back at the hotel. They went over everything they would cover when they
met Hugo.

“Like I told you, Julie, this is probably
one of our most important clients, so just follow my lead.”

“Got it. Where exactly are we meeting
him, anyway?”

“He likes to meet up at a local bar, not
far from here.”

Julie laughed.

“What’s so funny?” asked Janine.

“I don’t know, it just seems a little
strange that such a high level client of ours, one who is on the brink of being
worth billions, likes to hang out at cheap bars.”

“Yeah well, nowadays the rich aren’t what
they used to be. It’s all these young startup tech firms. It seems that any
average shmuck can become a millionaire overnight.”

“You sound kind of bitter, Janine. Isn’t
that a good thing? It means more of a level playing field, right?”

“If you look at it like that, then yeah,
it is. But from our perspective, it’s bad news.”

“I don’t understand, why is it bad news?
The reason accounting firms are still here being because everyone needs someone
to do their taxes, right? It doesn’t matter if they’re high class or an average
Joe, we all got to pay the man.”

“Yes, that’s how it used to be,” replied
Janine.

“Used to be? What do you mean? What’s
changed?”

“The same reason that anyone can now earn
a million, is the same reason that accounting firms like ours are going
extinct. Our industry is also susceptible to the online boom and there are
startup accounting firms that are taking chunks of our business already.
Basically Julie, our days are numbered.”

“I see.”

“Okay, it’s time to go,” said Janine.
“Are you ready?”

“Yes.”

They both walked out of the hotel lobby
and back onto the crowded streets. After a few minutes, they came to a small
bar, which was just off a side road. The sound of music and laughter could
still be heard but it was less noisy than on the main road.

“Okay, this is it, after you, Julie.”

Julie pushed away the beaded curtain and
walked in. The place was almost empty, except for a few older locals playing
chess in the corner. They stopped and stared at Julie. She felt a strange
tingle down her spine, as if they didn’t want her there. She went and sat on
the opposite side of the room. Janine opened her briefcase and took out some
papers in preparation. She then sat down and waited. Julie noticed that she was
cracking her fingers and looking around anxiously.

“Wow, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you
like this before Janine. Are you okay?”

“Yeah, there aren’t many clients who make
me nervous but Hugo’s one of them that does.”

“Wow, why?”

“Because if we lose him, I lose a big
part of my earnings. The reason I was promoted to Senior Partner was that I was
able to seal the deal with him, but things were different back then. He needed
us and we knew about some loopholes that other firms didn’t. Things are a lot
different now though and we’re kind of on the back foot.”

“I see.”

Before Julie could say anything else,
Janine suddenly stood up.

“Hugo! Long time no see! How have you
been?”

“Not bad, how about you, Janine?”

“Oh, you know me, busy, busy, busy. I’m
doing great.”

“Yeah, you’re always working too hard.
That’s why I like to arrange our meetings here, it gives you and I, both, a bit
of a break.”

Julie got up and turned around and her
jaw dropped.

“Hugo, this is Julie,” said Janine, smiling
awkwardly.

“Yes, I know, we’ve already met,” said
Jason with a smile.

“You’re Hugo?” asked Julie, still in
shock.

“You two already met? When?”

“This morning at the beach,” replied
Jason.

They all sat down and shared an awkward
moment until Janine finally broke the ice.

“So we’ve put together a plan for you
and…”

“Yeah it’s fine,” said Jason, his eyes
still locked on Julie, who was now looking at the floor.

Janine’s mouth quivered, not really
knowing what to say.

“I don’t understand, what do you mean by
‘it’s fine’?”

“I mean, I’m sure that whatever you and
your team have put together is more than adequate for my needs. I trust you
Janine. You’ve never let me down before and I have faith in you that you’re not
going to start anytime soon. So it’s fine. Whatever you think.” He patted
Janine on the shoulder.

“Right, well…that’s excellent news Hugo!
Thank you for being so direct!”

“Not at all.”

“Well, we really don’t want to keep you.
We’re sure you have plenty of work to do.”

“Oh, Janine, before you go. I may need to
go over some numbers, nothing important, but it would be nice if you could look
them over. It’s probably the job of an assistant though…”

He looked at Julie and she smiled. Janine
looked at them both and it finally clicked.

“Ah, I see. Well Julie and I are here for
the next two days. Julie is at your disposal.”

Janine winked at Julie as she said it.

“Right. Well, I’ll leave you guys to it.”

Janine walked off leaving Julie and Jason
alone. There was another awkward silence.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” she asked.

“Tell you what?”

“Oh don’t play games with me, you know
exactly what I’m talking about. Why didn’t you tell me that you were Hugo? I
mean that Hugo was you? I mean…”

“Okay just calm down, I understand what
you mean. Well, the truth is I didn’t know who you were at first, but once you
told me that you had a business meeting later that day, I figured it out.”

“Okay but that doesn’t answer my
question.”

“I wanted to see what you really thought
about me, that’s all.”

“But you lied!”

“Ah now that’s where I draw the line,
Julie. I
never
lie. Not to family, not to strangers, nobody.”

“Oh really? But you told me your name is
Jason. But it’s actually Hugo, right? That’s a lie, don’t you think so?”

He started smiling, which only infuriated
her more.

“Oh, I’m sorry, did I say something
funny?”

He put his hand in his pocket, pulled out
his wallet and showed her his driving license.

    
Jason Hugo
Brown.

“See,” he said. “I didn’t lie.”

“Oh, you are so tricky! I can see why
you’re doing so well for yourself.”

“Ouch, that was a little below the belt
Julie.”

She smiled.

“Okay, okay, so you didn’t lie, but I
said some horrible things about you.”

“I know; I have this reputation of being
an irresponsible playboy.”

“And are you?” she asked.

“I should ask you that question. You’ve
met me in person now, so what do
you
think?”

She looked him up and down.

“Actually, I haven’t really made up my
mind yet.”

“Oh you really are harsh. Okay then allow
me to take you to dinner and we can get to know each other a little better.”

She didn’t reply as she wanted to see him
squirm. To see what else he would say to convince her.

“We can take my yacht to…”

“Okay, sure,” she said immediately.

As they walked out of the bar, Jason held
out his arm.

“Fancy walking arm in arm?”

“Erm, isn’t that what couples do?”

“I suppose, but we
are
technically
a couple, aren’t we? I mean we’re a couple of people, that’s the definition of
a couple in my book.”

She started laughing hysterically.

“What’s so funny?”

“Is that your idea of flirting? It feels
like you’re in one of your business meetings or something.”

“Hmm, yeah I guess, it does sound like
that, doesn’t it?”

“It’s cute though,” she said with a
smile.

She took his arm and she felt a bolt of electricity
go up her spine. For the first time in a long time, she was feeling…happy.
Content. Like all she needed was his arm and an endless stretch of beach to
walk along. She thanked God for the millionth time for putting her on this
path. She genuinely loved being around Jason.

“Hey, by the way, how far is the port
exactly?”

He looked at her and smiled.

“We’re not going to a port.”

“Oh? Then were exactly is your yacht?”

He pointed towards the ocean and she saw
a stunning white yacht in the distance.

“Wow, that’s yours? How on earth are we
going to get there?”

“Oh, so many questions, Julie.”

“But I mean are we going to have to
swim?”

He started laughing.

“No, look again.”

She did as he asked and she realized that
there was a speedboat heading towards them.

“Okay, this is so cool.”

Take it easy
, she said to
herself.
Just breathe and whatever you do, don’t, under any circumstances,
start blubbering.

She managed to hold it together. They boarded
the speedboat and sped back to the yacht. As they got closer to it, Julie’s jaw
dropped. It was much bigger close up. They went in and Jason escorted her to
the main room, below deck. Julie gasped. The room was so big and spacious. So
much so, in fact, that there was a gigantic crystal chandelier hanging from the
ceiling. It was like stepping inside an expensive five-star hotel.

“I’ve never seen anything like this
before in my whole life.”

“Yeah, I should hope not. The entire
interior was custom designed by me.”

“By you? Are you serious?”

“Yup.”

“Wow, you really are a man of many
talents!”

“Well, I’m not very good at watercolors,
but apart from that, I’m pretty much perfect, I’m afraid.”

She laughed.

“Come on, now that you’ve seen the inside,
let’s go up.”

They went upstairs and an older man
dressed in a blue suit saluted them.

“Hello sir. Are we ready to set sail?”

“Yes, thank you, James,” replied Jason.

James walked over to the control and
started up the boat. Julie watched him with great interest as he gently swerved
the boat around. James noticed her watching him and smiled.

“Would you like to take the controls,
ma’am?”

“Me? No way, thank you, but I’ve never
driven a boat before. I can barely drive on land, as it is. No, giving me the
controls is a bad idea.”

“Oh, come on, Julie,” said Jason. “It’s
easier than driving a car. Trust me, you’ll be fine.”

Julie shook her head.

“Hmm, okay. I’ll make a deal with you,”
said Jason.

“What kind of deal?"

“I’ll answer all of your questions, if you
take the wheel for five minutes.”

“Hmm, okay, you’ve got yourself a deal. I
can give Janine a lot of useful information.” She winked.

She took a deep breath in and grabbed the
controls.

“Now, gently push the lever,” said James.

She did as he asked and the boat slowly
sped up.

“Wow! This is so exciting!”

She spent the next few minutes following
his instructions and learned how to steer and stop.

“Okay, okay. You’re a natural,” said
Jason, smiling as he grabbed her arm.

“That was…exciting,” she said as she was
pulled away.

“Where are you taking me now?” she asked.

“It’s time to eat!”

“Ah yes, where shall we go?” she asked.

“We’re already there.”

“Oh?”

He moved aside and she saw a small table
laid out near the other side of the yacht. There were candles dotted around and
a man stood next to the table, patiently waiting for them.

“Oh my gosh, this is, this is…”

“Amazing? Incredible?” interrupted Jason,
jokingly.

“I was going to say awesome.”

They both sat down and the waiter brought
over a platter of fruits and meats, all arranged with loving detail.

“Wow.”

Jason laughed.

She looked at some of the slices of meat
in front of her. They were so thin that they were just barely thicker than a
sheet of paper. Some were marbled and she’d never seen anything like it.

“What is this?” she asked, as she held up
a piece.

“Ah, that’s called wagyu beef.”

“What’s wagyu beef?”

“Hmm, a little hard to explain. It’s a
special type of beef that comes from cows that are fed on food that’s high in
fat. That gives them this marbled texture. Many people consider it to be the
highest quality beef you can buy. Try some and let me know what you think.”

 “What’s wrong?” he asked.

“Well, I get that it’s a great piece of
meat and everything but, it’s raw, how are we supposed to eat it?”

He smiled.

“You use that bowl of soup next to you.”

“Yes?”

“Dip the meat in there and swish it
around for a few seconds. Because it’s so thin, the heat from the soup alone is
enough to cook the beef.”

“Oh, I see.”

She did as he instructed and then took a
whole piece in her mouth.

“Well, what do you think?”

“It’s absolutely delicious. You’re right,
the beef tastes so rich! What is this dish called?”

“Shabu Shabu.” Jason said in between
bites.

She took another piece and quickly
started mixing it in the bowl.

 “I was famished.” Julie exclaimed.

“I like watching you eat.”

“Okay, that sounds a bit creepy,” she
smiled.

“I don’t mean it that way. I mean, you
look very cute.”

“Thanks.”

After a few moments, she finished her
bowl of soup and the platter was almost empty.

“Phew! I am stuffed.”

They sat there just looking out at the
ocean. The moon was full and flooded the surface with a yellow tint. Julie
could feel her heart melting. The scene was like something out of a movie. Then
she suddenly remembered the deal she made with Jason.

“So, you said I could ask you any
question, right?”

“Uh oh. Yes, I did. I’m a man of my
word.”

“Well, I studied your file and it seems
like you have a very successful life on paper. You’re set to become one of the
world’s youngest billionaires. You’re smart, driven, handsome….”

“Okay, okay. I can sense a
but
heading
my way,” he interrupted.

“But, I couldn’t find much on your love
life.”

“The smile slipped from his face.”

“I mean,” continued Julie, “you’ve never
been in the papers, caught leaving a bar with some young supermodel or
actress…so I’m just wondering why?”

He didn’t reply and instead kept his gaze
fixed out on the ocean. She wondered if she had hit a nerve. Jason did say that
she could ask
any
question.

“Too personal?”

“No, it’s okay. We had a deal.”

He took a sip from his glass of sparkling
water, then looked at her.

“I’ve never told anyone this but there
was someone, when I was much, much younger. A childhood sweetheart. This was
all before I built my empire. It was when I was a “nobody”, not anything to be
in the papers. In fact, I was a bit of a nerd in school. I was the one who
usually got picked on, by both the guys
and
the girls. But there was
this one girl who stuck up for me, Sandra. I’ll never forget her. For some
reason, she could see my potential. We both fell in love and I asked her to
marry me.”

“Oh, it sounds pretty romantic. So what
happened?” asked Julie.

“I found out that she was cheating on
me.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry to hear that.”

“With one of the guys who was bullying
me, believe it or not.”

“Wow.”

“Yeah, I guess I never really got over
the heartache. I’ve never been able to get close to anyone ever since.”

“That’s really sad…I don’t really know
what to say…”

He smiled at her.

“It’s okay. I’m doing pretty well for
myself so it’s not all bad. I feel like I’m at a bit of a disadvantage though.”

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“Well, you know pretty much everything
there is to know about me, no doubt, you’ve read more than my file.”

“More than your file?”

“Yes, if I know Janine, there’s one thing
she’s good at, and that’s being thorough with her clients. In fact, she’s
probably the same when it comes to her love life too.”

Julie laughed.

“What I mean is, I know she’s tried to find
as much dirt on me as possible, as leverage.”

Julie didn’t know what to say.

“You don’t have to answer; I’m not trying
to put you in an awkward situation. I totally understand why she did it. I
would do the same, it’s leverage. Leverage is everything in business. But what
I mean is, I know next to nothing about you. Why are you here?”

“Well, I just really enjoyed working with
numbers, ever since I was a child. Accounting seemed like the natural thing to
do.”

“Sounds like a load of bull to me,” he
replied with a funny look on his face.

“I’m sorry?”

“I mean, it just sounds like you’re
telling me what I want to hear, it sounds like something Janine would say. Come
on, tell me the real reason, I’m not going to judge you or pull the contract.”

She paused for a moment, trying to muster
up the courage to tell him.

“Okay, I’ve never told too many people
about this. I also had a childhood sweetheart. He was perfect. Kind, caring,
intelligent. We did everything together and I truly loved him.”

“I see, what happened?”

Her eyes began to well up with tears.

“He…was involved in a hit and run. He was
so badly injured that he passed away right there, in the ambulance.”

“Oh, Julie, I’m so sorry to hear that.”

“Thank you. I was in a dark place for
such a long time. I had lost hope. I even thought of ending it all, many times,
but I never had the courage to go through with it. Then, I don’t know why, but
I passed a church and something drew me in. Maybe I was just empty and wanted
to go somewhere peaceful, I don’t know. When I sat there, I started to pray.”

“Are you religious, Julie?”

“No, I mean, back then I wasn’t. Up until
that point, I’d never prayed before in my life. Something inside me was just
screaming out for help and then I felt a kind of…relief.”

“What do you mean?”

“I felt the kindness and warmth of the
other followers there. I felt the love and presence of Christ. Now, I know you
could say that I was overcome with emotion and I was a willing believer, but
whatever the reason, I was able to get my strength back and I gradually pieced
my life back together. There was a job for a local trainee bookkeeper so I went
for it.”

“I see, that’s a pretty amazing story
Julie. I am also a big believer. I go to a church back in town, as often as I
can. It’s good to believe in something much bigger than yourself and I know
that God has guided me in my life,” he smiled, looking off into the distance,
“I have many reasons to be thankful, and not because I am successful but
because He brought me back to life.”

Julie reached out and squeezed his hand,
“Amen.”

They talked for a few more hours and then
they arrived back on the beach.

“Thanks for a lovely evening, Jason.”

“The pleasure’s all mine. Thank you for
the company. Unfortunately, I’ll be leaving tomorrow morning.”

Julie’s heart sank. In her mind, she
thought the romance would go on forever. She felt like it was over too soon.”

“When will I see you again?” she asked.

“Soon. Count on it.” He gave her a warm
hug and again they went their separate ways, looking back at the same time as
they walked off.