One Night with A British Billionaire

Chapter Twelve

Landon's POV

My attention is torn away from Aurora when Lisa announces over the intercom that Catherine has come up from Human Resources. I stand to my feet as Catherine enters my office.

"Thank you for coming, Catherine."

"What can I do for you, Mr Peters?" Catherine asks.

She's pretty; blonde hair, blue eyes, tall but she's not Aurora, and my mind is full of Aurora.

"I've just received an employee's resignation," I tell her. "I need you to start advertising for a new account director."

"Yes sir." Catherine makes a note on her iPad. "Is that all sir?"

"Can you make sure that we help Louisa Kennley with finding a new position in Birmingham. She has been a great asset to this company."

"Yes, sir. I'll get in touch with the larger agencies in Birmingham right away."

"Thank you."

I dismiss her and check my phone. The temptation to text Aurora returns. I sigh as I put my phone down on my desk and open the email icon on my laptop. I need to focus on my work.

***

I get to the restaurant slightly earlier than planned but my father has managed to beat me here.

"Ah son." He stands up and gives me a hug. "Good to see you."

"How are you, Dad?" I ask.

It's been a few weeks since I last saw him. As always, my Dad will have an agenda. It's best to get it out of the way as early on as possible.

"So, so." Alistair Peters frowns. "I actually wanted to talk to you about something in particular."

I sigh because I'm pretty sure I know where this is going. In fact, I'm so sure, I'd place a couple of thousand pounds on it. My father has been talking about retiring for years, and he's convinced that I should merge our companies into my own little empire.

What he doesn't realise is that I'm not at all interested in the markets his company specialises in and I'm sure his company would suffer under my stewardship. I've tried to explain it to him, but he refuses to listen.

"I'm not well."

That isn't what I expected to hear. It catches me off guard and I grimace. I don't know what to say, so I settle for nodding my head.

"I'm cutting back on my schedule. Your Mother and I are moving out of the house in Kensington Square and relocating to the house in Surrey."

"Okay."

I still don't know what to say. There are thousands of questions in my mind, but I don't know what I should be asking first.

"We haven't told your brother yet." Here it comes. "He's just so young."

"What do you need from me, father?"

I don't mean to sound harsh, but I'm sure I know where this is heading, and I am really not looking forward to turning him down again. Especially now that he's playing the sick card.

That's pretty much a trump card, right?

"I need someone to manage the company for me," my father pleads.

"I can't, dad." I shake my head. "I've told you before."

"It wouldn't have to be forever."

"Why don't you ask Ayden," I ask. "He's fantastic. He's a natural at all that tech stuff – when he interned with you during the summers you told me how amazing he was."

"Yes, but he hasn't proven himself like you have," my father continues. "He's in the middle of his business degree."

"He's not in the middle of it." I shake my head again. "He's in the middle of his final year."

"Yes, and I don't want to add to the pressure he is already facing."

"You underestimate him," I say quietly. "What if I offer to support him through it?"

"No. I've made my decision. If you refuse your birth right, I will have no choice but to sell the company. I'm dying, and I will not spend what little time I have left watching my youngest son squander everything I've ever built."

"He's grown up, dad. He's not a child anymore."

"He's still behaving like a child." My father shakes his head. "Trust me. I pay his expenses."

***

As I drive home from the restaurant, I consider phoning Aurora. I want to hear her voice. I've spent the whole day thinking about her and right now all I want is to be with her.

I've never felt this way before. I quickly dial her number and wait for the call to connect, but it goes straight to voicemail.

"Hi, you've reached Aurora Stone. Sorry, I can't get to the phone at the moment. Please leave a message. I'll get back to you as soon as I can."

I consider hanging up but decide against it.

"Hi, I just wanted to say I'm really looking forward to our date tomorrow night."

Date. The word sounds foreign coming out of my own mouth.

"I hope you had a nice evening with your parents. See you tomorrow."

I laugh at myself as I hang up. This is so out of the norm for me that I can barely take myself seriously. My phone rings barely a minute later.

"Hi?"

"Hello." It's Aurora. "You called."

"I wanted to hear your voice," I say before I can stop myself.

"Where are you?" she asks.

"Driving home," I tell her. "I've just been to dinner with my father. It was awful."

"My dinner wasn't great either." She sighs. "Do you want to come over?"

"I shouldn't."

I really shouldn't. I've never been one for talking my feelings out. But then again, we could always fuck them away.

"That's not what I asked."

"No, it isn't." I chuckle as I indicate and do a U-turn in the middle of the road. "I'm on my way. Do you live with anyone?"

"Lou and Cam," she replies quickly, "but Cameron is out with a girl and Tallulah is asleep."

"Perfect. Okay."

I'm smiling as I listen to her telling me to pull into the underground car park.

"Park in the visitors' section – bay 21," she tells me.

"I'll see you in a minute or two, angel."

I hang up on her as I pull into the car park, aware that I'll probably lose signal anyway. I am anxious after the way things were left this morning.

I have no idea what is happening between us, but whatever it is that's causing it, I haven't stopped thinking about Aurora all day, and I'm counting down the seconds until I can pull her into my arms again. The thought amazes me.

I'm turning into a right sap.

👔 It would be awesome if you would follow me on Insta so you can keep up to date with all the awesome book stuff I have going on: https://www.instagram.com/hanleighbradley/