Sealing the Deal (Business and Pleasures) by Valentina Lovecraft

 
    Chapter 1
     
     
    J ensen spent weeks searching for an ideal property. His summer in Paris felt so long ago since his return to London, but it had in fact only been two months. He longed to paint, to create and to lose himself in a fantasy of colour and shape, but his own four walls stifled him. After years of traveling when the fancy took him and finding inspiration in his adventures, returning to his motherland without the tools of his trade was starting to depress him creatively.
    The original plan was simple; return home, join his father and sister in the company and appease his family by showing he had grown up.
    Well, it was pretty obvious he was not going to fulfill that dream now his father had passed. His sister had been written into the will as co-chairman and rarely had time for anything or anyone since the workload had taken over.
    Now he had seen the offices and had had a closer look at what it entailed, the idea of being a desk jockey had gone out the window. There was no way he could work at the company! He was a free spirit and craved expression and passion. What would be the point now anyway? His father’s approval would never be earned. Anaise wouldn’t care either way, and his mother? She was just happy he was home again.
    He could have given up on the idea of proving himself and carried on partying and adventuring around the world. He could certainly afford it, but a new interest had kept him here;
    The other co-chairman of his father’s company, Karina Terry, AKA Rin.
    At his father’s wake, she had stormed into his life, both fiery and sweet. She had the refined beauty of Botticelli’s Venus, and she kept surprising him.
    Of all the girls in his past he had never met someone like her, he had also never had such a problem in getting a woman to go on a date with him. She was so hot and cold it made his head spin!
    Rin had done something to him though, usually he tired of his consorts within a week or two. The record stood at three months, a few years back when he was living in New York, He and a cute young singer of an Indie band, a minor celebrity, had tried to make a go of it. It had started out okay but she got too stifling and clingy. It had fizzled out when she had asked him to go on tour with her, he had been glad to wave her off.
    Perhaps that was part of Rin's appeal?
    She never wanted anything from him, and he practically had to bargain with her to ever see her. He had thought about leaving, but he couldn’t bring himself to go. She had put a spell on him.
    So the search continued, he would eventually find somewhere suitable. A studio and gallery where he could work and sell his art from, but for now, he was still looking, it was a work in progress.
     

 
    Chapter 2
     
     
    I t was the fourth out-of-office meeting Rin had been to this week, and it was only Wednesday. Keeping the clients placated was important with the new management in place, but it occurred to Rin that she was the one doing all the customer service and hand holding here. Putting the phone down on Anaise as she was about to feed her some line about the importance of face time did nothing to lighten her mood. She sipped the latte from her cardboard cup and considered going home. Ah she couldn’t let Anaise think she was winning. She had really better go back to the office if only just to show her face.
    It was the end of October, and it had been a trying first month at the top. Rin had been learning the ropes of being the boss, her and Anaise were now the co-chairwomen of Altman Industry, and it was a tumultuous relationship. It was practically unheard of to have a co-chair, especially as they were not the original founders or even related. They had been best friends before Michael Altman died, both were great leaders, had strong work ethics and were the best choice to run the company, but as co-chair it had ended the friendship. Anaise felt Rin was intruding on her birth right and Rin, trying to keep the peace, held