Chapter 3 - He took a breath as if preparing for something significant.
“I’m going to say something, and I need you to let me finish before you panic, make a joke, or do that thing where you deflect with humor because you’re scared.”
Her heart began hammering.
“Okay,” she whispered.
“I chose you,” he said. “Not despite the airport incident, but because of it. Because you were the first person in years to look at me and see just a man making a mistake instead of a CEO who couldn’t be questioned. Because you yelled at me about water, and it was the most honest interaction I’d had in months.”
“Julian—”
“I’m not finished. I hired you because your portfolio was exceptional, but also because I couldn’t stand the thought of never seeing you again. It was selfish and probably inappropriate, but I don’t regret it, because working with you has been the best part of my day every single day since you started.”
She could not breathe properly.
“You spent 5 hours on a plane making me laugh,” he continued. “You called me out when I was being ridiculous. You see me as a person instead of a position. Somewhere between the airport and now, I fell completely in love with you.”
The words landed like physical force.
“You…” Olivia began, then stopped.
“I love you catastrophically,” he confirmed. “Which is terrible timing, given the circumstances. But I’m done pretending I don’t. Done maintaining professional distance and hoping these feelings will go away. Done watching you walk out of my office wishing I could ask you to stay.”
“This is insane.”
“Completely. But insane seems to be our default setting. You yelled at me in an airport. I hired you anyway. We’ve been dancing around this for weeks. We might as well commit to the chaos.”
Despite everything, she laughed.
“That’s the worst romantic declaration I’ve ever heard.”
“I’m a billionaire CEO. I’m not supposed to be good at romance. I’m supposed to be good at hostile takeovers and quarterly earnings.”
“You’re actually terrible at both.”
“I know. Which is why I need you. Someone to tell me when I’m being ridiculous. Someone who isn’t afraid to yell at me about water bottles or throw fortune cookies at my head.”
“That was 1 time.”
“It was perfect.”
His hand came up to cup her face.
“You’re perfect, even covered in potting soil with your career in crisis. Especially then. Because you’re real in a way no one else in my life is.”
She leaned into his touch despite every logical reason not to.
“The rumors won’t stop just because you declare your feelings,” she said quietly.
“No. But they’ll be true, which is different. Let them talk. Let them speculate. Let them think whatever they want, as long as you’re still here.”
“Julian.”
“Stay,” he said. “Please stay and let me prove this isn’t about power or control or anything except the fact that I’m completely gone for the woman who yelled at me about federal regulations.”
“I was very aggressive about those regulations.”
“You were magnificent. Fierce and passionate and absolutely terrifying. I knew right then that I was in trouble.”
“You could have mentioned that earlier. Saved us both some angst.”
“Where’s the fun in that? Besides, the angst made the declaration more dramatic.”
“This is the least dramatic declaration I’ve ever heard. You basically admitted to being a disaster and asked me to enable it.”
“Is it working?”
She looked at him fully and saw everything she had been denying: hope, fear, and the strange certainty that this brilliant, complicated man had become essential to her happiness.
“Yes,” she said. “It’s working, which is annoying because I was planning to be angry at you for at least another hour.”
His smile was brilliant.
“You can be angry later. Right now, I’m going to kiss you in my office like the completely unprofessional disaster I’ve become.”
“That’s probably a terrible idea.”
“Probably. But we’ve established that terrible ideas are kind of our thing.”
When he kissed her, it was everything the previous weeks had built toward: desperate, tender, and devastating in its intensity. His hands were in her hair. Her back was against his desk. Weeks of tension found release in a single moment.
When they broke apart, both breathing hard, he rested his forehead against hers.
“So,” he said, voice rough. “Still planning to quit?”
“I’m reconsidering.”
“Good.” He kissed her again. “Because I’m not done proving that hiring you was the best decision I’ve ever made.”
“Even better than the domestic water switch?”
He laughed against her mouth.
“Especially better than that.”
The office found out approximately 12 seconds after they left Julian’s office, mostly because Olivia still had dirt in her hair, her lips were noticeably swollen, and Julian looked as though he had survived a natural disaster, which he technically had if Olivia counted as one.
“Oh my God,” Marcus said when she passed him in the hallway, eyes wide. “Did you—are you—is that—”
“Yes, yes, and probably,” she said without stopping. “We’ll address it in the team meeting tomorrow.”
The team meeting became legendary.
Julian stood at the front of the conference room in a perfectly pressed suit while Olivia sat in the back, trying to look professional despite everyone knowing she had been making out with the CEO less than 18 hours earlier.
“There have been rumors,” Julian began, and the room went silent, “about Miss Parker’s relationship with me and the circumstances of her hiring.”
Olivia wanted to disappear into her chair.
“Let me clarify. Yes, I met Miss Parker before she worked here. No, it was not a romantic meeting. It was her yelling at me in an airport about water bottle regulations.”
Confused murmurs passed through the room.
“She then spent 5 hours on a plane roasting my life choices,” he continued, visibly fighting a smile. “I hired her because her portfolio was exceptional, and because anyone brave enough to yell at a stranger in public probably has the backbone necessary for this job.”
“That’s one way to phrase it,” Olivia muttered.
“Do you have something to add, Miss Parker?” he asked, eyes finding hers across the room.
“No. Just that the water was Hungarian mineral water, which I still maintain was ridiculous.”
Several people laughed.
“Noted,” Julian said. “We have recently begun a personal relationship, which we are disclosing to HR and the board as required. Her position was earned through merit. Anyone who has questions about her qualifications can review her work, which speaks for itself.”
“And if we have questions about the relationship?” someone asked.
“Then you can mind your business,” Julian replied pleasantly. “Any other concerns?”
Silence.
“Excellent. Back to work.”
The room cleared quickly. Olivia stayed behind until they were alone.
“That was smooth,” she said.
“I’ve been practicing. I wanted to make sure I didn’t accidentally confess my undying love in front of the entire staff.”
“Save that for special occasions.”
“Like now?” he asked, pulling her close. “Because I’m feeling pretty undyingly loving right now.”
“That’s not grammatically correct.”
“I’m a CEO, not an English teacher. Grammar is optional.”
He kissed her.
They settled into a rhythm that was somehow both professional and completely unprofessional. They worked together during the day with appropriate boundaries, then had dinner in his office most nights, where the boundaries became significantly less appropriate.
“You’re distracting,” Olivia said one evening, trying to focus on a presentation while Julian read contracts across from her.
“I’m sitting quietly.”
“You’re existing attractively. It’s very distracting.”
“Existing attractively,” he repeated. “That’s going in my autobiography. Julian Blackwood: A Man Who Existed Attractively.”
“It’s a terrible title.”
“All my titles are terrible. It’s part of my charm.”
3 months later, the board tried to make an issue of their relationship. Julian handled it by threatening to quit and take his entire creative department with him, which included Olivia and several other key people who apparently liked working for a CEO who admitted to being in love.
The board backed down immediately.
“You didn’t have to do that,” Olivia said after the meeting.
“Yes, I did. I’m not choosing between you and this company. I’m choosing both. If they can’t handle that, they can find a new CEO.”
“That’s very romantic in a corporate-hostile way.”
“I contain multitudes,” he said, pulling her into his office. “All of them romantically hostile.”
6 months after that, they were back at an airport. It was a different city and different circumstances, but the same chaotic energy that had started everything remained.
“I still can’t believe you yelled at me about water,” Julian said as they waited in the security line, this time with significantly less controversy.
“I still can’t believe you hired me anyway.”
“Best decision I ever made. Even if you are a walking disaster.”
“Strategic disaster.”
“Of course. My mistake.”
They passed through security without incident, which felt like personal growth for both of them.
“So,” he said as they walked toward the gate. “Still yelling at strangers in airports?”
“Only at CEOs in disguise.”
“Good to know. I’ll make sure to identify myself properly from now on. Hello, I’m Julian Blackwood, billionaire CEO. Please don’t yell at me about beverages.”
“Where’s the fun in that?”
“Fair point. The yelling was very fun. In retrospect.”
“In retrospect, everything about us is insane.”
“It is,” he agreed. “But I wouldn’t change a single moment.”
“Not even the Hungarian mineral water?”
“Especially not that,” he said, stopping to face her. “That water bottle was the best investment I ever made. It led me straight to you.”
“That is possibly the weirdest romantic statement ever.”
May you like
“I specialize in weird romance. It’s my brand.”
As they boarded the plane together, hand in hand, Olivia understood that sometimes the best love stories began with yelling at strangers about federal regulations. Sometimes chaos was exactly what a life needed. And sometimes the man she yelled at in an airport turned out to be the love of her life.
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