Chapter 40 - One minute, I’m dying of boredom. The next, I’m managing a whole gala?!

**Lisa**

Last night was perfect. It was the best night of my life quite literally. Damon had said Paris would be fun, but at this point it was too much fun. I keep hating Damon a little less by the hour. At this late, I might even, no, no, no, I don't want to think about it. That's not happening.

I left my bed by midday, I was starting to get sick of laying there. I scoffed over to the living area and took a seat on a couch opposite Damon.

His face was buried into his laptop again but at least he was polite, “How did you sleep?”

“Peaceful. Thank you for last night. It was really cool.”

“I knew you'd like it,” he said, looking at me for a little longer than usual or maybe it was all in my head. He seemed really busy so I decided to get busy too. I went into the kitchen and to my greatest surprise, it was fully stocked.

“Did you go grocery shopping?”

“Yeah, you didn't hide the disappointment on your face when you opened the shelves yesterday.”

Hmmm, he noticed that too, even in the heat of our fight.

“Thanks.” I managed.

When we had nothing in the stash I had millions and millions of ideas of stuff to cook but now that Damon's restocked, I didn't know what to cook.

Finally I made up my mind to prepare a five star rated french meal popularly loved by American tourists like Damon and I. 

When I finished, I didn't taste the meal before dishing some for Damon. I set it before him and asked, “What do you think?”

“I haven't tasted it yet but the appearance is a ten.” He said with a wide grin. “You made this for me? How nice of you, Lisa.”

“Stop being a chatterbox. Eat.” I scolded and he listened. 

“How is it?” I asked but he didn't respond, he just continued eating.

“Is it bad?” I asked again, no response.

“If it's bad, you can just tell me. I won't be mad. It's my first try anyway.” No response.

“Enough with the suspense and tell me already, how does it taste?” I asked. No response. I grabbed his fork to get his action.

“It’s delicious. Too delicious for a first try. Now, stop being a chatterbox and let me eat.” He said, grabbing his fork back.

I was too stunned to talk. A little part of me thought Damon might have lied to shut me up so I went to dish some for myself and I realized he wasn't lying at all. The food tasted really nice. 

After cooking breakfast, lunch, and dinner, arranging everywhere and anything, I slumped into the couch, staring at my inverted view of Damon, I groaned, “It's killing me.”

“What?” He asked.

“Boredom.” I whispered dramatically and feigned death.

He barked a laugh but I stayed still on the couch with my eyes closed.

“Do you want to go out? I have a tight schedule today. The gala is drawing close. But I could have someone escort you to wherever you'd like to go.” 

I didn't respond, still feigning death.

“You could watch some television. There's a Netflix and Hulu subscription. You can watch whatever you want.” He tried again.

I still didn't respond, acting dead.

“You're being dramatic, Lisa.” He laughed again. “Fine, how about we have a movie night once I close from work. You can plan everything however you want.”

I gasped in a loud breath as if I'd just been resurrected and sat up quickly.

“Are you serious?” I asked.

He only laughed harder. I threw a pillow at him.

“It's not funny. I literally almost died of boredom.” I said, then I stood from the couch and started walking away.

“Where are you going?” He asked.

“Shh. You're distracting me. I have a movie night to plan.”

I went into my bedroom and called my partner in crime, Annie. We decided on the movie to watch and the junk supplies we'd be needing. I went shopping later to get a few things we didn't already have in the house and set everything up nicely for our movie.

But when I was done, my date still wasn't ready. “When are you getting off work.” I asked.

“Soon.” He promised.

“That's what you said hours ago but still on that annoying chair.”

“Urgh. Fine, is there anything I can help with to make things faster?” I said kicking my legs out of the sofa.

He looked at me as if I had just become a delicious ice-cream making factory or a bank of treasure and grabbed his phone off the table, “Adrien, we'll be switching this up a bit. I'll be bringing someone new. She would manage the project in my stead.” 

“Effective immediately. Send her everything she needs and give her a brief on all that has been achieved so far.”

“That is none of your business.”

“You don't need to know that either.”

He said a final, “Yeah” before he hung up.

“Lisa,” he said, looking genuinely happy and excited, “You're the new project manager for the fundraising gala.”

I threw my head back in laughter. “You finally lost it.”

“No, baby. On the contrary, I finally gained it. Lisa spun around, eyes wide. “What?!”

He hung up and turned back to Lisa, who was still frozen in place, trying to process what had just happened.

“You can’t be serious.”

“Why not?” He leaned back, studying her with an amused glint in his eyes. “You wanted something to do. Now you have it.”

“You can't just throw such a crucial role at me. Loads of money has gone into this, there are so many high-profile leaders and captains of industries involved, I don't even have a degree, I don't have any experience with this.”

“Relax, Princess. You're overthinking it. You don't need a degree. You're smarter than most people who have a degree and you're by far more capable than most of them. I can't say the same for most of the people I've actually had to work with.”

“And how do you know that? Because I managed to have a good first try with a French meal?” 

“No, Lisa. You give yourself some credit. You would pull this off. I'm sure of it.”

“No, I won't. You can't be sure of anything. You can't do this. Call that person back and tell them you've changed your mind.”

“I never change my mind because I don't make bad decisions and this wouldn't be the first. Far from it. It might even be one of the best decisions I've ever made.”

“Is this about the kiss? The kiss from last night because I know—.”

“It's about the kiss. Why would you think that? I wouldn't make such an important business decision based on my feelings for you.”

Oh, so, he did have feelings for me. 

Focus, Lisa!

“You can't do it. How would you explain that you handed this over to someone who—”

“Who would do such a great job. If you need any guidance or if you have any questions, I'll be here to help, I promise.”

My heart was racing. I was super nervous. This was reckless. But also….very thrilling. 

His voice dropped, becoming low and persuasive, “Don't you want to try your bands on something new and exciting? Think about how good this would look on your resume.”

My heart pounded harder, “I hope you know what you're doing, Damon.

He had won and he knew it. With his signature smirk on, he said, “I always do.”