I entered the meeting and was surrounded by about 20 other Managers with Blake at the head of the table and his assistant at the other end. I thought it was great he did this for her because really it was her job to record all the details and knew Blake well enough to know the things he wanted to hear. One by one each manager presented their challenges, their situations, their requests, etc. It was lengthy, to say the least, but a great opportunity to see what could be done to help everyone and Blake truly seemed to take an interest in each person even offering congratulations for one manager’s new baby, another’s son graduating high school and condolences to another for losing their grandmother. The more they went down the line the more attractive Blake became to me because he took an interest in each of his employees and you could tell it was appreciated and it seemed any of them would go the extra mile for Blake just because of who he was and how he showed his appreciation to each o

I quickly ran up the stairs to my apartment and started packing. I felt like this weekend was the true test for Blake and me! I was eager to have it and maybe just maybe seal the deal. I felt like a schoolgirl again hoping that Blake would want to have sex with me and realized that was a bit ridiculous but I think I was ready for all of it. I’m not sure what clicked in my feelings but I was all in and wanted to tell Blake but I felt like I should be waiting for the perfect moment. It was hard to try to figure out what to pack because it was very often I got to wear the summer clothes I truly liked to wear in Chicago. Blake was going to take me to his private beach house in California. I wasn’t so much surprised Blake owned a beach house but maybe a bit more shocked he utilized it. I felt like a whole weekend together he wouldn’t be able to turn me down and after a whole weekend together we’d know if this was going to work. I was struggling to pack and keep my nerves at bay

It was late, well after 11:00 pm when we arrived at the beach house. I took a moment to take a step back and take it and truly Blake had beautiful taste. The beach house was a contemporary looking home with an extended double garage filled with a larger black SUV, red convertible, golf cart, and four-wheeler. Blake took me by the hand and gave me a quick tour showing me first a separate entrance with a bedroom and bath that he explained was Russ’s space for the weekend which made complete sense given how private Russ was then we walked into a bright home with huge windows, skylights all around and high ceilings with a view of the ocean all around the area. We entered the kitchen and it was wall to wall with brown Italian cabinetry, stainless steel appliances, and a large quartz countertop island that overlooked the living entirely enclosed by windows with a wraparound patio around the back with a hot tub in one corner and many comfortable patio chairs, there was a lower level to the d

I kept wondering all day while at lunch with Blake’s sisters and through shopping who we were having this dinner with. It has to be someone big for Blake to push off not only his siblings but also a somewhat of a celebration maybe in my head of me saying I was in the relationship. I also kept wondering can I call him my boyfriend now, partner, what I called Blake Sutton now that I could say he was mine. Susan and Mel kept me busy going in and out of stores trying on plenty of items that I didn’t need and also buying many things I wanted. I was normally a lot more practical but I also didn’t have shopping buddies like this before and I did want to fit in with them. Mel and Susan were truly the kindest people I’d ever really got to know. My other shopping buddy Laura was normally pretty brass and never really liked anything that I picked out because our taste was a lot different than each other. Susan and Mel kept it classic, simple, and eloquent all at the same time and I ap

None of the calls or text messages told me anything to expect. I could tell Kate was worried and I tried to act like it was okay but I think he knew I was worried. I wasn’t sure what we were going to walk in on and the helicopter seemed to be taking forever to back to the beach. It was past 11:00 pm and I wasn’t able to call until we hit the ground but we would be parked fairly close to the beach house. I hoped there was nobody on the beach and it was a quick landing. I had hoped Russ had texted me by now to tell me what was going on and that was even more surprising but maybe my siblings hadn’t alerted Russ to there being an issue. Kate was nervously rubbing my leg and I was grateful she was there. Somehow I knew if she was nearby things would be okay. I had a different idea for our last night at the beach house but we had to figure out what was going on first. I imagined a lot of ideas more so with someone being injured or something happening to my parents maybe. I hoped