The Deal

She thought about what Rachel had said as she drove home. It would be nice to get away from everything for a few days. But how was she going to tell Austin and would he even let her go? But then again he didn't own her so he wouldn't be able to stop her. Tonight over dinner she would tell him straight out that she was going on a mini vacation and if he didn't like it he could go stuff himself. As she pulled into the driveway she spotted his car in the driveway, he was home early which was rare for him. Going inside she headed straight to her bedroom to change before dinner.

She was surprised to find him in the kitchen, heating up the meal that the housekeeper had made for them. It was usually her that had to set the table and heat up the meal. She also couldn't help the tingle that went through her body down to her core when she saw him in sweatpants and a white t-shirt that was snug on his upper body, showing off his amazing biceps.

"Dinner's ready," he said when he saw her walk in.

She sat down, eyeing him suspiciously, he was being too nice. He set her plate down in front of her and poured her some milk, which she always had with her meals when they weren't having wine.

"So how was your day?" he asked, biting into his veal.

"Same as always, only I did have a visitor pop in."

"Really, who?"

"Patrick," she said, noticing how his body tensed up. "He showed me the black eye you gave him when you punched him. He also said you warned him to stay away from me. What right do you have telling anyone to stay away from me?"

"You're my wife and I won't have another man sending you flowers or trying to take you away from me. He's only coming around now because you own New Women's Cosmetics and his ex-girlfriend broke up with him. He's looking for a new meal ticket and you're it."

"Or maybe he's still in love with me and regrets cheating on me."

"Once a cheater always a cheater," he answered. "You're not stupid Blair, you know that him showing up after all this time that he's up to something. So what did you two talk about?"

"You mostly, he thinks you have a bad temper and that you might end up hurting me, physically. I told him you would never lay a hand on me, I hope that's true."

"I would never hit a woman no matter what she did." He reached over, laying his hand on top of hers. "Especially you." He wasn't disappointed when she pulled her hand away, he expected it after the way he had been treating her.

"There's something I need to discuss with you. I'm not asking for your permission or anything, I just want to be respectful to our so-called marriage," she said, making air quotation marks with her fingers.

"OK, what is it?" he asked, sitting back.

"I've been stressed out lately and I want to take a break. I want to go away somewhere for a few days to relax. It doesn't matter to me what you think about it, I'm going whether you like it or not." She expected him to get mad and tell her no but he was being calm, which made her wonder if he wanted to be rid of her.

He couldn't believe his luck, he was going to say the same thing, now all he had to do was convince her to go somewhere with him. "That would be perfect. I have to go to Paris next week, we can go there."

"Wait one minute," she said, holding up her hands. "I never said anything about going with you. I plan on going by myself."

Resting his elbows on the table and putting his chin in the palm of his hand looks at her. "I was going to talk to you about this. A friend of mine and his wife live in Paris and has invited me to come to visit them and having heard I got married they want to meet you. How would it look if I went without my new bride? I'm asking you to please come with me."

"You really expect me to go with you after the way you treated me, and hurting me by not bothering to show up for the most important night of my life?"

"I am so sorry about that but I'd like to make it up to you. I will show you around Paris, we will go to the theatre and then there is the shopping. It will be my treat, whatever you want I will pay for. I won't blame you if you say no, but I promise that you'll have a great time. It is not safe for a young woman to travel alone these days. We can leave Friday and stay until the following Sunday. Say you'll go with me."

"Well, I would love to go back to Paris. If I do agree to go with you it doesn't mean that I forgive you or that we will be sleeping together. I meant it when I said I never want you to touch me again."

"If that's what you want I'll be a perfect gentleman."

"I was going out with Rachel Friday night for a girl's night out but I guess we can go out another time."

"So does this mean you'll go?"

"Yes, I'll go, but only because I want to buy a whole new wardrobe which you will be paying for. As you said, it's your treat and you'll pay for everything."

Knowing she had expensive taste there was a bitter taste in his mouth but he nodded, agreeing anyways. "Alright," he said, knowing he was going to regret it later. "OK, I'll make all the arrangements tomorrow. Now I'll clean up in here so why don't you have a glass of wine and go into the other room and relax."

Getting up she went and took a glass from the cupboard poured herself some wine, keeping her eyes on him as he started cleaning up. Not really trusting him she wondered if he had some kind of agenda up his sleeve. Going into the living room she opens her laptop to do some work.

After drying the dishes he goes into the living room, sitting down in the chair across from her. "You never said you liked the flowers I sent you."

She looks up at him. "I gave them to Rachel." Seeing the look of shock on his face she got to her feet and was going to her room. "Did you think that sending me flowers I would forgive you and jump into your arms? I'm going to bed, goodnight."

Leaning his head back against the chair he closed his eyes. He knew he was in for a rough few days and hoped that once they were away he could get her to come around.

The next day: As soon as she got to work she started making arrangments for her time away. She set up an appointment with the chemist about the fragrance of a new perfume she wanted to go along with a new shade of lipstick, she also called her lawyer to have the shares put into Austin's name and she wanted to have a meeting with her staff. Now the hard part was going to explain to her friend why she was going away with Austin for the week.

Rachel walked into the office carrying papers for her to sign. "Morning Blair, you have some things to sign before the meeting."

"Sit down Rachel, I have something to tell you." She waited until her friend was seated. "I have decided on going away for a week so I am putting you in charge. I'll be in Paris but if you have any problems you can call or email me."

"Paris, that's great."

"I'm going with Austin," she said, waiting for the lecture to come.

"Wait a minute, you're going with that man, the one who made you look bad in front of everyone and the press. Oh, please tell me you haven't forgiven him and are sleeping with him. That man has done nothing but to hurt you how can you be so foolish as to go away with him?"

"If you're done ranting I'll explain why I'm going. I love Paris and since he is going away the same week I am why not go? He is paying for everything and even said he'd pay for me to get a whole new wardrobe." She smiled wickedly. "Believe me, it's going to cost him big time. He is going to meet his friends and since they know he just got married he needs me there, for appearance sake."

"Damn it, you're in love with Austin and he'll have you in his bed the minute you get there. I don't want to see you get hurt again."

"I'm not going to sleep with him. I did agree when we got married that I would go with him to parties and other functions. It was part of our agreement and a trip to Paris plus a shopping trip, I'm not passing that up."

Rachel threw her hands up in defeat. "So when are you guys going?"

"Friday."

"Oh great, I thought we were going out Friday for a girls night out, guess we aren't now," she said, feeling a little disappointed.

"Rachel, I'm sorry but we'll go out when I get back, OK?"

She smiles. "Alright. I guess we should go to the boardroom for the meeting," she said, getting up.

*************************************************

Austin too was busy getting things done so that he could clear his schedule for the following week. He just had one court case this week coming up, on Wednesday and some paperwork to catch up.

When Harry showed up with the file on Wednesday's court case he caught a glimpse of a smile on Austin's face. "Someone looks pleased with himself. Have you and Blair kissed and made up?"

"Not exactly," he said, a smirk on his face. "She's still mad at me and won't talk to me. But I did get her to agree to go to Paris with me."

"How the hell did you make that happen?"

"Blair made it simple, she told me she needed a break and was going away for a few days. I told her I had to go to Paris and asked her to go with me, told her she really had to as we agreed on such things before getting married. At first, she wasn't liking the idea but I told her my friends wanted to meet her and that I would pay for everything. I sweetened the deal by saying she could go shopping, buy some new clothes and I'd pay for it."

"Shit boss, she has expensive taste, this could cost you a lot of money. Listen, it's none of my business, but why go through all this, why not just tell her you're in love with her?"

"I need to show her that she can trust me first, get her to soften up and then I'll tell her when the time is right. I also want to try and get her to fall in love with me, the real me. Getting away to one of the most romantic places in the world I will wine and dine her, show her a great time. It won't happen overnight but by the time we come back home things will be different between us."

"There's the problem of the shares to her company, the ones she's giving you will be in your hands in a few days, what are you going to do then? I mean, with those shares you can take control of her company," Harry said, staring at him.

"I'm going to give them back to her, even the ones she's giving me. It's her company and she worked hard for it, I won't take that away from her."

"So you really think you and Blair can live happily ever after?"

"Yeah I do, I just have to make sure that prick Patrick stays away from her." He looks up and smiles at Harry. "I trust her, not him."