Annie Claydon - Falling For Her Italian Billionaire

‘Okay. I’m sure we can handle it.’

‘Great.’ He got to his feet. ‘Now that’s settled, I need to go and see the Dream Team.’

‘Who?’ Clara picked up her bag, ready to follow him.

‘Come and meet them.’ He shot the words over his shoulder. ‘I think you might like them.’

* * *

The Dream Team was located on the next floor up, in a large office that contained three desks, some seriously hi-tech computer equipment and a lot of clutter. The muted colours of the offices below were replaced with posters and whiteboards, with a couple of bright purple sofas in one corner. An inflatable gorilla sat at one of the desks and the other two were occupied by a pair who seemed barely out of their teens. The young woman was concentrating on a large screen in front of her, and her companion was fiddling with his phone.

‘This is Kaia and Alfie.’ Gabriel frowned at the gorilla. ‘Where’s Ben?’

Alfie pulled a face and Kaia looked up apologetically from her screen. ‘He’s...gone home to get some sleep.’

‘And how long was he up for this time?’

Alfie and Kaia exchanged glances, and Gabriel rolled his eyes. ‘Okay, I don’t really need to know the details. Tell him that I won’t have any more all-nighters from him.’

Kaia shrugged. ‘He gets involved with what he’s doing, and he loses track of time. You know Ben...’

‘Yes, I do. And I know that he gets results, but I won’t have him doing it at the expense of his own health. If he can’t get into some kind of a routine where he eats and sleeps regularly, I’m going to have to...’ Gabriel shrugged. ‘I’ll think of something. Just tell him.’

‘Will do, boss.’ Alfie grinned.

‘While you’re at it, you might mention that if he tries coming into the office at the weekend, he’ll find a security guard who’ll politely but firmly refuse to let him in. You can organise that, Clara?’

‘Yes, I can revoke his access out of working hours. And we can tactfully make sure he leaves at a reasonable hour in the evening.’

‘Good. Thank you.’ Gabriel turned to Kaia. ‘Are you dropping by his place tonight?’

‘I thought I might.’

‘In that case...’ Gabriel took his wallet out, extracting a couple of notes. ‘Will you leave a bit early and go and get some shopping for him? Let’s see if we can introduce him to fruit, shall we? And perhaps a few things he can’t eat straight out of the packet?’

Kaia nodded, taking the notes and putting them in the pocket of her ripped jeans. ‘Will do. Thanks.’

Gabriel nodded, and both Kaia’s and Alfie’s gazes turned to Clara in silent curiosity. Then Kaia stepped forward, obviously the spokesperson for the two.

‘Hi, I’m Kaia.’

‘Clara. Alistair told you who I am?’

Kaia nodded. ‘He said we mustn’t get in your way.’

Gabriel chuckled. ‘He means you mustn’t get in my way. If you do then there’s always the chance that one of Clara’s team will spring from the shadows and tackle you to the ground.’

‘Really?’ Kaia’s eyebrows shot up and she backed away.

‘No one’s getting tackled to the ground.’ Clara shot Gabriel a glance, hoping it might imply it was perfectly possible that she might tackle him to the ground if he didn’t stop messing around. ‘My job is to make sure things never get that far.’

‘Of course. Forgive me. Kaia, Alfie and Ben are our design and ideas team. Ben’s alter ego is the only dangerous thing around here and all you really need to deal with him is a pin...’ Gabriel gestured towards the inflatable gorilla.

‘I’ll bear that in mind.’ Clara turned to Kaia, smiling. ‘So your work is with rescue teams?’

‘Partly, but not exclusively. If we have a good idea about pretty much anything, Gabriel lets us run with it.’

‘Sometimes they come up with nothing. But sometimes they hit gold.’ Gabriel grinned.

It all sounded a bit haphazard. This must be one of the high-risk projects that Gabriel had referred to. But if the Dream Team was as good as he obviously thought they were, then giving them free range opened up the possibility of new ideas and outside-the-box thinking. Sometimes unconventional and head in the clouds was exactly what it took to come up with undreamed-of results.

‘You might find the project that Kaia and Ben are working on interesting, they’re looking into 3D printing to make prosthetic limbs.’

‘I’ve read a little about that, it’s got some great applications. This is one of the projects that falls slightly outside your core interests?’

‘It has all sorts of applications...’ Gabriel shrugged. ‘It’s not a new idea, but it’s something that Alistair and I were both passionate about and Kaia and Ben felt they had something unique to add to what’s already out there.’

Clara was having difficulty working out whether the team’s activities were an exercise in chaos or an inspired leap of faith. When she looked into Gabriel’s face, she saw only the leap of faith.

‘Kaia will be happy to show you...’

He turned to Kaia and she nodded. Clara hesitated. Much as she wanted to see what Kaia was doing, her responsibility was to keep her eye on Gabriel. ‘You’re staying here?’

‘Yes, Alfie and I have a few things we need to talk about.’

If she was going to give in, she may as well do it gracefully. ‘Okay. I’d love to see what you’re doing, Kaia.’

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