The Billionaire's Marriage Contract(54)

Things were made worse by the fact that, for some reason, there was construction on the roof above Amy’s office. The cranes that hauled material up blocked her view for nearly two weeks, and the sound of work crews drove Amy nuts for at least a week after that. By the time the work was complete, Amy was content to slide her chair over to the window and stare out at the view. Occasionally, she’d take a call or go back to her desk to read through the notes from Ethan, but mostly, she put off her calls and her meetings and just stared.

Callie and the other members of the team had been more than willing to take on the increased workload, and for the first time in her adult life, Amy found herself putting off paperwork and delegating calls. On this particular morning, she didn't even want to think about the paperwork. She just wanted to gaze out at the beautiful spring day. This was the kind of day that made her wish her office windows actually opened. For most of the year, the weather in Washington, DC was terrible. In the summer the heat and humidity were unbearable at all times, and, in the winter, the city was a frozen mess.

At least they were finally done with whatever construction had been going on up on the roof. The noise from above had been enough to make her contact the building manager. He had been quite cryptic in explaining what had been going on and why she, as a tenant of the building, had not been informed.

"You will know soon enough," was all he had said. What kind of answer was that? Amy wondered. It was still annoying her as she stared out the window.

A knock at the door broke her reverie. Amy straightened her posture and headed back to her desk. "Come in," she said as she sat down and tried to look busy.

Ethan stepped in through the door. "I knew I'd find you here. If we add a bathroom, you'd never have to leave."

"Do you even have a job?" Amy asked. "I'm really starting to doubt it."

"It's called delegating responsibility. You should try it sometime."

Amy motioned for Ethan to close the door. "Really, what are you doing here?"

"I was hoping to steal you away for lunch."

Amy looked down at the stack of papers. "I really don't have time to sit down for whatever four course meal you have planned."#p#分页标题#e#

"I knew you'd say that."

"So why even ask?" Amy replied.

Ethan grinned. "I guess I just like a challenge."

"Fine, here are my terms. You get twenty minutes. If I'm enjoying myself, maybe I'll give you an extra ten, but after that, I need to be back in this office. Do you think you can pull that off?"

Ethan laughed again. "Twenty minutes is more than enough. I know a little spot where we can have some privacy and enjoy the day."

"You can't even get takeout in twenty minutes," Amy replied.

"Good thing we won't have to," Ethan replied. He opened the door and stepped back into the hallway. A moment later he reappeared, holding a picnic basket.

Amy raised her hands over her face as she tried to hide her surprise. "Where did you get that?" she asked.

"Vi suggested it."

Amy shook her head in disbelief. "The park is going to be completely full at this hour."

"I know."

"What aren't you telling me?"

Ethan laughed again as he walked over to Amy and held out his arm. "Come with me, and I promise you'll be pleasantly surprised.

"I told you I don't have time to go out and come back. This is incredibly sweet, but unless you're bringing me somewhere inside the building, I think we'd be better off just eating in my office."

Ethan's grin grew even wider. "Inside the building? Not quite. We could already be up there if you stopped stalling."

"Up there?" Amy asked.

"I told you I had a surprise for you. Did you really think it was just a picnic basket?"

Amy got up. "What did you do?"

"Did I mention that the owner of this building is a friend of mine? He was more than happy to help when he heard it was for you."

Amy got up and took Ethan's hand. "Do I even want to know?" As they walked out of the office toward the elevator, Amy leaned against Ethan. "You know, I've been thinking about that elevator ride at the hospital."

Ethan led her right past the elevator. "It's too bad we're taking the stairs."

Amy stopped in stride. "You want me to walk down five flights of stairs in heels?"

"No. I expect you to walk up to the roof with me."

"You want to have a picnic in a construction zone?" Amy asked. She wanted to know why Ethan was so pleased with himself. "I've been up there before. It's just a flat rubber roof where Rich used to smoke cigarettes before he quit. It's probably a hundred degrees up there right now."