Surrogate : Complications (18+) BOOK 2 (*ON HOLD *)

| 7 | A Worthy Partner ||

 The thing about traveling was that you could be far from the problem and yet it was the closest it could've ever been. Why was this? Because it was all in your head to begin with. He made the mistake of thinking that life would magically be as it was as if he just pushed pause on a movie that once pause was pressed again things would be as they were. One of the many issues with this line of thinking was that his life was not a movie, already scripted, recorded and edited. There was nothing set in stone.

The issue with this is he thought somethings in his life were set in stone and he was okay with that. The operative word being, was. There was something maddening about having things disrupted because he was comfortable with them the way they were. The misery, moving through a life that was painted in shades of gray didn't even seem to be on his radar. Hell, he didn't know or care to know of anything else until something came crashing into his life. As much as he would like to blame this all on Penelope it wasn't her.

It was him.

She was merely the sun showing him that there was something else, something inspiring and warm, something that was virial, intense and authentic. It forced him to see how much in the dark he truly was. He was so far away from himself he wasn't sure when he started getting off course.

All the deep thinking aside, there was Penelope. He couldn't shake the waitress's mistake when she assumed that Penelope was his wife. His breath caught a little at that thought and his insides moved slow and steady. It wasn't right, yet he couldn't help his body's reaction.

"Mr. Rogan?"

He blinked and brought his attention to Morgan, who sat next to him on the plane. He cleared his throat hoping none of his thoughts escaped him on accident. It was dark as they descended into New York; had to be well into the evening by now. "Sorry I was distracted by a, uh, thought. Please, continue."

She smiled slightly with the simple movement of pulling up the corner of her lips. "No worries. The first client we're meeting with tomorrow morning, or better stated, the first meeting tomorrow is with a potential client here in New York. A reference, mind you, from the Nakamura account. As a side note it's an account Mr. Delmarcel has had his eyes on for a while, but their loyalty to their current brokerage kept their business."

"Nakamura? How so?"

The woman glanced at him with a slight smile, well, smile was a generous term really. Morgan had what one might term an emotionless facial expression as her default, so anything outside of that and a look of displeasure, Liam decided was a smile. She never looked unpleasant or angry, just serious, no nonsense, focused. "The last merger you orchestrated increased their profits by 27% in two quarters which is quite unusual."

"It's a unique market and they are positioned well in it." He was comfortable with this topic. He was good at work. It challenged him, but it didn't make him reconsider the trajectory of his entire life. He never felt stagnated either which he had been feeling for a very long time in other areas of his life.

"Perhaps," Morgan went on. "But they give you a lot of the credit. This new potential account was intrigued by the results and are looking to make some changes. It won't be an easy account to win, like I mentioned they have loyalties to their current brokerage."

"Loyalties, what kind of loyalties?"

"Familial, I'm afraid. The current CEO's daughter married the president of their current brokerage when he was a Senior VP there."

"Recent?"

"Ten years. The couple has an eight year old now."

"Right so, where else are we stuck? Do we know why they are open to a new brokerage?"