Fight for You

| Twelve |

2011

Edward Harvey POV

"Here she is now." Alice, the woman at the front desk, announced the presence of the Legal Executive I was to meet with.

Bennett, I had been told was her name. The name was familiar yet I couldn't place why it was so familiar. As I turned to greet her the answer was staring straight at me. Never had I ever expected that the woman that stood before me would be her. The woman from the blog. Whitney. I had travelled halfway around the world and here she is. She had come to life from inside my computer screen and here she was in front of me. The fact I had finally found her made me smile like the Cheshire cat.

"Whitney Bennett, lovely to meet you." I shook the hand she held out to me but my heart sank when she tensed at the exchange. I needed to remind myself that although I know who she is, she has no clue who I really am. My brain seemed to stop working as I stared into her hazel eyes and searched for the Whitney that I knew.

"It's you." the words slipped from my mouth before I could reel them back in.

"Excuse me?" thank goodness she didn't seem to have heard me.

"Sorry, it's you I'm to meet with I believe." I corrected myself hoping she didn't think I was mental.

"Oh, yes. Please follow me, I will take you to Mr Hardman. Mr...?" her face questioned as she asked for my name. She really had no clue who I am.

"My apologies. Edward, Edward Harvey."

"Pardon my surprise, I was expecting your father. However, it's lovely to have you here in his place." I needed to remember to thank my father for insisting I handle this deal on my own.

"My father is taking a step back from international dealings, he is planning to retire in a few years. I will be handling business outside of the UK from now on."

I couldn't take my eyes off her, thankfully she was walking ahead of me while I followed her down a short hallway leading onto a large conference room. Whitney held the door for me to go before her. She blushed as I moved behind her to hold the door and let her go ahead of me, "Ladies first, after you Ms Bennett."

Suddenly this meeting seemed of less importance. My father had stressed the importance of our business in the Asia Pacific region and the necessity for knowledgeable legal representation. Our success in the area was vital for the continued growth of the company. I too understood the importance and was more than happy to spend time in this part of the world, now more than ever. She was here and I didn't want to be anywhere else.

I watched her closely as she sat behind a laptop. A glass of ice water to her left and a lined notepad and pen to the right. The sun from the window behind her momentarily peeked through the clouds to shine on her back and made her look angelic and peaceful. Alex Hardman began to speak, he talked at length about the history of the firm, his background and the future of the firm. He talked openly about his hopes of securing our partnership to make a better name for the firm. Hardman wanted to be transparent and to ensure that they had nothing to hide. If only I could say the same for myself.

Whitney watched me intently as Alex spoke, not yet typing as I was sure she knew what he was saying and had committed it to memory from previous deals. As if sensing Alex was drawing his pitch to an end, Whitney raised her hands to her hair and pulled the strands into a ponytail and secured them with an elastic. I pictured her with a camera hung around her neck and doing the same action before pulling the camera up to start her creative roll.

"I'd like to understand your vision for the Asia Pacific market and want to hear in your words a background of your company and where it all started," Alex Hardman probed me and I was more than happy to oblige.