Down the yacht with the CEO!

"..."

Summer turned her head away when he didn't dignify her rhetorical question with an answer, she gritted her teeth preparing herself to go down the stairs as gracefully as she could.

"...You sound like an exemplary employee, but aren't you being selective?" He asked in an accusatory tone.

Her head snapped back up to look at him, "Pardon me?"

"First of all, I asked you to call me Valentine twice before, and this is the third and last time I'll ask you to do that,"

Summer was flabbergasted, then her feelings took a more negative quality to them thinking that the situation he was putting her through was not fair, 'That dam*ed air sandwich!' She found herself regretting what happened at the beginning of the team leaders' meeting with the upper management a week before.

Her next words came out in a slur, "…If this is about the fact that I was standing on my two feet preparing myself to go out and demand an explanation as to why the senior management representative was late to our meeting, then I would like to say that the only reason I felt I could do that was because of the transparent environment the company provides us with..." she stopped when she heard herself and noted that it sounded like a bunch of nonsense.

"...Do you perceive my request for you to call me by my first name as a form of retribution for what happened that day?"

"Mr. Hosek, you don't call me Summer either…" she tried her best to make sense this time!

His brown eyes darted between her blue ones a few times, and the sudden shift from sharp to empty had her second-guessing her boldness to speak up.

"Summer, call me by my first name. I assure you that it's not a punishment, I'm just trying to be closer to you,"

Summer let go of the breath she was holding, "I truly appreciate that you want to build trust between the senior management and our department, not just me, but the other team leaders as well..."

"Good, then do as I told you," he said in an 'I'm not joking' tone.

"…Okay… can I perhaps add a 'Mr' before your first name?" She said desperately.

"No,"

Summer gulped down, this was the point of no return, "Okay then…Valentine," she eyed the stairs once more, then looked way up at him again, "To be honest…" She trailed off, half considering what she was about to say; hating to fall into the trap of gender roles instead of staying gender-neutral with her colleagues and line managers.

"...I'm listening," He prompted with a low but patient tone.

She nodded, "To be honest, I twisted my ankle pretty bad back in your office,"

He reciprocated with an approving nod, and the look of relief on his face took her by surprise, she wondered idly what he thought she was going to say. She only told him the truth about her foot because she would either have to hop on the stairs in some monkey movements, or he'd have to lend her a hand going down. She wanted to at least leave that option up to him as she was fine either way.

"...Why did you wait that long before you told me about it?" He wondered with a softer tone now.

"I was sitting behind my laptop all day and I guess I got too busy to notice it, driving here was uncomfortable but tolerable, but things started getting much worse when I climbed up those stairs," she tilted her head to the left in the direction of the culprit.

"Carry on," he encouraged. Confusing her.

"…That's about it,"

"I don't think so. Were you or were you not pushing yourself needlessly for the past hour or so?"

"Well, we were having the meeting while we were sitting down, and I got busy once more so…" she stopped when the sharp look was back inside his eyes.

"Do you have other types of motion sickness? Or is it just the sea?"

Summer blinked twice, "…Um, it's my first time…I mean, we don't have sea back in my hometown, but to answer your question, I'm perfectly fine driving or riding a bus, trains are okay as well…" she placed a strand of hair behind her ear awkwardly, she didn't want to look like a weakling in the eyes of the big boss but he was more observant that what she gave him credit for.

"I see," he said softly, and all his mood swings were starting to give Summer a headache, "Next time something concerning your health occurs, please prioritize it. I'm not asking you to postpone a meeting in our less-than-favorable situation, but we could have come back down to the stable ground and talked there after our inspection of the yacht was over. It was needless of you to force yourself to endure it... it's not the type of place I created, nor the image I want to be perceived with,"

Summer was staring with incredibly wide eyes at the man who spoke dreamily about the place of work he envisioned, and she was filled with the pride of belonging to his institution, her smile stretched on her face and her eyes became teary.

It was embarrassing.

"…Now, for your next dilemma, how were you planning on going down those stairs that you kept glaring at with such intensity?"

"Haha!" Summer giggled heartily then sniffled, "I was either going to skip and hop like a monkey, or I was going to take your hand if you kindly offered it," she winked.

He smiled, "Option one seems to be quite interesting, but let's save that for another time and go with option two,"

She found it a bit strange when he faced the stairs and put his sunglasses on then gave her his right hand since she was standing on his left. But she placed her right hand there anyhow and was about to thank him in advance. She closed her mouth when his left arm wrapped around her waist and slightly pressed her against his left side.

"Try to put all your weight on my hand," he said and tightened his hold around her slightly lifting her up in the process. Then he started going down with her before she was able to figure out exactly how a person puts all his weight on somebody else's hand.

Summer was literally levitating down the long stairs, and when she peeked up at him, it was evident how effortless it was for him to carry her down with one hand only.

He stopped when they reached the ground and Summer felt her feet touching land a second after.

"Thank you," she breathed out heavily as if she was the one carrying the man down!

"Asking for help is brave, so thank you for that. Now please wait while I get the car here,"

The thought of Valentine Hosek in her Mini was nothing short of a crime against the car.

"Oh! I'm perfectly fine walking to my car by myself," she waved her hands many times as she spoke to him.

He put his hand out, "Give me the key,"

She would've argued some more if it had been anyone other than Valentine Hosek, but since it was the man himself, she obediently took the car key out of her purse and gave it to him, and he immediately placed it in the pocket of his trousers and left his hand in there.

"Your car will be brought back to your house later. We'll ride mine," he said and then went on his way to bring the Land Rover leaving a gaping Summer behind him.