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.At this point, he is merely raising 'concerns.' My concern, though, is that with his trip to Portlandhe appears to already be assessing your influence over me.If he decides that your influence will negativelyaffect his relationship with me, or my likelihood of becoming heir.""You're afraid I'll be in danger if your father thinks I'm coming between you two?"Lucas paused."Honesty, remember?" I said.He looked me square in the eye."Yes, I'm concerned.The trick, then, is not to allow him to thinkthat will happen.It would be even better if I could convince him that my happiness with you will bebeneficial to him.That the strength of our relationship might bolster, rather than tear down, the other relationships in my life."I nodded, as if I understood, but I didn't.Nothing in my own life had prepared me to understand aparental relationship where a simple visit home had to be planned with the strategic cunning of a militaryengagement."I hope this doesn't mean you're planning to accept this case," I said."No.My intention is simply not to refuse as vehemently as I normally do, or he'll blame you,however illogical the reasoning.I will hear him out, and I will endeavor to be more receptive to his paternalattentions than is my wont.""Uh-huh."Lucas smiled."In other words, I'll make nice." He pushed his half-filled glass to the middle of thetable."We have a few blocks to walk.I know it's hot.We could call a cab ""Walking is good," I said."Though I can just imagine what the humidity has done to my hair.I'mgoing to meet your family looking like a poodle with a live wire shoved up its butt.""You look beautiful."He said it with such sincerity, I'm sure I blushed.I grabbed his hand and tugged him to his feet."Let's get this over with.We meet the family.We fill out the forms.We find a hotel, buy a bottle ofchampagne, and see if I can't get that spell working for you.""You'll get it working?""No offense, Cortez, but your Hebrew sucks.You're probably mispronouncing half the words.""Either that or my spell-casting simply lacks your expert proficiency.""Never said it.Well, not today.Today, I'm being nice to you."He laughed, brushed his lips across my forehead, and followed me out of the café.***I'd never been to Miami before, and coming into the city by cab I hadn't been impressed.Let's justsay, if the taxi had got a flat tire, I wouldn't have left the vehicle, not even armed with a passel of fireballspells.Now, though, we walked through the southeast section of the downtown core, along a dramatic rowof steel and mirrored-glass skyscrapers overlooking the impossibly blue waters of Biscayne Bay.Thetree-lined streets looked like they'd been scrubbed clean, and the only people hanging out on the sidewalkwere sipping five-dollar coffees on café patios.Even the hot-dog vendors wore designer shades.I expected Lucas to lead me to some seedy part of town, where we'd find the offices of the CortezCorporation cleverly disguised in a run-down warehouse.Instead, we stopped in front of a skyscraper thatlooked like a monolith of raw iron ore thrust up from the earth, towers of mirrored windows angled to catchthe sun and reflect it back in a halo of brilliance.At the base of the building the recessed doors opened to astreet-front oasis with wooden benches, bonsai, overhanging ferns, and a circular waterfall ringed withmoss-covered stones.Atop the waterfall was a carved granite pair of Cs.Over the double-width glassdoors a brass plate proclaimed, with near-humble simplicity, "Cortez Corporation.""Holy shit," I said.Lucas smiled."Reconsidering that vow never to be the CEO's wife?""Never.Co-CEO, though, I might consider."We stepped inside.The moment the doors closed, the noise of the street disappeared.Soft music wafted past on an air-conditioned breeze.When I turned around, the outside world truly had vanished,blocked out by dark mirrored glass.I looked around, trying very hard not to gawk.Not that I would have been out of place.Just aheadof us, a gaggle of tourists craned their necks in all directions, taking in the twelve-foot-high tropicalaquariums that lined two of the walls.A man in a business suit approached the group and I tensed, certainthey were going to be kicked out
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