by Holly Rayner
“I’ll have my accountant wire over the sixty grand,” he said before moving into the entryway.
A moment later, she heard the front door closing. The penthouse seemed so empty once he was gone. It gave her an ominous feeling, which was familiar from her childhood. She suddenly felt as though she’d wandered into someone else’s home uninvited, and if she stayed too long, someone would find her there and be surprised at her presence.
She retreated to the sitting room and gathered up the two empty champagne glasses, which were sticky with residue. She slipped into her shoes and shouldered her purse. With glasses in hand, she returned to the kitchen.
She set her purse aside and carefully scrubbed the champagne glasses and water glasses. After drying them, she set them back on the shelf where they’d come from. The nagging sensation of being a guest in someone else’s home motivated her to leave the kitchen as spotless as it had been when they found it. She wrapped the crackers back up and tucked them into the gift basket. Then she backed out of the kitchen, turned off the lights, and made her way to the front door.
This is crazy, she thought as she rode the elevator down to the lobby. Dimitris and I just spent the night together, and he brushed me off as though I was a person he barely knew.
Her mind turned over the evening they’d spent, talking for long hours. I felt like we really connected. Did all of that mean nothing to him?
She crossed the lobby and exited into the fresh, morning air, hoping that the sunlight and change in perspective might give her a sense of clarity.
It did not.
She walked home, feeling more confused with every step.
When it came to Dimitris Atheos, Eva just didn’t know what to think.
Chapter 11
Eva
A week later
“Will that be all, miss?” the woman on the other end of the line asked, her voice a friendly southern drawl.
“I think so,” Eva said. “Did you say that you were going to update my account?”
“That’s right.”
The woman paused, and Eva heard tapping on a keyboard.
“Looks like you’ll get an updated statement balance, showing zeros of course, since you just paid everything off. We’ll send that to you at the end of the month, and after that you’ll stop getting paper statements.”
“Thank you,” Eva said. “That’s great. Listen, I really appreciate your help.”
“Happy to assist,” the woman said. “You have a good evening, now. And do get in touch if you ever have debt consolidation needs in the future.”
“Will do,” Eva said.
She hung up the phone. Her apartment was quiet. She could hear her neighbor, Marge, playing salsa music next door, as she usually did during the dinner hour. Apparently, she liked to salsa while she cooked.
Eva waited for a rush of happiness to course through her. She’d just paid off all of her credit card debt, and she expected to be overcome with exuberance—perhaps jumping off of her seat, dancing around her small kitchen, or breaking into song.
None of those things happened.
So this is it, she thought. I just paid off my debt. Why don’t I feel happier?
She idly clicked the touchpad on her computer, and out of habit moved to her inbox. She put a few emails into the trash, and then checked into the website of the company that handled her debt. She noted a little green circle in the top corner, which indicated that new activity had recently occurred in the account.
The green button had some small text inside of it. “You have new notifications!” it said. She clicked on the button and saw her new account balance: zero dollars.
She was free from the debt that had been hanging over her head for years.
While still staring at the zeros on her screen, she picked up her cellphone and dialed Nikki. It was easy to do, since Nikki was the top number on her list of outgoing calls.
Over the past week, since she’d slept with Dimitris, Eva had called Nikki countless times to talk over the meaning of their night together. No matter how many hours Eva spent talking over the details with her friend, she couldn’t seem to make any progress on the question that had haunted her for the week: what did that night with Dimitris mean?
Nikki picked up. Eva could hear the clatter of flatware on the other end of the line.
“Hey!” Nikki said. “Your ears must have been ringing. I was just talking with Sandy about you!”
“You’re at work?” Eva asked—Sandy was another waitress at The Red Door Grille.
“Yeah, but I’m just about to take my break. Hang on.” There was a muffled sound as Nikki held the phone to her shoulder, and Eva heard her friend’s voice come through, sounding distant. “Thanks for covering for me… yeah, the guy at table fourteen is demanding, but the couple at thirteen is nice. Mm-hmm… I bet they’ll have refills.” She went over a few more details about her tables, and then came back to the phone. “Eva? Are you there? We miss you around here.”
Eva smiled half-heartedly. She missed her coworkers, but not the work itself. “Tell everyone I say hi,” she said wistfully.
“What’s wrong? You sound sad,” Nikki said.
Eva sighed. “I just paid off all of my debt with the money Dimitris gave me.”
“That’s a good thing, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, I think so,” Eva said. She shifted her laptop over and then stood up off of the couch she’d been perched on. “I mean, I’ve thought about this moment for years. But I don’t feel as happy as I thought I would. I actually don’t really feel happy at all.”
Nikki was silent. Eva heard the hissing sound of a soda being opened, and then the crinkle of a bag of chips.
Crunch! Nikki bit into her snack. With her mouth full, she spoke. “Maybe this is really about Dimitris,” she said. “You’ve been out of sorts since you slept with him.”
“I know,” Eva groaned. She frowned. “I just feel like such an idiot. The point of signing up for this whole deal with Dimitris—the fake marriage thing—was so that I could get financially straight. But now that it’s happening, it doesn’t even feel that great. And now I’m stuck being the fake wife to a guy who doesn’t even care about me at all. I was so naïve to think that this whole arrangement would bring us closer.”
“It’s only been one week,” Nikki said. Crunch, crunch, crunch.
“He acted like I was… I don’t know… a maid or something,” Eva said bitterly, as she replayed the morning kitchen scene in her mind. “He told me to drink filtered water, not tap, and then he recommended a freaking coffee shop to me.”
“But he kissed your cheek,” Nikki countered. “He wouldn’t have kissed the maid.”
Eva blew out an exasperated sigh. “I think he kissed me like that because he felt bad for me. He pitied me. And then he raced out of there like he couldn’t wait to get away from me. I bet he’s regretting this whole thing. And you know what? I’m starting to, too.”
“Whoa, whoa. Slow down, sister,” Nikki said. “You are getting way ahead of yourself. You don’t know that Dimitris wanted to get away from you. We’ve gone over this. He could have really had an important meeting to get to.”
“But that look in his eye,” Eva said. She bit her lip, and her brow furrowed. “It was like he was scared of me… and of what had happened between us the night before.”
“Maybe he’s one of those guys who’s afraid of commitment,” Nikki suggested. “Or maybe he was just freaking out about opening up to you. You said you guys talked for hours, about all kinds of stuff. Maybe he had a vulnerability hangover.”
“What’s that?” Eva asked.
“Clint went to a counselor for a few sessions last spring after his mom died. You know, to talk about grief and all that. Well, the counselor warned him that sometimes after sharing really deep stuff, a person can start to regret opening up. They get this kind of whiplash… like a reflex or something. They share, share, share, and then get struck by this feeling, like, ‘oops! Maybe
I shared too much.’”
“That makes sense,” Eva said glumly. “Maybe he regrets opening up to me.”
“Hey, that’s his problem, not yours,” Nikki said. “Don’t go beating yourself up about this. And don’t read too much into his actions. The truth is, you won’t know what he’s thinking until you talk to him. Have you called him yet?”
“No,” Eva said. “I’m waiting for him to call me.”
There was a commotion on the other end of the line, and then the sound of laughter that Eva recognized. She was sure that two of the male waiters who were always joking around with each other had just entered the staff break room.
“Will you guys quiet down?” Nikki said, directing her voice out into the room. “I’m on the phone here!”
“It’s okay,” Eva said. “I’d better go, anyway, and let you eat.”
“All right,” Nikki said. “Cheer up. You’re debt-free!”
Eva lifted the side of her mouth in a half-smile. “Thanks,” she said before hanging up.
When she got off the line, she resumed her position on the couch. She placed her cellphone on the cushion near her, so she’d be sure to hear it ring. Then she reached for the remote and began restlessly flipping through channels.
She checked her phone every fifteen minutes as she watched a cheesy old western movie, but no calls came through. Finally, at ten, she got ready for bed.
Though she was tired, sleep wouldn’t come. Her mind was like a broken record, going over every mistake she’d made with Dimitris to date.
I should have had only one glass of champagne, not three.
I should never have told him how messed up my childhood was.
I probably looked terrible that morning, in that wrinkled dress. I didn’t even brush my hair!
Her thoughts spiraled downward, getting deeper and darker by the hour.
Finally, after hours of tossing and turning, she gave up. She sat up and turned on her light. “This is crazy,” she whispered to herself.
She sat up at the edge of her bed and eyed her phone, which was on the nightstand.
Nikki’s right, she thought. I’m projecting all of my insecurities onto Dimitris. I don’t really know how he feels about what happened between us—and the only way I’m going to find out is if I talk to him.
I’ve waited long enough for him to call, and it’s clear he’s not going to.
I have to call him.
We have to talk, directly, about our night together. It’s time.
She reached for her phone. Dimitris’s number was stored in her contacts. They’d texted before, but she’d never called him. A glance at the clock showed her it was one a.m.
That means it’s eight a.m. Where he is, she thought. Hopefully, he’s awake.
She took a deep breath to steady her nerves, and dialed.
Chapter 12
Dimitris
Dimitris heard his phone vibrate. It was positioned on the corner of his desk, so he had to reach out to press the button on the side to silence it. He’d just started his eight a.m. meeting with Stavros, and he didn’t want the disruption of taking a call.
Stavros had been speaking but paused while Dimitris silenced his phone. “Do you need to take that?” he asked.
“No, no,” Dimitris said, without even looking to see who the call was from. “I’ll get to it when we’re through.”
“Good. As I was saying, I spoke to Space Satellite Security, in Argentina, and they promised to have the paperwork sent to my offices by the end of the workday. I’ve run into problems with them before, but they always come through—even if a few days late.”
“If they’re more than a week tardy, let’s stop the process,” Dimitris said. He was very careful about who he did business with, and he found that selling to people who didn’t have their affairs in order only led to issues down the line. The deal he’d been working on securing with a private company in Argentina was small compared to what he was working on with the US government.
“Noted,” Stavros said, while jotting down a few words on the yellow legal pad he held. “I’ll tell my team not to send the contract through in that case. You’re sure?”
“Absolutely,” Dimitris said confidently. He was used to making big decisions quickly. It was how he ran his business. “Let’s move on. I want to know about the latest developments on the US deal. How are things looking?”
“Good,” Stavros said. “Now that your marriage is official, we simply have to wait for the paperwork to go through. There’s no reason for it to get denied, so we can safely say you’re going to gain citizenship and pass the Homeland Security checks. Seeing as it’s just a matter of time, I’ve started drawing up the contracts. This sale is going to be the biggest that Atheos Propulsion Systems has ever made.”
Dimitris grinned and sat back in his chair. “Excellent,” he said. “And yes, the biggest by far. It’s going to put us ahead of the competition, don’t you think?”
“Well ahead,” Stavros said. “Speaking of the competition, you asked me to add a privacy clause to our policy about publishing in scientific journals.”
He pulled out some sheets of paper from a folder and pushed them across the desk to Dimitris. “I think you’re going to want to be careful about letting the engineers discuss the new power head layout. Kalfas in the design department proposed an article that would be published in an international journal. I know you’re adamant about letting the engineers discuss designs, within limits, but we need to be careful.”
Dimitris scanned the document, and then for the next half hour they went back and forth about the essence of the policy, Stavros taking notes.
“If you say so,” the lawyer said after their discussion. “You’re too generous, Dimitris.”
“Let the engineers share,” Dimitris said. “A rising tide lifts all boats, right?”
“So the saying goes,” Stavros said with a nod.
“It’s a good saying,” Dimitris said. “Better than some of the other English sayings.” He had a flash of a memory of Eva, on their first date. “Better than ‘keep your eyes peeled,’” he said.
Stavros laughed. “I haven’t heard that one before. Crude imagery, isn’t it?”
“Very,” Dimitris said with a chuckle.
Stavros gathered his belongings and stood. “I’ll go give the team an update. I’ll keep you informed about the Argentinian paperwork, and I’ll let you know when we have the US contract drafted up.”
“Please do,” Dimitris said.
“We’re having dinner on the yacht tonight, out on Megalo Bay,” Stavros said as he crossed the room. “You’re welcome to join us. Katerina would love to see you, and so would the kids.”
“That sounds nice,” Dimitris said. He reached for his phone. Now that the meeting was through, he wanted to see what calls he’d missed.
There was only one, and it was from Eva.
Stavros went on about the dinner invitation, outlining the menu. Dimitris only half listened. Internally, he was reeling as he looked at his caller ID.
Eva called at eight this morning, he thought to himself. For her that would have been one in the morning. Why would she call me at one in the morning?
“I’ll try to make it,” he said to Stavros. “Thanks for the invitation.” He waved a distracted goodbye without taking his eyes off of his phone.
In his gut, he knew the reason for Eva’s call.
She wants to talk about our night together, he thought.
He felt awful for the way he’d acted the morning after they slept together. He knew he’d been distant, and he’d regretted it right after he’d left the penthouse.
Eva had been on his mind all week, and he didn’t know what, exactly, to do about it.
He set the phone down, and then looked at it as he leaned back in his chair and ran a hand through his hair. He blew out a sigh, trying to collect himself.
As the CEO of his company, he was used to feeling in control. He enjoyed making swift deci
sions and trusting his gut. But when it came to Eva, he couldn’t get clear about how he felt.
He liked being in her presence and making her laugh. She was beautiful, and the sight of her made his heart race. At the same time, he knew that they’d entered into a business arrangement.
I asked her to help me get citizenship, he reminded himself, and she agreed. She wanted payment, and I’m giving that to her. It’s a simple trade: I give her money, and she, in turn, is pretending to be my wife.
We’re in a fake relationship.
If we enter into a real relationship, that will only complicate things.
He closed his eyes, as if that might help him come to some kind of a decision that wouldn’t feel so conflicted. He longed for clarity.
Yes, it might complicate things, but maybe we can handle that.
Maybe we could make it work.
He wanted to see her again.
He opened his eyes, and the reality of his office space greeted him. All around him, he saw reminders that he was a businessman. His focus had always been on building a company. He stood up and raked his hand through his hair again as he walked over to the bank of floor-to-ceiling windows to his right.
Eva and I are in a business relationship. We should keep it at that.
He bit his lip and walked back to his phone. He picked it up and placed a call.
Instead of dialing Eva’s number, however, he dialed Anna, his assistant.
“Good morning, sir,” she answered.
“Anna, can you book me a ticket to DC, departing ASAP?” he said.
Though the trip was unexpected, his assistant didn’t miss a beat. “Of course, sir,” she said. “Will you be needing a hotel room while you’re there?”
“No, I’ll stay in the penthouse.”
“Understood. Shall I book a private chef for you?”
“That won’t be necessary,” he said.
“Maid service?”
“No, I don’t think so.” He didn’t want to deal with interacting with service people. He had one mission in mind for his trip, and he wanted to focus solely on that.
