Business of Love

by Hodges, Cheris

  Raising his eyebrow at her silence, Darren replied, “That’s just what I thought. I don’t usually do this, but you should let me show you a good—no, a great time—when you get out of here.”

  Sitting up in the bed, wishing she was dressed in something more alluring than a puke green and white hospital gown, she asked, “Can you do that?”

  Darren ran his hand over his smooth head. “Unless you have husband that’s about to burst through the door, there’s nothing stopping me from asking a beautiful woman out on a date.”

  Had she been a few shades lighter, Darren would have seen her cheeks turn rose red. He handed her his business card with his cell phone number scribbled on the back.

  “When you’re up to it, give me a call.” Darren stood up and headed for the door, leaving Jill sitting in the middle of the bed with a wide smile on her face. “Take care, beautiful,” he said before closing the door behind him.

  Maybe it was going to be a happy new year after all.

  Chapter Two

  The next morning, Jill was released from the hospital with a clean bill of health. She’d only suffered minor smoke inhalation. Though it had only been overnight, she was more excited about going home than a child anticipating opening Christmas gifts. Jill hated being confined and not being able to control the situation. Now that the unpleasantness of the fire was over, she could return home and relax.

  And it was a good thing that she didn’t have to deal with a messy clean-up in her penthouse. The fire and water damage was contained to the lower three floors and from her hospital bed she’d already got a restoration company on the job of cleaning up the lower floors.

  As it turned out, the fire had been started by an electrical short in a first floor laundry room. No one was seriously hurt, which was a good thing, but Jill was going to make sure the maintenance company was fired.

  Sighing, because this wasn’t the way that she wanted to start her new year, she walked into her penthouse and checked her voice mail. There were three messages from Malik and Shari. They’d seen the fire on the news and were worried about her.

  Pressing the speaker button on the phone, she dialed Malik and Shari.

  “Hello?” Shari said.

  “Shari, it’s Jill, and I’m fine.”

  “Great, Malik and I were worried about you. Did your place get damaged?”

  “Luckily no, but I had to spend the night in the hospital. Everything is fine, though, and I even got a date out of the whole ordeal.”

  “Really? Tell me about it?”

  Jill absentmindedly twirled a strand of hair around her finger. “Why don’t we talk about it at Thelma’s? The spa is having a “new you,” New Year’s Day special. I was going to go there after leaving the office anyway. Now, I’m just going to go straight there. The work will hold until the office officially opens tomorrow.”

  “All right, that sounds like a plan,” Shari said. “Jill, Malik wants to speak with you.”

  Jill could imagine Malik standing next to the phone bouncing up and down like an impatient child waiting to ride a pony at the state fair. She valued the friendship she and Malik had, even though his love of sex and women had almost gotten the company in a world of trouble a few years back.

  Malik had had an affair with Greta DeVine, a former employee at the company. She had wanted Malik to be her man and when she saw the commitment he’d made to Shari, she’d lashed out at him with a bogus sexual harassment lawsuit. Because the company was owned by a woman, the lawsuit made national headlines. Jill had tried to protect her company and at the same time support Malik. However, she would have fired him if it had been necessary. The only time she ever wanted DVA in the news was for something positive. That was one of the reasons the company did so much charity work in the city of Atlanta. Jill wanted DVA’s name linked to everything positive it could be.

  No one was happier than she was when the allegations against Malik were proven false. Not only did her company keep its stellar reputation, but she hadn’t been forced to fire one of her best employees and closest associates.

  “Boss, why didn’t you call me? Is everything all right?” he asked.

  “Malik, I’m fine, nothing was damaged in my place and no one was hurt on the lower floors that took the brunt of the fire, smoke and water damage. Besides, I didn’t want to disturb you and Shari. Married people celebrate New Year’s in bed, you know.”

  “Jill, we’re friends,” he said. “I would’ve been glad to do whatever you needed. I’m glad you’re all right, though. Please tell me that you’re not going into the office today.”

  Laughing, she said, “No, I think I need some pampering and so does your wife. I can only imagine what being married to you is like.”

  “Funny,” Malik replied. “But seriously, you deserve some R&R. Is there anything pressing you need me to do at the office?”

  Sighing, Jill knew she needed more than rest and relaxation. She needed a little romance and renewal. Maybe she would get some of that with Darren. She pulled his card from her pocket and looked at it for a moment. Should she call him? And what would she say if she did call?

  “Jill, you there?” Malik broke into her thoughts. “Did you hear me?”

  “Yeah, yeah, tell Shari I’ll meet her at the spa in about an hour,” she said. “And there’s no need for you to go into the office. Enjoy your weekend.”

  After hanging up with Malik, Jill poured herself a glass of water, still pondering whether she should call the fire captain. Though she took business risks routinely, when it came to matters of the heart, she wasn’t as bold. The last thing she wanted was to end up broken and lonely, like the last time she’d given her heart away.

  Jill had to wonder if those people who said it was better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all had ever had their hearts trampled on.

  Her heart crusher, David Branton, was an up-and-coming businessman in his own right. He had been making strides at Concurrent Computer Corporation, one of Atlanta’s fastest growing companies. DVA, at the time, was on the cusp of its mega success and many on the outside looking in saw it as wide open for a takeover. At the time, no one knew just how brilliant Jill Atkinson was when it came to business.

  Jill met David at a technology mixer in Buckhead when she received her Business Person of the Year award. David was every woman’s dream, six feet of pure satisfaction. He was the color of ebony wood and looked as if he belonged on the cover of Esquire Magazine with his sharp Armani suits and polished alligator shoes. His smile lit up a room and made women swoon as if he were the second coming of Morris Chestnut or Denzel Washington.

  He immediately took Jill’s breath away when he walked over to her and congratulated her. When he took her hand in his to shake it, neither of them wanted to let go. She had hoped that he would kiss her hand like an English gentleman just so she could feel the softness of his lips on her skin.

  Though Jill didn’t set out to make David her man, he definitely had her in his sights to be his woman. At least that’s the way it had seemed as he wooed her with flowers, poetry and late night dinners at the office. David was in and out of her office so much that her assistant, Madison, joked that he should be on the payroll.

  But Jill soon found that David had a hidden agenda.

  He was trying to gather as much information as he could about the company so that Concurrent could bring DVA under its vast umbrella. One night when David brought her dinner, Jill went to the bathroom and he seized the opportunity to try to hack into her computer.

  Jill had planned to emerge from the bathroom dressed in sexy black lingerie and five inch spiked heels, but she had left her bag with her clothes in it at her desk. When she walked into her office, she found him hunched over her computer, looking like Quasimodo’s evil twin brother, with a floppy disk in his hand.

  “What the hell are you doing?” she demanded.

  “Uh-uh,” he stammered. “I was just…”

  Jill closed the space between t
hem and slapped him with all of the fury inside her. “How could you do this to me? Was this all our relationship was about? You wanted to get your foot in the door so you could find out my company secrets? Son of a bitch!”

  David stood up, dropping the disk on the floor. “Jill, I was just doing my job.”

  She shook with anger. “Your job? Was sleeping with me and professing your love to me part of your job? If you don’t get out of here, you’re going to be leaving in a body bag.” Jill snatched the floppy disk from the floor and crushed it in her hands. “You tell your bosses at Concurrent you deserve a raise because you did a good job of fooling me. But those bastards will not get their hands on my company, no matter how many Uncle Tom assholes they send my way.”

  Heartbroken and disillusioned by David’s betrayal, Jill vowed to make him pay.

  She turned the tables on him by raising enough capital to initiate a hostile takeover of Concurrent. To raise capital, Concurrent had released shares to the public, hoping to increase the revenues before buying the outstanding shares back.

  As an avid stock market watcher, Jill knew what she needed to do. Putting up some of her personal money, she bought the outstanding shares.

  Once DVA owned 51 percent of the stocks, Jill fired all of Concurrent’s top executives, including David, earning her a reputation as someone not to be messed with.

  Concurrent proved to be a good buy. DVA’s client base doubled, their reach expanded to firms in Canada, and unlocked doors that might have taken years for DVA alone to open.

  Ironically, the biggest business deal of Jill’s life had been motivated by a broken heart. She resolved not to mix business and pleasure again, because the next time, she might be left with a broken heart and no company. So she didn’t swim with the sharks, or even dive into the deep end of the ocean.

  Usually every man she met seemed to have some sort of issue with her status. If he didn’t give her the “I’m so not on your level speech,” then he was hitting her up for a loan to fund a business venture that Jill knew didn’t have a chance in hell of being profitable. She wasn’t a woman to these men, at least in her mind. She was just a means to an end.

  God, please let this be different this time. Let Darren at least be a good friend, she thought as she poured herself another glass of water. Hopefully, he wasn’t a big business page reader. Maybe this is was what she needed to do, date someone outside of her circle. If she were lucky, her business and everything else that normally got in the way of her relationships wouldn’t matter with Darren.

  Jill promised herself if things got serious with Darren, she would tell him the truth and maybe by that time it wouldn’t even matter. Deciding that she was getting ahead of herself, Jill shook off the thoughts of Darren and ran upstairs to change into her spa attire—black yoga pants, a fitted tank top and matching track jacket.

  About thirty minutes later, Jill and Shari were sitting in Corinthian leather spa chairs, soaking their feet in tangerine oil and sea salt with avocado masks covering their faces.

  Reaching for her protein shake, Jill released a satisfied sigh. “I really needed this.”

  Shari nodded. “I know that’s right. What a way to start the new year.”

  Jill took a sip of the shake. “Yeah, nearly burning in a fire and spending the night in the hospital.”

  “Uh, didn’t you say met an incredibly sexy man?” She turned on her side and faced Jill. The blue mask on her face gave her a comical look. “For you to be excited about the brother, he has to be something special.”

  “I don’t think anything is going to come from it. We meet people every day that we aren’t meant to see again.” She silently prayed that this wasn’t the case with Darren because Shari had hit the nail on the head; she was excited about the possibility of seeing him again.

  “You know what, sista; it’s a new year and you need to stop hiding behind your career and take a chance on love,” Shari said.

  Jill scoffed. “I don’t hide behind my business.” But the words were hollow because Jill knew that she did hide behind DVA. She just didn’t know it was that obvious.

  “Really? When was the last time you went out on a date? A real date and not a business dinner? I know you haven’t even accepted a date since I’ve known you. Do I need to tell you how many years that’s been?”

  Rolling her eyes back in her head, Jill didn’t answer.

  “That’s just what I thought. Call that man,” Shari said.

  Jill smiled. “I don’t think I’m going to call him. I’ve got too much work to do.”

  Placing her hand over Jill’s, Shari said, “Last time I checked, you owned the company. Delegate some work to someone else. If you don’t call him, you’re going to be wondering what could have been. But I know how you feel, though. When you get off the dating train, it’s hard to get back on it. I told Malik ‘no’ more times than I can count before I relented and went out with him. Look at us now. I can blow some of my marriage dust on you if you want me to and see what happens.”

  Jill smiled. “Maybe I should throw caution to the wind and call him. What do I have to lose?”

  Before Shari could respond, a massage therapist came in and whisked her away, leaving Jill alone with her thoughts and her cell phone. Part of her wanted to call Darren; she had already saved his cell phone number in her electronic phone book. But would she come off as desperate? What happened to the days of men making the first move, she wondered as she slipped her feet into a pair of terry cloth slippers. Jill walked over to huge bay window overlooking the quiet garden and its lush greenery. Some of the evergreens still had Christmas decorations on them. Christmas, like most holidays, had just been another workday for Jill and she was tired of it. She wanted a chance to have someone that she could relax with on holidays, someone to whisk off to Jamaica with, and someone to share that all-important New Year’s kiss with.

  Maybe Darren could give her some toe-curling sex that would end her self-imposed love drought. Shaking her head, Jill decided to take things slow. As she listened to the phone ringing, she almost hoped that Darren wouldn’t answer.

  But he did. His sexy baritone sent a chill down her spine when he said hello.

  “Hi, Darren, it’s Jill Atkinson, the lady from the fire.”

  “Oh yeah, as if I would forget. How are you?”

  “Great. I got a clean bill of health, thanks to you,” she said. Listening intently, Jill waited to see if he would recognize her name. But the conversation continued without a hitch.

  “That’s good to hear and I’m really glad that you called.”

  Closing her eyes and holding back a school girl squeal, Jill replied, “Really?”

  “Yes, I have tickets to a concert at the Fox tonight. Wayman Tisdale is playing with some other local jazz artist. You do like jazz, don’t you?”

  “I love it. What time does the show start?” She fanned herself excitedly with her free hand. She had a bona fide date. Looked like clouds were starting to gather; maybe there was an end in sight to her love drought.

  “Eight, but I was thinking we could meet for drinks first,” he said. “Maybe we can go to the Shark Bar?”

  “Maybe not,” Jill said, knowing that she would be instantly recognized by the patrons who worked in her world. “Why don’t we go to Mick’s?”

  “That works for me because I was just trying to impress you. The Shark Bar isn’t my scene. Too many stuffy business types passing out cards and dangling BMW key chains trying to pretend that they’re the most important person in the world.”

  She laughed at his honesty because she definitely knew those types. “You saved my life. I think it’s time for me to impress you.”

  “What time do you want me to pick you up?”

  “Uh, why don’t we meet at the Buckhead Marta station? You know how crazy traffic is and how much it costs to park downtown when there’s an event going on.”

  “All right, that’s fine with me. Why don’t we link up around five-thirty, h
ave an early dinner and a few drinks?”

  “Sure, that sounds like a plan,” she replied. Once Jill hung up, she took her first real breath since Darren answered his phone

  She had a date.

  * * *

  Hanging up the phone, Darren was all smiles. Jill’s call had surprised him because he hadn’t thought the beautiful woman was going call him.

  “Who put that smile on your face?” his brother Cleveland asked.

  “My date for the concert, so that means you give me my ticket back.”

  Cleveland pretended to stumble backward as he handed Darren the concert ticket. “You have a date, Mr. I’m-Through-with-Women?”

  Darren pushed his brother. “She seems different. Remember the fire in Buckhead on New Year’s Eve? She was in the fire, and I saved her.”

  Cleveland shook his head, causing his shoulder length Nubian locks to swing. “This is a sympathy date. Don’t get too caught up. Once the whole hero thing wears off, she’ll go her merry little way.”

  Darren looked at his brother, who was the spitting image of their father, except for the hair. His little brother had inherited his father’s honey brown complexion, grey eyes and suspicious nature. Who knew what the future held for him and Jill? Regardless, he was looking forward to finding out.

  When it came to risking his life to save another, Darren was gung-ho. He didn’t mind running through flames to carry a trapped person to safety, but when it came to giving a woman his heart, well, that was another story.

  He’d always believed that everyone has one great love of their life and he thought he’d found his in Rita Williams, who was the Atlanta Police Department’s DARE officer. Many times, Darren and Rita had run into each other at events at local schools.

  He had been taken with her beauty and her gentle way with the children. While he was working up the nerve to ask her out on a date, she beat him to the punch, inviting him to dinner and a movie on the next Friday night that he didn’t have to work.