“I can see you’re busy, I’m going to sneak out of here,” Kristina said as she made her way through the living room quickly. “Call me; I had a great night.”
She didn’t pause at all, it was so abrupt I could hardly figure out what was happening. She just kept moving to the door, and I couldn’t let her just leave like that. We had had a fantastic night, and I really had forgotten about the charity event.
“Wait, no, you don’t have to go,” I said as I hurried over to the door.
“No, I can see you’re busy. No worries, I’m just going to head home, and you go do what you need to. We will talk more, I promise.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, I’ve got things to do as well,” she said as she kissed my cheek and closed the door behind her.
She had left so quickly that I hadn’t had the opportunity to introduce her to Wendy. It was a bit of a relief that she was gone, and I didn’t have to make the decision to stay home with her or go to the event; because I probably would have chosen to stay home with her. I knew it was horrible of me even to think that I’d give up on a charity event for a woman, but I definitely would have.
“She just left like that?” Wendy asked. “I swear I know her from somewhere.”
“How could you know her? You’ve never met.” I laughed.
“What does she do for a living?” Wendy continued on as she looked skeptically out the window at Kristina as she got into a cab.
“Charity stuff, why?”
“Merrick, you’re so naive sometimes. Those groups are always after your money. Are you sure she isn’t trying to befriend you so you can become one of their big donors?”
“Wendy … since when did you get so pessimistic. This is the girl I talked to you about, the one that Patty set me up with through the matchmaker program. She’s got no ulterior motives here. Just a nice girl, looking for a nice guy.”
“Just be careful, Merrick. People will do almost anything for money; you should know that by now. I don’t know if I trust this Patty woman either.”
“I know. I am running a billion dollar company; I would think you could give me a little credit. But why don’t you trust Patty? She’s a very nice woman with a long list of happy clients.”
“I don’t trust anyone who spends their time fixing other people up. It seems like a weird job to me. I still remember when you were running into your father’s office with snot dribbling down your nose. I just can’t stop protecting you.”
I loved Wendy and enjoyed having her as my assistant. She really did look out for me and did a damn fine job as my assistant. She was a brick wall when it came to allowing people access to me. She always told me like it was and never sugar coated things to make me happy.
Many of my employees liked to sugar coat things because they didn’t want to deal with my reaction to what was going on. But I didn’t have a temper; I just had an urgent sense to fix things if there was something off in how we were doing things. Over the years, people had learned to temper their complaints to things that really mattered because I was going to investigate and get to the bottom of any changes that needed to be made.
“And that’s why I love you. Thanks, Wendy; I do appreciate you looking out for me. I just don’t think Kristina is a danger to me. She’s a very nice girl. We hit it off, and I’m going to take her our again this week.”
“Today’s event is for the New York Homeless Families. Do you remember what you’re doing today?”
“Some sort of speech about homelessness, I’d assume?” I joked.
“No, today you get matched up with a young man who is homeless and wants to learn about finance. You two will attend the event together, and you can mentor him through an ongoing relationship. The Boys and Girls Club is also part of this event.”
“Did I sign up for this?”
“You told them you’d do anything to help. Remember, I suggested you give money, and you said you wanted to offer more.”
“Yeah, now I remember. Why didn’t you stop me?” I joked.
As I got dressed for the event, I couldn’t stop thinking about Kristina and what a great night we had had together. I grabbed my phone and sent a quick text message off to her before I left for my event.
It was clear that I had been bitten by the love bug. I couldn’t wait until the next time I got to spend time with her. When I closed my eyes, I pictured her lying next to me in bed and imagined I’d have her there for many nights to come. This was a feeling like no other I’d ever had. Sure, I’d liked women before. Sure, I’d even had one or two that I imagined something more long term. But I’d never felt that total connection like I had with Kristina. It was more than just lust; it was deeper, more profound, and totally out of my normal understanding. I grabbed my phone to send a text to Kristina.
MERRICK: I really enjoyed getting to know you. I hope you enjoy your weekend.
The air was crisp as Wendy walked with me out to the waiting vehicle. I didn’t enjoy going to an event alone and had hoped to convince her to attend with me, but I was encroaching on her weekend already. If I had asked her to come, she certainly would have, but I wasn’t that kind of boss. I’d already taken up some of her weekend and needed to let her get back home to her family.
“Thank you for coming over. I appreciate everything you do.”
“Then you should listen when I warn you about women. You know just because a woman is beautiful, doesn’t mean she isn’t capable of horrible things. I read a story about these high-class escorts who were dating businessmen and getting them to pay for all their things. You just watch out.”
“Are you still talking about Kristina? She’s not a horrible woman. I can feel this. I know.”
“Maybe not, but just be alert. These women will do anything to land an eligible bachelor, and I don’t think you are always paying attention to their motives. This girl signed up for a dating site that matches women with rich men; why wouldn’t she sign up for a regular dating site if love was what she wanted? Why did she only want love with a rich man?”
“Okay, I get your point. But I signed up for the program as well. Now get your butt home and to your family. I’ll see you on Monday.”
“Enjoy your mentoring day. Remember to smile around the kid. You kind of have a naturally angry face that will scare him.”
“Oh, I will.”
I had one of those faces that made me look like I was serious all of the time. It was great in the business world, but not so great when I was doing my charity work. Anytime I had to work with kids, there was a good ten minutes spent where I had to smile and seem really approachable so the kid didn’t run out of the room screaming.
As I made my way out of the building and to the event, I grabbed my phone as I heard the notification that a text message had just come in.
KRISTINA: I’ll never look at vodka the same way again. It was nice meeting you too.
My heart fluttered at her message, and I knew I had to call Patty right away. Patty was going to want to know how our date went and would likely be talking to Kristina too. If it slipped that we had slept together, I wanted her to know that I hadn’t broken her rules.
Chapter 8
Kristina
“Tomorrow can you call Mr. Stanley back and get him signed up for the newsletter?” I asked as September stood in the doorway to my office.
“Why? I thought you had that all set up,” September asked.
“I know, but I have a conflicting phone call. I’d really appreciate if you took this one. He seemed open to talking to us as long as we don’t ask for money. So just tell him about our programs and get him signed up for the newsletter. That’s it. He’s going to be a long haul kind of guy, and we don’t want to scare him off upfront.”
“I think I can handle it.”
There was no possible way I could call and talk to Merrick about Girls Tech; I hadn’t told him we had already talked. I had pretty much avoided all conversations about my work and kept it a secret that I really
did want him to donate. I was sick to my stomach with worry that he was going to find out that I was lying to him.
My pulse hadn’t stopped racing since I left Merrick’s house. I wasn’t in the habit of lying to people, but I knew I recognized his assistant from somewhere, and after returning home, I remembered she had attended a charity event at Girls Tech about a year before. I didn’t remember seeing Merrick there, and I was sure I would have made a note if I had known who his assistant was. I had no idea why she had come to the event or if she recognized me at all, but since Saturday morning, I had been terrified that Merrick was going to find out.
There really wasn’t anything horrible going on, and I knew that, but I also knew that from the outside it could appear that I was being manipulative. It could appear that I had lied for the sole purpose of tricking Merrick, and that was not at all what was happening. Although I wasn’t sure my choice to keep our original phone conversation a secret had been the best one, it was over now, and I couldn’t go back. I couldn’t go to the first conversation in the ice bar and bring it up; it was too late now.
“Are you alright Kristina? You don’t look like you’re feeling well,” September asked.
“I’m okay. I’m just worried about all this fundraising we need to do. How are the plans coming for the big gala event?”
“Slowly. We just don’t have enough time.”
“I know. I’ll talk to the others and see if anyone can give us an hour or so of their time. I’ve got a bad feeling about all of this; we should probably start brushing up our resumes. You know Maxine doesn’t even seem like she wants to keep running this organization. She hardly puts any time into it.”
“Yeah, I think so too.”
I let September go back to her desk while I tried to concentrate on my plan to bring in more donations. It seemed almost useless to even try, but that wasn’t my personality. I was going to put everything I had into this organization and try to get our fundraising numbers up. Even if we didn’t meet our goal of ten million dollars, perhaps we would raise enough that I could at least keep my job.
I made a list of all the big organizations that had tech friend hiring practices and were near our offices. It wasn’t going to be possible to make the kind of connections I needed to make just over the phone. I was going to have to get my face out there and interact with the men and women who could write the checks.
My phone rang and practically scared me right out of my seat. I had kept my ringer on because I was expecting a call from Beth, but instead, I was getting a call from Patty.
“Hi Patty, how are you?” I asked as I sat straight up in my chair as if she could see my posture through the telephone.
“I’m doing well. I just wanted to check in with you and how your date went with Merrick?”
“It was a very nice evening. I really like him a lot.”
“Did you two hit it off?”
I paused as I contemplated lying to her and not telling her how well we hit it off. But there were just too many lies going on in my life, and this wasn’t going to be another one. I had no choice but to be honest with her and deal with the consequences.
“Yes, very well. I did end up staying over. We have plans for a couple more dates this week, and I’m feeling very optimistic.”
“So you slept with him?”
“Yes,” I reluctantly replied and braced myself for the possible anger that Patty was going to have.
“I know my rules seem antiquated and hard to understand, but they really are for your best interest. Even when you are getting along well with someone, it’s not possible to know them very well after one evening. By waiting, you give yourself the time to really know if this guy is someone you’d like to continue seeing.”
“I understand, and I’m sorry if you think we have broken the rules. I do feel like we are both committed to being exclusive to one another, though, and I took that to be the primary purpose of your rule. Neither of us will be dating other people.”
“Fair enough. I trust that you two can continue to get to know each other within the relationship you’ve established. Merrick also told me he intended to be exclusive to you, so I think you two might have something special going here.”
“He said that?” I asked eagerly as I leaned forward in my chair and almost slipped right onto the floor.
“Yes.” She laughed. “I think my job is done for now. The two of you should keep me updated, though. I always like to know when a match is successful in the long run.”
“Oh, thanks we will!”
As Patty hung up, I couldn’t stop smiling. Knowing that Merrick had told her the same thing about not dating others was just fabulous. My fingers started tapping on the table as I looked at my computer monitor but didn’t do any actual work. It was funny how something so little could have such an effect on how I felt. My anxiety was calmed, at least for the moment, and I started to focus back on the job I had in front of me.
One company who sent out our flyer to their employees had raised a little over $100,000 dollars. It wasn’t even that large a company, but the employees contributed, and some of them had even paid for scholarships for girls to complete classes. If I could get 100 companies to contribute in a similar manner, I’d hit my goal. Or maybe 50 companies plus our big fundraiser event. It wasn’t going to be easy, but the light was there now that my mind had shifted into a more positive frame point.
***
When Tuesday came around, I watched the clock eagerly as I knew September would be calling Merrick and asking him to sign up for our newsletter. Would he figure out who I was? Would he balk at September calling him instead of me? I had to know what was happening, so I walked down to September’s desk and stood nearby as she made her call.
“Yes, I’m sorry, she wasn’t available. I’d love to talk to you about signing up for our newsletter, though. We are helping women and young girls from around the country have better access to technology education.”
There was a pause as September listened to Merrick. I wished I could have heard what he was saying on the other end of the call, but from the expression on September’s face, it didn’t look like he was saying anything very nice to her.
“Yes, sir. I understand, but if you could take a moment to talk to me, I could answer any questions you might have.” She looked at me and pointed to the phone, but I shook my head no. I just couldn’t take the call. “Mr. Stanley, I know your time is important. It couldn’t be avoided.”
This didn’t sound like it was going well at all, and I had a guess at what might have happened. Merrick felt slighted by me not calling him. The me, as in the woman who had arranged the conversation with him, Miss. Masters. I didn’t blame him; I would have felt the same way, although I would have to talk to whoever had been assigned to take the call with me.
“Yes, sir. Thank you for your time,” September said glumly as she hung up the phone. “He was not nice at all. Why did you have me call him instead of you? He was really pissed off that you didn’t call him. Said it was unprofessional.”
“Thank you for making the call, September. I appreciate it,” I said as I walked away without answering her questions.
My stomach churned, and I felt sweat building up on my temples as I ran back to my office. We could have had his commitment to our program if I hadn’t confused everything and ruined the in I had with him. Now everything was tainted with lies, and I was swimming in guilt that I couldn’t wash away by one quick moment of knowing he liked me. Now, knowing he liked me felt like a burden rather than a gift. How was I ever going to get out of this?
MERRICK: Can we talk?
I looked at the text message on my phone and fell into my chair as I swallowed hard. What did he want to talk about? He must have figured out what was going on? If this were what it was like to be a liar, I really would never be good at it. I could hardly breathe as I looked at the phone and tried to analyze if he did or did not know what was going on with me.
Should I respond to
him right away or wait and pretend like I was busy? It was probably best to get things over with as soon as possible if he knew I had lied to him. I didn’t want to start having real feelings for him then have everything come out. I held my breath and sent a reply.
KRISTINA: Sure, call anytime.
I had barely finished typing the message and sending it to him when Merrick’s name showed up on the caller ID of my phone. He must really want to talk to me; this was it—it was all over. I tried to think of how I could possibly explain the lie I had told. How was I going to explain that I hadn’t done it maliciously?
“Can I ask you a business question?” Merrick said right away.
“Sure.”
“If a big fundraising person set up an appointment with an executive and then sent an employee to that meeting, that’s unprofessional, right?”
“Um … well … I …”
“My time is valuable, and I agreed to talk with this woman from a charity, and just now she had her assistant call me instead of her. What a slap in the face that was. I went out of my way to make time for her because I do believe in her charity, but she couldn’t be bothered to call me. It seemed a little rude to me.”
“Maybe something came up; it wasn’t like she lied to you. Right? She sent someone from her organization,” I said as I continued the lie.
This was the moment. I needed to just tell him that it was me and deal with the consequences. I couldn’t keep the lie going any longer. It was getting too messy. I was confident that I had not done anything wrong; now all I needed to do was muster the energy to tell him what had happened.
Maybe he would even think it was a little funny. It was a strange coincidence. What could the odds be that I’d have talked to Merrick the same day that Patty set the two of us? If you thought about it, the odds had to have been astronomical, and maybe it just furthered the idea that we were meant to be together. Perhaps when I told Merrick, he would laugh and think we were even more right for each other than we already felt like we were.
“It doesn’t matter. The truth is the truth, and if someone doesn’t say it right up front, then I don’t want to hear it at all. She said she would call, and there was no reason given except that she was unavailable.”
Breaking the Rules: A Billionaire Romance Page 79
