by Karen Gordon
Dom and I hide out in her old room, our usual spot.
“I’m going to eat stuffing and you are not going to give me grief, got it?” She’s staring me down, challenging my new role as diet police.
I shrug it off. “Fine, stuff yourself, I won’t give you grief he will.” I rub her baby belly and smile at my little helper inside. “You’ll swell up like balloon. Say goodbye to your ankles.” I talk to her belly. “Maybe we’ll give her some heartburn too, huh?”
She pushes me away. “Don’t you two conspire against me. I’ve been good. I deserve some stuffing.”
She turns on the TV and we both fall back on the bed. “Evan’s going home on Monday.” Her first-name familiarity with my client-to-be cracks me up, but I also wonder how she knows this stuff? I’ve been watching his Instagram feed and he’s said nothing about it.
“He booked a ticket on a flight to San Francisco that gets in Monday afternoon.”
I look up at the ceiling and shake my head and laugh. “I don’t even want to know how you know this.”
Her smile tells me she’s been snooping in places she shouldn’t. “No, you don’t.” Then she casually adds, “so, I can come over tomorrow and we can plan some outfits for your trip to meet him?”
I beat my head against the mattress. “Stop trying to make this into a date. Not going to happen.”
“Ok, fine…” She stretches out to face the TV but I can tell she isn’t done with this topic. Sure enough, she spins around to talk to me as soon as a commercial comes on. “Look, don’t take this wrong but…it’s always been hard to find you dates and its only getting harder.”
She’s shocked me. “What? What are you talking about?”
“You’re intimidating, always have been.”
This is the first time she’s brought this up. I mean, she’s told me I’m too picky, but intimidating?
“You’re smart, really smart, and guys feel stupid around you.”
I feel like I’ve been smacked. “But that’s their problem. I don’t make them feel stupid...do I?” I scan my memories for times I might have been condescending.
She reaches for my hand to soften the blow. “You’re not mean, exactly, it’s just…well…”
“What? I’m supposed to act stupid so they feel better?”
“No, but between your smarts and now your job…the pool is shrinking.”
“Pool? What pool? And what about my job?”
“The marriage material pool and your job is cool but, no guy we know will ever make close to what you do.”
I squint at her, questioning how she knows what I make.
She replies with a condescending eye roll. “It wasn’t hard to figure out. You said you get one percent and the plane costs eighty million.”
I had been avoiding talking about my commission but I was obviously stupid to do this. Of course Dom would figure it out.
“Danny makes a lot less than me, do you think that would matter to me?” This is not the example she was looking for.
“V, come on, stop with Danny. Number one, it would matter to him, a lot, and you know it. Number two, when you make around a million a year…”
“Eight hundred thousand.” I correct her, “And that’s only when the buyer takes delivery. So far all I’ve made is one percent of a down payment.”
“Whatever. When you make that kind of money there are very few guys who will be in your dating pool, guys who won’t be intimidated by that and even fewer when you factor in how smart you are.”
I put my hand up to stop her because I don’t want to hear it. I don’t want to think about my job making me almost un-datable. The more I think about it the more I realize that she’s right. We watch the parade on TV in silence.
When we’re called to come and eat we roll off her bed and I tell her, “Fine, come over tomorrow and we’ll play dress up. I guess it can’t hurt if I show up looking a little dolled up.”
✈ ✈ ✈
Ok, he is cuter in person. My brain is at war, trying to keep my focus on his aviation needs while also checking him out as a potential date. I silently curse Dom for filling my head with romantic ideas and fears of being a lonely cat lady because they are getting in the way of me doing my job.
His assistant leads me into Evan’s office for our first meeting. He got home from Thailand on Monday and texted me about setting up a meeting on Tuesday. I like his enthusiasm; it makes me feel like he’s serious about buying a plane.
“Ms. Ramsey, welcome.” He stands up behind a desk covered with computer monitors, wires, empty cups, and papers but he doesn’t offer to shake my hand.
“Vivienne, please call me Vivienne. It’s nice to meet you.”
He tucks his hands in his pants pockets and looks a little uncomfortable. “So, um, why don’t we use the conference room down the hall. There’s more room there.”
I don’t get a chance to reply before he turns and strides out of his office and down the hall with me jogging behind in my heels. He does have nice long legs that don’t look too shabby in his jeans.
He pulls out a chair and sits and waits for me to do the same. As I’m pulling out my notes and the packet on the plane I can feel him watching me intensely, studying my every movement. I can almost read his thoughts. I’m hyper aware of the things he will notice about me because I do the same thing. Everything from the type of pen I carry to how I set up the space in front of me will give him clues about me. He studies me like I study people.
When I look up at him he looks away like I’ve caught him doing something he shouldn’t. He covers his embarrassment by saying, “I guess I should offer you something to drink. Coke Zero? Coffee?”
“Water would be good.” Now I’m feeling off my game too. The room is tense and I don’t know if there is something between us or if all Dom’s pep talks have me feeling things that aren’t there.
He gets up and leaves, presumably to get me some water. He doesn’t say, “be right back,” or “I’ll go get you some.”
After several minutes he comes back with several different bottles of water balanced on one arm and a pitcher of iced water and glass in the other. “I didn’t know if you wanted bottled or tap so…” He lines them up neatly in front of me all labels facing me. I purse my lips to suppress a smile. Damn if he isn’t just like me—I thought I was the only one who could overthink getting someone a drink of water.
Dom might be right, maybe I’ve met my match. Maybe Evan O’Donnell is the man for me.
The story continues…
Soaring, book 5 in the series will be available on Amazon on April 20th. Look for a special pre-order price of only 99c.
Smart, sweet dot-com billionaire Evan O’Donnell might be the perfect man for Vivienne. And after her best friend just pointed out that her pool of potential dates has drastically shrunk, Vivienne is giving him more than a second look. But Viv’s jet-set lifestyle makes this geek-love affair hard to ignite. Just when it looks like fate will help them fan the flames; a mystery man with an irresistible sexy offer pulls Vivienne in another direction. Now she must choose between sweet and solid or temporary and seductive.
Soaring is the fifth book in The Vivienne Series--seven hilariously fierce and flirty chick lit novellas. If you like inspiring stories filled with relatable sexy, smart women then you’ll love this glass-ceiling smashing, worldwide journey by feminist fiction author, Karen Gordon.
One click your copy now to begin your captivating high-flying adventure and #LiveLikeViv.
Pre-order for only 99c until April 19, 2017. (click here)
Look for book 6 – Free Falling in May of 2017
And book 7 – Celestial in June.
Legal Mumbo Jumbo
Copyright 2017 © by Karen Gordon, Author
All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America.
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information s
torage and retrieval system, without written permission of the author, except where permitted by law.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
