She hid her eyes with a pair of Aviator shades, but he swore it only brought more attention to her glossy, pouty full lips.
Damn, this is going to be a long day, he thought to himself as he pushed himself from the booth and stood up.
“Hey you,” he said, reaching for her.
Hugging him was like sin for Charlie, but she did it despite herself. She reached her hands around him and lightly squeezed his rock-hard back, feeling the crease down the middle. His cologne, Gucci Guilty, damned near sent her into a frenzy.
“Where’s Dane?” she asked, looking around. “Running late I hope.”
“About Dane…he needs a rain check,” Sully said, motioning for the booth. “Please, have a seat.”
Charlie exhaled with a bit of an unintended whine. “Sully, if Dane isn’t here…” Alex’s face popped in her head. He would be furious if he knew that they were meeting alone, especially after their conversation last night.
Sully shook his head as if he would not hear of what she was about to say. “Dane and I are very close. I assure you every word that you say to me regarding Sophie’s Choice will be relayed to him verbatim.”
“Verbatim?” she repeated, head tilting.
He cracked a smile, revealing perfect, pearly white teeth. “You do realize that I do this for a living, right?” His charm broke the ice.
Charlie gave in slightly. “Okay. Just as long as this meeting is on the up-and-up, then I can stay.”
Sully lifted his hands. “Completely on the up-and-up. I promise.”
Charlie narrowed her eyes on him. “Sully, your fingers are crossed.”
Sully looked over at his right hand and chuckled. She knew him better than he remembered. “Okay, let me rephrase. Most of this meeting is on the up and up. However, I will confess that I do have some private things to discuss with you that are not pertaining to Sophie’s Choice. But hey, it’s me. It’s Sully. Don’t I get a private moment?” His shoulders hunched up showing his amazingly toned trap muscles.
“Okay. I’ll give you that, but only that,” she said, hoping that it had to do with a bit of groveling. Her eyes widened behind her shades at the thought. Taking her shades off, she revealed her sultry brown eyes at just the moment she was sure that he’d be most captivated.
She wasn’t disappointed.
Sully’s smile dropped for a moment.
“Heeelloooo,” he said with finality as if he knew what was happening between them.
Charlie could barely speak. “Hello,” she whispered. Get a hold of yourself, she reminded herself quietly. You’re not supposed to be falling for him. He’s supposed to be falling for you, you klutz.
Sully cleared his throat. “So, let’s get the business out of the way first.” Clasping his large, manicured hands together, he lifted his brow. “Dane’s impressed with your organization.”
“Really?” Her business mind took over.
“Very. He is impressed with the mission of Sophie’s Choice and impressed with the leadership, especially you. He wants to donate a substantial initial gift that will help single mothers return to or go for the first time to college in the New York City area.”
Charlie nodded. “How much are we talking?”
Sully didn’t blink. “One million dollars.”
Exhaling loudly with a clever grin, Charlie sat up in her seat. “How do you say no to that?”
“You don’t.”
Charlie wiggled a little in her seat. “Well, what’s the catch?”
“There is no catch. He wants to meet later next week to make it official.”
“Sure. We can come to him, or we’d love to have him back here in New York.”
“Sounds good. I’ll let him know.”
Charlie paused. “Wait. It’s never this simple. In this economy, one hundred thousand dollars is hard to come by and your friend wants to give away one million?”
“I get that, but it is what he wants to do.” Sully could feel the change of energy from across the table. Charlie wasn’t buying it.
“How’s his company doing?” she probed, taking a sip of water. Her eyes were glued to him and his fingers.
“Doing great actually.” Sully looked down and took a sip of his own water.
“How are his private affairs? I mean, are they in order?” Her eyes narrowed.
“Now that you mention it, there is some news that is going to break pretty soon in the media.” He exhaled the “got me” sigh.
“Like what?” Charlie asked.
Sully swallowed hard, bobbing his Adam’s apple as he did. “Like…like a few kids that he has fathered who have not been properly supported in the past. But I assure you that he didn’t know about them. His gatekeepers are responsible for the communication break-down. They didn’t believe the girls and their stories.”
“How many kids?”
“Four.”
“Wow, Sully. This is damage control,” she said outraged. Suddenly, his gift sounded and smelled like a bribe.
“Dane is prepared to face this head on and to show his commitment to fixing the problem; he is not only going to take care of the women, but also he wants to make this gift to your organization.” He tried to remind her of the bigger picture, but she was all tunnel vision at the moment.
“Why give to us instead of the Women’s Foundation?” She pulled out a notebook from her purse.
“You’re actually turning away money?” Sully asked with a huff.
“No.” Charlie pursed her lips together and thought long and hard for a moment. Tapping her finger on the table, she finally rolled her eyes. “What’s the catch, Sully? Outside of the gift and the situation, he must want something in return. What is it?”
“Maybe he wants you to come out with your public relations team real hard on this during the same time that the stories about his four baby mommas hit.”
“And by hard, you mean what?”
“News releases, air time and a few print media pieces. I have it on good authority that the organization is going to announce you as the new prez next week. You’ll be all over the papers. One of the youngest major non-profit leaders in the city. The media will eat it up if you’re tied to Dane’s story. You could single handedly turn this around by pubbing the one-million dollar gift and using it as a call to action for others. Plus, he’d be in your debt forever, and he’s a good guy to have in your corner. He knows everyone. Can you imagine having him call and ask for money on behalf of you and your organization? Who would say no to him? He’s New York’s golden boy. He’s like one of the freaking Yankees.”
Charlie sucked her teeth. “I can’t say yes to this without talking to my board. They need to be aware of the fact that this gift comes with a serious, dark-ass shadow. They may not want it considering the bad press that might be attached to it. Bad press with the gift means bad press attached to Sophie’s Choice, and we’ve worked too hard for that to happen. If it were any other guy, it might not be a big deal, but Dane has branded himself as the face of the new billionaire. Everyone loves him because he pulled himself out of poverty and turned himself into what he is. I have saints who give one million without any bad press.”
Sully knew where she was going with this. Raising his hand, he picked up his phone and stood up from the table. “Give me a minute.”
As she watched him walk away, she sank down into the booth. Was she really possibly turning down one million dollars? Was she freaking crazy? Still with what Dane was attaching to the gift, she had to push for more.
Sully returned quickly and slid back into the booth. “Two million dollars today. We want you to break the news as soon as we give you the nod. Now, we know your public relations team is on point and the news will break about the women here first because all four women are here in New York.”
“Oh shit,” Charlie said, scratching her head. “How old are they?”
“One Cuban, one African-American, one Italian and one screaming Irish redhead. All of them are around 25. Two of them
got pregnant on the same night, nearly at the same time.”
Charlie was lost for words. Gawking, she coughed out, “How is that even possible?” Suddenly, she couldn’t breathe as she tried to push out the image of Dane screwing like a wild animal in some high-end hotel room.
“Should I even give you the details?” Sully asked with a naughty smile.
Charlie exhaled loudly. “Unfortunately, since we are taking a gift as a result of the details, then yes. I guess that I’ll just have to hear about it. Besides, I would hate to hear it on E! later.”
“You have a point. Okay. Dane has a bit of freak in him. I call it the celebrity syndrome. You see, he can’t just have sex with one woman. In fact, sometimes, he can’t just have sex with just two women. It started when he played ball in college and was introduced to the whole group thing, and basically, it just never went away. Unfortunately, with situations such as these, the byproduct of a threesome can be…kids. Plural.”
“But how did he impregnate two women at one time?” Charlie grilled.
“Oh, it wasn’t at the same time. It was the same night, different session, same girls, just different rotation.”
“Well, that’s simple enough,” she said sarcastically.
“I thought you’d understand,” Sully said with a chuckle. She was taking it better than he had expected.
“Doesn’t he know about protection? A condom would definitely have prevented the situation all together.” In her mind, she knew that she would never see him again without thinking of large amounts of sperm.
Sully put up his index finger and narrowed his eyes. “Here’s the super personal part. He handpicks the girls in advance, has them screened for STDs, then sets up the times because he hates using condoms. He said something about being allergic.”
“They make special condoms…” She stopped herself. Why bother?
Sully seemed unmoved, obviously because he was all too familiar with his friend’s fetish. “Some men just like to go raw.”
“Ugh.” She shook her head. That was too much.
“What?” He shrugged with a laugh. “We used to…go raw.”
Charlie blushed involuntarily. “We were monogamous.” She tilted her head. “Weren’t we?”
“How can you even ask that? See, that’s why I hate to discuss Dane’s situation. After hearing it, a woman completely thinks all men are dogs.”
“I thought that well before you told me about Dane,” she said with a wink.
That cut Sully’s hopes down a bit. He redirected. “I never was a dog with you.”
“But you admit to being a dog at some point, with some woman, right?”
“Why would I admit to something like that?” he felt himself digging a deeper hole for himself but was determined to dig himself out. “I was in love with you. I would have never done anything like that to you, with or without your consent.” That was a completely true statement whether she knew it or not. He only hoped that she believed him.
For some reason, that small confession made Charlie feel so much better, and even though she tried, she could not hide the light in her eyes. So, she settled for rolling them. “Loved me…yeah right.”
There was no need to beat a dead horse. Sully knew that he had turned the corner with her. The tug of her lips at the corners let him know that she thought a great deal higher of him than she put on. Success was imminent.
He took another sip of his martini and wiggled down in his seat. “So for two million dollars, can you get the board of directors on the line for an emergency call on a Saturday?” Sully waved over the pudgy purple-haired waitress who was lingering a few booths in front of them. “Ma’am, we’re ready to order.”
“Be with you in a sec,” she said, sending a text message on her phone.
Sully cracked a smile. “You gotta love New Yorkers, right?”
***
Two hours, a dozen oysters, one rib eye steak and two million dollars transferred later, Sully and Charlie sat exhausted in the back of the restaurant with their I-phones nearly dead, napkins written all over with strategies and numbers and plates and glasses surrounding them. The consensus between the two was that it had been a productive meeting, well worth the time.
Sully had defended his friend’s position and encouraged the board to support Dane based mostly on his highly regarded recommendation, and Charlie had proven that she was the person for the job of President.
With everything etched in concrete mostly, there was nothing left to do but focus on each other.
Trying to let loose a sly burp from too much soda, Charlie rested her head back on the booth and looked up at the dim light. “Well, that was exhausting,” she said, pushing her feet up out of her shoes. The immediate relief of pressure off of her big toe was delicious. Dazed off in a sense of calm, she almost forgot that her ex was sitting across from her.
Sully concurred with a half-nod before he buried his head in his hands. “Tell me about it.” He had just brokered a deal and busted his ass in the name of friendship just to arrive at this point. And while he did have an ulterior motive, he would definitely let Dane know that he owed him big time later.
Raising his head just an inch above his fisted hands, he looked across at her, eyeing her long, swan like neck and the mole just above her collar bone. Suddenly and without control, his mouth began to water. Thoughts of what it would feel like to be able to slink up against her, wrap his hands softly around her ebony skin and gently lap at her neck until she collapsed into his hands began to fill his head.
He remembered a time when that would have been possible, when she would not have fought him at all. But seven years later, his mildly innocent little butterfly had immerged from her cocoon as a grown, very intimidating woman with jaded undertones and an ice cold façade. Sully could only blame himself. The way that he had left her was deplorable by all measures of the word, yet here he was trying to redeem himself for his own selfish reasons…again.
“What are you thinking so hard about?” Charlie asked, raising her head back up to stare directly at him.
A growl preceded the truth. “The next part of our meeting,” Sully answered.
“That’s right. You had some sort of a personal issue to discuss, right?”
The way that she said it sent a chill down his normally steel spine. Sitting up, he stretched his long legs until they hit her booth and yawned. “You could say that.”
Charlie waited.
Sully scratched the back of his neck. A tale sign that Charlie recognized. Catching himself, he pulled his hand down and planted both elbows on the table. Knitting his brows, he laced his hands together and gave her his most serious glare. “You know that I’ve never stopped thinking about you.”
Great fucking intro, idiot, he admonished himself quietly. “What I mean is that what happened between us has forever stuck with me. It shaped me in a lot of ways.”
Charlie’s face was still blank, but she did at least blink at his last statement.
“I’m at a special place in my life where I’ve made the money, made the contacts, made the difference that I wanted to make. But I’m still hollow,” he said, touching his chest.
You mean shallow, she thought to herself. “Did you come here to ask forgiveness?” Charlie interrupted.
“That and…” Sully took a deep breath. Shaking his head, he gave a nervous laugh, revealing the dimple in his cheek. “What I’m about to say…you just don’t hear every day.”
“Spit it out, Sully,” Charlie huffed. She couldn’t let on, but the anticipation was killing her.
“I’ve recently realized that the one thing that I’m missing in my life is a family, but you know my background. My mom ran off; my dad basically crumbled behind closed doors and has spent the rest of his life working like a robot. I have serious trust issues…”
“Blah, blah. What is it, Sully?” Charlie pushed harder.
“Wow, you don’t make it easy on a man, do you?” he asked, bucking his eyes.
/> “What man has ever made it easy on me?” Her eyes narrowed.
Sully had to admit that she had a point, but her statement could not stop him. After all, he had not come this far just to be verbally castrated. “The point is that I’ve recently visited a fertility clinic in D.C. about having a child. I want to skip the bat-shit crazy wife, the chaotic divorce and focus on the kid.”
Charlie suddenly slouched in her chair. “What?” she said aloud before she knew it. “What does that have to do with me?” The confusion on her face spoke volumes.
Again with a nervous laugh, Sully lifted his finger. “Funny you should ask.” He cleared his throat. “My very good friend runs this clinic. And I’ve told him about my very, very unorthodox plan and he’s agreed to help me.”
“What? You can’t have kids?” she asked, looking down at his crotch.
Sully looked down in between his legs and frowned. “What? No, my reproductive organs work just fine,” he said, bringing her back to his point. “I need eggs.”
Charlie blinked hard. “You need…eggs?”
“I have several viable hosts, and obliviously, I have the sperm, but I need eggs.”
“And how do I fit into this equation at all?” Charlie asked with a serious scowl. This is not the discussion that she had been planning for all day. This was something completely different, almost Twilight Zone in nature.
“Not just any eggs. I wanted it to be with the most special woman that I could find. Luckily, I already know her…well.” Sully moved his hand closer to hers.
“Well, who is she? Do you need me to call her?” Charlie asked, barely able to follow his wild story. She moved her hand back.
“It’s you, Charlie. I want you to be the mother of my child.”
There was a long silence married with an intense pause before Charlie grabbed her purse and pulled herself out of the booth. “This conversation is over,” she said, shaking her head. Oh my gosh, he’s crazy, she thought to herself. Stalk-raving mad!
“Charlie!” Sully called out as he watched her walk away. “Charlie! Shit!” he said, throwing down three hundred dollars cash on the table and bolting after her.
The Contingency Plan (The Lonely Heart Series) Page 5
