by Lauren Wood
I thought I’d save us both the discomfort of having to talk around him pulling away from me. I didn’t really want to be insulted with lame excuses anyway.
“Thanks.” He shook his head in long, slow sweeps before tilting his head towards Camille’s door. He hiked his thumb up in the same direction. “Boyfriend?”
“Trent? Oh, no!” I laughed. “Just a friend, and we’ve worked together a little here and there. He’s bored at his current company, and I heard through the grapevine that you were expanding your team.”
“You should have called me.”
“I was told Camille would be the one hiring for the finance department,” I defended, wondering why it mattered.
“Right. Of course.” His head dropped.
I wanted to shake him and ask why he was being so weird. That was the worst part about old friends losing touch. With some, you could meet up again and it was like no time passed at all. With others, it was excruciatingly weird with neither of you really wanting to admit the truth—that you didn’t have time or space for each other in your lives anymore. I never wanted that to be the case with Lucas, but apparently it was—whether I liked it or not.
“How have you been?” I asked finally, desperate to fill the heavy air between us with something...anything.
“Busy. I thought running my own company would give me more flexibility, but I guess that doesn’t apply to the founders of start-ups.” He smirked, rubbing his hand along the back of his neck.
His chiseled features had a new ruggedness to them—the kind of aging that men carry so well. It was strange to see that any trace of the once boyish Lucas I’d known had vanished and been replaced with nothing but pure, mature masculinity.
“You should have known better. Or reached out to me. I could have warned you.”
“I really should have,” he answered in a sincere, apologetic tone. “It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”
“It has,” I agreed, somewhat accusingly. “What are we doing? Come here.” I lunged forward to hug him, which I had resisted doing until I couldn’t stand it anymore. He tensed under the embrace, reminding me why I had stopped myself in the first place. We were obviously not friends like that anymore.
“Lucas, I’m gonna take off.” A familiar guy appeared over his shoulder. His dark eyes widened at the sight of me. “Victoria? Victoria Sloan!?”
I hesitated for a moment before I could place him. “Jack Landson! Wow. All of us together under one roof again. How crazy.”
“I was just going over some things with Lucas,” he explained as the smile faded from his face. Whatever they were going over hadn’t been good from what I could tell. “But I’m late to my next meeting. Sorry to rush off. Hey, Victoria...let’s get together and catch up some time.”
“Yes, absolutely.” I glared at Lucas as we waved goodbye. Jack and I had never been close and even we could consider a coffee or lunch without getting weird about it.
“I should get going, too,” Lucas said with a worried look.
I raised my brows at him. I could just let him off the hook, but I could tell something was wrong. The kind of thing you’d probably feel better after talking to your former best friend about...if he’d just give up and let that happen.
“Lucas...wait. I’ve got to wait here to show Trent out after his meeting with Camille, but...could we grab lunch today? Just a quick salad or something. I noticed your cafeteria downstairs looks pretty impressive.”
His lips parted as if he was going to try and give me the brush off...yet again. But then he stopped and let out a big exhale. “Yeah, actually. That’d be great. Meet me down there in a half hour?”
“Sounds great. See you then.”
I watched him walk off and couldn’t help but marvel a little at just how damn good he looked. All of his family’s troubles had done something for him, and it was a good change. Like he was less entitled and sure of everything. It somehow added to his handsomeness, which was already prominent enough before—always had been since he was a kid. He and all of his siblings were better looking than people had any right to be.
“Good,” I whispered to myself. “Maybe now I can get down to the bottom of why the hell he suddenly started avoiding me.”
2
Lucas
I was furiously tapping the tip of my pen against the mostly blank legal pad in front of me. I had scribbled one heading across the top—Ideas for Finding an Insta-marriage to Fix PR Fiasco. And, so far, had added nothing below it.
Not because I didn’t have any ideas, but because I was too preoccupied with thoughts of Victoria. I couldn’t believe I’d walked out and found her standing there like that—as if I had manifested her into the office. The moment I decided it was time to really let her go—there she was. It had to be one of the cruelest ironies the universe had dumped on me in my lifetime, second to our family’s financial ruin years before.
I heard a tapping at my door and looked up to see Camille showing herself in. “I want to hire Trent.”
“Yeah, so? You took it upon yourself to schedule the interview without asking. Why not hire him without my input, too?”
She shut the door behind her and sat across from me. “I interview people all the time without your permission. What the hell is your problem?”
“I’d just like some warning if you’re going to have old friends of ours dropping by is all.”
She wrinkled her face, shaking her head in confusion. “Why? Old friends have popped by plenty of times before, too. What’s going on with you?”
“I just haven’t seen Victoria in a while and it would have been nice to know she was coming. And you can hire Trent if you want, but I think he looks like a smug asshole.”
She leaned back in her seat, crossing her arms. “He has a right to be smug, with his experience and accomplishments, which is why I want to hire him. All I care about is how he increases our profits. I don’t really care what he looks like while he’s doing it.”
“Fine. As I’ve said twice already—hire him. Just give me a heads up next time you go meeting with one of my friends behind my back,” I snapped back.
“She’s a family friend, Lucas,” she groaned, rolling her eyes. “Any one of us has a right to meet up with her...especially if she’s providing a contact who could prove useful to the company.”
Without waiting for a reply, she stood and stormed towards the door—stopping with her hand on the knob. “And anyway, you should be far more concerned with your current social media scandal than about whatever meetings I’m conducting.”
The door slammed shut after she walked out. I looked back at my empty pad of paper, then to my watch. It was time to go meet Victoria downstairs, which was a ridiculously stupid thing for me to agree to, given the current state of things at Heartstring. But I could tell she was hurt by how distant I had been lately, and as much as I knew I needed to move on...seeing her hurt, by me no less, was not something I could endure.
I straightened my tie and jacket, and combed back my hair in my office mirror before strolling out of my office and into the lobby. I took long, slow, steady breaths to calm and prepare myself for our second run-in of the day. She was easier to take in when I knew it was coming.
Or so I thought until I walked into the cafeteria and saw her waiting there at one of the tables. Her long, graceful fingers were wrapped around a cup of coffee as she stared out the window. Her straight dark hair was pulled back into a tight, high ponytail and her hazel eyes were shielded by the black cat-eye glasses she wore while she was working—which was most of the time.
When she turned and noticed me standing there, I could almost see a flashback to a younger version of her staring back at me, smiling wide. She was cute then, but fuck was she hot now in her pinstriped black suit, tailored perfectly to her tall, fit body. Like a lingerie supermodel dressed up as a businesswoman for a photo shoot.
I immediately broke into a stride like I had just walked in, not letting on that I’d stolen a few mome
nts to watch her first.
“You came!” she said, sounding surprised. “I was almost certain you’d cancel again.”
“I hate to hear that I’ve left that impression on you recently.” I frowned, pulling out the chair across from her.
I looked over to one of the staff members behind the counters of food and nodded my head, signaling for them to bring me my usual. A salad with steak strips and a baked potato on the side. “Have you ordered yet?” I asked Victoria.
“I didn’t want to be left sitting here, eating lunch alone if you weren’t going to make it. What’s good here?”
I held up two fingers to the waiter so they’d bring a second order for her. “I’ve got you covered.”
“You’re just as bossy as ever, I see.” She smirked.
“You’re one to talk.” I laughed. “I doubt any of that’s worn off you either.”
“I guess that’s what brings us here. You don’t get to where we are without being tough and stubborn.”
Our eyes met and lingered, like they always did. Another reason I had made a point to stay away from her. That magnetic gaze triggered an instant spark between us—one that she seemed to be completely immune to, though the coyness in her expression always made me question that.
“So, if Trent’s not your boyfriend…”
“He’s just a friend, like I said. No interest there. I am still as single as ever. I’m too busy with my career to be bothered with men and dating. I’m actually considering freezing my eggs or finding a sperm donor.” She dropped it so casually before taking a sip of her coffee—as if she was mentioning stopping off at the store on her way home.
“Wow. That ready for kids, huh?” I swallowed hard, trying not to remember the countless times I had imagined us buying a big house together and starting a family—hiring a nanny for the kids, of course, since we both worked so much. It was the kind of scenario I could never picture with absolutely anyone other than Victoria.
“I do want a family...or to be a mother, anyways,” she answered slowly, staring out the window again. I could see a dreamy sort of look in her eyes, but she quickly sobered up and redirected her attention back to me. “But the complications of a relationship? No, thank you.”
I smirked to myself, thinking we were an even better match for each other than I remembered. Maybe even too alike for our own good. Wouldn’t that only make our relationship better? Two cynical workaholics, completely inept at love, making a go at it?
I cleared my throat and stiffened up, just as the waiter appeared with our food. Thank god for their timing, freeing me from Victoria’s entrancing spell, which she cast on me without even trying, just by existing.
“I appear to be in a predicament of the same vein,” I admitted, slicing into my steaming potato. “After everything we’ve accomplished with Heartstring, it’s my own love life that’s threatening to fuck it all up now.”
“I think I remember seeing a thing or two about that. I didn’t read into it at length. I try to avoid internet gossip unless it pertains to one of my clients.”
“Apparently, all these years I’ve spent watching our bottom line and maneuvering our growth, I should have spent finding a trophy wife instead.”
“So, it finally happened.” She grinned. “Lucas Meadows actually overlooked something crucial. I never thought I’d see the day. You can be more anal and meticulous even than me, and that’s saying something.”
“You don’t think that has anything to do with why you’re still single, do you?” I teased her sarcastically.
“I think it has more to do with my ninety-hour work weeks.”
My eyes darted up and down what I could see of her body behind the table. “But you’re still finding time to hit the gym, I see.”
“While you may prefer to work out in the bedroom, I find it far more convenient to take morning runs and, yes, hit the gym in the evenings. No awkward next mornings or obligatory dates you don’t really have the time for.”
Victoria knew all too well about my playboy nature. Most people did, which was what had landed me in my current mess to begin with. If she only knew the real reason behind my refusal to settle down.
“Well, you’re the PR expert. What’s your recommendation?”
Her eyes sparked up at me as she wiped her mouth and tossed her napkin down. Perching her elbows on the table, she interlaced her fingers under her chin. “Is this an official consultation?”
“More than that. It’s a job offer.”
“You can’t afford me,” she taunted.
“I can’t afford not to work with you this time around. It wouldn’t be permanent. I’m just proposing you come onto the team for a while to help me through this one bump in the road.”
As I said the words, I couldn’t believe what I was doing. It was torture to see and be around her while being unable to have her as anything more than a friend. But she was addictive like that, which is how we got so close in the first place. One lunch was all it took for me to get hooked again. Not only that, but she really was killer at her job, and if anyone could help me, it was her.
She laughed and shook her head. “The only thing that’s going to help you now is to find a wife, like you said. But that’s the one thing I can’t help you with.”
As if I needed that reminder. I groaned to myself. “That takes time, even if it is some kind of arrangement for public appearances. I’m not going to tie myself, my image, my family, my company...to just anyone. And time?” I stabbed my fork in the air. “That’s something you could help me buy from the media.”
She found this all to be incredibly hilarious, but I could see the wheels turning in her brain as she considered it. “A matchmaker who can’t find a match.”
“I don’t do the matchmaking. My app does. And anyway, that’s real clever. Did you steal that from the latest tweets about me?”
“You have to admit how ironic it is. No wonder people are blowing it so out of proportion. It’s funny, and people are always looking for any excuse to dog on love. Makes them feel better about being single.”
“Speaking from personal experience?” I quipped.
“I could ask you the same thing.” She took a sip of her water. “Have you thought about just paying someone?”
“Yes, in fact. That’s what I’m doing here. Offering to pay you to help me fix this thing.”
“That’s not what I meant.” She narrowed her eyes at me.
“I know what you meant, but you haven’t answered me. Come on. You were so insistent about us catching up. This would give us plenty of opportunities to do that.”
“Part-time consulting. No more than six months,” she decided after a moment. “I don’t expect it to take that long. You’re rich and hot. You’d have girls lined up around the city if you held auditions to find a wife. But, until you figure out how to go about it, I can help tame the social media beasts.”
I felt a rush of relief and dread. Relief that I knew Victoria would sweep in and calm everyone down while I found a more permanent solution. Dread because while doing that, she would send my libido into overdrive every step of the way.
3
Victoria
Lucas emerged from his dressing room in our backstage holding area. I was impressed by how good he looked when he really put in an effort. He always looked like a powerful businessman, even when he was just in workout clothes or sweats. Even as a teen, he’d somehow had that air about him—like it was in his blood.
But in his Armani suit with his hair perfectly styled, all while advertizing the most charming side of his persona, he was a knockout. I could see him breezing right up to that podium and slaying them.
“You look good,” I told him, straightening his tie just a smidge.
He grinned down at me. “I’ll look even better up there with you by my side.”
“You’ve been prepped on everything?” I asked, hating the lack of control. I hadn’t officially done anything as his PR consultant yet. His usual people sche
duled the press conference to discuss the company’s upcoming three-year anniversary, and I was just along to learn the ropes of how they liked to do things and get a more personal, up-close look at the company.
But as I stood inches away from Lucas, with him towering over me in his commandeering way, it felt a little too up close and personal. I took several steps back and cleared my throat.
“Shall we?” He waved his hand towards the entrance to the stage.
“After you.”
He gave his collar a sharp tug and set off with me filing in behind him. Cameras started snapping off left and right as he stepped behind the podium. I took my position a foot behind and to the side of him as he approached the mic.
“Good afternoon, ladies and gentleman.” He flashed that perfect smile of his that could make any woman, or man for that matter, swoon. The deep purr of his voice, rich like honey, demanded the attention of everyone in the room. “Thank you for coming today. My family and I launched Heartstring nearly three years ago with one purpose in mind...love. To help millions of lonely people worldwide find their soul mates.”
I kept my smile carefully contained while he spoke. Lucas Meadows didn’t give a shit about love and I doubted his siblings did either. They started Heartstring to save themselves from the financial shambles their father had left them in so unexpectedly. I didn’t hold it against them; they’d managed the whole ordeal better than most would.
But the problem was that if I was thinking those things...so were the reporters. I scanned the room, noting their sour, scrutinous faces. Like lions just waiting for him to stop talking so they could pounce. If I had written his speech or had a chance to prep the crowd, I could have orchestrated everything in order to avoid this very dilemma.
Lucas continued without skipping a beat, but I could tell the energy of the room was not what he was used to. Further into his address, it started to wear on his tone. His confidence wavered and he started to sound more and more dejected. He wasn’t used to playing a crowd that was anything short of head over heels for him.
