by Roni Loren
“Friends? That’s quite a revisionist history there, Dad.” The guy had made grade school painful and high school a fucking nightmare.
“Come on. You can’t still be hung up on stuff that happened so long ago. So he liked to pick on you. He was just threatened because you were smarter than him and got more attention.”
Wyatt gritted his teeth. Childhood teasing he could’ve forgiven, but Andrew had upped the ante when they hit high school. When Wyatt had been chosen for a prestigious scholarship over Andrew, the bastard had retaliated by getting Wyatt’s longtime girlfriend tipsy at an after-prom party and then fucking away her virginity on Wyatt’s bed, making sure Wyatt walked in at just the right moment. Wyatt’s one and only fistfight had ended with a naked Andrew knocked out in the middle of the hallway.
“I want him on our roster.”
“There are other big players we can go after. We don’t need him.”
“We do and you’re going to get him.” His father stood and pulled out an envelope. He dropped it onto the desk. “Nancy in travel has already changed me and your mother’s reservations into your name. You need to let Nancy know who you’re bringing with you.”
Wyatt picked up the envelope and looked at his father. “Who I’m bringing?”
“This is a plus-one trip. Most of the events are for couples, so don’t be the asshole who shows up solo. And for God’s sake, don’t bring that woman you brought to the charity ball. She had about as much personality as a shoehorn. You need someone who isn’t going to be afraid to mingle and flirt. The prettier your date, the more the other guys will be interested in hanging around you two.”
Oh, this was getting better and better. What was he supposed to do, call up the rent-a-girlfriend-for-a-week service? He worked fifteen-hour days and most weekends. Like he’d told Kelsey, dating didn’t exactly fit into that schedule. He’d had a colleagues-with-benefits thing going for a while with a woman who worked in the building next door, but they’d stopped their Saturday night meet-ups a while back when she’d decided she needed more and had laid out an ultimatum for him. He didn’t do ultimatums.
But regardless of his father’s opinion, he would’ve been faced with the issue anyway. Because there was no way he was going to show up to this thing and face Andrew without some knockout on his arm. It was petty, but he didn’t fucking care. “I’ll figure it out.”
“That’s what I want to hear. Get to planning, son. You leave in a week.” And with that, his father headed out of Wyatt’s office, riding that high horse he so loved to be on.
Wyatt leaned his head back on his chair, tipped his glasses up, and ran a hand over his face. Part of him wondered what would happen if he stood up and walked out. Quit. The fact that his father would even consider giving someone else the CEO position was enough to tempt him to do so. He had enough money to live whatever the hell kind of life he wanted. He didn’t need to be here.
But even the thought sent a gash of loss through him. He loved his job and fed on the play of numbers, on the win of making the right decisions, on the high of knowing he had the answers where others couldn’t see them. This was his life.
If he walked away, what would be left? He didn’t even know who he was outside of this place.
No, he needed to figure this shit out. The socializing aspect of business had always been his Achilles’ heel, but it wasn’t an unlearnable skill. At least he hoped it wasn’t. He could figure out how to play the game. And if he had a beautiful woman with him who did have some social finesse, all the better.
And he had just the woman in mind.
That is, if he could fucking find her.
Wyatt picked up his phone and hit the speed dial.
“A call in the middle of a work day from the suit? Is the building on fire? Have zombies taken over the city?” his brother, Jace, asked, grin evident even over the phone.
“Is there such a thing as a workday for you?” Wyatt lobbed back. “Or do you just sit around while your staff waves you with giant fans?”
“Hmm, there’s a thought,” Jace said, something squeaking in the background. “I’m actually working very hard trying to get the lighting right on a display of high-end glass dildos. Important stuff.”
“Clearly.”
Jace chuckled. “So what’s going on? I know you didn’t call to shoot the shit.”
“How do you know that?”
“Come on, Wy.”
Wyatt frowned. Was he really that bad at the social thing? Even with his brother? Probably. Yes. “Remember back when I helped you out with the Diana situation, and you said you owed me?”
“Of course.”
“Well, I’m ready to take you up on that.”
“Name it, brother. If it’s in my power, I’ll do it.”
“I need you to help me find Kelsey LeBreck.”
Roni Loren wrote her first romance novel at age fifteen when she discovered that writing about boys was way easier than actually talking to them. Though she’ll forever be a New Orleans girl at heart, she now lives in Dallas with her husband and son. Visit her online at www.roniloren.com
