“Mm! Bacon and eggs! You even have a parfait for me. How did you know I like those things?” He said to me with a huge smile after he took a whiff of his breakfast.

“I don’t know. Lucky guess. Most guys aren’t super picky eaters” I said with a laugh as I put my arms around him from behind and held him for a few seconds.

I sat down at my kitchen table and watched him take a sip of orange juice. He started chomping on his breakfast and I just watched him and smiled. Isn’t it amazing how a person becomes so loved within such a short period of time?

After he finished with his breakfast, he focused on his cellphone. I didn’t know what he was doing, but he stayed on it for quite a while.

I think the stereotype about CEO’s, is that they stay on their phone for a long time, and flap their gums about business stuff. That sounded like what Tyler was doing. I’m pretty sure because he kept mentioning ‘capital’ and ‘investors’. But, what was he talking about?

He was just fired from his job, so maybe he was looking for ways to invest his money to make income. He had money in the bank (at least I think he does), so he’ll probably be okay for a while. Still, that money will eventually run out, and he’ll need an income stream.

That’s especially true for someone who wants to maintain a certain lifestyle. To be realistic, I doubt a corporate CEO would demote himself from having a mansion down to a one-bedroom apartment. A fight for income would transpire, and hopefully, he would be victorious.

He was on the phone for twenty minutes straight, and he wouldn’t hang up. I finally got sick of guessing what he might be doing. I didn’t verbally interrupt, but I looked at him and shrugged my shoulders. I basically said: “what’s going on?” without uttering a word.

“I tell you what Steve, I’ll call you back after I give it some thought and strategize.” He clicked off the phone and smiled over at me. That’s another thing that was different. He got some glee into his eyes. How could a recently fired and disgraced CEO have glee at a time like this?

He cleared his throat and relayed to me his plan to make things right. “So, I’m going to get my job back. I’m excited because I think I might be able to pull it off.”

Naturally, I didn’t see how. A common folk, middle class girl like me doesn’t always understand top-notch business strategy. I think he knew that, because he explained what he was planning to do. “How is that possible? Are you going to beg the board for your job back?”

“No, of course not. I’m just going to fire them. That’s the easiest way to put it” he said with a smirk and playfully rubbed his hands together. He looked like a little kid who was plotting something naughty.

I raised only one eyebrow and lowered the other. It wasn’t connecting or sticking. “How could a fired employee get rid of the entire board? I don’t get it.”

He laughed at me and kissed me on the cheek as he leaned over the table. “I, personally, cannot fire the board. But a team of people could. You see, REIT is a publically traded company, which means anyone can purchase their stock. If we can secure at least 51 percent of their stock, the board is fired and I’ll get a new one.”

That sounded incredibly expensive. I was right to make that assumption. “Well, how much is that going to cost?”

He cleared his throat and opened his eyes widely. There was a huge number coming. I could feel it. “At least a few hundred million dollars.”

I put my left palm up to my face, and shook my head just a little bit. The shaking was probably barely enough to notice, but my disbelief was easy to notice. “But, you don’t have that much money, so how is that possible?”

He pushed out his dining room chair, and turned his body to walk over to the kitchen sink. He ran some water over his plate to rinse it off. Despite the noise of the water, I could easily hear him because I was being very attentive. “You’re right. I don’t have all of it. I do, however, know some wealthy investors who I can team together to come up with that much money.”

I watched him open my dishwasher, and load the ceramic plate into it. He closed the door and I continued the questioning. “Okay, I’ll play devil’s advocate. Let’s say that you talk to the investors. What is your argument about how it will benefit them to come up with huge sums of money to buy the company? I mean, do you really think they would invest millions just to be nice to you? Even if they agree to do it, how will it benefit them? That’s the problem that I’m seeing.”

He returned to his chair to straddle it as he put forward an important piece of the pie. “That’s easy. I made the company very rich and successful. If the investors already have stock in the company – which many of them do – I can convince them that the company will flounder, and they’ll lose money if I don’t regain my job.”

His corporate brain was already in full tilt. I could see his plan working, and accomplishing great things. I was ready to stand by his side and help him if he wanted me to. “So, what’s first? What are you going to do now?”

He tilted his head to the side and flung around his palms. “I don’t really know. I’ll think about it and keep you apprised.”

“Gee, I’m sorry I wasn’t able to meet him this weekend. On the rare occasion that I leave town to visit family, you bring in your lover. Darn it!” said my agitated roommate when I told him that Tyler was there.

I had talked about Tyler before, and he was hoping that Tyler and I could work things out. He’s the type of guy that is emotional and caring, and he had long wanted me to find a lover. When I would date a guy and it didn’t work, he would get depressed.

“So, you mentioned he’s unemployed, though. What’s the deal with that?” he said with a follow up squeezing of his nose.

I smirked and then cleared my throat. For a few seconds, I was disappointed that I found humor in it. I shouldn’t have, because my lover losing his job was no laughing matter. In fact, it was the exact opposite of that. “Well, he was fired from his last job – but it was unjust and wrong.”

“Uh…Okay. What happened?” he said in a skeptical voice that was slurry and slow.

“Well, the board of directors fired him. They found out that he had been having sex with at least one person who is a prostitute. He did…” I explained slowly before he cut me off.

“This guy is sounding like trouble already. Are you one of those girls that is attracted to the bad boys?” he said while he laughed over at me.

I got a little mad when he said that. That wasn’t true. I don’t like bad boys. I’m just attracted to alpha males. Tyler was a major alpha male – because he was the CEO of a business that made millions. “No, just listen to me. The board said that they didn’t like the image he was putting on the company, so they fired him. They also found out that he and I had a fake relationship to make him look better. That meant that they cancelled doing a contract with my company, too.”

He burst out a few loud and energetic laughs at me. “Good grief, Maya. That is the most fucked up thing I’ve heard in a long time. Are you sure you’ve in love with this guy?”

Right after he said that, my phone started ringing. “One sec” I said to him as I answered it. It was Tyler. I was glad to hear from him. “Hi baby. What’s up?”

He brought on some news. To put it lightly, we needed some. The last few days had been just a little rough, so I was glad. “I actually bought a condo over in Seattle, and I need you to decorate it. As such, you’ve got a job you can do.”

I was both excited and nervous about the future. I didn’t know what to think or expect. He didn’t mention anything about his share purchasing plan, so I didn’t know if that fell through. I clung onto some hope though. Maybe he was just waiting to hear back from investors. Maybe, we would have a chance.

The End for Now…