Chapter1
Golden sunlight streamed down onto the city by the bay, the sea water glistened as it moved in between Oakland and San Francisco, and the windows of the tall buildings shimmered in the light. There was a soft, silent fog rolling in over the edge of the city from the ocean, consuming the fiery bright Golden Gate Bridge until it vanished in the mist.
She stood at the open window of her office, her arms crossed over her chest, her eyes taking in the scene of the bay before her. She could taste the salt in the air on her lips, and she smiled. It was like breathing in the sea itself, and there was little that she loved more than the city she lived and worked in, and the sea that surrounded it.
The door of her office opened, and she was so lost in the moment and in her thoughts that she didn’t hear it. A woman slightly younger than her cleared her throat. Raina turned with a slight start and blinked a little, smiling suddenly.
“Willow! I’m sorry. I didn’t hear you come in.” She stayed where she was, standing beside the window, as her assistant walked from the door to her desk.
“Is everything alright?” Willow asked.
She had pale skin and long wavy black hair that fell to her waist, though it was most often pulled up into a knot at the back of her head. Her name suited her slender frame and her easy-going personality. Her hazel eyes were fixed on her boss.
Raina King gave her a shrug. “Yes, things are fine. I was just… reminiscing. Wallowing in nostalgia, really.”
Willow tipped her head to one side gazing thoughtfully at Raina. “Really? What were you being nostalgic about?” she asked curiously.
Raina turned her head again and looked out of the window toward the other side of the bay, as if she was looking off into the distant past.
“I was thinking about the years that have passed. I was born not far from here, just half an hour outside of the city in a little three-bedroom house. I had a simple enough childhood; nothing more than middle class normalcy. I graduated high school and went to college and the university in Berkeley. I didn’t graduate top of my class there, but I did well enough.
“Now look at me… I got lucky. I just happened to be in Silicon Valley at the start of the tech boom. I just happened to have a few good ideas at exactly the right time. Ten years ago, I started in a small room with twenty people. Two years later I was a millionaire. Now I’m closing in on being a billionaire. It feels like a dream… like a whirlwind of fantasy that just isn’t real.” She mused with a half-smile as she looked out of the window over the bay toward the small town where she had been born and raised.
Willow gazed at her and smiled. “Well, you might feel like it’s been a wild ride, and maybe it has, but you’re certainly not that different. I think you’re just as humble as you ever were. You have a few eccentricities, but you don’t act like an almost-billionaire, and you didn’t just stash all that money away… look at what you’re doing with it! You’re an angel investor. You’re helping to change other people’s lives for the better! Not only in their companies, but by helping create and produce products that are changing the face of the world we live in.
“You are building the future. I always think of it like this… you were given a few great seeds, and you planted them, nurtured them, and now those seeds are mighty oak trees. You have acorns all over the place, and those acorns are sprouting and growing up into mighty oaks themselves!
“If it wasn’t for you, there would be so many people in different lives right now. You’ve created businesses and helped people get jobs… helped people make a huge difference in their lives. You’ve really done something for countless people; in fact, you’ll probably never know just how many lives you’ve touched.
“That’s something incredible, no matter where you came from. Maybe it’s even more significant because you did come from a meager beginning.” Willow’s hazel eyes shone with tremendous respect for the woman she was talking to.
Raina smiled at Willow. “Thank you. That’s always nice to hear. I certainly hope that it’s true. I consider it an obligation and a duty to take the money that I’ve made from the tech industry and sow it like seeds into the future… in the tech industry and wherever else it can grow and help.
I don’t know if there’s anything else that I could do with it.” She left the window and walked over to her desk, sitting in the chair behind it. “I’m sorry if I distracted you. What was it that you came in for?”
Willow laughed softly. “I came in to tell you that Aaron called, and he was hoping you’d call him back soon, if you can.”
“I’ll do that now, thanks, Willow.” Raina gave her a nod, and Willow left the room and closed the door behind her.
Raina picked up her cell phone and touched the speed dial.
The phone at the other end of line began to ring, but only a few times before it was picked up, and a man’s friendly voice answered.
“Well, that was fast! Hello, Raina. How are you doing?” he asked with a light tone.
“I’m good! I’m glad to hear from you. What are you up to today?” she asked with a genuine pleasantness. She was always glad to hear from him. Aaron Stewart had been one of her dearest friends since their days at college together in Berkeley.
“I’m working, like most of the rest of the city. I called because I wanted to see if you were free for dinner tonight. Are you?” he asked, sounding hopeful.
“I am actually,” she replied, looking down at the tablet near her elbow and double checking her calendar. “I was going to sit at home and watch a movie with Thai takeout, but having dinner with you sounds like a much better idea. Are we eating in or out?”
“I thought we’d eat out. I was thinking Antonio’s. I know how you like to be by the water, and if Antonio’s was any closer to the water it would be on a boat.” He chuckled at his little joke.
“I love Antonio’s! That sounds perfect! Thanks, Aaron. See you there at seven?” she asked, thinking ahead to the rest of her afternoon and early evening.
“That works. I’ll call them and make a reservation. See you there.” He said his goodbye and they ended the call.
She went about her afternoon, looking forward to the visit with her friend, knowing they would enjoy the time they spent together.
It was late afternoon when she left her office and drove home. She wanted to have time to change and get ready for dinner with Aaron. Her home, like her office, had a beautiful view of the bay, but rather than being able to see Oakland from her windows, she had a breathtaking view of the Golden Gate Bridge from the windows on two sides of her house.
It had cost her just less than a king’s ransom, as it was the first thing she had bought with her newfound fortune a decade earlier, just at the beginning of the tech boom, right before the cost of real estate in San Francisco vaulted through the stratosphere. It was worth seven times as much as she had purchased it for, at least on the market. On a personal level, it was priceless to her.
It was a bi-level home with several windows, and fireplaces in the bedrooms, the living room, the library, and the dining room. Each bedroom had its own full bathroom, and the ones facing the water had terraces or patios.
There was a heated swimming pool inside as well as one outside, and each one had an adjoining hot tub. She had a small theater room on the lower level, and a three car garage that held a red Jeep Wrangler, a Corvette, and a Camry she’d had for a while and used for commuting.
She’d thought about purchasing a luxury sedan, but she decided that for reasons of practicality, she would use the Camry until it had run its course and was due to be replaced. She saw no reason to use a new car to commute when the Camry did perfectly well and she already owned it.
Raina knew that it shouldn’t matter, and that she was probably the only millionaire in California driving a car more than five years old, but her down-to-earth and common sense ways had stayed with her when her life had changed.
She had been born to and raised by a family who valued hard work and sensible, practical lifestyles. She was more comfortable that way. She knew she’d get the luxury sedan at some point, but not until it was time to get a new car for the sake of needing a new car, rather than for the sake of just wanting one.
She changed from her dress slacks and blouse into a sweater dress and heels, shifting her appearance from that of a business woman to that of an elegant woman going out for dinner. Taking a look in the mirror, she decided to pull her elbow length wavy black hair up into a loose bun at the back of her head. She put a pretty clip around it and looked carefully at her makeup, running her long slender fingers over her cheeks.
Her skin was the color of dark chocolate, kissed by honey with a touch of cream. She had her mother’s excellent complexion and her father’s dark, kind eyes. Her lips were full and tender, looking to most people as if they ought to be kissed. High arched cheeks and an even brow gave her a regal and sophisticated look; one that many people admired.
Raina kept her body in good shape by working out regularly and doing yoga every day, like many of the people in the bay area and further south in Silicon Valley. She stood at somewhere over five foot six, but when people asked, she would say that she was five seven, albeit with a smile.
At six, she got into her car and drove to the restaurant, stopping along the way at a shop to pick up a small package. When she got to Antonio’s, it was a quarter to seven, and she wasn’t at all surprised to see that Aaron was there waiting for her.
She smiled widely at him and hugged him tight for a moment before she walked inside with him. They were seated right away, and after their drinks had been ordered, she reached into her bag and handed him the package.
He looked at her with happy surprise as he took it from her. His light cheeks turned a little pink as his green eyes flickered over her face and the slim package that she put on the table between them. She smiled at the way that he looked; he had kept the same fit form he’d had in college so many years before, and he still wore button up shirts with the sleeves rolled up to just below his elbows.
He still wore his strawberry blonde hair in the same devil-may-care way, hanging low over his brow as if it had been combed neatly at some point during the day and had somehow been windblown just enough to still look good without looking perfectly neat.
“What’s this?” he asked, his smile not at all hidden by the slight mustache and two-day beard that covered his chin and cheeks.
“It’s something you want and don’t have, which is a feat for me, and I want you to remember this.” She gave him a stern look with a smile; she meant it when she said she wanted him to remember it, and he knew it.
Without much ceremony, he pulled the paper apart and grinned silently at the case in his hands. It was a small record album; a one-hit wonder by a band in the eighties that no one could remember and no one could ever find music for.
He shook his head slightly and chuckled softly under his breath as he turned it over a few times, looking at it as if it were the sweetest and strangest thing in the world.
“How on earth did you ever find this?” he asked in a quiet voice.
She shrugged and took her glass of wine from the waiter who had just brought them their drinks. “Oh, I hunted high and low for months on end, and finally came across it. It’s definitely made for you.” She gave him a wink and a grin and he looked up at her and shook his head once more.
“Well, I don’t know how you found it, but I love it, and I really appreciate you getting it for me. Thank you.” He leaned over toward her and kissed her cheek gently. Giving the album one last gaze of adoration, he set it down beside him and sighed happily as he reached for his beer.
“So, how’s the business world going?”
“It’s good!” she said with a raise of her brows and a half smile as she set her wine glass on the table. “I’ve managed to fund a few new startups, and I think that a couple of them may actually make it! I hope so; they’re good ideas. They just need good leadership.”
Aaron frowned slightly. “Well, don’t you give them good leadership?”
She shrugged. “I give them some leadership, and some damn good advice, and if they don’t follow it, well, that means we all lose. I don’t send them out into the big bad world alone; no, they’re armed with all they’ll need, or I don’t fund them… I want a return on my investments, obviously, but all the same, things happen. Sometimes the wrong people get involved, sometimes the wrong decisions are made, and no one can ever really tell until it’s done. Sometimes it works like a charm, and sometimes it doesn’t.”
He gave her a sincere smile. “You really are the most practical person I know.”
“I try,” she answered lightly. “What about you? What’s going on in your world? Have you written the great American novel yet? Going to give Harry Whatshisname a run for his wand?” She winked at him and Aaron laughed once and shook his head.
“I doubt that I’ll ever give him a run, but I am working on a novel that I think will probably really make an actual real writer out of me. I’m only partway through it, but it’s something… you know, it’s going to be a good one. I think it’ll put me on a best seller list, anyway.” He looked hopeful and it was clear to her that he was speaking honestly.
“I’m so glad to hear that. How are things going with Cathy?” Raina asked with a good deal of care.
He sighed heavily. “Not as good as the book is going. She and I are definitely getting a divorce, and nothing is good about it, but we’re hoping to at least keep it amiable. I’m not sure it’s going to go that way. I guess we’ll see.”
She frowned and took his hand, drawing it to her. “I wish things had worked out for you two. You know, I was there with you in college when you met her, and I was there when you asked her to marry you. When I saw you two get married, I really thought that it was going to last forever. I did. I guess nothing is certain, and I’m so sorry about it all.”
Aaron reached for his beer again, looking down into the glass as if he knew that the answers to his problems weren’t at the bottom of it, but also as if he wished that they could be. “I guess people change. She thought she wanted a man with her for the rest of her life. I guess she didn’t know that she liked women until after we’d walked down the aisle.”
“Are you doing alright?” Raina asked in a gentle voice.
He shrugged. “I’m as good as I can be, I guess.” With a great sigh, he took a long draw from his glass of beer and set it down, looking back up at Raina with a raised brow. “What about you? You’re still not seeing anyone, I guess?”
She laughed thinly and gave her head a little shake. “No. You know me… always putting work before anything else. How else would I have gotten to be a forty-two-year-old woman with no husband and no kids and a ton of money in the bank? Aaron, you know my track record. I’m not good with guys… I’ve tried a few times, but… it almost seems like if I have any interest in a guy, it should be an immediate indicator that he probably ought to be in prison.”
Aaron let half of a laugh go. “Yeah… you haven’t been the luckiest in love.” He furrowed his brow, then and looked at her seriously. “Listen to me, though. I worry about you. You haven’t even really given it a try in years! What if you joined a dating service or something? You can’t keep living alone like you do. You should at least try to find some… some physical comfort. I mean… don’t you ever get lonely?”
Her shoulders fell slightly as she let out a soft sigh. “Yeah, I do get lonely, and I’ll be honest, sometimes I really wish that I had a love life, but… really, Aaron. What am I going to do with a guy? I have everything else in my life taking up so much time; work, and all my commitments… and besides, I don’t know anyone, anyway. Think of the people we know. Is there anyone we know who you think I should be with?”
He narrowed his eyes thoughtfully and after a long moment, he shook his head. “I guess not, no… but that doesn’t mean that you should give up, right? I mean… you’ve got so much to offer a good guy. You’re smart, beautiful, talented, funny… you’re a terrible cook and you have a kind heart. Plus… you are independently wealthy.” He held his hands up as a warning. “But don’t let anyone be with you for your money, I’m just saying you aren’t looking for a guy to take care of everything. Lots of other women are.”
She laughed a little. “Well, thank you, but I’m afraid it’s not quite that easy. Most guys my age are married and having new babies. The babies I have are startup companies that don’t keep me up all night and take just a little less care.”
Aaron leaned closer to her and glanced around their table subtly before he spoke with a slightly lower tone. “Then don’t find a guy your age. Go find a younger guy who isn’t looking to settle down yet. Find a guy who wants to have a good time and not get married or have babies. Find a guy who will… take care of your emotional and physical needs without disrupting your life too much. You do have a good life, and I’m not saying you don’t, but I am saying that I worry that you’re alone so much. You shouldn’t be, and I don’t want you to miss out on anything that you should have. That’s all. I’m just… looking out for you.”
She laughed more than a little then. “I know you are, and I appreciate it; I do.”
“Just… have an affair, or a friend with benefits sort of thing, or something, but don’t stay alone as much as you do. You are too amazing to be alone so much of the time.” He frowned and shook his head once, reaching for his beer again.
Raina reached over and patted his arm. “Listen, Aaron, I know you’re trying to help, and really… you’re a saint for even thinking of it, but I’m fine. I am. I’ve been this way for a long while anyway; I’m kind of used to it, if I’m going to be honest. I’m not even sure I’d remember what to do with a man if I ever did find one in my bed again.“I’d like to try to figure it out, but… if it doesn’t happen, then I’m not too worried about it. Things are good, and I really am pretty happy with the way things are now. What would I do with some young wild boy toy? I’d have to train him, and I don’t have the time or patience for that.” She chuckled and gave her friend a wink. “Thank you for worrying about it, though, and for trying to look out for me. I’m lucky to have you around.”
“I might sign you up for a dating service and not tell you, so if random guys start emailing you, give them a chance, and don’t kill me later if you find out it was me behind your dating profile.” He looked half serious. She started then and stared at him wondering if he might really be serious.
“Don’t you dare. I wouldn’t forgive you, Aaron.” She leveled her gaze at him.
He sighed and surrendered. “Okay, I won’t, but give it some thought, okay? Don’t wind up alone for too long?”
She waved him off and changed the subject again. “What’s your new book about, anyway? You didn’t say.”
Aaron looked as if he knew he had better let the subject go, and so he did, launching into a brief-turned-long description of his book and what he was doing with it. They enjoyed their dinner together for a few long hours, and then she hugged him and thanked him for the visit, and went home, thinking of several things, but his words of advice on her finding a lover stayed with her, somewhere at the back of her mind.
The next morning when she went into her office, she worked on various tasks including looking at offers from startup companies, and reviewing reports on current companies and their statuses. She sipped her hot tea and she glanced out at the blue and gray water in the bay. Now and then she found her thoughts drifting subtly back to the words Aaron had spoken to her, and the idea of having a lover; someone younger than her who wasn’t interested in getting married or starting a family, perhaps someone who was more inclined toward spending time enjoying a partner on a physical level, and the idea, like a sprouting seed, took hold.
At lunch, she tried to distract herself with reasons why it would never work and why it was the worst idea he had ever had. She tried to ignore the couples who seemed to appear everywhere, and who she had not noticed before. It was almost as if every ad that she saw in person or online had something to do with coupling, and by the time the late afternoon rolled around, she found herself chewing on her lower lip, wondering if perhaps Aaron had a point.
She ignored it one more day, or at least she did her best to ignore it, but by the time Willow was in her office making coffee the following morning, she was unable to continue to keep her mind on anything else.
“Willow…” she began, looking from the caramel colored hot liquid in her coffee cup, up toward her assistant’s face.
Willow was wearing her hair up as usual, but a strand of it had come free, and she reached her hand up and tucked it behind her ear as she smiled at Raina. “Yes?”
“Can I ask you a personal question, please?” Raina cleared her throat, wondering how to broach the subject easily and comfortably. There wasn’t actually an easy way around it.
“Sure! What can I help you with?” Willow asked, instinctively moving toward a seat before Raina’s desk.
Raina bit her lower lip a moment and decided to just come out with it. “A friend of mine mentioned some concern over my lack of a love life. It was suggested that I perhaps take on an… an affair. A lover… maybe someone younger than myself. Someone who isn’t interested in creating a family or having children. It seems like a kind of a big change for me…”
“Yes, that would be a really big change for you,” Willow replied, watching her closely. “Do you have someone in mind?” she wondered, her hazel eyes steady on her boss.
Giving her head a shake, Raina pursed her lips gently. “Not really, no. I mentioned that… that I didn’t know anyone, and it was suggested that maybe I could do a friends with benefits sort of thing… if there was someone, a guy… who would be alright with keeping things light. I just haven’t ever done anything like that before, and I’m not sure how it would be. What do you think? Do you know anyone who’s done anything like that? Has it worked out?”
Willow’s expression was thoughtful. “Well, to begin with, I think it might be really nice for you. You haven’t even dated anyone in a long time. It might be nice to get out and feel a connection like that again. As for experience with it, I do know some people who have done it and for some of them it worked out, and for others, it didn’t.
“I have done it myself a couple of times in the past; at least the friends with benefits thing, and for me, I had to be really strict about how it went. There had to be a clear understanding about the expectations before anything happened.”
Raina blinked at the slightly younger woman before her in surprise. “You did? I didn’t know that about you.”
“Well, obviously it’s not something I go around and advertise, but I don’t mind talking with you about it. Especially if it can be of some help to you.” Willow gave her a genuine smile.
Raina leaned closer over her desk toward Willow. “How did it work out?” she wondered, searching the other woman’s eyes.
“Well, I guess it worked out alright. We’re still friends. I wanted to be sure of that. He made the offer initially, and said if I was ever interested I should let him know, and I thanked him and left it at that. It was a while before I decided to take him up on it. When I did, I called him and we talked about it. I said that I didn’t want anything beyond the one-night stand. I told him not to call me the next day or for a while afterward.
I wanted to make sure that it stayed platonic on both sides. I didn’t want either of us to get hurt. Do you have a friend in mind for this?” she asked, holding in any further surprise, if she had any, and speaking as if they might have been talking about dry cleaners or garages where the oil in their cars was changed.
Raina sighed. “I don’t really know anyone who I could be like that with, but it sounds like it might be just what I’m thinking of.”
Willow rubbed her forefinger over her chin thoughtfully. “Well, you could always try it with someone who isn’t quite a friend yet… so you’d be making it clear that they weren’t a boyfriend, just a… a lover.” She was quiet for a minute as she considered it.
“You know, I did hear of an escort service the other day. One of my other friends was talking about it. I can look into it and see if it’s a reputable place, and then if you like the look or sound of it, you could check it out and see if it feels like it might be a good place to start. It seems like it could be; I think most of the escorts would be younger men, just like the type that you have in mind for this. I’ll look into it and give you an update when I find things out. Okay?” She offered Raina a bright and encouraging smile.
“That sounds good, thank you.” Raina nodded as Willow stood up and went to the door of her office. She turned just before she walked out and looked over her shoulder at Raina with a wink and a smile.
“I think this is a good idea, and I know it’s out of your normal bounds. I’m proud of you for giving it a try.” With that, Willow went back out to the front of the office where her desk was, and she closed Raina’s office door behind her.
Raina couldn’t help the slow grin and the giggle that bubbled up inside of her. She hadn’t felt as if she was doing something naughty since college, and though it was completely out of character for her, she had to admit that she liked the idea of it.
All that night and the few days following her conversation with Willow, she let her mind go where it would as she wondered about how it could be; who she might meet and what it would be like to have someone in her life that way. It would be strange and fun to have someone who was a lover and a friend, and nothing more. No commitment. No trouble, no emotion, no heartache, nothing but fun and laughs, and hot nights in between. The more she thought about it, the better it sounded to her.