Chapter Five
The bar was ten stops away on the subway. Usually, Melanie made an effort to avoid the subway at all costs, but she didn’t know how much longer she was going to be able to afford taking town cars and taxis. Besides, she didn’t have to do much more than walk two flights of stairs before she reached the street and there was the bar, right across from her.
Melanie took a deep breath before she reached the door, steeling herself for what was about to come. This hadn’t been a part of her long-term plan, but maybe it could be a part of the short-term? At least until she found her footing. Maybe meeting and working with Aiden Carmichael was exactly the thing she needed to start making a name for herself.
God, she hoped so.
Shoving her way into the bar, she found the place to be rather quiet. The lighting was intimate and the clientele looked wealthy. She easily spotted Aiden sat at a table between two women, who were bickering about something or other with their male counterpart looking unfathomably bored out of his mind. Every now and then, they would turn to him and attempt to get his attention. He would give them only a few seconds before he looked down at his watch and turned away again.
Melanie figured he needed a little saving. And since he had saved her…
“Hello, Aiden,” she greeted and he looked up, offering her a charming grin as he stood and reached for her hand.
“Miss Carmichael!” he said, shaking her hand, as the other two women looked on, jealous. “Thank you for joining me on such short notice. Ladies, do you mind? We have a little business to go over. You understand, don’t you?”
The blonde on his left sighed and nodded, standing up and slinging her purse on her shoulder. “Of course, Aiden,” she said. “Perhaps tomorrow you could make a little time for us, hmm?” Her voice became flirty as she batted her eyelashes at him, but Aiden didn’t look the least bit swayed by this.
“I’ll see if I can fit you into my schedule, Luisa,” he said. “Courtney.” He nodded at the brunette, who stood and followed her companion away from the table, before he motioned for Melanie to take a seat. “Thank you, really,” he said. “Those women have never taken no for an answer and something tells me that they’re not about to start anytime soon.”
“How do you know them?”
“They’re practically stalking me,” he informed her. “Ever since that first magazine cover I was on, they’ve been on my tail every time I so much as step foot out of my office. They think I’m one of the most eligible bachelors in New York.”
“Well, aren’t you?” Melanie asked. “I mean, you’re incredibly wealthy and successful, aren’t you? And you’re single. Unless, you’ve just decided to keep your relationship a secret.”
“Have you been Googling me, Melanie?” Aiden asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Yes,” she admitted. “As I do with all my colleagues and potential business associates, I Googled you so that I would get a better idea about whom I’m dealing with. You show up a lot in celebrity magazines, though there’s never been any confirmation that you were dating anybody. Nobody recognizable, anyway.”
“I’m not the type to live my life on page six,” Aiden said. “But no, I am not currently dating anybody, if that’s what you wanted to know.”
“Your personal life is none of my business,” Melanie retorted. “I don’t care who you’re dating. Or who you’re not, for that matter. I’m here because you said that you wanted to talk business.”
“And I do,” Aiden agreed. “But, first, I would like to know a little more about you, Melanie.
“What about me?”
“Well, for starters,” Aiden said, “What brings you to New York? The last time your father and I spoke, he mentioned that you had moved to Boston with your mother. Does she still live there?”
“Define ‘live’,” Melanie muttered under her breath.
“Excuse me?”
“Yes,” Melanie said. “My mother is still in Boston, but most of my investors live here and the building that I’ve had my eye on since my junior year of college went up for sale last summer, so I’ve been saving up to buy it. I even bought an apartment in Brooklyn.”
“Park Slope?”
“Williamsburg.”
“Impressive,” Aiden commented. “So you’ve had this plan in motion for a while and you made it happen. That shows a lot of commitment.”
“Thank you.”
“Why the interest in finance?” he asked, surprising Melanie.
“Why not?” she asked, bristling slightly.
“Is it just because of your father?” he clarified. “Do you feel the pressure to follow in his footsteps? Or is this something you’ve wanted to do on your own, without his influence?”
“Of course my father has influenced me, in some way,” Melanie said. “All parents are some kind of influence on their children, aren’t they? But, I spent a lot of time in my father’s offices when I was a child, so I got to witness, first hand, how he handled business. He taught me all about interest rates and social skills, and how to get investors interested and excited for your ideas just as much as you are, you know? It was one way we really connected with each other. And, as you probably know, my dad wasn’t the most openhearted guy. He was a good man, of course; he gave to charity and took young investors under his wing, but he rarely showed or even told me that he loved me, in so many words. It’s one of the reasons we drifted apart in the end.”
“And yet, you still followed in his footsteps.”
“Because I love the business,” Melanie admitted. “It would have been so easy to change majors to something else. To maybe go into law or medicine or something else that had nothing to do with my father—something that would, maybe, piss him off—but I realized that I wasn’t doing anything for him. I wasn’t going to school to impress him or to make him proud. I was doing it so that I could create a better future for myself. I was doing something that I actually loved to do. Something that I was really good at. And that was enough for me, even if it would never be enough for him.”
Aiden nodded in understanding. “Your father would have been proud of you,” he said. “He might not be a touchy-feely kind of guy, but you can bet that he’d be proud.”
“I like to think so,” Melanie said, with a soft smile. “He always did like to brag about how smart his kids were. I had to hear about the successes of my brother and sister for practically my entire life, though I never really got to spend that much time with either of them.”
“Why is that?” Aiden asked, looking genuinely curious.
“They weren’t really that interested in me. Or my dad, for that matter. I mean, they visited for some holidays and every year on his birthday, but they never really bothered to get to know me. I think that they were angry.”
“About what?”
“My existence,” Melanie laughed. “My mother apparently ‘stole’ our father away from Ann’s mom. My parents weren’t married until I was three months old, actually, so I’m technically illegitimate.”
“Really?” Aiden asked. “From the way your father spoke of you, I never would have guessed.”
“Well, after marrying my mother, I guess he figured that I was as legitimate as his other two kids, so there was no need to get into all that. Besides, I was the one that lived with him. The one that he saw every day, running around his big ol’ house. Maybe he grew to like me.”
“He loved you, Melanie.”
“I know that,” Melanie replied, but there was a touch of insincerity in her voice. Like it was a question and not a statement that her father loved her. “I just like to joke about it sometimes. It makes me feel a little better. You know, now that he’s gone.”
“How’s your life going, otherwise?” Aiden asked, trying to change the subject, obviously.
“Fine,” Melanie said. “Other than losing all of the money I’ve worked for, because of some damn loophole in my contract, I mean. But, otherwise, it’s going fine. I’ve got my apartment, which is paid up for a couple more months, and I could always get more investors, you know? I should be just fine.”
“So I take it you wouldn’t want to work with me?” Aiden asked, but there was a mischievous glint in his eyes.
Melanie narrowed her gaze at him. “I didn’t say that,” she said. “Though I would like to know a little more about you, Mr. Carmichael.”
“Such as?”
“Well,” Melanie hummed, “Where are you from? Who are your parents? What kind of life did you have before meeting my father and becoming his protégé?”
A shadow seemed to pass over Aiden’s face, but it disappeared so quickly that Melanie was positive she had just imagined it.
“I’m from New York,” he said, “and my parents are no longer around. Perhaps that’s why I felt drawn to your father, since I didn’t have much of a father figure growing up.” He shrugged. “My past is pretty boring, I’m afraid, so there’s no use in getting into it. I’d rather, as a matter of fact, get into the business of who took control of your company, because that, I’ve got to say, was a dick move.” Melanie’s eyes widened at the crass comment and Aiden chuckled. “Sorry,” he said, “but when I’m out of a business suit, I find it difficult to be too proper.”
“Don’t apologize,” she laughed. “It’s actually rather refreshing to hear somebody my father once knew say something like that. He had quite the potty mouth himself, you know.”
“Oh, trust me,” Aiden laughed, “I know.” He cleared his throat and held up two fingers for a passing waitress, who nodded back. “Now, as I was saying, I have no idea who pulled that move on you, and I’m not sure we’ll be able to find the answer anytime soon, but I can offer you somewhat of a mentorship.”
“A mentorship?” Melanie asked.
“Yes,” Aiden confirmed. “Like your father did with me? Taking me under his wing and showing me the ropes. I can help you learn from your mistakes and avoid repeating them or making too many new ones in the future. This one, in particular, could have cost you your whole career before it even started, Melanie. And I know your father would never forgive me if I didn’t at least offer you a helping hand.”
“To be honest, my father probably would have let me flounder for a little while on my own first, just to teach me a lesson,” Melanie pointed out, trying to keep the levity in her tone. She was skeptical about the hand that Aiden was offering, considering they had only just officially met earlier in the day, but she knew she would have been a fool to let an opportunity like this pass her by.
After all, her father had clearly seen something in Aiden Carmichael if he was willing to take the younger man under his wing. Her father didn’t usually concern himself with younger colleagues unless they had something very real to offer him. And, judging from his success in the finance world, Aiden Carmichael had been just the kind of investment that her father was known to make.
“Okay,” she said, holding out her hand. “I’m in.” Aiden shook it with a grin, the feeling of his large, soft palms kissing Melanie’s and sending goosebumps up the flesh of her arms. She bit her lip as she pulled her hand back and placed it in her lap, just as their waitress placed two glasses of champagne in front of them. “Where do we begin?” Melanie asked.
“Well, your first assignment,” Aiden said, “is to find an investment. Nothing too big. Something small enough for you to manage on your own. The more the risk, the bigger the fall if you fail, remember that. So find something that can make you money in the short term. If it’s a success, then you’ll start to receive bigger assignments.”
“And if it’s not?”
“Baby steps,” he said, simply. “Let’s just start small and work our way up.”
“Is that how my father did it?” Melanie asked.
“You’d be surprised.”
It was as good as a confirmation. Melanie shrugged and held up her flute, clinking it with Aiden’s glass. “Deal,” she said.
Aiden grinned. “Deal,” he echoed.
*****