Chapter 6
Matt
The convention was almost over and all Matt could think about was how much everything had not turned out the way he had wanted. Not in the very least.
When he thought of the convention a month earlier, all he could see was the bigger picture. The future of his company after he got the new software from the New Geeks On The Block. How he would have gotten new clients by the dozen. But when he got there, it was all different. Getting the software for his company was not all he was looking to acquire. Especially not after seeing Chloe. There was something about her that just seemed to bring out the young high school boy in him. It was like time had stood perfectly still just to allow them to meet again.
Suddenly, he could not see himself leaving Switzerland without getting Chloe back in his life. It was like life had given him a second chance with everything…but that was then. It was now the last day of the convention and all he could think about was how much he wanted to see Chloe again. For the better part of the week, he had not really seen her, except for the time she was making the Pittman and Associates presentation and it was like she had disappeared almost immediately after.
He had just walked into the main conference hall when he spotted a familiar figure.
Maybe Chloe…but he could have been wrong. He was beginning to think that he was seeing things. Lately every feminine body he saw seemed to have Chloe’s face. Maybe that was why he took his time before he approached the woman. It was not until he turned around that he noticed that he was not seeing things. He was indeed looking at Chloe.
He could not help but notice just how sexy she looked in a green sleeveless pencil dress and red pointy toed heels. For the first time since high school, he could see that she was spotting her natural curls rather than straighten them. It was a look he had always loved on her…but according to him, she could never do anything wrong. She could have been wearing a sack cloth and he would have still found her sexy. He began walking towards her as he straightened his jacket.
“Hey there stranger,” he said in a soft voice when he got to where she was.
She turned around and smiled at him.
“Hey,” she said. “Looking dapper as usual.”
“Thank you, but dapper? Is that a word you use often?” he asked and she shrugged.
“I try to blend in as much as I can,” she said, laughing.
“Blend in?” he asked and she nodded.
“For lack of a better word.”
“So, someone has been pulling a disappearing act on me lately,” Matt started as he looked at her.
“Yeah…sorry. It turns out there is so much more to do in Switzerland than I thought.” She secured her purse under her arm and shrugged. “Guess I should have been more prepared.”
“So the convention is not all that brought you to Europe?” he asked and she looked around.
“Actually, my boss knows that I have been working tirelessly to put the P and A name on the map.” She gently pushed a curly strand from her eyes. “I barely get any time to myself so I guess this is a good thing.”
“Maybe this is a good time to consider that long overdue vacation.”
“This week was vacation enough. Besides I already have a case waiting for me back home…well, technically, I already began working on it a few days ago,” she said.
“So, the rumors are indeed true, huh?” Matt asked and she raised an eyebrow. “You are indeed a true likeness of Olivia Pope, right down to the race.”
She smiled and shrugged.
“Well, people love comparing me to her and I don’t complain after all, I am a big Scandal fan.”
“Isn’t everyone?” Matt asked and she nodded. “Can I interest you in a drink?”
He noticed a look on her face, one that screamed a loud no!
“You know when I say a drink, I don’t necessary mean a shot of bourbon or anything like that,” he pointed out and she flashed him a smile.
“Alcohol never really crossed my mind,” she said, obviously lying.
“Coffee. We don’t really have access to a Starbucks out here but I know for a fact that we have world grade coffee here.” He looked at her and she shrugged.
“Actually, I happen to know that we do have great coffee right here in this hotel. Coffee from around the world…I’m sure if I could get a decent cup of Ethiopian coffee right here then I bet we can always get a latte.”
“Good. Then we should get a table or something.”
“Wait,” Chloe said raising an eyebrow over the other. “You mean right now?” she asked and Matt nodded. “But there is a session beginning in a few minutes.”
“I am afraid if I let you disappear in the crowd one more time, then I won’t see you again. Possibly ever.”
“Come on,” she said in a soft voice. “The world is not ending right his minute.”
“Well, with you it might as well be,” he said as he looked into her eyes. “You said it yourself, you already have a job waiting for you back home which means that once we are back in the States, finding you will be like pulling teeth.”
“Pulling teeth? Really?” she asked, smiling.
“Fine skinning a cat. Both terrible but I guess you can choose the greater evil,” Matt said smiling at her.
Chloe smiled and nodded. He knew what she was thinking. She was probably thinking of how right he was.
“Fine. A latte.” She pulled her purse right from under her arm. “But just for half an hour. I happened to miss out on most of yesterday’s sit-downs.”
“But you made your presentation,” Matt said and she shrugged.
“It was the only one I managed to make. I might have had a little too much to drink the previous night and…” she sighed. “Let’s just say I needed a long day in bed with plenty of fluids.”
Matt was smiling but all he wanted to do was probe her about why she felt the need to drown herself in alcohol. He would have preferred to talk to her and get everything that was torturing her out but then again, he was no longer the sad kid from high school who was a million levels of insecure.
“I’m sure there is a story behind that that I would really like to know about,” he said and she smiled.
“Trust me. You don’t,” she said as they began walking towards the hotel café. “Let’s just say that it has a lot to do with my new case.”
“Complicated?” he asked and she shrugged.
“You have no bloody idea,” she said. They walked into the café and he led her to one of the tables.
“Is it always like this? Complicated cases?” Matt asked when they sat down.
She put her purse on the table and sighed.
“I guess that is why people always come to P and A. We fix the unfixable.”
Matt nodded as their waiter walked over to them.
“Two lattes, please,” Matt said and the waiter nodded.
“So,” Chloe started when the waiter walked away. “You have been asking about me all week yet I still don’t know a thing about you.”
“There’s not much to tell, really.”
“Oh come on. I haven’t seen you in almost twenty years and you are telling me that there is not much to tell?” she asked and he nodded, still smiling.
“I am sorry to say that I am not half as interesting as you are,” he said.
“Oh please. Last time I saw you, you were this little scrawny kid with geek glasses and hair that made a 1990s Patrick Dempsey look cool.” She smiled. “So, tell me how that Matt Zimmerman became this perfect millionaire hotshot. Now that is a story I know will entertain me.”
“Billionaire,” he wanted to correct her but he didn’t say anything. “Short version or long version?”
“Oh please, if I wanted the short version I would have probably just Googled you. Forbes has a very interesting take on your life. Though they just focus on the professional, I couldn’t find anything on your personal life.”
Matt shrugged.
“I tend to prefer my private life private. It’s easier that way.”
“And why is that?” she asked.
“I love my privacy. It makes more sense to stay in the shadows rather than thrust myself in the limelight unlike one Mr. Pierre Savant,” he said.
“So, I take it you and Pierre Savant are not exactly good friends.”
“Well, let me put it like this. Zimmerman Securities was established years before SSL and I kind of felt like Facebook after Twitter became the new in thing.” Matt said. Chloe smiled and gently ran her fingers on the back of her hand. It was almost as if she was teasing him or something of the sort.
“So in this case you are Zuckerberg?” she asked and he nodded just as the waiter came back with their coffee.
“Yes and Savant is…” his voice trailed off. “Who even came up with Twitter?”
“Four people. Jack Dorsey, Biz Stone, Noah Glass and Evan Williams,” Chloe said in a soft voice.
“I don’t know whether I should be impressed or just…weirded out,” Matt said.
“Oh I have to know that. I kind of have every social media owner on speed dial.” She shrugged. “It comes with the job.”
“Seriously? Every social media site?” Matt asked as he raised an eyebrow over another and she nodded.
“You can put my theory to the test if you want,” she said as she took a sip of her latte.
“Okay. Instagram,” Matt started and she rolled her eyes.
“Originally by Mike Krieger and Kevin Systrom but developed by Facebook.” She leaned forward and he caught a glimpse of her perfect cleavage. “Come on Zimmerman. Give me a challenge. Stop making it so easy for me.”
“Alright. Flickr.”
“Owned by Yahoo as is Tumblr.” She shrugged. “It is a little harder to get them but seriously those two are not as big as their counterparts.”
“Fine. Pinterest. And you can’t tell me that Pinterest is not as big a deal as its counterparts or anything like that…” Matt started before she sipped on her coffee once more.
“Ben Silbermann.”
“How do I know that you are not just reciting some Wikipedia stuff you crammed earlier?” Matt asked and she shrugged before she handed him her phone. “What am I looking at?” he asked as he looked at the phone.
“Every contact I have just told you, it’s right there. In my speed dial list.” She crossed her arms over her chest and he would have done anything to tell her not to. She was pushing her breasts upward and it was driving him insane. “Check it,” she said and he scrolled down her speed dial. Sure enough, she did have every single person he had asked about. He looked up and handed her back her phone.
“You really have your bases covered, don’t you?” he asked and she nodded.
“Like I said, comes with the territory,” she said. “But again, enough about me, Zimmerman. Tell me more about you. What are you all about?”
Matt took a sip of his own coffee before he gently placed the cup back down on the table. He traced his finger on the rim of the cup before he looked up.
“Okay, I graduated from Brentwood and went on to Caltech. I was still a geek in college, in every sense of the word. And while working for a physics research firm, I started working on a code…and it was weird too since coding had really not been my cup of tea and before I knew it, I had come up with the most perfect firewall. I marketed that and got a good chunk of change which I later used as my company’s capital.” He took another sip of his coffee. “Initially, it was just a small security consultant firm but after I perfected another code, I realized that instead of selling codes, I could capitalize on it and maximize the returns.”
“And so you did,” Chloe said and he nodded.
“And so I did.”
“I don’t like to make assumptions or anything but am I to believe that there is no Mrs. Zimmerman out there somewhere?” Chloe asked and he frowned. “What? Sore spot?”
“Kind of…got really close to getting married. Twice.” He took another sip of his coffee and shook his head. “Let’s just say things don’t always work out the way we plan them.”
“Yeah I guess. I mean, look at me. I used to think I would be married with two kids by now. Probably living in a white picket fence neighborhood and everything,” Chloe said laughing.
“I cannot believe that was the life you pictured for yourself,” Matt said, trying hard not to laugh. The kind of picture he had painted as far as Chloe was concerned was the kind where she played Gabrielle Union’s role in Being Mary Jane, the tough independent woman. Two kids, white picket fences and a husband to hold her down was definitely not what he pictured for her. It was too…domestic a role to fit her.
“What? A girl’s got to dream, right?”
“Yes, but I always figured your kind of dream as the one that involved a fabulous lifestyle jetting around the world. Kardashian style without all the drama of course.”
She smiled and shrugged.
“Thanks for excluding the drama.”
“I didn’t think you'd want to be associated with that even though everything else you have is what they spend millions trying to achieve.”
Chloe smiled at him for a long second before she finally spoke.
“Is that your way of telling me I have a great ass, Zimmerman?” she asked and Matt felt a thrill run down his spine. She had hit the nail right on the head. It was almost like she could read his mind.
“I wasn’t sure if I was guaranteed a slap if I used those exact words with you,” Matt said smiling. “But then again, if I said no, I would be lying. But I don’t want to disrespect you either.”
“Hey, you just paid me a complement. I wouldn’t say that is a disrespectful move,” Chloe said matter-of-factly. “In fact, it makes me want to know this new Matt Zimmerman even more.”
“This Matt Zimmerman?” he asked as he leaned in. “What exactly do you mean when you say that?”
“Well, this Matt Zimmerman is totally out of his shell. It’s like the shy guy I used to know is completely gone,” she said. “You know I can’t help but wonder, what changed?”
“A lot. A whole lot.”
“Good stuff I hope…well it has to be good because I mean, this guy sitting in front of me is an everyday Brad Pitt,” Chloe pointed out and he ran his fingers through his hair, shaking his head.
“You still have a thing for that guy?” he asked and she nodded.
“Of course I do. Every woman…and some men have a thing for Brad. There might be new players in the game like James Franco and Jamie Dornan who only made it on the list because of playing the very hot Christian Grey but Brad is still hot in my eyes, thank you very much.”
“So, am I supposed to assume that you were not as disappointed along with the rest of the world when Jamie Dornan played Christian instead of Charlie Hunnam?” Matt asked and Chloe began circling her cup with her finger. She was obviously conflicted. “Let me make it simpler for you. Give a choice between Charlie Hunnam in all his Sons of Anarchy glory and Brad Pitt in his…well everything he has played in, who would you rather go for?”
Chloe took a long deep breath.
“I’d like to change my vote,” she said. “And by the way it is not fair to bring up Hunnam in this. He is on his own level of…every little bad thing I want to do to him.”
“So, if I told you that I am on first name basis with the world’s favorite biker…” Matt started before her eyes grew wide.
“You wouldn’t do that to me…you wouldn’t play such a mean joke like that.”
The tone in Chloe’s voice was one that he’d heard in many women. She had a celebrity crush…and a wild one at that.
“You know my birthday is coming up soon,” she said and he nodded.
“In a month and a few days to be exact,” he said making her raise an eyebrow.
“You…remember?” she asked and he nodded.
“The only time I never gave you a birthday present was the year you moved to Colorado and that was because I was saving the present for my grand promposal.”
“Wait, you wanted to ask me out to prom?” she asked and he nodded. “Can I ask what you got me?” she asked.
“No way. You want to see it, promise me that when we get back home, I get to take you out to dinner.”
Chloe leaned forward and shrugged.
“Dinner sounds lovely,” she said and he smiled.
“Deal.”
“You know this new Matt isn’t so bad. I mean, apart from being great looking and everything, he speaks his mind and actually uses hair products…” Chloe smiled and shrugged. “You are a straight up ten and that is saying a lot seeing that we are at a place where a whole lot of billionaires are flaunting their cash.”
Matt raised an eyebrow over the other as he looked at her and suddenly he had a fresh flow of energy and confidence. It was like his whole life had been building up to this particular moment. The moment when he finally became a person who she found attractive and she had said it herself.
He gently reached into his inside jacket pocket and pulled out a couple of bills. She was looking at him as he placed the francs on the table next to his cup.
“Are you done with your coffee already?” Chloe asked as he looked into her eyes,
“No, but I don’t really…” his voice trailed off. He did not really know how he was going to say what he was thinking. “Do you want to get out of here?” he finally asked and she frowned.
“What? But the convention…” she started and he sighed loudly.
“It’s the last day. Most people just attend because they don’t have anything else to do. Trust me when I tell you that we won’t be missing anything,” he said as he pushed his chair back. He stood up and held his hand out to her. “Come with me, Chloe,” he whispered and she put her hand in his. He helped her up and led her out of the café. He could tell from the way her fingers were tightly gripped around his own that she was either extremely nervous or just downright excited. He led her out of the lobby towards the elevators.
“Where are you taking me?” she asked.
“Somewhere we can be alone,” Matt said in a soft voice. He pressed the elevator button and looked at Chloe. He knew that she had a million questions but at that moment, he didn’t really want to talk. He just wanted to act. When the elevator doors opened, he stepped in and gently pulled her in after him. He could feel his heart racing as he waited for the elevator doors to close. They seemed to be taking longer than usual and as soon as they closed, he pulled her into his arms and she gasped in surprise.
“I have just one question, Chloe.”
“What is it?” Her voice was so low, it was barely a whisper.
“Back then, seventeen years ago. If I had asked you out to prom, what would have been your answer?”
“I would have said yes,” she said in a whisper and a smile played on his lips.
“Good to know,” he said as he pushed her against the elevator wall. He pinned her against the wall and brought his lips down claiming her own in one swift move.