Mia left my office and as a result, I’d be worthless the remainder of the day. That was bad, because it wasn’t even ten. However, no matter how I looked at it, I had two choices: I could stay in the office and pretend to work or I could admit defeat and leave.

I finally decided to go. I wasn’t doing anyone any good and I knew if I stayed in the office, all I’d do was be a distraction to the employees that were working. Sure, I could pretend as if I was just checking up on them, but I’d never been one to micromanage and if I started now, the majority of them would tell me to fuck off. Or at least they’d think it.

Besides, I could always work from home.

I wouldn’t, but I could.

I wouldn’t be able to concentrate and work no matter where I went today because the truth was, I’d been an asshole and a bastard to Mia. Mia and her mom, Dee, had been on my radar for a long time. They were good at what they did and, as a competitor, I’d kept an eye on them.

I never looked into their finances, but I was always surprised they never quite seemed as successful as I thought they should be. After some time, I came to the conclusion they were doing what they wanted to do and even though I’d manage the business better if it were mine, it wasn’t and I should leave them alone.

I’ll admit it, a part of me dreamed about having Mia come work for me. I wasn’t stupid, after all. Mia was damn good at what she did. She had a personal touch with her clients that I knew my company lacked. Of course, she was hot as fuck, too. Her body was a temptation of soft curves and a sharp mind. Pair that with her deep brown eyes that missed nothing and long dirty blonde hair you could hold onto as you rode her from behind?

If she ended up working for me I’d have to stop visualizing that fantasy.

It wasn’t until her mother visited me at my office one day after all the banks had turned her down for a loan that I knew any details about Cross My Heart.

I shouldn’t have made the loan. I knew as soon as I heard Dee’s pitch that it was stupid to even think about it. But think about it I did. I told her to give me twenty-four hours and I’d give her my answer.

I did enough research into both Dee’s personal and business account to know that if I lent her the money, I’d never see it back. I wasn’t one to carelessly throw money away, but the truth was, I wouldn’t miss it. Not only that, but making the loan would give me something of a connection with Mia.

I looked into Mia’s personal finances to see that she was nothing like her mother. I wasn’t sure why she let her mother run the numbers part of the business. I doubt it was because she was better at it. Odds were, Mia hated bookkeeping and letting her mom take over freed Mia to do what she liked—making matches. I could hardly blame Mia for that, because she was damn good at it. Her track record proved it, even if her business account did not.

And yet, one thing still bothered me. Why did Dee need so much money? A quarter of a million was more than what they brought in annually. And it was much more than what they needed to run the business. Curious, I ended up digging a little more and wound up knowing all of Dee Matthew’s dirty little secrets.

Over the years she had managed to accumulate a lot of debt. And like many people do, she ended up borrowing money to pay back prior loans. After years, it snowballed and she started using business funds for her personal use, but she was good at covering her tracks. I had the impression Mia knew nothing.

In my opinion, what Dee had done was underhanded and dirty. You didn’t do things like that and not tell your business parter, much less your own flesh and blood. After Dee’s death, I'd feared I’d have to be the one to tell her about the loan. I put off going to see Mia for as long as I could, but eventually it became time for me to suck it up and do it.

I had planned on visiting Mia later in the week, stopping by her office unannounced, but she beat me to it. Her drive was impressive, especially considering how determined she’d had to have been to show up at my office so early.

Yes, I liked Mia a lot and finally talking to her face-to-face only served to further show why. She was more than the matchmaker behind her business, she was also brave and strong. Just talking together for the short amount of time we had was enough for me to see she didn’t let anyone push her around.

Although I was still a bit upset her first assumption had been that I would attempt to use the loan to sleep with her. I’d worked hard to have a stellar business reputation. One unmarred and without hints of impropriety. I would have thought my reputation to proceed me, but apparently that was only the case with negative ones.

Even so, the fact remained I wanted her at Bachelor International and I’d do damn near anything to make it happen.