Chapter 3

Will

I was no different than anyone else, and I fucking hated Mondays. This Monday was extra painful because I had a meeting first thing in the morning, and an extra stressful meeting at that. Then I discovered the client I had taken out to the event on Saturday was apparently not impressed with me or the company. My financial advisors were coming down on me hard since this client was worth a whole lot of money. I got on the phone with him and set up another dinner, one he wanted to have at four. I agreed, but as soon as I got off the phone, I realized I needed to figure out how to take care of Avery. He got done at preschool at three, which wouldn’t leave me enough time to take him anywhere. His nanny was still out of town, and that left me with only one option.

I picked up my phone and called Ella.

“Hey,” she said happily.

“Hey,” I said. “I need to ask a huge favor of you.”

“Okay, shoot,” she said.

“I have a four o’clock meeting and Avery gets out of school at three,” I said. “Is there any way you could pick him up from school and watch him until I get home? I’ll have the front doorman let you guys into the apartment.”

“Sure,” she replied.

“Thank you so much,” I said, letting out a deep breath. “You’re a lifesaver. I shouldn’t be home any later than seven or eight.”

“Awesome,” she replied. “I’ll feed him some dinner, and we can watch a movie until he falls asleep.”

“Perfect.”

When I got off the phone with Ella, I smiled, feeling so grateful she was home right now and I could rely on her to take care of Avery. I didn’t know what I would do without her at this point. Work had become so crazy and hectic. I thought about the other night, and immediately, Ella’s sexy outfit popped back into my head. Visions of her tight body and sexy, bouncing ass attempted to distract me, but I pushed through it, remembering I had other things to think about. This dinner needed my undivided attention, and that was exactly where I pushed my mind to. I was incredibly stressed over this, and I wasn’t sure how to convince the man to work with us.

I got through the rest of my day and then headed out for the restaurant where I was meeting the client. The entire ride over there, I was thinking about Ella, and this time I just rode it out. Maybe the distraction was better than focusing on my work situation, which would just make it even more stressful. That didn’t seem to be the case, though, since the more I thought about Ella, the more frustrated I became that I hadn’t had sex in forever and that I wanted something I obviously couldn’t have.

I had to admit that the frustration carried over into my meeting, but it was probably well deserved on the client’s part. He was incredibly arrogant, turning his nose up at everything as we went along. I felt like this guy was yanking my chain and wasting my incredibly precious time. The last thing I wanted to do was sit here with him when I could be with Avery. I needed him to start being honest about his intentions. I didn’t need any more bullshit or half-assed answers from him.

“Here’s the deal,” I said, leaning forward after ordering. “We have a seriously good contract to offer you, one we have never offered to anyone else. We are the top software investment firm in the country. You know that. However, this whole time you’ve just been skirting the issues, and I feel like you’re playing games with me. There is some serious potential in the products we have discussed as well as the companies that will be involved. I need to know if you’re even close to making a decision on this.”

“All in due time,” he said, looking around the room. “Have you been here before? It’s an interesting place.”

“Mr. Westhaven,” I said in a raised tone, “I don’t have time for these games. I went out of my way to plan that event on Saturday only to be dragged out after work today because you weren’t impressed. Although I obviously want you to be impressed with the company, whether you are impressed with how we wine and dine you isn’t my concern. I’m starting to get the feeling you had no intention of discussing business with me here and were just out for another free meal despite the fact that you are incredibly wealthy.”

“Well,” he said, pulling his napkin up and wiping his mouth angrily, “I cannot believe you would—”

“No. Enough,” I whispered harshly. “I’m in no way trying to insult you, sir, but you have to look at this from all perspectives. There’s a huge project everyone can pull off huge gains with, and I don’t think it’s time for pussyfooting around. I’ve always been direct with everyone and everything in my life. It has been a key factor in the success of my company. Even in the beginning, when people were telling me I was going to fail, I was direct and to the point. There is nothing to lose or gain at this point if we’re just going to run circles around each other, trying to play some song and dance. I don’t play those games like so many of my competitors do. I’m sure that has lost me money in the past, but frankly, it has gained me a lot of respect as well.”

I leaned back in my chair and folded my hands in my lap, feeling confident in my approach. The anger faded from his face, and he began to laugh, pulling his napkin back down in his lap. He sipped his drink and shook his head, still chuckling quietly. I wasn’t sure how to take it since all my dealings with this man had been filled with arrogance.

“I have to say, I like how direct you are with me,” he said. “So many people tiptoe around me, and no one ever wants to stand up to my bullshit. Well done, sir.”

“Thank you,” I replied, starting to calm down. “I’m sorry if I offended you.”

“No, no,” he said, waving his hand. “You’re right on one accord. I am a cheap asshole. I like saving money just as much as I like to make it. They always say that’s how the rich stay rich. We may make big purchases and investments, but we scrape together our pennies at every turn. When I grew up, I was a poor boy living with my mother in Hungary. We barely had anything. Then I came here and I built my wealth, but that poor, hungry boy from the village has never left me.”

“Have you read over the contract?”

“I have,” he said. “I did so before you even took me out on Saturday. And I do want to point out that your financial advisors were a bit off on their assessment. It wasn’t that I wasn’t impressed with your event. It was that I wanted to see some gusto from you before I agreed to invest that kind of money into something. I’m more than aware that this project is a win for everyone involved. I just needed to know you were the man to handle it.”

“So you were waiting for me to fly off the handle?” I laughed. “Well, sir, you came to the right man. I didn’t create this company without stepping on some toes, and some feelings for that matter.”

“As long as you stay a wolf like you are right now, I can’t see anything happening to my money except growth,” he replied. “People don’t realize it takes a bit of balls to be successful in business, and you have those balls. I had heard of your reputation, but I was just waiting for that man to surface.”

We talked through the rest of dinner, about the deal, about the company, and about private matters that had nothing to do with business. I ended up liking the old fool and his willingness to take risks when it came to how he handled business and money. I realized that while he was looking for gusto in me, I was pretty much looking for the same thing in him. I was glad I had decided to bring him back out.

“So,” I said after paying the bill, “can I go back to my people and tell them we have a deal?”

“I would be stupid to turn you down.” He smiled. “I’ll have the contracts signed and sent over tomorrow.”

We shook hands and parted ways. I felt like I was back in action again. It had been a long time since I’d landed a difficult client, and it lit a fire under my ass. When I got home, Avery was already in bed and Ella was sitting on the couch, waiting. She stood up and smiled as I walked through the door.

“Well, how did it go?”

“The client is more than happy to be involved in my project,” I said, smiling.

“That is so great,” she exclaimed. “Congratulations! We should do something to celebrate. I’ll pull out the cheesecake I made for Avery and me.”

I smiled as she walked into the kitchen. Then I walked over to the mantle above the fireplace and looked at the pictures of Megan, Avery, and me from what seemed like a lifetime ago. Megan would have been so excited for me, pulling out the champagne and wanting to hear every second of the meeting. She may not have been in the industry, but she’d been there from the start, so she would have understood exactly what was riding on this project. She had always been my biggest cheerleader. Just thinking about her was forcing a dark mood over me, almost like a smoke that surged through me, trying to snuff out any sign of light or happiness in my life. In the past, it had been the driving force behind my depression. Tonight, though, I couldn’t let myself fall into that dark place. I had worked too hard. I took in a deep breath and pushed my feelings into the background. Besides, Ella was here, and she wanted to celebrate with me.

Ella had been on my mind all night and all day, and that was starting to become something that fueled my decisions. I knew I wouldn’t have reacted as I did to my client so quickly had I not been thinking about Ella on the car ride over. I had gotten so frustrated that the frustration hadn’t stayed in the car when I’d gone into my meeting. Instead, it had festered and strengthened. Luckily, I’d been able to get away with it this time, but I wasn’t sure that would happen again. Having sex with Ella would be a much-needed, positive distraction, and right then I decided I was going to seduce her.

I walked over to the bar and pulled out a bottle of champagne, looking up as Ella walked back into the living room with two plates of cheesecake. She set them down on the bar and smiled, looking at me as I pulled down two glasses. I wasn’t sure why it mattered, but by instinct, I stopped and looked over at her.

“You’re twenty-one, right?”

“Yep,” she said, smiling.

“Perfect,” I said. I uncorked the bottle, poured us two glasses, and handed her one. “To a really great night and a wonderful celebration partner.”

“Why thank you,” she said, clinking my glass and taking a sip.

“So,” I said, sitting down and taking a bite of the cheesecake. “Do you have a boyfriend out there at Harvard?”

She laughed. “No. I’m much too busy for that.”

That was exactly what I wanted to hear. I wanted to fuck her more and more every second.