Chapter 2
Caden
I hated being here at this particular hotel. I had been here countless times before for meetings and weekend escapes. It had always been with her, and it seemed the CEO of my company loved the Hilton too. Probably because of its proximity to the clubs and colleges. He was a womanizer, always bragging about his accomplishments and latest conquests to any of the guys in the company that would listen.
I walked through the lobby, my backpack hanging heavy from my arm, and tried to focus on why I was here. I tried not to think about how much I hated the place.
It used to be our place.
The place we’d come to escape on weekends. The place she’d finally given me her ultimatum and then walked out. It was a bittersweet memory.
Freedom, and loneliness.
My eyes glazed over as I made my way through the people checking in and out until I was pulled back to reality by Graham’s voice.
“Shit, Caden. You should have hung around another hour,” Graham, the CEO and personal pain in my ass, said. “You could have landed any one of those girls. I don’t think I slept for more than fifteen minutes last night.”
Looked like he was telling the truth—his bloodshot eyes looked more like big red fried eggs. A sly smile slipped across his face.
“Shit Graham, sounds amazing, sorry I missed it. I needed to prepare for the meeting today,” I said, shooting him a fake smile and not even pausing a second to hear the rest of his story. I couldn’t have cared less. “I’ll see you this afternoon.”
Thank God the company was made up of twenty-somethings who spent their time coding, drinking, and partying, and our retreats were scheduled around the hangovers.
“That’s why you’re our number one!” he laughed as he stumbled through the crowd. If I were to guess, he had just escorted last night’s date to the front door and was headed back to crash for another six hours.
I had worked for MaidenTech for the last five years and taken them from working in Graham’s shitty little apartment to being worth a few billion dollars. Graham knew technology. I knew marketing, selling, and relationships.
Relationships with companies and investors.
Clearly not with women.
It was the story of my life, especially over the last five years, ever since I had started trying to build a future for myself. I wanted stability. I wanted success and money and happiness. Some people would probably be happy with three out of four.
Not me.
I’d had my share of failed romances. Every woman I ended up attaching myself to ended up being crazy or having some sort of weird hang-up. There was Staci, who was a closet cat lady. I found that out after the second date and she had invited me over for dinner. Three minutes into the evening and seventeen cats later, I was quickly back in my car. Christie finally revealed she had been battling Lyme disease for the last six years and needed to spend six hours a day meditating in a hot sauna, and she couldn’t eat anything that wasn’t grown by hand or wasn’t blessed by one of her three on-call high priests.
I had finally come to the realization that being single for the rest of my life was the way to go. That was until Allyson showed up. She seemed to have everything I needed and wanted in life. It took three years for the crazy to actually bubble up the surface.
The moment full-time commitment and marriage came up, she’d become a different person. She’d embodied the bridezilla cliché. Her complete meltdown had happened in the lobby of the Hilton, the night she’d believed I was going to propose. I’d had no intention of proposing. Ever.
She dealt out her ultimatum like a second shift blackjack dealer. “Either we get married in the next six months or I’m going to tell Daddy what a horrible, horrible person you are.” She barked out the order like they should have meant something. They didn’t.
It had seemed like the perfect out. I took it with a smile, turned my back, and walked away. I thought my luck would change, but it hadn’t and now I was married to my job and my gym.
I pulled up a chair in the corner of the bar adjacent to the pool and ordered a large coffee. “Can you throw a shot of Jameson in that please?” I asked the bartender. She looked like she hadn’t slept much the night before. Her jet-black hair was teased up in a bun and matched the all-black outfit she was wearing—leggings and button up shirt. Standard uniform for a bartender.
She quickly poured the shot into the coffee and slid it across the bar, not even uttering a word, which was fine with me. I found a corner table out of view of the bar.
A few stragglers had passed through the bar grabbing drinks and heading out, but it remained mostly empty. It provided the perfect sanctuary to finish my reports of last quarter’s marketing efforts and some new ideas for building up the company.
“Yeah, I own the company…” The words echoed through the bar in Graham’s familiar voice.
I could imagine him working up the bartender. She might have seemed his type, dark and edgy. Then again, anything with a pulse and that responded to Graham was his type. “So, what brings you to the beach?” he asked.
My view of Graham and the bartender was obscured by the large column as I listened to their conversation.
“I just decided to take a drive. I needed to get away.”
I could feel the puzzled look scroll across my face. She took a drive and decided to become a bartender?
“Well, I’m glad you did. So how long are you here for? Maybe we can do dinner or you know, something else?” He chuckled and I almost laughed, myself. That was his big game.
“I’m not quite sure of my plans,” she said. “I was considering just taking some time to myself.”
It clicked that Graham wasn’t talking to the bartender and I wanted, no needed, to see who he was actually talking to. I got up and made my way to the bar, reaching over the counter and grabbing a few napkins when I saw her.
The gorgeous brunette was sitting at the bar, a stool between her and Graham. She quickly gazed in my direction and I froze. Her dark brown eyes were locked on me and all I could do was nod. Graham quickly looked over. “Oh hey, Caden, thought you were going to do some work?”
“Yeah, I am. Thought you were going to get some sleep after your late night,” I said, my eyes darting over to the girl and then back at him.
“I’m working on that right now,” he laughed, looking back over at the girl at the bar. “So, dinner? Maybe we can go upstairs and make some plans now?”
I watched as he reached his hand over in her direction, only for her to pull it away. “No thanks. I only came down for that drink, but I’m beginning to think that it was a bad idea.”
Snubbed. I hadn’t seen Graham rejected before, and I actually enjoyed it.
“Well, if you change your mind, I’m on the top floor, the entire top floor.” He smiled at her, looked back at me, and then barked an order to the bartender. “Just charge these drinks to my room…and hopefully I’ll see you later.” He patted the brunette on the hand and walked away.
The brunette and I stared at one another, speechless at what we were both a witness of.
“You’re welcome.”
“For what?” she asked.
“For saving you from having to listen to the same pick-up lines he uses on every woman he’s ever met.” I willed my body to move closer to her side of the bar, while not losing the eye contact we had established.
“I could have handled him. Seems he’s not used to being rejected.”
“No, he’s not and I’m sure you could have handled him, but he’s relentless. The only reason he gave up was because he likely didn’t want to embarrass himself in front of me.”
“And you are?” she asked.
“I’m Caden.” I extended my hand and took hers, shaking it gently. Her soft skin was warm against my hand and I could feel my stomach sink as she smiled at me.
“I’m Cara. Nice to meet you, Caden.”