“Yes,” she said. “But certainly a mistress has more rights.”
“No,” he said. “I’m afraid she doesn’t. You only have the access that I grant you.”
She was stunned speechless. And so angry she wanted to punch him. He had tricked her. She doubted that if she went to bed with him he’d hold up his end of the bargain he’d wasted her morning trying to get her to agree to.
“Excuse me?” she said. For the first time he heard the tang of her Texas accent coming through.
“I’m not giving you carte blanche,” he said.
“I didn’t set any limits on that embrace,” she said.
“But you did,” he pointed out, remembering his strong desire to see the expanse of her creamy, freckle-covered skin.
“We’re in your office,” she said. “We can’t go too far.”
“Yes, we are,” he conceded. “But I believe you were attempting to do what I’m doing now. We are each limiting the access the other has to what they want. Trying to give away just enough to keep this going.”
She nibbled on her lower lip. “I can see where you’re coming from, but what you just said makes it almost impossible for me to trust you. I want this to work. I think that readers have an interest in you and not just your company.”
“I don’t care about the personal aspect. How would you feel if I asked you personal questions?”
“Go ahead,” she said. “I’m an open book.”
“Why are you still single?”
“I told you—I’m a workaholic. I love my work.”
“Me too,” he said. “There’s your answer.”
“Ha! That was my answer. We both know there is more to you than that.”
“And I know there is more to you than what you said. Something must have hurt you in the past to make work your sanctuary.”
He saw by the way she narrowed her eyes that he’d hit the nail on the head with that observation. “So? I’m not in the public eye.”
“Neither am I,” he said.
“That’s not true. You’re in the newspapers all the time and your sister has a cooking show … I think if we walked out on the street right now you’d be instantly recognizable. No one would know who I am. And that’s the reason why this article is so relevant.”
“I don’t believe there is any interest in me beyond gossip,” he said. “I’ve given you the answers I am going to.”
“You can be a hard-nose, can’t you?” she asked.
“And you can be a pit bull when you aren’t getting your way,” he said. “We are too similar. We both expect to win and in this situation it’s simply not going to happen.”
“I guess you think you’re the winner?” she asked.
“I intend to be,” he said.
“Well, then, there isn’t anything more to say, is there?” she said, standing up and gathering her bag.
He knew immediately that he’d made a huge mistake in how he’d worded that last bit. But she’d struck a nerve with her question. It was exactly as he’d feared when she’d asked to interview him. The information she wanted was too personal and he wasn’t about to let anyone—even someone as rocking-hot as Nichole—have that kind of access to him.
“You didn’t win,” she said, opening the office door and looking back over her shoulder at him. “I’m not giving up.”
“I wouldn’t expect anything less,” he said.
She walked out, hips swaying, making him wish his secretary hadn’t knocked on the door when she had. But there was no going back and changing the past; he knew that better than most. God knew there were a lot of things he’d change.
He sat back in his office chair and wondered if their encounter would affect her coverage of the show and of Matchmakers, Inc. He hoped she was professional enough not to let it.
He knew she was. She wanted the interview with him and she was going to keep working on different angles to get it. There was a part of him that was looking forward to her next move.
There was a knock on his door. “Come in.”
“Your next appointment is here,” Stella said. Stella was in her mid-forties, a single mother of two college-aged boys. She’d been his secretary for the last ten years and he relied on her a lot to make sure the office ran smoothly. “Shall I send him in?”
Conner glanced at the calendar on his computer screen. He wanted to groan. It was Deke, one of his old boarding school buddies whose family fortunes had been tied to a Ponzi scheme. Now he was in need of a job.
“Yes, please do,” he said. “Stella, don’t let this meeting run more than thirty minutes.”
“Yes, sir. I never do,” she said with a smile. Which was why she’d knocked on the door earlier.
Conner didn’t know what to do about his old friend. A part of him understood Deke way more than he wanted to. He knew what it was like to see your family name in the papers with scandal attached to it.
He stood up as Deke entered. He was six foot and had dark curly hair. He’d rowed crew at boarding school and still had the upper-body strength of an athlete. But Deke’s family money had meant that he’d spent the last fifteen years jet-setting around the world. He had no real-world skills.
“Hello, Deke,” Conner said, holding out his hand.
Deke shook it. “Hey, man. Thanks for seeing me today.”
“No problem. I meant to call you, but I’ve been busy. What can I do for you?” Conner asked.
Deke looked uneasy for a moment, then gave him a smile. “I have an investment opportunity for you.”
Conner suspected as much, which was why he’d put his friend off as long as he had. He walked back to his desk, gesturing for Deke to take a seat in the chair that Nichole had recently occupied, and then invited his friend to explain the opportunity to him.
While Deke talked, Conner’s mind wandered back to the time of his life when he’d been in Deke’s shoes. Luckily, Conner had been young enough to readjust, but Deke was an adult, used to a certain standard of living.
“I don’t have many skills, but I’m damn good at sailing and my wife suggested we start up one of those barefoot-type vacation cruises. All my assets have been seized, so I don’t have my old yacht, which is where you’d come in. If you agree, I’d like you to invest in one yacht that I can use for these high-end sailing vacations.”
Actually, it was a great idea. Conner asked a few more questions and Deke produced a business plan with some solid numbers in it. Seemed Deke had married a woman from a working-class background who wasn’t afraid to help her husband out of a bad situation.
Conner agreed to invest in the company from his private funds and not Macafee International’s. Deke was a happy man and once he left Conner felt strangely alone.
He knew it was his own choice to be where he was, but hearing Deke talk about his wife and her ideas had made him long for something he never had before.
Conner wondered if Nichole would react the same way if her man got in trouble. He didn’t know. But then he didn’t know anything about her except that he wanted her.
Nichole dropped by the set of Sexy & Single, the reality matchmaking