Authors: Joan Kilby
“Not if it’s the lesser of two evils.”
“You should stick with your father and put the factory here in Washington where you want it.”
“But then I don’t get to have you working for me. That was part of our deal. I don’t renege on my word, especially not when it comes to my best friend.” He held her gaze and something flashed in his eyes, as if he were asking for more than just her name on his payroll. But he wasn’t actually asking. It was hard not to notice that. Hard not to notice that he’d said best friend and not girlfriend or fiancée.
And then he said, “I need you.”
The words wrenched at her heart. They were what had gotten her involved in the first place. But he didn’t mean them the way she wanted him to mean them. She wanted to know he couldn’t live without her, that she was his soul mate. But no, he meant he needed her as someone he could trust with his business secrets. She couldn’t believe how painful that was.
“You don’t need me anymore. The Dreamcatcher is finished, ready to go. You’ve got financing if you want it. If you turn down Ian’s offer now, he’ll be pissed. And hurt. What about your reconciliation? Doesn’t that mean anything?”
“My father is a businessman,” Scott said with a tinge of bitterness. “He’ll understand if I get a better offer elsewhere.”
Cassy could hear a thread of doubt, the doubt that had dogged him his whole life. Would his father think him good enough, smart enough, worthy enough, or whatever, to be his son? Her heart ached for him. “Don’t you get it? It’s because he’s a businessman that he won’t understand. He’ll think you’re stupid for choosing sentiment over reason and hiring me against his advice. You’re being stubborn.”
“Cassy, for the last time, I’m not going with my dad if he cuts you out. Are you coming with me to do this pitch, or not?”
The selfish side of her was thrilled he was putting her first, ahead of his father, not just because she wanted the CFO job but because it was proof Scott wanted her. But his dad meant a lot to him, too. Whether he would admit it or not. Even though the rift between them hadn’t stopped Scott from accomplishing big things, there was a gap in his life not even she could fill. If she encouraged him to choose her over Ian, she wouldn’t be able to look at herself in the mirror.
“No.” She twisted the diamond ring around her finger. “Actually, I’m over this crazy scene. There’s way too much excitement around here. My lawns need mowing and Rupert will have eaten his food tablet and be chewing on the pirate’s treasure chest by now. I need to go home.”
“You want the job, you told me so.” He studied her, his expression hurt and puzzled as he tried to figure out her sudden backpedaling. “You’ve got to take this opportunity, Cass, or I’m afraid you’ll slide back into doing taxes and never know how far you can climb.”
“It’s not about the job.” He wasn’t getting that. He kept insisting she could be CFO, but his judgment was blinded by his affection for her. She could figure out her work situation on her own. All she wanted to hear from him was the truly important stuff, like
I love you. Let’s make this engagement real.
She wanted desperately to bring up the subject of their relationship but it wasn’t the time. If he gave up his deal with his father for her and the romance didn’t last, then the work situation would be untenable. Worse, Scott might resent her. She burned to tell him she loved him, but what if she did and he recoiled? She couldn’t bear that.
Girlfriends come and girlfriends go…
The only way not to lose him from her life was to stay just friends. Friends with benefits.
That couldn’t continue, she realized suddenly. The thought of making love to him and forever being afraid to express her true feelings was intolerable. She’d spent her whole life
not
telling Scott she loved him. She didn’t want to go back to that, but she didn’t know how to start telling him now.
Scott’s troubled gaze pierced her to the heart. He was torn, as she was, between wanting what was best for his Dreamcatcher, best for her, for himself, and for them as a couple, and for his still-fragile relationship with his father. It was all too complicated. The only way to simplify things was to take herself out of the picture.
Scott glanced at his watch. “Lorraine’s got a meeting this afternoon. If I don’t leave now, I’ll miss her.”
Cassy followed him to the door and gave him a fierce hug. “Don’t go. All I ever wanted was what’s best for you. As your friend I’m telling you that means doing the deal with your father.”
He kissed her, briefly but hard. “I’ll call you after I’ve talked to Lorraine.”
His slid his hands away from her. She wanted to hold on tightly because she was terrified that this was the last time they would touch. No decision, no solution he could come up with, would accommodate their needs as a couple and his company’s needs. He had to sort out where his priorities lay. She could see clearly what the answer was, even if he couldn’t. He was making a huge mistake.
“Stop.” She was trembling and cold all over but she had to do this. “I’m not going home just to feed Rupert and mow the lawn. I’m going home for good. I quit.”
“You can’t quit,” Scott growled. “I won’t let you.”
“Too bad. I’m done.” She threw up her hands. “I’m done with you, too. This isn’t working out between us anyway. We can’t be friends, fake fiancés, and boss and employee. There are simply too many relationships going on and it’s making my head explode. We never should have tried to be more than we were. There’s a reason friends don’t work together. And there’s a reason friends don’t become lovers. You used to listen to me. You don’t anymore. We’re fighting over this and we won’t stop fighting over it. So…I’m removing myself from the situation.”
Scott stood in front of the door, barring her exit. “You’re not quitting and you’re not leaving. We’re still engaged, in case you’ve forgotten. We’ll move the wedding date forward to next week. I’d like to see my father tell his daughter-in-law she’s not good enough to work in a senior capacity for a Thornton company.”
“It’s a fake engagement, you dope. We’re not getting married.” Not unless he told her he loved her and couldn’t live without her and all the soppy stuff he would never, ever say because he was Scott and he didn’t think that way.
“We make a good team, you said it yourself. Why won’t you marry me? We’ve known each other all our lives. No one knows you better than I do.”
She gazed at him sadly. “And it turns out, you
don’t
really know me at all.” Not if he thought trying to win her over with logic was the way to her heart. Her eyes stung and she blinked. “Damn Thornton men, you think you own the world. You’re more like your dad than you realize.”
“Maybe I am. I know what I want and I go after it.”
“You’re not going after it, though, are you? You’re arguing with me when you wanted to catch Lorraine before her meeting.”
“Shit! I forgot about that.” He scrambled to find his car keys. As he ran out the door, he yelled over his shoulder, “Don’t think this is the end of the discussion, because it’s not.”
She waited until she saw his vehicle drive past from the parking lot to the exit, then she went to her desk and got her purse. The geeks were still in the coffee room, discussing the best 3-D shapes to fill a sphere. She left them a note, then sneaked out before they could see the tears in her eyes.
…
Scott went into his meeting with Lorraine and Tod with all guns blazing. He was doing this for Cassy. He was doing this for them.
Tod ushered him into the sitting area of Lorraine’s hotel suite. Lorraine already had her coat on in preparation for leaving. Tod adjusted the timer on his watch. “You have twelve minutes and thirty seconds.”
“I’ll be done when I’m done,” Scott growled and turned to Lorraine. “There are a few things I didn’t get a chance to tell you.”
He wiped his palms on his pants, sucked in a deep breath, and launched into an impromptu and impassioned speech, covering his journey from the lemonade stand right up to the moment he soldered the last microchip into the Dreamcatcher and tried it for the very first time. How he felt when he’d injected the nanites in himself before even putting them in lab rats—like an astronaut venturing out of the known universe. He was on a mission to make Lorraine see, not just how amazing the Dreamcatcher was—that spoke for itself—but how absolutely committed he was to his business and to the people who worked for him. He didn’t try to persuade her, or tell her how it would be good for her. He wanted, no,
demanded,
a chance to change the world. Because he was Scott Thornton and he had something no one else could offer.
Halfway through, Tod held up a finger. Scott ignored it and carried on. Tod looked to Lorraine for support. She waved a hand to shush him, her attention riveted on Scott.
“So,” he wound up at last. “In exchange for letting you invest, I have the right to hire my own team, no exceptions. I will manufacture in Tacoma and create jobs in the US. My salary will not be greater than my lowest paid worker until shareholders are earning dividends.”
Abruptly, he stopped speaking. Silence followed. Lorraine sat as if transfixed. Scott could almost see the wheels of her brain turning. He waited, barely breathing, his heart racing as if he’d just cycled up Mount Baker.
“Thank you for that, Scott,” Tod said. “We’ll let you know. Lorraine, it’s time we got moving.”
“Hang on, Tod.” Lorraine again held up a hand. “Scott, one question. Why did you come here today after I more or less brushed you off?”
“Because for you not to be interested means you don’t understand how significant an invention the Dreamcatcher is.” He sounded arrogant but it was only the truth. “There was a lot of other stuff going on that weekend. I was…distracted. I came today because I needed to make you to understand. Once I did that , I knew you would want to be involved.”
Lorraine nodded thoughtfully. “I think I do understand.”
“Good. Now I need you to decide. Right away.” He caught a glimpse of his reflection in the glass of the framed painting over the couch. His hair was sticking up and one tail of his shirt was untucked. He looked like a madman. Who would invest in his product? And how could Cassy have let him go looking like that? Then he remembered she’d quit and his stomach churned.
“Lorraine is merely on a fact-finding trip,” Tod explained. “We’ll take all the dossiers and prospectuses back to Australia for review…”
“Shut up, Tod! Okay, Scott, I’ll make a decision.” She grinned. “I’m in. That was the best presentation I’ve seen all week. Hell, it was the best I’ve seen all year. If I have to look at another graph or pie chart I swear I’ll go cross-eyed. Your kind of passion is exactly what I’m looking for. I’ll put up two million and you can build your factory anywhere you damn well feel like. I actually think it will be better here in the States because you’ll be down there every day, making sure people are doing their jobs right.”
“Thank you.” He reached over the coffee table and pumped her hand with both of his. “Thank you very much. You won’t regret this.” But his spirits sank a little. He needed five million, not two. But it was a start. And he’d won a major concession.
Gathering her purse, she rose and turned to Tod. “Let’s go.” As they filed out and headed to the elevator, she added to Scott, “Where’s your other half today?”
“She’s…busy. Getting ready to sell her house in Bellingham and move in with me permanently,” Scott bluffed. If he believed hard enough it would come true, right? That had worked with the Dreamcatcher. No, it had taken ten years of hard work. Buckets of perspiration for every drop of inspiration.
“How are wedding preparations coming along?” Lorraine pushed the button on the elevator.
“I, yeah…good. Cassy’s ordered the invitations.”
“I hope I’m going to get one.”
The elevator came and they started down.
“Of course. We want to meet your fiancé. Tod, you and your wife are on the guest list, too.”
“I’ll make a note,” Tod said, bringing out the ever-present BlackBerry. “What was the date again?”
What had Cassy told the reporter? June. “June 12,” he said, picking the number out of the air. “Hey, how’s your wife doing? When is she going to have the baby?”
“She had a boy. I was all set to fly home and the baby came early.” Tod added wistfully, “I missed the birth but she got it on video.”
“You should go home now.”
“We’re leaving tomorrow,” Lorraine said. Outside the hotel, she shook Scott’s hand. “We’ll be in touch.”
The wind was off the water, bringing a smattering of raindrops and the fresh salt smell of the harbor. Scott had a spring in his step and a grin on his face as he wove through the pedestrians on the sidewalk to where his car was parked. He still needed another investor, but his success with Lorraine had given him confidence he would find one to make up the shortfall.
He couldn’t wait to tell Cassy about Lorraine’s offer. He knew darn well she was only saying she didn’t want the job so he wouldn’t feel he’d let her down by accepting his father’s offer. But he had promised her the CFO position and she was going to have it. She’d probably already cooled off and was waiting for him at the penthouse. When he got there they would sit down and talk about the future. Their future. He’d make sure the wedding date was okay and then she could put her house up for sale. Not with Daryl, though.