by M K Lansbury
Finder’s offices were on the floors twelve through sixteen in the Sky Tower in New York. It was an impressive fifty-floor structure with glass for walls, reminding her of the beach house where she’d first met Lance.
Trapped in an unpoppable bubble of nostalgia and tired of fighting it, she made her way up the sixteenth floor.
Drawing in a deep breath, she let her eyes rove over the place where Lance worked. Finder’s green-and-white lettered logo emblazoned across the frosted glass walls that separated the elevators and receptionist’s area from the main offices. She halted, unsure whether she should actually go inside.
Didn’t look like anyone was around.
She reconsidered her plan, biting her lipstick off, glancing at the stuff she was carrying. It was too late to turn back now. Plus, she didn’t really want to. Holding the Styrofoam tray with the two drinks in one hand, and the pristine, plastic-covered white shirt in the other, she went on to bite her lipstick off to within an inch of its life.
That’s how Lance found her.
She froze, suddenly feeling very awkward and incredibly uninvited. But the smile lighting up his face and crinkling his gray eyes said something else.
“Well, look who it is.”
“Look who it is.”
“Well, at least you can’t say that I’m the one following you today.”
Zara chuckled sheepishly and shrugged. “I'm sorry. I just realized this might not have been the best idea.”
“Well, it’s a little awkward, but . . . It’s good to see you. Come in—” He halted mid-sentence and glanced at the coffee. “Is that for me?”
“Yep.” She sighed. “I'm sorry I just—”
“Don’t apologize.” He chuckled. “No one’s ever brought me coffee to work. I'm not kidding. And from Jack’s Frothies? You’re an angel.” Instead of leading her back inside his offices, he pressed the call button for the elevator. “I hope you don’t mind. I don’t think going inside is the best idea for either of us. Considering we’re—”
“Competitors,” she offered almost sulking. “Not like I can forget it.”
“It might look a little strange. Here, let’s . . .”
He placed his hand at the small of her waist. It sent tingles up her spine. But she stepped into the elevator and was relieved when he removed his hand to press the elevator button.
“I see you brought my shirt too.”
“I keep my word.”
“I was afraid Luigi would never part with it.”
“It took a lot of convincing.”
She paused as he pressed the button with an R on it. “I thought we were going outside? Where’s this taking us?”
“It’s a surprise.”
“Okay. I don’t like surprises, just saying.”
He laughed.
Zara shrugged. “Just putting it out there for future reference. I guess I can survive today, but you know . . .”
He grinned as the elevator took them up. “Why don’t you like surprises?”
“They make me anxious. I'm kind of a control freak. I like to know what’s coming so I can prepare adequately. Mentally.”
“Must be exhausting.”
“You have no idea.” The elevator doors opened. Zara gasped as she spotted the greying sky. “Of course? R stands for roof. That was silly of me.”
The roof was a massive yet simple space with grey tiles on the floor and a high concrete railing. As she walked forward, entranced by the Manhattan skyline, she glanced around and wondered why the owners of the building had left this spectacular space so unfinished, while the rest of the building was all about opulence and splendor.
Lance paused next to her as she halted in the middle. “What?”
“I'm shocked the building’s owner has allowed this space to go to waste. How great would this be if there was a nice garden?”
He smiled. “Maybe you should meet him and bring it to his attention?”
She grinned at him sideways and hung his plastic-coated shirt on a pipe hanging off a concrete wall. “Sure. I’ll call and make an appointment at my earliest convenience.”
“Actually, I like that it’s not developed. It often gives me the place just to myself.”
Zara watched him wistfully. “I guess I’ll cancel the call with the owner then. You come up here often?”
“Mhmm. Once a day. At least.”
“I wouldn’t leave if I worked here.”
“You have a rooftop at your place in Dumbo, don’t you?”
Zara halted, staring at him. “You know, I've never actually been up on the roof. I’m kinda embarrassed to admit that.”
“All work and no play. How’s that working out for you?”
“Yeah.” She grinned. “I need to take some time off after this. After we’ve launched Soul Mate, maybe.”
“Why later? Live in the moment. Right now. Enjoy it now.”
She grinned, glancing at the incredible Manhattan skyline. “I used to believe that.”
“What happened?”
Zara sighed. “I don’t know. I really honestly don’t know. Nothing happened to me. I just got caught up in the frenzy. Fast-paced Manhattan life, I guess.”
He picked up his Macchiato and took a sip. “Ah, the farm girl moves to the big city.” He smiled, enjoying it. “And were you always this scared of surprises?”
“I was always kind of freaked out by surprises. I dreaded them for as long as I can remember. But life was good. It was . . .” She stole a peek at the Manhattan skyline. “I mean, I appreciate this view, and the opportunities I had to be able to be here and call this a home. But when I was growing up, the view was the stars in the country sky. You don't even see them here because there’s so much pollution.”
“Hmm.”
Zara held his gaze, grinning. “It’s different in the country. You can see the stars. I used to drag a sleeping bag onto the roof of my house and sleep outside during cool nights.”
“That must have been exciting.”
“Oh, it was amazing. I miss it to this day.”
“Funny. I was just preaching to you about how you should enjoy your present, but I’ve always talked about taking a trip to visit places like Nebraska, and always seem to put that off.”
She grinned. “It’s okay. You’ll have a lot of free time on your hands after Soul Mate beats Finder and grinds it into a fine powder.”
He threw his head back and laughed. “It wouldn’t stun me. I've realized that Zara Rodriguez can do pretty amazing things.”
She smiled. “Why, thank you.”
The space between them was sizzling with attraction. Why did he say these things? It made staying away from him all the more difficult.
“So you’re a big city guy.” She tried to flip the topic of conversation, veering it away from her and back to him.
“Through and through. My parents belonged to an influential family of corporate lawyers. I grew up at my great-great grandfather’s estate that had housed generations, growing up around butlers and housekeepers and cooks and gardeners. They were my only friends.”
Zara sensed that there was more to the story. “Did your parents travel for work a lot?”
“Yeah. I barely saw them until they were in the process of losing their fortunes on a series of bad investments. Their marriage disintegrated pretty fast during that time. It was pretty lonely after my mom left. I used to fantasize about growing up somewhere else. On a farm in the middle of nowhere. It was kind of a romantic fantasy. Probably childish, I don’t know.”
“And you’ve still never been to a farm.”
He shook his head no. “I know, I know. I’m the pot calling the kettle black. I’m telling you to live, and yet I’m still obsessed with my own stuff.”
“Like?”
Lance paused, thinking on this. “Being successful.”
Zara nodded, slowly trying to read and understand him. “It’s not necessarily a bad
thing to want to be successful.”
“But my reasons are ill-placed. I don’t want to be successful for me. It’s a defense mechanism. I think I do it because my parents lost everything. And I keep wanting to make more money by having a myriad of investments under my belt. Make sure I don’t walk down the same road.”
“That must be scary.”
“Yeah!” He smiled. “It’s exhausting.”
She’d admitted her own fears of the unknown were exhausting, and he had pretty much accepted the same thing. They were so similar. Yet so far apart.
She gasped as she realized they’d been silently watching each other for long seconds. But even then, she couldn't pull her gaze away from his. They were standing closer, and Zara was wrapped in a comforting, titillating cocoon of his scent. He smelled of cologne and his own distinct scent. It was a potent cocktail, and she was drawn to it even while she knew she should bail.
His eyes dropped to Zara's mouth. His head tilted as he leaned close, too close, about to kiss her.
Zara’s sharply indrawn breath in anticipation of the connection of his lips to hers was what shattered the moment. She stepped back quickly, and he straightened, swallowing visibly.
Lance was watching her as if he was terrified of himself.
“This is . . . I . . .”
She didn’t know what to say. And it seemed like she didn’t have to.
He smiled shortly, but it was a smile of helpless surrender.
“I should go. It’s late, and I’ve gotta . . .”
“I’m sorry, Zara.”
“No, it’s my fault. It was . . . it was good to see you, Lance.”
Zara walked toward the elevators that had brought her up to this forbidden piece of heaven underneath the sky with a man she had no place with. She glanced over her shoulder at the view one last time. But also, at the man.
He was facing away from her, looking into the sky. Just like he had on the beach in Montauk all those months ago. Her heart wrenched at the sight.
The elevator doors closed between them slowly. She realized that this formidable, powerful man may be more vulnerable than she thought, and a lot more vulnerable than he let on.
TWELVE
Rumor Mills and Lies
Have you read this?”
Zara froze as Ally placed her laptop on the table and flipped it around to face Zara. There, staring at her on the Tech Talks blog, was the headline: “Finder In Talks to Gobble Up Soul Mate?”
But that wasn’t it.
Ally continued her rant. “That’s the headline, all right. And read this . . . Top Soul Mate Executive secretly meets with Finder CEO at Headquarters.”
Zara’s throat tightened as she stared in disbelief at the blog. To her left, the floor-to-ceiling window of their eleventh-floor Soul Mate office cast a gloomy gray light inside. The sky had been gray and dark since that morning. It looked like it was going to pour, but so far, no rain. The dark sky had only rumbled and threatened and not delivered.
Now, Zara felt like it had only meant to give her a premonition of the doom that was coming her way.
Zara's left ear began to ring loudly, almost drowning out Ally’s frustrated conversation. It popped painfully, making her wince as Ally’s rant made its way to her eardrum.
“I don’t understand how these people can write stuff like this? Do they have no honor or integrity? Rubbish! Spinning up stories that can potentially cause so much damage to someone’s business. We’ve worked so hard on this. It’s taking blood, sweat, and tears to bring value to our customers, and then Kassandra Young! Kassandra Young of all people! She comes up with this dribble? I don’t get it. I admired her. Not anymore. What does she get out of it? Just a few likes and shares?”
Ally paused in her rant, panting, as she continued to pace the office floor. Zara couldn’t peel her guilty gaze from the article. She didn’t want to read it. She didn’t have to read more anyway—the tagline was enough. Zara was the only one who knew exactly what was up with this story. She desperately wanted to defend Kassandra, but how could she without coming off as a complete traitor to Ally?
Her heart beating in her throat, she continued to avoid Ally’s furious glare.
“This is so dishonorable. We have rising download numbers, and this garbage journalism makes us look like our numbers are so bad we need to sell now while we can. Two weeks before we’ve launched to boot!”
“It doesn't matter, Ally.” Zara’s voice was a choked croak. She quickly cleared her throat. “Because we’re not selling, are we? And in due time, everyone will know. We’re going to launch this, and people will see how much better we are than Finder.”
Ally sighed. “Not with this sort of publicity. Kassandra Young’s making us look like amateurs, that we need to sell. People aren’t going to check out an app they’ll think will be shut down in the near future.” She fell into her chair and squeezed the bridge of her nose.
“You and I both know Soul Mate is better than Finder, and people will soon see that. And no one—including Kassandra Young—will be able to publish this sort of stuff.” Zara’s lips were parched, and adrenaline rushed through her bloodstream.
“We need to start being vocal about this. We need to be anti-Finder every chance we get.”
“Ally, that’s probably not a good idea. We can’t be openly aggressive toward Finder. That goes against everything we’ve been doing thus far.”
“And what about them being openly aggressive toward us? I mean, the entire post reads like a press release for Finder. They’re definitely behind this. Why would Kassandra do something like this?”
The moment was extremely morally challenging for Zara. She was having trouble not being able to defend Kassandra. The whole thing was a misunderstanding. Obviously, someone had seen Zara at Finder offices . . .
Delivering laundry and coffee like hired help.
“Oh god.” Zara clutched her forehead and rubbed it, feeling hot and cold at the same time. Watching Ally livid broke Zara’s heart. She wanted to explain, but how could she?
Soul Mate was Ally’s baby. She’d nurtured it like her own flesh and blood, and Zara was wholly responsible for the article. Sure, the blog did blow the whole thing out of proportion to a mammoth degree.
But it’s all your fault.
“The more I think of it, the more I completely lose my mind. I’m gonna call Kassandra and ask her to explain herself.”
“Don’t. It’s just gonna make things worse,” Chet offered from the doorway.
He’d obviously overheard. He strode inside and settled across from Zara.
“Ally, all of this is going to blow over. And I know I’m not the smartest guy in the world, but I actually think it makes us look good. It makes us look desirable. If we were really week, why would Finder even want to purchase us? They would normally just wait to crush us.”
“Chet’s actually right,” Zara offered. “If you think about it, it does more good than bad.”
“Do you think so?” Ally asked meekly.
“Hell, yeah, she does. And so do I.” Chet rubbed his hands together ominously, and both Ally and Zara stared at him in confusion. “Finder wants to make this personal. We’ll give them personal. We’ll kick Finder where it hurts the most!”
He sounded so angry, and his reaction was so over the top, Ally and Zara just stared at him.
He paused, his gaze glancing from Zara’s face to Ally’s. As they watched, he blushed a beetroot red and cried. “What did I say now?”
Zara heard Beata’s signature heels clicking on the floor before she entered the office. She stopped at the door and glanced at the occupants of the room one by one.
“We’re not doing this, are we?”
“Selling to Finder? Over my cold, dead body!” Ally hissed passionately.
Zara had never seen Ally so visibly flustered and annoyed. She was fuming. All Zara could do was eat her new Mac lipstick off her lips.
&nb
sp; Sighing, Beata settled in a chair next to Chet. “I don’t know about you, but I do not want Soul Mate to be affiliated with Finder at all. Actually, it pains me to see our names linked together in that context. I’d rather Kassandra Young’s next blog be about how Soul Mate is buying Finder.”
That finally made Ally chuckle. “Now, that’s a thought.”
“Hell, yeah,” Chet called, but his boom had grown mellow, more professional to suit the workspace. His out of control fist, however, landed on the table with enough force to make the water bottles flip over. Four pairs of hands scrambled to put them upright and save the laptops. Thankfully, all the bottle caps were screwed on tight.
No one had to look at Chet to know that he was blushing.
Ally crossed her arms over her chest. “Maybe I need to get over this and move on.”
“It’s okay, Ally.” Zara felt horrible for not being able to confide in Ally. She was wretched, but only had herself to blame for it. “You can feel however you want to feel. We’re here to support you one hundred percent.”
Ally smiled. “I don’t know what I’d do without all of you.”
Feeling like an imposter, Zara drew in deep breaths to stifle her growing anxiety. To distract herself, she opened her laptop and the report on the new marketing campaign they’d set off with the help of the Chicago firm.
“So we’re on track with the campaign. It’s been executed exactly according to plan. No glitches. And if you’d like, I can talk to our law firm and get them into suing Kassandra for libel. But I don’t think that’s wise. It would just attract attention to it.”
“You’re right,” Ally murmured. “I wish we could, but you’re right.”
Zara forced a smile. “We can use this to our advantage.”
“Right.”
Zara blanched as Ally smiled at her. So trusting, utterly blindly trusting that Zara was on her side and there was complete transparency between them.
“You’re the only person I trust enough to work by my side.”