by Krista Lakes
She wondered what Nathan’s life would go back to. Probably lots of meetings. Limousines. Expensive meals, but no time to eat them. To be a CEO was to be constantly working.
She knew the former owner of ECT, and George Element was constantly busy. It was a big reason why he sold the company to Paradigm. He was tired of the work and the energy required to keep everything running. She could only imagine what Nathan’s job must be like if a smaller company was as difficult as George described.
She frowned. She wanted to spend more time with Nathan, how could she not, but how would she manage to fit into his life? George had been married and divorced twice in the past five years due to his job. He was never home, and the few times that he was, he was usually on his phone.
Nathan lived in San Francisco. She lived in Devonsville, CO. While Nathan probably had a private jet, she didn’t. She barely had a savings account where he had to have multiple banks store his money. He was purchasing the company that would forever change her town, and not necessarily for the better.
The more she thought about it, the more it felt like this was a magical weekend in time where they could be together. After this, it probably wouldn’t work. They were just too different.
“You look like you’re thinking deep thoughts,” Nathan said. She turned to see that he too had sat up. His dark hair steamed with heat from the water as he settled himself against a rock. She felt like she could look at him all day.
“Just thinking.”
“A dangerous pastime,” he replied.
“I know.” She giggled. “You look like you’ve been thinking, too.”
“Well, it did take some time for the blood to come back up to my brain, but yes,” he smiled. She liked the way his eyes softened when he looked at her. His face had a hardness, but it disappeared whenever he focused on her. She liked that.
“Penny for your thoughts,” she offered. “I know you don’t need it, but it’s all I can afford right now.”
He chuckled. “I was thinking about Christmas traditions,” he said after a moment. His dark eyes found hers. “And possibly trying out a new one.”
Her eyebrows raised. “And?”
“Come with me to San Francisco.” He leaned forward and took her hands in his. “We don’t have to stop here. Come back with me.”
It was a tempting offer. Too tempting, really. If it were any other time but Christmas, she would have said yes in a heartbeat. Despite how different their worlds were, she still wanted to be with him.
“I can’t.” She hated the words coming out of her mouth. “I want to, but I can’t. What about after Christmas?”
Hurt filled Nathan’s eyes but he quickly blinked it away. “I can’t do after Christmas,” he told her. “Business picks up then. I won’t have any spare time. I don’t want to do that to you.”
She hated the bitterness that filled his voice. He sighed leaning back against the pond walls, but still holding onto her hands under the water.
“What if you come home with me?” she asked him. “I’ll make you Eggo waffles. You can see the bookstore. I think you’d love it.”
He dropped her hands. “I can’t. There’s too much work to be done. In California, I can bring you to work. I can multitask. I can’t do that if I go with you.”
“You’re going to work over Christmas?” she asked him.
“I always do. It’s what I’ve always done. It’s why I’m successful,” he said, a touch of anger creeping into his voice. “And I’ve delegated too much as it is. My business runs my life. You need to know that.”
She did. She could already see how this relationship would go. They were on vacation now. It wouldn’t work in the real world. They both had too much work and were each too devoted to it. It was something they shared.
Holly’s chest felt heavy and full of dark clouds. This wasn’t how she wanted to spend her last day with him. She wanted to float and laugh again. She wanted to see him smile. She didn’t want to bring up his past or hers and make things ache. They didn’t have enough time together to fix these things.
They just had today.
“Let’s talk about this later,” she said, knowing that wasn’t going to happen. “I don’t want to bring us down. Not when I’m having the best day ever.”
A half smile attempted to form on his face. “Best day ever?”
She grinned at him. “Definitely top ten. You get me lobster for dinner and maybe another round in your bed, you’ll make top five for sure.”
He gave her a cocky grin. “I can do better than lobster,” he told her.
“And the bed part?”
“Why don’t we go upstairs and see?”
Chapter 20
Merryweather
“She's going to leave,” Flora said, frowning at the sky. “Maybe we should make more snow.”
Merryweather sighed. “We can't make more snow,” she told her sister. “And it's okay that she leaves. We just need to make sure that he chases her.”
Flora's frown slowly faded. “And you have a plan?”
“Do I have a plan?” Merryweather scoffed. “Dear sister, I always have a plan.”
Flora snorted.
“Fine. This time I have a plan,” Merryweather replied, ignoring her sister's eye roll. “I have a wonderful Christmas-inspired plan.”
Chapter 21
Nathan
Nathan wished the night would go on forever. He wished that the dawn would never come. If he had the power, he would have frozen time so that he and Holly could stay in this moment forever.
But he had money, not power over time, and dawn came as expected.
He lay in bed, his eyes closed against the sunlight, his arms wrapped tightly around the woman of his dreams. He didn’t know how she did it, but she just got better and better.
They’d talked all night when they weren’t busy exploring and enjoying one another’s bodies. She made him laugh. She’d listened when he spoke. She told him of her favorite books and why she loved to teach. When he told her things, she nodded and understood. Never once throughout the night did he feel judged or inadequate. Now that it was morning, he found himself wishing they had another day.
Usually, he was already out the door and forgetting their names by now.
But not Holly. Holly was different. The way she smiled at him was real. The way she laughed at his jokes was sincere, especially because she didn’t laugh at all of them. He loved the way she looked at him when she thought he couldn’t see.
Was it possible to fall in love with someone in just hours?
He sighed. She wouldn’t come to San Francisco before Christmas. He’d tried a couple more times, but she was firm. She had a community that depended on her. Responsibilities at home. There was apparently a parade and of course her father’s Christmas party.
He was sincerely considering having her come out after the holidays. He could probably get away between meetings. He could pass more tasks on to Lucy. That thought made him grimace. He gave her too much of his responsibility as it was. She had done so much of the work around combining these tech companies. He didn’t doubt her abilities, but it did make him nervous how much power he was giving her.
That made him think of Holly’s request to look into ECT. He’d given that company to Lucy. It was supposed to be his responsibility, but he had so many things on his plate with RentTech. A move was a big decision. He didn’t remember approving the company to move, but given how stressed he’d been this past month, it was a possibility.
Either way, it was concerning. He was going to have to look into things as soon as he got home. Lucy did a good job, but she wasn’t hired for this kind of thing. He needed to make sure she wasn’t overstepping her boundaries.
The thought made him tired. He’d needed this weekend getaway more than he realized. He was tired. The job exhausted him. He didn’t really want to go back, to be honest, but he didn’t know what else to do.
Money was everything. This was his job. This was whe
re his money came from.
Before he could give it more thought, the beautiful woman sleeping beside him stirred. She sighed with contentment, nuzzling her head onto his shoulder. She fit like a long lost puzzle piece.
“Good morning,” she whispered, her voice husky with sleep.
“Good morning,” he agreed. He stroked her soft hair with his fingers, memorizing the way she looked. If nothing else, this weekend had been good for his soul.
“What time is it?” Holly asked, purposefully not opening her eyes. “Tell me it’s midnight and not morning.”
“It’s midnight and not morning,” he repeated dutifully.
She chuckled and opened one beautiful green eye to look at him.
“It’s a little past nine. We still have time.”
Checkout was soon. She was leaving then to avoid the traffic and get home before dark. He had things he needed to do today as well.
She sighed, this time with disappointment. “Did it snow more?”
He shook his head. He’d already checked. The roads were clear. It was a beautiful Monday morning and the sun was shining. It was supposed to be a beautiful day.
“Maybe you could call in sick?” he offered.
“Tempting,” she told him, nestling back into his shoulder. “But I’m out of sick days. Plus, it’s the last week of school before break. The kids are expecting me. I can’t.”
He admired her dedication, even if it meant less time. It didn’t matter anyway. They were just pretending at this relationship thing anyway.
He wasn’t meant for happiness like that.
He sighed. The magic of the weekend was wearing away. Soon, he too would have to return to work. It was a beautiful escape to a dream, but they both knew it was time to wake up.
She kissed the curve of his shoulder. He turned to see her green eyes smoldering and a hopeful grin filling her face.
“You said we still have time,” she said, moving to kiss him. “Lets make the most of it.”
And so they did.
Holly stood by the door of the lobby, feet frozen in place. Her bag lay at her feet.
“I don’t want to go,” she whispered, looking back at him. “It was such a good weekend.”
Nathan kissed her forehead. “I’ll call you.”
She smiled, but her eyes said she didn’t believe him. Why should she? This was a vacation fling. This wasn’t supposed to be serious.
She picked up her bag. “You’ll look into why Paradigm is moving ECT to San Francisco, right?”
He nodded. “Yes. I will.”
She paused, seemingly looking for any way to prolong leaving. An old beat-up four-door sedan pulled up to the front door. It looked out of place among the expensive cars waiting for the valet. The car didn’t belong here. Just like Holly.
“Thank you for the most amazing weekend,” Holly said. She set her bag down and stood in front of him. “It was like a dream.”
She went to her tip-toes and kissed him softly on the mouth. She still tasted sweet and made his heart race. He closed his eyes, focusing on her taste and the soft scent of her.
When he opened them she was gone. The old car pulled away, rumbling and sputtering into the snow.
“You okay, Boss?” Gregory asked, appearing out of the ether.
Nathan grunted. Gregory understood. That was his natural language after all.
“You just seem...” Gregory searched for the right word. “Unhappy again.”
“Again?” Nathan asked, his eyes going to his bodyguard.
“You were whistling yesterday. You only do that when you’re actually happy.”
“Tell Hal I apologize.” His eyes searched the road for Holly’s car. “It was her.”
Gregory’s eyes followed Nathan’s gaze. “So find a way to get her. You’re rich. You can do it. You should be happy.”
“It’s not that simple.” Nathan rolled his eyes, but Gregory was gone. Back into the shadows. Protecting him from everything but himself.
Nathan sighed. He went back to his room. He could go skiing. He could go swimming. There was an amazing gym on site, but that didn’t appeal to him either. He wasn’t hungry, but he did consider getting drunk. But even that didn’t sound like something he wanted to do.
He shook his head. He shouldn’t feel like this. He knew her for two days. Two days. It was ridiculous to feel like he’d just lost half his body when she walked away. It was crazy to have this ache in his chest.
Yet, there it was.
He stood at the window, staring out at the clear skies and crisp snow on the mountain. The lifts were up and running again, and skiers and snowboarders raced down the mountain. He watched them for a few minutes, his mood continuing to sour.
He needed to change his thoughts. He needed to make himself feel better. So, he did the one thing that had made him feel good since he was sixteen.
He checked his bank account.
When Nathan opened his first bank account, he had a grand total of one hundred three dollars and twenty-seven cents. He’d saved for weeks to buy a decent computer, and from there started building his computer programs. He made money.
Everything snowballed from that first computer program sale. Paradigm had scooped him up. Now there were board members, stock holders, and thousands of employees. With success came more work. But, he’d learned long ago that work meant money. And money was what he craved.
He’d loved starting his company, but somewhere along the line, the money made became more important than creating. Money became the guidepost. Money was the reward, and money was the goal. Money never made him feel worthless or small.
There were days where it felt like he would never succeed, yet when he looked at the money he’d made, he felt better. After a few years, the hundreds turned to thousands and he was happy. The thousands turned into hundreds of thousands. He had to start adding up his bank accounts, and he was happy. Then millions. And he was happy.
The day his accounts said one billion dollars was one of the best days of his life.
Nathan opened his phone and pulled up his accounts. He was lower today due to some market fluctuations but he sat at just over the billion mark. He waited for the feeling of accomplishment and peace to flow through him like it always did.
But nothing happened.
He clicked through some of the accounts, making sure to pick ones that would show him his wealth.
And no rush of joy followed. No pride. No joy.
Today, it was just numbers.
This had never happened before. The money was why he worked so hard. It was why he barely slept. It was the reason he tolerated the office and the meetings. It was the money, not the work that drove him.
And today the money didn’t matter.
“Screw it,” he said, tossing the phone to the side. He slouched into a chair, more grumpy now than before.
With angry jerky motions, he went to his laptop and pulled it open. He needed something to distract him. He pulled up the reports and files on Elements Computer Technologies.
The company was a good purchase. The owner and CEO wanted out. He was selling for a good price. He dug a little deeper. ECT was based out of a town in Northern Colorado called Devonsville. A college nearby fed into the company, providing new local talent.
The company and the college were the two biggest employers in the county. The town prospered and fed into the success of ECT. Yet, it was still considered a medium sized company and a tiny player in the world of computer technology.
Nathan leaned back in his chair, putting his hands behind his head. Why were they moving this company to San Francisco? He’d let Lucy handle the majority of this as he’d been busy handling the fiasco with RentTech. He’d barely looked at this since it wasn’t going up in flames.
But now that RentTech was no longer on the evening news, it was time to look into this. He picked up his phone again and dialed Lucy.
“What’s up, boss-man?” she asked on the second ring. “How’s th
e vacation going?”
“Why are we moving Element Computer Technologies to California?” He didn’t bother explaining more.
“ECT? Why do you want to know about them?” Lucy asked. He could hear her typing in the background.
“It’s my job,” Nathan replied. “Now that I’ve survived RentTech, I need to keep my momentum. The board isn’t happy. I need to provide a win.”
“ECT is moving to California for better talent. Paradigm attracts the best, but as ECT is remaining a subsidiary, it still needs more mojo,” Lucy answered. “Plus, there’s a tax break incentive.”
“How is a tech company the size of Paradigm getting a tax break incentive?” Nathan asked. That didn’t make much sense.
“It’s a small business tax incentive,” Lucy said, sounding proud of herself. “ECT is small enough to qualify, even as a subsidiary. We’ll save millions by moving the company here.”
Nathan tried to ignore the twitch in his chest. He’d done worse things for money.
“And it’s legal?” Nathan asked her.
“I wouldn’t have done it if it wasn’t,” Lucy assured him. “Millions, Nathan. You said money comes first.”
He nodded. That was his motto: money comes first. Money was everything.
“You okay, boss?” Lucy asked. “You don’t sound like you. Normally, the talk of millions has you all smiles.”
Nathan didn’t know how to answer her. He pulled up the upcoming plans for ECT. The former CEO and some of his executives were supposed to be flying in to meet with him on Wednesday.
An idea started to form, along with a smile.
“Lucy, I want you to cancel George Element’s flight tomorrow,” he told his secretary.
“Um, sure. What do you want me to tell them is the reason why? And I’ll make sure to cancel the meeting.”
“No, the meeting is still on. It’s just that I’m coming to them,” Nathan explained. “I’m only a couple of hours away right now. No need for a flight.”