CEO's S.O.S.

by Anders, Robyn

  "Right. Well, you're his girlfriend. I guess you should know what he wants."

  Courtney hung up the phone.

  Well, that answered one question that should have been nagging her but that Tyler had managed to keep her distracted from. Nobody in Philadelphia is going to paint an office building in December. It doesn't make sense. Not unless they had an ulterior motive.

  It also didn't make sense to buy an office building just to get yourself a dog-sitter, which was apparently how Tyler thought about her if the comments she'd heard at the symphony gala had been any indication. But if you're a billionaire, maybe you don't have to make sense. You just throw money at problems and treat people like objects. Just like her father had always treated her, although he'd never showered any cash her way.

  She batted away the tears that spilled into her eyes as she slammed the phone back on the receiver.

  Hell, Tyler probably thought she would be flattered if she ever learned he'd bought her office building and wasted money on a lousy paint job just to force her into his home. Well, Tyler obviously didn't know her as well as he thought he did--his undoubted talents in exploiting her body and her limited sexual experience notwithstanding.

  She ran through Tyler's oversized mansion, back to the guest bedroom she'd originally been assigned.

  Her fish swum around in her saltwater aquarium, undisturbed by the emotional anxiety of their human companion, indifferent to whether their universe was located in a low-rent office building or in a nineteenth century robber-baron's mansion on the expensive side of the Philadelphia tracks. Harvey's crate sat next to her bed, but the telltale wrinkles in her bedspread proved that Harvey hadn't been completely good. He'd decided to spend the night in a bed rather than in his crate.

  She couldn't blame him. She just wished that she had followed her common sense and spent the night in that bed, with Harvey, rather than in Tyler's lying arms.

  She gave the fish a couple of pinches of food, checked to make sure the temperature was properly adjusted, murmured a few words of encouragement and a promise to come back and rescue her pets as soon as she could, then threw on some clothes.

  It only took a few minutes to put everything she except the aquarium into the small bag she had brought with her. She threw the dress Tyler had bought her on the ground and left it there. She wasn't going to take anything from that man.

  She tried to remember exactly what Eve Atwood had told her. Something about ready-to-wear clothing versus tailored.

  At the time, she'd thought Tyler's mother was just being tacky. Now Courtney realized the fundamental truth Eve had been trying to share with her. Tyler had bought himself a pet psychologist and figured he had a ready-to-wear sex partner as part of the bargain.

  The clues had been there all along. Only Courtney's deliberate self-deception and the terrible neediness she had developed growing up in her family of origin had kept her blind.

  She'd made it out the door and was throwing her bag into the back of her Toyota when Tyler and Harvey jogged up.

  "What's going on? I thought you were going to stay in bed."

  Both of the males were breathing deeply. Steam emerged from their mouths as if they were dragons, building a good head of fire before heading into combat. Despite the cold, a drop of sweat trickled down into Tyler's eye. He shook his head like a dog, dislodging the pesky moisture and stopping Courtney's unintentional movement to reach out and wipe it away--a clear sign that her body would betray her if she gave it the chance.

  "Your painter left you a message," Courtney said. "It's too cold to paint. Don't worry, I sent him home."

  She hadn't realized how badly she wanted to be wrong, to have the entire thing be an enormous coincidence until she saw Tyler's quick look away--as he gathered himself together for another big lie.

  She held out a hand. "I don't want to hear it."

  "What we have between us has nothing to do with Harvey's desperate need for your help."

  "You're so wrong," she said. " Harvey wasn't the one with problems. You were, and you still are. You did a pretty good job messing up your poor dog and now you've gone ahead and messed up our relationship--if you want to call banging your dog's psychologist a relationship at all."

  "We weren't banging. We were--"

  "Stuff it, Atwood. I've got clients--nice, safe, predictable animals. I don't waste my time trying to cure sick humans, like you." She swallowed hard and willed her eyes to stay clear. She didn't want to cry in front of Tyler.

  "We need to talk about this. We had something special and I can't believe that you'd just--"

  "What we had was a bunch of lies--your lies, Tyler. But don't worry, I deserve the blame, not you. The second I saw the troubles poor Harvey was having, I should have recognized his symptoms as clear warnings about your issues. Just because you're sexy and have a way of turning a girl's head, I ignored everything I know about people and dogs. My bad."

  Tyler shook his head. "Why don't we hop down to the Caribbean on my private jet for a couple of days. We can talk about this and see if we can work things out."

  "Oh, yeah. Why didn't I think of something like that? I probably don't feel enough like a kept woman as it is. Of course I'll want to let you buy me again. You know what, Tyler? You can stuff your billions of dollars right up your--"

  He pressed his hand over her mouth. "Harvey is listening."

  She bit at his hand, nearly catching it.

  Tyler evaded her move, though, which was probably lucky. Harvey wouldn't be damaged by a few curses. But he didn't need to see the two of them fighting, and biting was the kind of negative behavior she shouldn't reinforce. Besides, Courtney didn't really want to fight Tyler--although tossing him down onto the icy ground and stomping on him had a perverse appeal. Prolonging their contact could only hurt her further.

  "Goodbye, Tyler. Don't try to call me." She got into her car and put the key in her ignition.

  It would have been a good exit line.

  * * * *

  Unfortunately, her SUV had been sitting in Tyler's circular driveway for a couple of days and the already ancient battery had given up the ghost. Her engine clicked a few times when she cranked the key but the engine wouldn't turn over.

  "Want me to have a look?" Tyler simply wouldn't go away.

  She swiped away a betraying tear. "You think you could bribe my battery to behave?"

  "You know this kind of problem could be dangerous, Courtney. What if your battery gave out someplace where you didn't have friends? You could be stranded."

  The really pathetic thing was, he was serious. As if he really thought he was her friend.

  She yanked on the hood latch and got out of her car. "Tell me, Tyler, do you normally buy your friends retail, or do you typically just take the extras who come along with the buildings you buy?"

  "I'll call the auto club," he offered. "You can come inside and have a cup of coffee to warm up."

  The heat created by her anger was dissipating, but she wasn't about to go back into the house with Tyler. There were too many memories, too many places where they'd kissed.

  "I'll wait here."

  "Then I'll wait with you." He grabbed his cell phone and dialed.

  Whenever Courtney called the auto club, she had to sit through an interminable wait and a thousand voice menus. Tyler's money seemed to have bought him something a bit more powerful. Within thirty seconds, he punched the disconnect button. "They'll be here in ten minutes."

  "Great. Now you can go away."

  "I don't buy friends, Courtney."

  "Hell, Tyler. You don't just buy friends. You buy your family. I mean, the only way you got your sister to help me look for shoes was to promise to pay for some for herself. And look at your mother. You try to buy her love by letting her steal hundreds of millions of dollars. So, yeah, for you, buying a girlfriend probably seemed like the natural thing. I don't blame you. If I'd been brought up like you, I'd probably be a sick puppy too."

  He narrowed his
eyes. Evidently she'd finally hit him somewhere that hurt.

  Which didn't make her feel as good as she thought it would. Because she still had feelings for Tyler, still loved him.

  "I assume you'll still see Harvey to help him with his behavioral issues."

  "Of course I'll see Harvey, without you." Tyler would probably have the dog sent with a servant or maybe a replacement girlfriend. Which wouldn't do much good since Harvey's behavioral problems centered on Tyler and Tyler's late sister, Amanda. Still, she'd do what she could.

  "Good. Oh, the wrecker is here."

  Ten minutes had turned out to be a conservative estimate. The friendly tow-truck driver jumped her SUV, warned her to drive around a bit before stopping to make sure she got a good charge, and then waved her off when she tried to pay him. "Part of the service, ma'am."

  Tyler just shrugged when Courtney put her car into reverse. "I'll see you around."

  "I've left the aquarium. I'll try to pick it up tomorrow. Is that all right?"

  He scowled. "I'll deliver it."

  * * * *

  Tyler watched Courtney's 4-Runner as she skidded out into the street and headed away, out of his neighborhood and out of his life.

  He shook his head. There were plenty more women in Philadelphia. Women who would be overjoyed to help a billionaire spend some of his money and anxious to pleasure him in any way his fertile imagination could direct.

  But Tyler didn't want other women. He wanted Courtney Zane. And Courtney had made it perfectly clear that if he was the last man alive and she the last woman, the human species was just going to have to die out.

  "Come on, Harvey. Let's get you fed and dried off."

  Harvey whined as Courtney's SUV turned the last corner and she vanished.

  "Don't worry, buddy. You'll get to see her. We'll work out some sort of visitation rights."

  That thought didn't make Harvey any happier. He hung his head when Tyler opened his house door and Tyler had to drag the animal into the house.

  "How about I make some scrambled eggs, for both of us?" Tyler suggested. "Eggs are good for your coat. I'll mix them with your dog food for a real treat."

  Harvey looked at him, raised a leg, and puddled on the new Turkish carpet in Tyler's formal living room.

  He grabbed a handful of paper towels, cleaned up the worst of the mess, and then patted the dog on the head. "It's tough for you, isn't it? It's bad enough for me, but at least I can tell myself that it was my fault. I should have told her about the painting scam before I made love with her. And it isn't fair that you have to suffer the consequences of my mistake. But it seemed like such a small mistake. Hardly worth such a big reaction."

  Harvey didn't say anything but at least he didn't pee on anything else.

  "We're going to have to get her back, Harvey. So, if you have any brilliant ideas, now's the time to speak up."

  Harvey looked at him, opened his mouth, and--

  The phone rang.

  Tyler brushed away the annoyance. Harvey might be trying to tell him a lot of things, but waiting for his dog to express his ideas in English had to be about the most pathetic possible strategy for getting Courtney back in his life.

  The Calling Line ID told him Courtney wasn't calling to say she'd made a terrible mistake in leaving him.

  "Hello, Mother."

  "Good morning, Tyler. I wanted to talk about the symphony's money and we really didn't get a chance to finish our discussion last night."

  "There isn't any symphony money, Mother. It's my money."

  She sighed theatrically. "Whatever. I think we can work out a deal."

  Harvey cocked his head at the sound of Eve's voice over the phone and went looking for someplace else to pee.

  "No, Harvey. Come on, let's go back outside."

  "I don't understand why you let that dog control your life."

  "You were saying something about a deal?"

  "Right. I discussed this with Bruno. He's willing to be reasonable."

  Reasonable to Eve and Bruno was unlikely to be anything like reasonable to Tyler. "Go on."

  "We'll return one-fifty. You'll write the remaining fifty over to the symphony society as a pure donation. In my name, of course."

  "Why would I want to give that thief fifty million?"

  "You're lucky he's willing to return anything," Eve snapped. "If the symphony didn't need the money now, so it could start work on the new symphony complex and impress the European conductors we're interviewing, Bruno would ignore your talk about a lawsuit and just go ahead. I persuaded him to meet you more than halfway. I'd think you'd show a little gratitude"

  She'd have a long wait if she expected gratitude. "I'll think about it."

  "Don't think too long. If we haven't heard from you by the end of the day tomorrow, we're going to consider the money ours and good luck getting it back, because Bruno is heading off to Europe, with the bonds."

  "Good-bye, Mother." He hung up the phone.

  Harvey brushed his paw against the door.

  "Right, Harvey. I think we should go out to breakfast too." He pulled on a windbreaker and snapped on Harvey's leash. "We aren't going to get any peace if we stay here." He couldn't admit, even to his dog, that his house felt terribly lonely without Courtney. But he couldn't deny the reality to himself.

  He was still wearing his running shoes so he hooked up his earphone and managed his phone calls while he and Harvey jogged the mile or so to the nearby coffee shop.

  By the time he'd gotten there, he had worked up an appetite, Harvey seemed happier, and Tyler had spoken with Jack about revising their corporate strategic plan to reflect the loss of fifty million of his investment.

  It wouldn't be a disaster. The company would still grow and still be strongly positioned for possible acquisitions: just not as quickly as he had hoped. But, for some number of workers, a good job and a good paycheck would be delayed.

  He hated it.

  The perky twenty-something at the coffee shop counter was impressed by Harvey, intrigued by Tyler, and completely uninteresting to him. The universe seemed intent on rubbing Tyler's face into the reality that he didn't want a generic female, he wanted one very particular woman--the woman who had walked out of his life, forever.

  Half an hour staring into his coffee cup finally persuaded him that he needed help. Jack would probably have some useful advice, but he didn't want to hit up his friend and co-worker for love advice.

  He called his sister.

  McKinsey showed up at the coffee shop ten minutes later, frazzled and still rubbing sleep from her eyes as she ordered a double espresso.

  Tyler hadn't seen McKinsey without makeup and with her hair anything less than perfect since he'd gone away to college, and he felt perversely pleased that she would drop everything when he had called and told her he needed her help.

  "You in trouble, big brother?"

  He nodded grimly. "Oh, yeah."

  "Mom holding onto that money?"

  "Worse."

  McKinsey only had to consider for a second. "Don't tell me you let Courtney get away! She was perfect for you."

  He quickly summarized his sensible investment in Courtney's office building and the emergency paint job.

  "Boy, when you decide to screw up, you really don't mess around, do you?"

  Chapter 11

  The first truckload of flowers arrived about an hour after Courtney had shoveled the last of the paint cans out of her office and reestablished her home.

  She directed the deliveryman to the trash bins outside and got on her phone, letting her clients know not to go to Tyler's place but to return to her office.

  The second truckload arrived right at lunchtime--and was accompanied by a feast from the Chinese takeout restaurant that was all the rage in Philadelphia although it was a bit pricey for her budget.

  She had them toss away the flowers but she couldn't waste the food.

  She sent the third truckload back. If Tyler wanted to show her that
he still thought she could be bought, he couldn't have chosen a better way.

  She saw two clients, helped one woman with her ferret and an elderly man with the greyhound he could no longer give the exercise the animal needed. That was it for the day so she made herself a cup of tea, taking her first sip as the phone rang.

  She picked it up cautiously. "Zane and Associates. Courtney Zane speaking."

  "It's your father."

  Uh-oh. "Hi, Dad."

  "I read about you."

  As if she ever got any P.R. for her business. The local newspapers treated pet psychology as a huge joke rather than as a serious attempt to help people and their animal companions coexist.

  "I hope it was something good."

  "It said you were the mystery date of some Philadelphia billionaire."

  She should have guessed. "Old news, Dad."

  "So I researched this Atwood guy. Turns out that his old man was worthless but Atwood is the real deal. Joined the union when he had to drop out of college. Became a shop steward before the old steel company went under. And he managed to save the union pension program when he got the company going again."

  "I'm sure he's a saint."

  "That's my point. You always mess things up. So don't mess this one up. That Tyler Atwood is the best thing that ever happened to you. Think what a big help he could be for the family."

  It figured. Her father was working his angles, figuring how he could use her to advance himself. Just like Tyler had. "Too late. He's history."

  Her father paused, making a few grumbling noises as he searched for the right words. "Well." He hemmed a bit longer. "Okay, so you know how your mother and I always told you to save yourself. About the cow and the milk."

  Oh, God. She didn't need this lecture.

  "But we didn't mean it if a guy like Tyler Atwood came along. I mean, you've got to be sensible. Guys like that, you've got to treat different."

  She wasn't going to tell her dad that sex wasn't the problem and she couldn't believe he was asking her to prostitute herself for his convenience. "I'll keep it in mind. But I've got a client coming in five minutes so I've gotta go. Give my love to mom."

  She hung up before her dad could go into any specifics on what he thought she should do to hook and land herself a billionaire. Her father was a union man and he probably was happy that Tyler had been in the union before he'd become a business tycoon. But it was Tyler's billions, not his commitment to collective bargaining, that made her father think the rules just shouldn't apply to him: an opinion Tyler seemed to share.