His phone rang in the bedroom. Briefly, he thought about dismissing it, it could be her, but decided to at least check. He was a businessman after all. To his surprise, it was the matchmakers. He answered while attempting to wrap his towel around his waist.
“Hello, Mr. Winslow. We spoke not long ago.” Reid didn’t bother answering her. “Well, due to the mix up and the terrible news I had to give you, I thought I would spend some time trying to make it up to you. I don’t know why you were paired with someone before the background checks, but I’d like to offer you the chance to meet another woman, one I have personally vetted and checked myself. I know you may not really feel like it right now, but I thought I would offer you the opportunity.”
Reid sat on the edge of his bed. Water dripped from his hair and down his back, leaving a tingling trail. “You know what, let’s do it. What could it hurt? I’ve already had my heart pounded to dust.”
“I’m truly sorry about that. I promise that the next one has been thoroughly checked. I just received all the backgrounds and statements back today, that’s actually what I was doing when you called; filing away the denials. Would you be interested in a date with one of our other women, then?”
“You said she’s new to the system?”
“Yes, sir, just passed the background checks today. She is ready to date. If you would like me to, I can get in contact with her and set you up on a date.”
“Would it be possible for you to just give me her contact information, phone number or email? I’d like to organize my own date if you don’t mind, and I’d like to talk to her a bit first before jumping in head first again. I guess you could say I’m a bit gun shy.”
“Of course, Mr. Winslow. I’ll email it right over to you.”
He said his goodbye this time and stood to finish toweling off. The clock on the nightstand told him it was now 8:30. He wondered briefly what Paloma would think when he didn’t call.
He wanted to not care, but he couldn’t help it. He wanted to know that she was hurt, wanted her to feel what he felt. His phone chimed again, indicating that he had a new email. Climbing into bed, he opened it up and looked at the information the assistant had sent.
Jovie Margaux? Had they scraped the barrel for the strangest names they could find this week? He scrolled down to the picture and was pleasantly surprised. Jovie was tan, blonde, and had large brown eyes that seemed to bore into his soul. Her curly hair tumbled around her head and down her shoulders.
He was enchanted with the honey colored ringlets. Glancing at her profile, he found out that she was, indeed, gainfully employed. She was the owner and operator of a small boutique and salon in midtown. Her entrepreneurship impressed him. She had listed her interests as reading, water sports, and dancing. Reid kept returning to the picture. Her smile was wide and open, giving him the feeling that she did truly enjoy her life and got the fun out of it every chance she could. He set his phone on the table and leaned back, visions of Jovie in his head trying to crowd out his thoughts of Paloma.
Chapter 14
Paloma paced the room. She hadn’t heard from Reid. She knew that men kept their own time and that “tonight” might mean “tomorrow,” but it had been three days and she hadn’t heard anything from him. She had even texted him, jokingly asking if he was still alive. Now she was starting to really worry that maybe he wasn’t. That was nonsense. Maybe he just got busy. He was a high class businessman after all.
“Will you knock it off and sit down? You’re wearing a hole in the floor!”
“I’m sorry.” She stopped and plopped down on the sofa next to Kit. They had been through it time and time again. Kit was certain he was just using Paloma for sex, which she had been given the opportunity to hear all about and really didn’t blame him for. She was actually a little envious of Paloma in that instance.
Paloma, on the other hand, assured her that they had had a wonderful time and had gone over the date and the subsequent second date, or date extension, ad nauseam. Kit was tired of hearing about it, but was unable to point out any breaking point in Paloma’s story. Was her friend really that dense that she thought it was all sunshine and roses when it wasn’t?
“I’m sure he’ll call,” Kit tried. Paloma didn’t look convince, and for good reason. Kit didn’t really mean it. In fact, she was almost certain he wouldn’t call.
“I’m going to call him.”
“What?”
“You heard me; I’m going to call him. At the very least I’ll be able to reach his email, right?” Kit shrugged. “I just need to know he’s okay. Even if we are through and he was using me, I could stand that if I just had an answer.”
“I still think it’s a bad idea.”
Paloma stuck out her tongue at Kit and grabbed for her phone. She punched in the number and held the little device to her ear. Two rings brought her to a busy signal.
“What the hell?” She tried again with the same result. “It’s going to a busy signal. I didn’t think cells gave busy signals, they either ring through or go straight to voicemail.” One glance at Kit’s face told her that the phone skipping to voicemail wasn’t good. “You know what it means?”
“Yeah, I know what it means.” Kit looked sad then, it was the first time she had had any emotion other than contempt for the whole dating website thing.
“Come on, then, spill.”
Kit sat forward with a heavy sigh and looked right into Paloma’s eyes. “You aren’t going to like it.” Her friend didn’t say anything. She didn’t move, just waited for Kit to tell her what was going on. “Okay,” she sighed again, “when a phone goes to voicemail like that, it usually mean that either service has been cut, but given the fact that dude is probably a billionaire, I doubt it’s that. The other option is that you’ve been blocked.”
“Blocked?” Her eyes widened in surprise before starting to tear up. “But why would he block me? Something isn’t right.”
“Look, P. I know it’s hard, but some guys are just assholes like that. It’s a fact of life. Some women are uber bitches and some guys are dicks.”
“Not Reid.”
“Current evidence points to the contrary.” Kit leaned back in her chair again and put her ear buds in her ears, finished with the conversation. She was officially done with the Paloma pity party.
Frustrated, Paloma retreated to her room and sat down on the bed. Her mind was racing, trying to figure out what had gone wrong. Though she had replayed every second of their time together, she couldn’t pinpoint the moment it went awry. She grabbed her jacket and headed out the door, passing a distracted Kit as she went.
The offices of Lovers.com were quiet when she arrived. Her watch told her that she had managed to arrive during the typical lunch hour. “Fantastic, can’t manage to do anything right,” she muttered to herself as she walked through the hallway, peeking into the offices, looking for somebody, anybody, who could help her. In one of the small offices, she found a woman hunched over her computer, clearly busy at work.
Paloma cleared her throat to get the woman’s attention. When she lifted her head, Paloma realized it was the same assistant who had led her into Vivi’s office the first time. The small sign on her desk said her name was Miranda.
“Yes, can I help you?”
“I hope so. You see, I went on a date with a man, and I thought we really hit it off, but now I haven’t heard from him and his phone goes to voicemail and I can’t seem to get ahold of him. I know it’s not really what you do here, but I was just hoping I could get some kind of an answer as to why he has so completely cut me out of his life.”
“Certainly. Have a seat. You’re Paloma, am I right?”
“That’s right, yes.” She was a little taken aback by the fact that the assistant had remembered her name, but tried not to let it show.
Miranda started clicking away at her computer working through files. Her face creased into a frown as she turned back to Paloma. “I think I see the problem.”
“And tha
t would be?”
“Your billionaire match has been reassigned to another woman. He must have had a particularly terrible time. I’m sorry for the trouble, but that’s how it goes sometimes.”
“What? We had a great time. It was so great it extended into the next day.” Miranda gave her a look. “Don’t you dare imply that he dated me just to get laid. I’m not that easy.”
“I’m sure. Perhaps that’s not the issue. At any rate, that’s all I can tell you. He has been reassigned. I can’t tell you to whom, nor would I if I could. We take our high profile clients very seriously.”
Paloma stood, still completely in disbelief about what she had just heard. Was it true that Reid had just wanted to sleep with someone? Was she that desperate that she had fallen for the whole ruse? It couldn’t be. She drove back to Kit’s in a daze, her mind trying to focus on the date again, looking for any sign of arrogance and finding none.
Kit hadn’t moved from her spot on the couch. She had her head thrown back, listening to the thumping techno music that could be heard streaming through her ear buds. She didn’t even notice Paloma as she tore through the living room and into her bedroom, closing and locking the door behind her. She didn’t want anyone to know the shame and anger she felt over the entire situation, and she certainly didn’t need to explain to Kit that she had been right. Looking at the painting across from the bed, she followed the line of people moving up, doing better, getting along just fine. It was time for her to stand up and do her own thing. She made up her mind that she was going to do all in her power to find Reid and figure out what the hell was going on. She knew his name and, apparently, he was a billionaire. It couldn’t be too hard to find him. She grabbed her laptop and a notebook and began her research.
Hours later, a knock at the door drew her attention away from the screen. She was sore from leaning over the laptop for so long and her joints protested at the unfolding of her legs as she stood from the bed. Kit stood on the other side of the door, looking ready for a party.
“I thought you were still gone; I was starting to worry. I even tried calling.”
Paloma gave her a puzzled look and dug around in her pocket for her phone. The device was dead. The battery must have run out while she was immersed in her online stalking.
“Wanna go to the club?”
“No.” Paloma walked across the room and attached her phone to the charger. “I can’t. I’m busy.” She jumped back onto the bed and pulled her notebook onto her lap.
“Busy doing what? Job hunting? Come on, P, shake it up a little.”
“I’m not job hunting. I’m…Did you know Reid is a billionaire? That’s with nine zeros, Kit. Nine. He owns half of the lower east side developmental projects and is responsible for building the new sports complex on the river.”
“Oh, so he finally called?”
“Well, no, not exactly.” Paloma eased the top of her laptop down, suddenly ashamed of what she had been doing.
“Come on, P, you aren’t stalking him are you?” Kit jumped on the bed and grabbed for the computer. She opened it up to find a number of windows open, each containing an article about Winslow and his company. The wealth of information was impressive. “You have lost your damn mind, you know that right.”
“I know, it’s just that I need to know. I mean, look.” She clicked over to a new window. This one listed his charitable giving and the programs he sponsored. “Look how great he is. He’s like a saint.” Kit took her time to read the articles on the page.
“Okay, so he’s a giving guy.”
“He’s a nice guy! And look at this.” She clicked over to another page. “He’s not just nice to people, he bought an entire animal shelter and converted it to a no-kill. Why?” She pointed to one line in the text.
“Kittens are cute?”
“Exactly. Does that sound like the kind of guy who would take a woman out, have a good time, have amazing sex, hang out all day the next day, then erase her from his life? He is not your typical guy. I’m telling you, something isn’t right. Why would he want to be reassigned?”
“He’s single.”
“Well, yeah, that’s the point. I don’t want to date a married man.”
“No, I mean in the pictures. All of them. He’s by himself. There are no dates to any of the events, it’s just him. Maybe he’s not the saint you think he is. He doesn’t seem to be able to settle on a woman long enough to take them to anything.” Paloma grabbed the computer away and began flipping through the pictures she had found. Kit was right, there was no one with him in any photo and no mention of him escorting anyone to any events. “Look, come on out with me. We’ll go somewhere new. I’m sure there’s a place we haven’t been within walking distance. Let’s go pound a few brews.”
Paloma closed the computer with an exasperated sigh. “You know what, let’s go.” She stood up, slid on her shoes, grabbed her purse, and walked out of the room. She didn’t even bother with her phone—who was going to be calling her? She already knew that the next day would be a “pity myself and my poor hangover” day, but that’s just the way it was going to be. Maybe she would meet someone new at the club. Screw Reid; let him have his new billionaire babe.
Chapter 15
Reid wiped the fog from the mirror and started dabbing shaving cream on his face. He wasn’t thrilled about the fact that he had to shave off four days’ worth of growth, but he had a date. It was time to pull himself out of the pit and get back to life. Even Tori had stopped calling him.
She had finally given up and gone to the second-in-command while Reid worked through his sorrow. Usually the women he met didn’t affect him in this way. He was able to kick them to the curb and move on, no problem.
Something about Paloma was different. Too bad she was just like the rest of them. He couldn’t believe that he had agreed to another date from them, but he had had such a great time with Paloma that he figured maybe he would find another one like her, just not a gold digger.
He grimaced at his reflection as he drew the razor down his cheek, erasing the sorrow and pain the last four days had brought him. “I should call her,” he told his reflection. “I mean, I should at least get a reason from her. Why would she lie to me? What did she have to gain from it?” Frustrated, he rushed the rest of his shave, nicking the bit of skin just under his ear. He cursed and grabbed a towel. “Get out of my head, Paloma. I don’t want you anymore.” Was that the truth?
He had emailed back and forth with the new girl, Jovie. She seemed nice enough. He couldn’t bring himself to call her, he didn’t want her to hear the melancholy in his voice, but he didn’t have a problem telling her stories through text and reading her own stories.
They had developed an easy conversation style. The date that night would determine if it translated into any kind of chemistry. What if she had a terrible, annoying laugh or smelled funny? You never knew with online dating. Either way, Reid decided that this was the last one. He would not go on any more dates if it didn’t work out with Jovie.
He would just decide to be a bachelor for life. With the bleeding stopped, he pulled a sweater on over his head and pulled on jeans. They had both decided to keep it casual and go out for Thai food at a little corner bistro that Jovie knew about. Reid had smiled at the idea of going someplace normal and not for the upper class, per se. He was ready for a change and had allowed her to choose the venue. Her choice had surprised him at first, usually women chose the high class places, but he was more than ready to get down to the lower class end of town and have a simple meal in a dim little corner booth somewhere.
He checked his reflection again before heading for the garage. It was a lovely night, cool and brisk. He decided on a convertible, a newer, sleek little sports car would do the trick. Nothing too flashy. The drive across town was wonderful; his hair blew back in the breeze.
He cranked the radio up, trying to drown out the noise in his head; the voice of Paloma talking about the magical wonder of food and telling stories abo
ut her families past. He had to shake her out of his mind. On the highway, he floored it, trying to race away from her memory. No matter how fast he went, she was right there with him. As soon as he parked the car, he turned it off and sat in the dim lot, looking at the restaurant and psyching himself up for his date. You can do this, Reid.
It was quiet inside the eatery. Small groups and couples sat in clusters. All of it was accompanied by the smells of hot pho and peanut sauce. The lights were dim, but the vibrant blues and deep reds gave off a relaxing atmosphere. Reid scanned the tables, looking for a long blonde among all the darker heads in the room. He finally spotted Jovie in a booth in the far right hand corner.
She looked beautiful, but nervous. That was a good sign, right? She had worn a tunic type shirt emblazoned with multiple colors. It seemed to light up the dim corner she sat in. The shirt was paired with dark legging and teal flats. Reid smiled at her style. He liked the simplicity of it all. Before he could chicken out, he made his way across the room and to the table.
She spotted him when he was about halfway there and stood. She was much shorter than he had imagined her to be, only topping out at five-foot-five. Her smile chased away the rest of the dimness. It was lovely and dazzling, bringing out a small dimple on her left cheek. He couldn’t help but return the smile.
“Hi, Jovie. It’s nice to finally meet you. I like this place you chose. I’ve never been here before.”
“Thanks, it’s actually one of my favorites. I probably eat here once a week, usually for lunch. It’s just down the road from my place and the service is as good as the food. It doesn’t take much to keep me coming back.”
Reid smiled again. Her voice was smooth as silk and fit her looks perfectly. He could cross that worry off his list. The both slid into the booth across from each other.
The Billionaire's Mistaken Match ( A BWWM Romance) Page 6