I’d gotten to this point with him purely by happenstance. My acquisitions officer had been approached by the old man’s children. Two obviously rich, spoiled grown-up children who together owned sixty-five percent of the stock in his company. I didn’t meet them…yet, but Doug had told me they were incredibly hard people to tolerate, much less like. The old man had probably given the stock to them as a college graduation gift…thinking they’d be as proud to be a part of it as he was. I could see in the faded blue of his watery eyes that he now knew it was a mistake.
“No, Mr. Hamilton…you don’t. But the harsh truth that you and I both know is that I don’t need you to sell it to me. Your children have already set their price and I have my acquisitions department working up those numbers. Once I make that purchase…and I’m positive at this point that I will, I will own controlling stock in your company.”
“You’re a billionaire. You own controlling stock in your own company and God knows how many more and you’re barely old enough to shave. Why do you need mine?”
“I don’t need it, sir. But, it’s a sound investment and….”
“Of course it’s a sound investment! It’s been in my family for generations! My grandfather built it with his own two hands…literally. His work has been showcased in museums…hell the park in upstate New York turned one of its boathouses into a museum just to showcase his work.” I worried the old man was going to have a heart attack, he was so agitated. At last he just said, “It should stay in my family.” The first two sentences were angry, the last, pleading. My heart was not completely cold. I felt bad for the old man. But he was the one who raised the children that were willing to sell him out, not me. The consequences of that failure were his to bear obviously….not mine.
“Mr. Hamilton, I’m sorry that this is hurting you. But what you’re going through is something you should work out within your family. Your company could be torn apart if you refuse my offer.” I was not feeling up to being compassionate tonight. I had my own problems. That was the best he was going to get out of me. I didn’t need his approval, once I owned controlling stock I would just take it over. It was messier that way, but doable.
“Only if you choose to tear it apart,” he said, “Let me ask you this young man. What if one day the children you’d loved and nurtured turn against you and threaten to destroy what you built with your own hands….”
“But you didn’t build it,” I said, my tone obviously less patient. “You told me yourself that it was handed to you the same way you handed it to your children….”
The old man pushed back angrily from the table and stood up. He leaned down close to me and said, “You don’t understand a thing. Yes, my granddaddy founded this company and my daddy made improvements, but I made it what it is…and I did that through hard work and something you might not know anything about, boy…compassion. I expanded my own company without destroying someone else’s. You aren’t the businessman that the magazines and papers laud you to be. You’re just another snake in the grass waiting to strike. If you want my company Mr. Winters…come and get it!”
He left me sitting there in the bar, a couple of interested business people looking at me, wondering what kind of Ogre I was for upsetting such a nice little old man. It was the second time that day I’d been walked out on. The first time was Robyn and I hadn’t stopped wondering what kind of Ogre I must be myself since that encounter.
“Can I get you anything else Mr. Winters?” the little cocktail waitress startled me; I hadn’t even seen her walk up.
“Yes, a scotch on the rocks,” I told her. I didn’t know what the hell to do about Robyn and I knew what the businessman in me would likely decide to do to Harvey Yard ell…at this point I just wanted to be numb.
I had three…or maybe four more drinks. I couldn’t remember how many I’d already had and I didn’t care. I also couldn’t remember the last time I’d gotten drunk…maybe it had never happened. One thing I was good at…really good at…was staying in control. I made sure that I had control over everything in my life. I tossed back another drink and thought about how I’d tried to control my relationship with Robyn. I’d tried to keep it between just her and I and in doing so, I’d made her feel badly…I swear, that had never been my intention. I was about to order another drink when I looked up and saw Jeffrey.
“Jeffrey! Sit down and have a drink with me!”
“No thank you sir, I’m your designated driver, remember?”
“Then get me another one,” I told him.
“I’m afraid the bartender has asked me to let you know he thinks you’ve had enough, sir.”
“What? Does he know who I am?” I didn’t use that one often, but I was kind of an ass when I got drunk.
“Yes sir, he’s well aware. That’s why he asked me to deal with it.”
“Well, I’ll just have a word with the snot-nosed little punk….” I tried to stand up and I stumbled into Jeffrey. He caught me and sat me back down.
“I’ll get you some coffee sir,” he said.
“Wait! Jeffrey…sit down for a minute, please.”
He didn’t look like he wanted to, but he did. I looked at him for a long time and I realized that I had been riding around in a car with this man every day for years and I hardly knew him. I suddenly reached out and hugged him. He looked horrified when I finally let him go.
“Jeffrey, am I a heartless ogre?” I asked him finally.
He looked like he was suppressing a smile as he asked, “May I ask why you inquire, sir?”
“I know that you and Robyn got close…you talk to her about…normal things. You don’t talk to me, Jeffrey. Is it because I’m an ogre?”
That time his lips twitched. He wasn’t going to be able to hold his straight face much longer. “No sir, of course it’s not. You’re just a very busy, important man. I doubt that you have the time for idle chat with the likes of me.”
“The likes of you….Damn it! I’ve made you feel like because you work for me that I think myself above you. That’s so untrue….Damn it! That’s just not true.” God forgive me…I hugged him again. He didn’t look like he could take another one. “I don’t think I’m better than you…we’re just…different, Jeffrey. I don’t know how to do different. Robyn…she’s so different too. I should have left her alone. I should have known….”
He’d stood up, out of my reach and he said, “Can I speak freely, sir?”
“Of course you can, Jeffrey!”
“Miss Robyn cares very much about you. I personally think the one thing that might turn you into an ogre would be if you choose to turn your back on her.”
I realized that I’d just been very nicely called an idiot by my chauffeur. I started laughing and I couldn’t stop. I laughed as Jeffrey loaded me into the back of the car and until I passed out. Then I slept until I woke up and puked my guts out the rest of the night. Then I slept again. By the time I woke up the next day and began to feel alive…it was after noon. I had twenty missed calls…my colleagues were freaking out; I never just didn’t show up.
I called Janice first and asked her to issue my apologies to everyone…to all the people I’d stood up this morning and then I asked her to cancel and reschedule everything else for the rest of the day.
~
CHAPTER SEVEN
~
ROBYN
Two days after I told Aaron we shouldn’t see each other anymore, I saw Jeffrey waiting near the front door of the offices as I walked out in the afternoon. He was standing next to the open car door and I looked around to see if Aaron was behind me. I wasn’t sure I was ready to face him yet. Not seeing him, I said,
“Hey Jeffrey! What’s up?”
“Good afternoon, Miss Robyn. How are you today?”
“I’m as good as always,” I told him with a smile. I reserved my heart ache for when I was alone. No one else needed to suffer for my bad mood.
“That’s good to hear. Miss Robyn, I’m here for you.”
“Excu
se me?”
“Mr. Winters asked me to pick you up….”
“Huh uh! No way. Who does he think he is?”
“May I explain?” Jeffrey said. I felt bad for interrupting him…and doing exactly what I’d just said I wouldn’t do…taking my mood out on him.
“I’m sorry. Yes, please go on.”
“He asked me to tell you that he has had an epiphany. He no longer cares to be an ogre and if you can find it in your heart to give him one more chance he would like me to take you shopping. If you agree, he’d like you to buy whatever kind, color, style or designer label outfit that you feel comfortable in. He asked me to add that even an elf costume will suffice. Then, also only if you agree, he will pick you up himself in his own car at seven this evening. From there he will drive you to Eleven Madison Park for dinner and then to the Metropolitan Opera house for a showing of Le Nozze Di Figaro.”
I was staring at him as he talked. The longer he went on, the more my mouth fell open, I think. I finally realized it was hanging open and I closed it.
“I’m finished, Miss,” he said. “Just waiting for your response now.” He looked like he was trying hard to keep a straight face. Damn him! Damn Aaron! I wanted to say no. I wanted to show him that I wasn’t this easy. I also wanted to see him. I missed him so badly that my heart physically ached. At last, I walked over to the car and looked up at Jeffrey and said,
“He better just hope I don’t find any elf costumes still for sale.”
Jeffrey smiled and said, “Yes ma’am.” He closed the door behind him and as he knew I liked, once he slid into his seat he lowered the partition between us.
“Did he really call himself an ogre?” I asked Jeffrey.
With as straight a face as he could muster he said, “More than once, Miss.”
“I have one more important question,”
“What’s that, Miss?”
“Will there be other patrons at Eleven Madison Park and Le Nozze Di Figaro tonight?”
“I believe it’s one of the most popular restaurants…and shows in the city, Miss, so I’m sure there will be.”
“You know what I mean, Jeffrey. Did he buy it out? Is he still hoping to sneak me unseen around the city?”
“No Miss, I reserved the table and bought the tickets myself.”
I smiled then, Aaron was going about it strangely…as usual, but he was trying. That was what mattered most. I know that most women would have just told him he was out of chances….but I wasn’t most women.
***
Jeffrey took me home after my shopping spree. It wasn’t actually a spree, but it did cost Aaron two months of what my rent cost me. I hadn’t meant to spend so much. I wasn’t out for revenge or anything. It wasn’t going to make a dent in his wallet either way. I got out of the bath and put on all my creams and essential oils and then I wandered into my bedroom and looked at the cornflower blue Chanel skirt and blouse lying across the bed. I reached down and ran my hand across the smooth fabric. When I’d tried it on at the store, I hadn’t wanted to take it off. It fit like a glove and even if I’d had something special made I didn’t think it could have felt any better.
I slipped on the shirt and buttoned up the white pearl buttons. When I finished that, I looked into the mirror and appreciated the way it hugged my curves on top. It was fitted at the waist, and when I slid on the matching skirt that fell loosely to the tops of my thighs and decided I’d never worn anything so flattering. My eyes looked startlingly blue against the color of it and I found my usually not-vain-at-all-self excited at the prospect of Aaron seeing me in it.
By the time my doorbell rang, I was ready to go. I grabbed my coat and my purse and pulled open the door. The look on Aaron’s face when he saw me was priceless. I’m pretty sure though that I was sending him back the same look. Tonight he wore a black suit with a red and black pinstriped tie. He looked like he’d just gotten his hair trimmed and his beautiful face was as smooth as a baby’s bottom. I had to use all of my impulse control to keep from flinging myself into his arms. He would have to do a bit more groveling before that happened.
“Wow!” he finally managed.
I smiled and said, “Thank you, you bought it so obviously you have good taste.”
He smiled back and said, “Yes I do, but I wasn’t talking about the suit…although it’s lovely as well.”
We rode to the restaurant in silver Lamborghini. I was surprised yet again at just how much money he really has when I said,
“Wow, you have three cars?” I’d seen the Camaro, and of course I’d ridden in the limousine, but this one was new to me. He smiled and said,
“More, actually. I’m kind of a car buff.”
“Really? Something else I never knew about you. How much is more?”
“I own a dozen…at last count.”
I tried not to choke, “A dozen cars? Wow! Where do you keep them all?”
“I have a house in the Hamptons that I rarely use, but the cars are stored there nicely. Jeffrey brings them up to me when I want to drive them.”
Again I said, “Wow, there is a lot I don’t know about you, isn’t there?”
He didn’t say anything until we’d driven up in front of the restaurant and he’d given his keys to the valet. Before we went inside he said, “I’d like very much to change that. I’d like for you to know who I really am.” He held up his hands at out opulent surroundings and said, “This is such a small fraction of it.”
I took his hand in mine. It was warm and strong. I squeezed it and said, “There’s nothing I’d like more.”
The restaurant was almost too stunning for me to describe. It was located in an art deco building with soaring thirty-five foot ceilings and stunning views of Madison Square Park. Aaron and I were warmly greeted and he called the hostess by her first name and introduced me…as his girlfriend. We were shown to a table near a window and we were surrounded by other guests but in an open, spacious dining room.
The bright lights of the city shown through the window as the sun began to dip down behind the thirty and forty story buildings of central Manhattan. It was a new experience for me as well. Instead of a menu, we were given four cards from which we chose our favorite flavors. Aaron told me after the server left that the food was served in courses…up to fifteen if you had the five hours that took. We didn’t if we wanted to see the show, so he ordered us the three courses and a bottle of wine. He poured us each a glass and then offered a toast,
“To forgiveness for past offenses and to new beginnings,” he said.
“Here, here!” I clinked my glass to his and he looked at me seriously and said, “It was never my intentions to hurt you. But, with that being said, I have to say that even though I didn’t intend it, I was obviously not cautious enough with your feelings to make sure that I didn’t. I’m so sorry, Robyn. I was never ashamed or embarrassed of you. You’d just be surprised at how horrendous the social skills of a business mogul really are. If you’d like to discuss business, I can go on all night. Otherwise, I’m not sure sometimes what to talk about.”
I felt warm inside. I knew that sharing what he saw as his short-comings couldn’t be easy for him. “Just talk to me about anything…about you, about work, about life. I don’t care, as long as you’re talking to me.”
“I promise I’m going to try. Occasionally, I might need a reminder. A swift kick in the pants or even a sharp pop upside the head works.”
I laughed and said, “Well, I’ll hope it doesn’t come to that, but if it does…”
Our meal was spectacular and just as we were finishing dessert a very smartly dressed man in his early forties and a woman in her mid to late thirties approached the table. Aaron didn’t look pleased, but he stood up and shook the man’s hand and said hello to the woman. Again, he introduced me as his “girlfriend.”
“Robyn, this is Annette and Chase Hamilton.”
“Pleased to meet you,” I said. Aaron sat back down and the man, Chase said,
�
��We don’t want to interrupt your meal, I was just wondering if you mind me asking how it went with father the other night.”
Again, Aaron didn’t look pleased. “It didn’t go well, but none of us were expecting it would.”
The Billionaire's Romance (A Winters Love Book 2) Page 5