It was hard not to stare at the décor as they were led toward the back of the restaurant. Everything was glass and chrome, with white accents. The patrons spoke in hushed tones, leaning in close as if they were scared to break the cone of silence covering the room. She’d been so preoccupied with her surroundings, she hadn’t realized that they’d been led toward a private room in the back.
“Oh.” She hesitated before stepping past the threshold.
There was a lit fireplace along the back wall that gave off just enough heat to take the chill from the air. The waiter walked behind a chair and pulled it out for Marissa to take. Vince waited until she was seated before he took his own chair. He watched the waiter like a hawk, as he placed her napkin on her lap and filled her glass with wine.
“Is this what we had the other night on the boat…err on the yacht?” She took a sip to confirm her suspicions, moaning her pleasure. “I do love this one.”
“I remembered.” He didn’t exactly smile at her, but his expression softened somewhat. “I’m glad you enjoyed it.”
“I do. And this place? It’s amazing. I didn’t even know they had a private room.” She leaned around, trying to take in every piece, every detail. There was no way she’d be able to come back to the restaurant, let alone somehow get access to the private room. This one would have to be stored in the long-term memory banks for certain. “Thank you for bringing me here.”
“You haven’t even tasted the food yet.” He picked up the menu, and his gaze traveled across the words. “They have a decent selection, though I’m not sure if you have any allergies or not.”
“Nope. I’ll eat anything.” And for some strange reason, she winked at him. God, it had been ages since she’d flirted with anyone, let alone someone who she’d promised herself that she wouldn’t see again.
Vince snorted, before turning his attention back to the menu. “Lobster looks good.”
Never order the lobster. The words of a comedian she’d seen on Netflix came flooding back. She claimed they expected sex if you went with the most expensive thing on the menu. Then again, Vince had already claimed sex wasn’t on the table to begin with.
She considered it for a moment longer before shaking her head. “There’s no easy way to eat lobster without getting it all over you. But the tuna sounds amazing.”
“How about we split the difference?” Vince flagged the waiter over from the doorway where he’d been waiting. “The truffle fries and the mussels for an appetizer. And the diamond platter for two for the main course.”
“Certainly, sir.” He took their menus and bowed slightly before leaving.
Marissa was certain her mouth was open. The diamond platter had oysters east & west, snow crab legs, shrimp, tuna, and poached lobster. It was well over two hundred dollars, and far more than she would have ever ordered for herself. “I guess it pays to date a millionaire.”
“Multimillionaire.” There wasn’t any bite to his words and for the briefest of moments, his lips turned in a soft smile. “I don’t come here very often, but it’s one of the best dishes I’ve had.”
Marissa found herself relaxing, leaning back in her chair as she played with the stem of her wine glass. “That’s pretty high praise coming from you. I can’t wait to try it.”
Words then dried up in her brain, bringing the conversation to a halt. It’s not like she knew much about Vince or his world to be able to dive into a particular topic. Considering she had no intentions of seeing him again after tonight, she didn’t want to ask him a bunch of questions that would come across as too personal. So, what the hell did you ask a rich dude with a boat?
Well, there was always her old stand-by. “Star Trek, Star Wars, or both?”
Vince frowned. “Pardon?”
“Which is your favorite series? Star Trek, Star Wars, or are you one of those people who can’t make up your mind and just go with whatever one is currently newer? Not that there’s anything inherently wrong with that, except you should absolutely know which is your favorite and I’ll think less of you if you don’t.”
“I see.” Vince glanced at the fireplace and cleared his throat. “I’d have to say neither.”
Interesting. Marissa leaned back in. “Really? Battlestar Galactica person? Doctor Who? Don’t tell you don’t watch any sci-fi because I’ll have to leave the table before I get to eat and that will make me cry.”
“Fine.”
“Fine what?”
“I won’t tell you that I haven’t watched any sci-fi.”
Marissa couldn’t contain her gasp. “Wait, you need to clarify. You don’t watch it because you don’t like it, or you’ve never watched it because you’re weird?”
This time he smiled full-on. “I’ve never been called weird before.”
“How can you have gone your whole life and not at least watched some sci-fi? Sure, it’s not for everyone. But normally they have at least tried it before passing judgement.”
Marissa had fallen in love with Star Trek as a kid, watching re-runs of The Next Generation on television. Her mom had despised it, but that hadn’t stopped her from saving all of her allowance and babysitting money so she could buy the DVDs. She based most of her friendships on whether or not they could tolerate her going on about the leadership skills of Captain Picard vs Captain Kirk. Or whether or not they liked the Star Wars prequels. Which, ew no.
“I don’t have a lot of time for television or movies.”
There was something about the way he said it, that didn’t quite sit right with Marissa. All of her plans to walk away from this arrogant man, who had more money than people probably had business having, started to evaporate. Maybe she could offer a man like Vince something more than being arm candy for him at social events. Shit, he hadn’t even seen Star Wars, which was simply not acceptable.
Taking another sip of her wine, she gave him her best smile. “Well, I’m going to have to change that.”
And there was his frown. “Pardon?”
“If we’re going to do this,” she waved between them, “thing, then I need to know that we’re going to have something a little bit more than simply showing up at events and smiling.”
The small hint of his potential easy going underpinning, disappeared. “I was quite clear. There is to be nothing between us. No relationships, no sex. If that’s going to be a problem for you, then I’ll be the one to end things now.”
Jesus, he was even more screwed up than she was. “I’m not talking about any of that. But let’s be honest, if I’m going to come across as more than a rent-a-date for you, then we have to have some things that will make people assume we’re having an actual relationship. Correct? Or am I just being a fool here?”
“You’re correct.” He leaned forward, his forearms pressed against the edge of the table. “You could tell me why you needed the services of that site rather than simply getting a loan.”
Her fingers tightened around her wine glass. “Why do you want to know?”
“As you said, it will help us come across better.” He cocked his head to the side and narrowed his gaze. “I’m curious.” She was sitting in one of the best restaurants in Toronto about to eat a meal she’d never order for herself. It was probably the least she could do to be honest with him about her reasons. Even if they made her look like a complete idiot.
“I told you Andrew left me and took some of my things?”
Vince nodded.
“He also defaulted on several business loans that I’d co-signed for him. We’d already been broken up over a month when the first debt collectors started showing up. At first, I’d assumed it was a one-off and paid them what they were owed. Then the next month, I got another call. Then more. I couldn’t keep up with them all.”
Vince sat back as the waiter brought their appetizers, scowling. Marissa grabbed a truffle fry, dipped it into the aioli and shoved it
in her mouth. “Oh my God, that’s the best thing I’ve ever had.”
Vince growled at her, and glared at the waiter, who quickly scurried away. “Did you have a lawyer look at the contracts? Can you sue him? Or at the very least set up a consolidation loan?”
Dread and frustration mixed oddly in her stomach, making her squirm. “It’s my name on the contracts. I signed them willingly. Yes, I could consolidate the loans, to a point. But things keep coming out of the woodwork, and I don’t know how long this will go on. I’m a student, with debts of my own and when I talked to the bank, they weren’t really keen. The sugar daddy site…it was a bit of a Hail Mary pass to try and get ahead of things.”
Marissa had to fight to keep her gaze on Vince’s, tired of feeling weak and small, tired of constantly being on the losing end of life.
He slowly nodded, picked up his wine and took a sip. “Regarding your need to educate me in all things sci-fi, what are you proposing?”
It was her turn to look surprised. “Really? As simple as that?”
“It is. You were honest with me, about something that must be incredibly difficult for you to verbalize to others. I’d like to try and help.”
Marissa swallowed against the unexpected tightening of her throat. “Thank you.”
“So…your proposal?”
“Homework.” She relaxed back against her seat before picking up a mussel. “Oh, this smells great too.”
“While I appreciate the sentiment, I have no desire to do your business courses assignments.”
“Shit, I hadn’t even considered that.” He’d be an amazing resource for some of her courses. “I was thinking more along the lines of me giving you television show assignments and you going home to watch them.”
He blinked at her. “Seriously?”
“Dude, you haven’t seen Star Trek. Though, really you can skip the original if you want and simply start with Next Generation. It’s a bit blasphemous, but I don’t want to push my luck either.”
“You’re doing a pretty good job of pushing.” The lines around his eyes softened enough that she didn’t fully believe him. “I don’t have a lot of time to watch television.”
“I don’t either. Hell, I don’t even have cable because I can’t afford it. But you can always squeeze in a show or two on a flight, or when you’re cooking. Shit, that’s how I watched the first two seasons of Bull Rush.”
Missing some of her favorite shows was one of the things that had stung when she realized she couldn’t afford to pay for cable any longer. She’d get caught up at some point on DVDs or see if she could borrow access to someone’s streaming service, but it was one more small piece of joy that had been snuffed out from her life.
And again, fuck you Andrew.
Vince plucked a fry from the plate and popped it into his mouth after frowning at it. “I can’t watch the original. I had a friend show me one once and I lasted five minutes.”
Marissa sat up straight, unable to fight the grin that exploded across her face. “It’s an acquired taste.”
“I think I’d prefer Star Wars. I have enough politics in my daily life.”
“Smart. A movie is far easier to get through.” Marissa’s heart pounded at the thought of Vince curled up on a couch watching Luke Skywalker looking across the Tatooine desert at night. “I can loan you my collector edition Blu-rays.” Her brain screeched to a halt. “Or not. I…don’t know where they are right now.”
She knew exactly where they were—Andrew’s possession. Having ruined her financially had hurt, but it was the little betrayals that had dug deep. Like him walking away with her Star Wars movie collection, because he’d bought them for her as a gift and she “no longer deserved them.”
Shifting in her seat, Marissa made sure to put her smile back in place. “Regardless, I’m sure you can find your own copies. But you need to try and watch it before we get together again.” She cleared her throat. “If we get together again.”
The waiter came back with their meals, which was a welcome distraction from her increasingly troubled thoughts. She’d been such an idiot when it came to everything she’d done with Andrew. And here she was, starting down another bad road with a man who wanted nothing to do with her beyond being a rent-a-date.
“I was under the impression,” Vince picked up his glass and took a sip of his wine, “that you weren’t interested in going on another date with me.”
“I wasn’t. I’m not.” She groaned. “I don’t know what I mean anymore. The last few months have been absolute hell and all I’m doing is second-guessing every decision I’ve ever made.”
It was more than that. She’d loved Andrew since high school. Dating him had been exciting, and wonderful. He wasn’t a horrible man, like the people her mom had tried to warn her off of. Not that Andrew had the best family, but until the end of their relationship, he’d kept her far away from them and hadn’t done a bloody thing to make her think he was even remotely like them.
“Let me see if I’m understanding this.” Vince leaned back in his chair, before tapping his fork on the edge of the plate. “If I agree to watch Star Wars, you’ll agree to go to New York with me for my next business event.”
Marissa sat up straighter. “Sure. Yes. I will agree to New York if you watch the movie.”
“This means a lot of you, doesn’t it?”
Shit, he was totally judging her for her geeky tendencies. “I know it’s not very posh, and it’s not like I’m going to talk about it or anything when we go out. I’ll be all smiles and business conversations when we’re out. I just need to know that…I have something in common with you.”
“I understand.” It was odd, but she could tell that he did. “Fine. I’ll begin my journey to a galaxy far, far away and you’ll go with Caroline to get some new clothing for our trip.”
“Wait, I thought you didn’t know anything about Star Wars.”
Vince rolled his eyes in a very un-multimillionaire kind of way. “I haven’t been living under a rock. Everyone knows that’s how it starts.”
“And do I have to go with Caroline?” Marissa could still picture her death glare as she’d left Marissa to her fate on the yacht. “She hates me.”
“She has the expense account, so yes. She doesn’t hate you. If anything, she’s upset with me because I went against her better judgement and took over Dad’s date without telling you up front.”
“Ah, she just doesn’t trust me then. I can live with that.” Her stomach chose that moment to growl, bringing her attention back to the delicious feast that was laid before her. “Unless you have any objections, I’m totally going to have some of that lobster. Because it looks amazing and there’s no shell.”
She didn’t wait for Vince, and quickly filled her plate with a sampling of everything. It had been years since she’d had anything this decadent to eat, not to mention that she hadn’t had anything to eat since breakfast.
Vince followed suit, though nowhere near as enthusiastically. “Your ex took your movies, didn’t he?”
Marissa paused, her fork halfway to her mouth. There was no point in lying or trying to mislead him. Andrew had screwed her over and she’d been partially to blame. “Yes. Every single one he’d ever bought for me.”
“I see.” And then he ate a shrimp.
She stared at him for several seconds more before finally eating her own bite of food. There’d been no sympathy like she’d received from her friends, or the expression of outrage her mom had railed at her. It wasn’t exactly dismissal, but certainly nowhere near supportive.
Strangely, it felt good.
For months now, Marissa had been an emotional wreck. Every time Andrew’s name came up in discussion, her emotions would be wrung dry and her body left a stressed-out mess. For the first time since this entire mess had begun, someone gave Andrew the correct amount of fucks—none.
&nb
sp; It was liberating.
A smile crept across her face, and she left herself enough the taste of lobster. Maybe having someone like Vince in her life wasn’t going to be a bad thing after all. “You can give Caroline my phone number. Tell her that I’ll meet her wherever she wants.”
Chapter 8
Vince stared at the phone as Peter Thornton spoke. Peter was oblivious to the drama that was currently unfolding in Vince’s office. “So the party is where the real deal will most likely happen. As far as I know, Simon will be in attendance there, but plans to let his executive handle your pitch in the afternoon. Depending on how things go that night, he’ll give them the go ahead or not.”
Geoff had barged into Vince’s office two minutes into the conversation. How he’d found out about it, Vince didn’t have a clue. Caroline hadn’t put it on his calendar and as far as he knew, no one else was even aware of the call. Currently, his father was leaning back in the large leather guest chair, smirking at Vince. “Hey, Peter. Geoff here.”
There was a pause before Peter cleared his throat. “Hi. I didn’t know you were in on this meeting.”
“I was running a bit late, so Vince had to start without me.” Geoff narrowed his gaze, but Vince didn’t squirm. “What are we going to need to do to ensure Simon bites on this?”
This was completely fucked up. Vince couldn’t understand why Geoff wanted to force his hand and push this deal into Simon’s lap. Vince had wanted to have a part to play in the clean energy sector for years, and GreenPro had been his best shot. They didn’t need to sell, and Vince could run with the company, and turn it into something great.
Leaning forward, Vince kept his gaze on the speaker phone. “Did you have a chance to look at the proposal I sent over?”
GreenPro had been a brilliant idea when it had first come about. The company wanted to take manure and turn it into renewable energy. The idea was to start with pet waste in cities and to expand it from there. It had the opportunity to be amazing, to expand into a global means to produce green energy. When Vince had first stumbled on it, he’d seen it as opportunity to have his business legacy be more than Bull Rush. He could change the direction of his company, put his considerable dollars behind an idea that could make the world a better place.
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