Blown Away (Next Generation 8)

by Cheryl Douglas

  “Naturally,” she said, rolling her eyes.

  He ignored her taunt, focusing instead on the qualities he would use to describe Ava. “Intelligent. Passionate. Focused. Determined.” He smirked. “Maybe even a little stubborn. I like a woman who refuses to give up or give in.”

  She laced her hands on her desk. “Really? I’m surprised. I always thought you liked submissive women.”

  “You thought wrong.” He looked her in the eye, hoping she could read the truth in his eyes. “I don’t want a puppet, I want a partner. I need a woman who understands what it means to pour your heart and soul into something and pray it’ll work because if it doesn’t, you have nothing left.” She remained silent, but he saw she was starting to see the side of him he’d hoped she would. A side only the two people closest to him knew existed. “I need a woman who realizes I didn’t build my business to feed my ego. I built it to feed my family, so we’d never have to go hungry again.”

  “I had no idea things were that bad for you growing up.”

  He shrugged, even though revealing the truth hurt more than he would admit. “I had it better than a lot of kids. At least I had my old man. He cared about my brother and me. He did the best he could to keep a roof over our heads and food on the table, but sometimes it wasn’t enough.”

  “That’s what drove you to succeed?” she asked quietly.

  “Yeah.” He wished he could look anywhere other than in her eyes. He despised pity almost as much as he resented weakness. “I didn’t want to end up driving truck like my old man. He made an honest living and I respect him for that, but he was never happy. He went to work because he had to, not because he wanted to. He always worried about paying the bills. I wanted more for him. When I excelled in school and got scholarship offers, I realized that could be our way out.”

  “So you worked hard to make it happen.” She smiled. “I’m impressed.”

  “I’m not trying to impress you, Ava.” He wanted to earn her respect because of the man he was, not because of how many millions he had accumulated. “I just want you to understand where I came from so you can help me get where I want to go.”

  “Where was your mother?” she asked, crossing her legs as she tipped her chair back.

  She was wearing a short black skirt and high heels. Brent wouldn’t have been a healthy, red-blooded male if he hadn’t noticed the smooth expanse of bronze skin and remembered how it felt. “She left when I was eight.”

  His mother had arranged visitation for a few years after she left, but when Brent and Keith told her they hated her and didn’t want to see her again, she accepted their decision without a fight. The boys were eleven and five. Apparently she thought they were old enough to decide. She told their father she didn’t want to traumatize them further, but Brent knew the real reason was her new husband. He couldn’t stand Brent and Keith and didn’t want his child with his wife to be influenced by her other children. So she gave up on them, and Brent would never forget or forgive her for that.

  “That must have been difficult.”

  “It was probably a blessing.” His mother was the one subject he considered off limits, but if baring his soul was necessary, he would show her his emotional scars. Brent just hoped she wouldn’t judge him for the hatred he still felt for the woman who’d given him life. “She was miserable with us. She always had one foot out the door. She finally found a man who could keep her the way she felt she deserved to be kept, so she left.”

  Ava nodded. “That’s where your need for control comes from. That’s why you’re afraid to trust your lovers, because you think they’ll leave you… like your mother did.”

  He stood up. He needed to get out of that room. The walls were closing in on him. He couldn’t stand to be psychoanalyzed anymore. First his brother, then Ava. “Do you know of someone suitable for me?” You, maybe…

  She looked surprised by the change in conversation. “Um, I think so. Give me a day or two to make the arrangements. If you could email me your schedule for the next month, that would help.”

  “I’ll have my assistant take care of it in the morning.” He scrawled his signature on the bottom of a check, tore it off, and handed it to her. “Fill it in. I don’t care how much it costs.”

  She stared at the slip of paper without accepting it. “Does it make you feel in control, being able to do that? You throw your money around as if you believe it can buy you anything you want.”

  “It can.”

  “You’re wrong. It can’t buy you love, Brent. It can buy you sex, affection, appreciation, maybe even respect, but it can’t buy you love. The woman who’ll eventually complete you wouldn’t care whether you had a dime. That’s real love… the only thing that matters.”

  He didn’t know what to say. He wanted to scoff, but he couldn’t. He so desperately wanted to believe someone could love him even if he lost it all. That she wouldn’t walk away if he could no longer buy expensive trinkets that made her smile.

  “You’re an optimist, Ava. I think that’s sweet.” He’d intended to patronize her idealized version of the world, but he couldn’t. He saw the sincerity in her eyes and so desperately wanted to believe she was right.

  “If I didn’t believe in the power of love, I couldn’t do what I do. I would be a fraud, just doing it for the paycheck. Bringing people together, helping them find their other half, that’s the reason I get out of bed in the morning.”

  “Then help me find my other half.” Please, God, let it be you.

  “That’s the goal.” She glanced at the check on her desk. “But I’m not doing this for you for the money. I’m doing it for the challenge.”

  He had to smile. “The challenge?”

  “I’ve always wondered what makes you tick, why you are the way you are.”

  He braced his hands on the desk and leaned forward. “Then you have thought about me over the years?” That gave him hope and a renewed sense of purpose. No matter what it took, he was determined to convince Ava he was the man for her.

  “A girl never forgets her first lover, Brent.” She grinned. “God, I remember the way girls used to throw themselves at you back in college. It was embarrassing, even more embarrassing to admit I was one of them.”

  He grinned, not because he had fond memories of college but because he loved to see her smile. “I didn’t really notice. I was too busy keeping my eye on you.”

  “You’re such a liar.” She laughed before covering her face with her hands. “I still can’t believe I propositioned you like that. I can’t imagine what you must have thought.”

  His smile slipped because he knew that may be his only chance to tell her the truth. “I thought you were the sweetest, sexiest, most amazing woman I’d ever met. I was honored and humbled to be your first lover.”

  Ava blushed. “I wasn’t fishing for a compliment.”

  “And I didn’t dish them out because I expect something in return. I just wanted you to know how I felt. You left so soon after we made love, I never got to tell you.”

  “I’m sorry about that,” she sighed. “I think I kind of panicked. I wasn’t ready for a serious relationship, and when you started talking about…” She broke eye contact. “Well, you know…”

  “I know.” Brent couldn’t help but wonder if things may have turned out differently if he hadn’t come on so strong. “And I made the same mistake again. I’m sorry.” He’d never regretted anything more. He could chock up the first mistake to being young and inexperienced, but as a grown man, he’d simply been a fool who hadn’t learned the first time around.

  “You shouldn’t apologize for being who you are.”

  His lip curled in a half-smile. “And how am I… exactly?” He could tell by her mischievous grin that she would let him have it. He loved that. She didn’t kowtow to him the way most people did. When she thought he needed to be put in his place, she was always happy to take him to task.

  “Bossy, arrogant, opinionated, domineering.” She pressed a coral fi
ngernail against her lips. “Shall I go on?”

  “Just out of curiosity, do you think I have any redeeming qualities?”

  “Oh, you have plenty,” she said, her eyes raking over him. “You just have to dig a little deeper to get to them.”

  He stood upright, knowing his reaction to her perusal was evident. “Good to know you think so.” If he stayed there any longer, he would blow his cover. She’d know he was after her and not some woman who looked good on paper. “So, I guess I’ll wait to hear from you regarding that date?”

  The humor left her eyes immediately. “Right. The date. I’ll be in touch.”

  Chapter Six

  “I still can’t believe you were crazy enough to agree to this,” Tara said, wrinkling her nose when Ava pointed to another woman’s profile.

  Ava didn’t trust her own judgement to select the right partner for Brent. Her best friend knew their clients almost as well as she did, so she’d asked for Tara’s help. “It’ll be great for business. Whenever the press asks him how he met the love of his life, he’ll give us the credit.” That should make her happy, not miserable. What was wrong with her? Her business was the most important thing in her life.

  Oreo jumped into her lap and Ava stroked Oreo’s silky fur mindlessly. She clicked from one gorgeous headshot to the next. Any of these woman could be a suitable partner for Brent, but she hadn’t tried to make a single connection for him. He’d asked her to start the process three days earlier. She knew she couldn’t continue to drag her feet, so that day was her self-imposed deadline. She would set Brent up with the woman who could become his wife, the mother of his children.

  Ava winced when Oreo whimpered. Apparently just that thought made her more aggressive. Poor Oreo had had to live with her mood swings ever since Brent walked back in to her life.

  Tara reached for her mocha latte. “Still, setting your ex up with a new woman? That’s just weird.”

  “He’s not my ex… exactly.” Her ex-lover maybe. He’d never technically been her boyfriend.

  “Keep telling yourself that,” Tara said, rolling her eyes. “See if it makes it any easier when you interview him about his dates. I can’t wait until you get to the question about their sexual compatibility.”

  Ava’s dating service delved deeper than most, especially during the follow-up. She guaranteed success. If her efforts weren’t successful within the first year, her clients could remain on, free of charge, until she found them a suitable partner. That guarantee meant she couldn’t be shy when it came to asking questions about why pairings weren’t working.

  “God, don’t remind me,” she muttered, scowling at her screen.

  “If you don’t want to do it, don’t do it,” Tara said.

  “If I tell him no, he’ll want to know why. What am I supposed to say?”

  “Tell him the truth: you have feelings for him.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous.”

  Tara shrugged. “You can deny it all you want, but I know you. You wouldn’t have slept with him back in college unless you had a thing for him.”

  “Everyone had a thing for him back in college, you included.” At least that much was true.

  “Yeah, but that doesn’t explain why you slept with him again. You don’t do casual sex, Ava. Never have.”

  Damn Tara for knowing her so well. “I haven’t had a boyfriend in a while. Maybe I just wanted to have sex, and he happened to be willing and available. A familiar stranger.”

  “A crazy-hot familiar stranger who rocked your world once before. You can’t tell me you weren’t curious about whether he’d live up to your expectations after the first time.” Tara giggled. “You’ve had a few lovers since college. Was Brent as good as you remembered?”

  Ava sighed. Tara wouldn’t let it go until she had her answers. “He was even better. Are you happy now?”

  “So how the hell can you just hand him off to someone else? I don’t have to tell you how hard it is to find a good guy in this city. Brent’s smart, sexy, handsome, rich--”

  “Enough,” Ava said, raising her hand. “You’re not supposed to sell me on his attributes. We’re supposed to sell one of these girls on him.” She gestured to her laptop.

  “Please, like that’s gonna be a hard sell. Any one of these women would give their right arm for a date with him.”

  “That’s true.” Ava bit her lip as she glanced at one of the women they’d narrowed it down to.

  “Tell me the truth,” Tara said, nudging her arm. “Why are you really doing this? Is it so you won’t be tempted to go back for more?”

  “That’s just insulting.” But true.

  “Come on, hon, this is me. Remember? You can tell me anything, you know that.” Tara smiled. “Why won’t you just give the guy a chance? What are you so afraid of?”

  “I told you about the stunt he pulled when I was at dinner with Steven. I couldn’t let him get away with that!”

  “You could have let him off with a warning. He went to a lot of trouble to apologize. I have to believe this nonsense about hiring you to fix him up is just his way of getting close to you.”

  “I thought so too, at first. But when we talked, I realized he was serious about looking for a partner.”

  “Yeah, but maybe he wants that to be you.”

  “Never!” Just the thought of being in a committed relationship with a man like Brent made her nervous. He would take over every area of her life… if she let him.

  Tara placed a hand on her friend’s shoulder. “I just want you to be sure you’re making the right call. Once we set this in motion, there’s no turning back. Think about how bad it would be for business if you stole the boyfriend of one your clients.”

  Tara was right. That would be a public relations nightmare. “I know what I’m doing.” At least, she hoped she did.

  ***

  Keith walked into Brent’s office without waiting for an invitation. “So tell me, am I brilliant or what?”

  Brent couldn’t tear his eyes away from his computer. “Get out, I’m busy.”

  “You always say that.”

  “That’s because I’m always busy. What do you think I do, sit here and twiddle my goddamn thumbs all day waiting for money and opportunities to fall out of the sky?”

  “Somebody’s in a mood.” Keith chuckled as he walked to the bar. He poured water into a crystal glass. “Things didn’t go as planned with Ava?”

  “I don’t know what the hell to think.” Brent knew trying to convince his brother Ava wasn’t the reason for his foul mood was pointless. Keith knew him too well. “I went to her office, convinced her to take me on as a client, gave her a blank check, and I haven’t heard from her since. That was three days ago.” He’d felt as though he made headway with her. They’d started to re-connect, as friends, and he thought it was only a matter of time before she stopped seeing him as a control freak and started to see him as a man she’d like to get to know better.

  “You’re too impatient. It’s only been a few days.”

  “It feels like a lifetime.” He wasn’t used to just waiting. He believed in making things happen.

  “Trust me, it’ll work. You’ve got to give it time. Go out with the girls she sets you up with, keep it platonic, and give her a list of reasons why it’ll never work.”

  “What if I can’t come up with any? What if they’re perfect?”

  “If they are, you won’t even consider keeping it platonic,” Keith said, grinning. “I know you.”

  “Man, this isn’t funny.” If the shoe were on the other foot, he’d be cracking jokes at his brother’s expense too, but he couldn’t find humor in putting his heart on the line.

  “It is pretty damn funny, if you think about. Your whole life women have been killing themselves trying to nail you down. Then the one woman who does it for you won’t give you the time of day.”

  That wasn’t entirely true. She’d given him her body… twice. But he wouldn’t be satisfied until he’d captured her hear
t. “I suggest you get back to work unless you--” A soft tap on the door interrupted him. He glanced at his watch. His gatekeeper was probably out for lunch. “Come in.”

  When Brent’s visitor entered, Brent and Keith exchanged a stunned look. Not trusting himself to speak, Brent hoped his brother would be the one to demand answers.

  “It’s been so long,” she whispered, looking from Brent to Keith.

  “Not long enough,” Brent finally said.

  “Please, I just need a few moments of your time,” his mother said, her blue eyes welling with tears. She turned to her younger son. “This is important.”

  Brent leaned back and kicked his feet up on a desk that cost more than most people earned in a year. He was glad she’d come to see him in his posh office in the high-rise office building he’d built on the corner he owned. He felt like the king of his world, and she was a lowly peasant.

  “I don’t have time for you.” He bared his teeth, knowing the expression didn’t remotely resemble a smile. “I have businesses to take over, lives to ruin.” He chuckled at her look of shock. “That’s what you came here to see me about, isn’t it? To beg for mercy on behalf of your pathetic husband and worthless son?”

  “Brent, please…” She stepped forward as Keith thrust his hands in his pocket, looking to his brother for direction.

  “They did this to themselves. They overextended, made bad decisions, got sloppy.” Brent laced his hands behind his head, as though he didn’t have a care in the world. They all knew he held all the cards. “I take people like them out all the time. It’s what I do.” He gestured to his opulent office. “Take a look around you. This doesn’t come easily. It doesn’t happen by accident, without making sacrifices and taking risks.”

  “I’m proud of you,” she said quietly. She looked regal in a Chanel suit, her silver blond bob flawlessly styled, her smooth face meticulously polished.

  But her mask of perfection didn’t fool Brent. She was still the same woman who’d walked out on the husband who loved her and the children who needed her. Beauty was only skin deep.