Perfect Partner

by Kate Stone

  We were still at the bottom of the stairs, still dressed for our dinner meeting with the new client. We hadn’t kissed, hadn’t made out on the way up to my bed. None of that had happened. And what a shame, too. A girl could dream, couldn’t she?

  “We shall,” I agreed, taking his arm and pulling the door closed behind us. I paused for a brief moment to lock it before letting him lead me to his car, waiting at the street. Maintaining his grounded image and reputation, Owen did not have a driver waiting for us. The shiny black sedan at the curb was his personal car.

  “Do you know where we’re going?” he asked once we were comfortably in the sleek leather interior of his car.

  “It’s a Japanese restaurant called Emperor, but I haven’t eaten there before. We’re meeting a new Asian client there. I don’t know if I ever got their name.” I pulled my phone from my small purse and scrolled through my work notes. I didn’t have anything on the meeting other than where, when, and a general idea of who we were meeting there. I figured Owen would have known more.

  “It’s fine. I know who he is. Mr. Ogawa. He’s been reluctant to use our services because of our slumping numbers in Japan. I’m going to need to promise him that we’re going to resolve the problems we’ve had branching into his market so we can provide the same results for him that we have for our domestic and European partners.”

  The confidence in his voice made me question what Ivy had told me about him during our initial interview. She’d all but convinced me that my new boss was a bumbling mess who couldn’t keep it together because he’d spread himself too thin trying to tackle every aspect of his business every day. Instead, I saw a man who managed to keep much of what he had going on in his head, and he could access it whenever he needed. I was the one who’d needed my phone.

  We arrived at the restaurant, and after we parked, Owen climbed out of the car to open my door. I’d been on far less courteous dates than this business dinner. Stepping out next to such a stunning man, I felt like a celebrity. Confidence radiated in his presence. It was contagious, and I could see why so many of his employees acted the way they did around him.

  “I assume the reservations are under my name,” he said quietly as we approached the establishment’s entrance.

  Dark windows lined the front walls of the restaurant, the glass black enough to block any view of the inside. In the doorway, three tall narrow curtains marked the entrance, like banners announcing the Emperor’s palace. Two men in what seemed to be traditional clothes reached out from either side to pull the curtains back and allow our entry. Once inside, the dark walls fell away, giving the impression that we were deep inside the building, in a warm, intimate dining room. The exclusive clientele filled almost every seat in the house, but the hushed environment kept the noise of business to a minimum, offering each table the feeling they were the only ones here, other than this mysterious Emperor, of course.

  “Brooks, for four,” Owen announced as we reached our host.

  “Right this way, sir,” he said in a thick accent, bowing his head slightly before leading us to our table.

  “Sit beside me,” Owen urged me. “We need to present ourselves as a team to Mr. Ogawa and his assistant.”

  “Fair enough,” I agreed, but I wasn’t sure I could control myself seated so close to him. My desire made him feel like a magnet pulling me in.

  While we waited, we talked. At first, our conversation centered on the meeting – what to do, what not to do, how to greet our guest, taking notes, being cordial but letting him direct our side of the conversation, and so on – but as time wore on without the client showing up, we turned to other topics. Personal topics. Each other.

  “So, I never even asked before we did this, but how do you feel about Japanese cuisine?” Owen asked, eyeing me over his glass of water.

  “Who doesn’t love sushi?” I asked in return.

  “I’m sure there are people out there who don’t.” He laughed and gestured dismissively at the idea.

  “Oh yeah, there are plenty.” I’d dated a few.

  We’d had a little of the Emperor’s best saké, taking the edge off our conversation. My face felt warm, and I knew I couldn’t drink more if were going to try to have a business meeting with Mr. Ogawa when he showed up – if he showed up. I was beginning to feel a little too comfortable, and I didn’t want to blow it.

  “Well, I have to say it doesn’t look like our friend is going to be joining us tonight,” Owen said after a little while. “Do you think we should enjoy our dinner without him?”

  “We should,” I replied.

  “Then, let’s do it.” He waved our server over and we ordered.

  While we waited, we continued talking. It was the most casual work meal I’d ever had, but I never felt like Owen was trying to put the moves on me, or like he was overstepping any boundaries. Everything felt professional, just comfortable and relaxed.

  “Aside from this botched meeting, what do you think about the job so far?”

  “I think I could get used to stuff like this. I’ve never worked anywhere that would have required me to meet a customer or client at a place like Emperor,” I admitted.

  “Yeah, I noticed that you don’t have a history working for companies like mine. “Tell me about some of your past jobs.” He settled back in his chair and put an arm across the back of mine.

  “I was a substitute teacher. I did that while I pursued a degree in education and teaching certification,” I told him.

  “See, I knew it.” He took another drink of saké, and I could see myself having to drive home tonight. “I knew you were different. What made you leave that profession? We need genuine people as educators.”

  “I became disillusioned after seeing how the teachers I worked with were treated and how little they were paid. As much as I would have loved to be a teacher, I wouldn’t have been able to support myself, so I left. And yours was the first job listing I responded to after that.”

  “I’m flattered, but I didn’t post the job. Ivy did.” He paused, his eyes staring off into the distance. I could see something clicking, two and two coming together. “Wait a minute,” he continued in a contemplative voice. “Did you schedule this dinner?”

  “No, Ivy did. She sent me the notes and the reservation. It was already in my inbox when I started.”

  “Well, that tells me a lot.” His face darkened as he took another sip of his drink.

  “Is that bad? Do we need to cancel our order and forget about dinner?”

  “Oh no,” he chuckled. “On the contrary, I think we should enjoy it and treat it as an opportunity to get to know each other a little better.”

  He put his arm around me and pulled me close. I expected a kiss on the head. He treated me like he’d known me forever, like we were old friends.

  Our food finally came. I ordered sushi, of course, California roll. Owen ordered an aged imperial steak, medium rare. It came with sear marks across it from the grill and grilled vegetables. Once we started eating, we didn’t say much. We were both starving, but the food was well worth the wait; so was gaining some insight into the company and my position in it.

  Owen’s comments made me feel like a pawn somehow, but I thought I’d been doing well, handling all of the tedious work of his daily routines so that he could focus more on the company as a whole, allowing everyone else to work while he ran it from the top. At the same time, if my position wasn’t necessary, I would have loved to have the chance to work on another project – Owen Brooks.

  “Would you like me to drive?” I asked as we left the restaurant. I didn’t want to be rude, but the question had to be asked. He’d had a good bit more to drink than I had, and even though he wasn’t slurring his words or anything, I had noticed a marked change in his demeanor.

  “I’m fine,” he insisted, “but thank you for asking. It takes balls to ask your boss something like that.”

  I took it as a compliment. Owen was unlike any other boss I’d had. He was personable
and down-to-earth. I could tell that OBM was his passion, and he liked to be hands-on with his work.

  “I do what I can,” I told him.

  He drove me back to my rented townhome and parked at the curb. Instead of letting me out and driving off, though, he cut off the car and got out to get my door for me. Closing it behind me as I exited, he walked with me across the sidewalk and up the steps to my door, a gentleman through and through. I hoped the alcohol wasn’t making him friendlier than he might have otherwise been. I didn’t want things to get awkward or creepy.

  “I’m really sorry for tonight,” he said. “I know it was supposed to be a business dinner and it turned into something more personal, but I will handle the problem first thing tomorrow. In the meantime, my beautiful assistant, I hope you have a wonderful night.” He offered me his hand, nothing out of place.

  “Thank you, Owen. I had a great time tonight. I really enjoyed getting to know you.” I could feel my face beaming as I looked up to him.

  “I had a good time, too, Jesse Morgan. And off the record, I think I needed tonight.” He flashed a goofy grin down at me, but there was something else in his eyes, something deeper and more serious.

  Before I could find the words to place what I saw, my body already responded. My stomach flipped and fluttered in excitement and nerves. Parts of me that had been ignored by men for far too long quivered with longing. What I saw in his eyes was the same desire I felt all over.

  He pulled me to him and threw his arms around me, holding me close. His warmth enveloped me. I could smell the saké on his breath and the aromas of Emperor in his clothes, but underneath it all, I could smell him, his strong manly scent. I lifted my face to his, and our lips met. The kiss brought our bodies ever closer together. His heart pounded against my chest, as mine did his.

  Then, just as quickly as it happened, it was over. We let go and stepped back, staring at each other in shock and awe. What had we done? He was my boss. I was his employee. This couldn’t happen, no matter how much either of us wanted it to.

  “I’m sorry,” he said, clearing his throat. “That wasn’t,” he started, shaking his head.

  “It’s fine,” I explained, fearing the repercussions of his regret more than what we’d actually done. “We’ve both had a few drinks. We were feeling the moment. It’s fine, Owen. I’m sorry.”

  “Yeah.” His confidence began to return, like a wall he put in place to cover what he was surely thinking of as a mistake. “Let’s just call it a night, and I’ll see you in the morning. Thank you for a wonderful evening, Jesse.” With that, he turned and headed down the steps.

  I stood in front of my door and watched him leave, but I didn’t feel sad. I had some questions, of course. Like, why did he want me? When he could have had any woman he wanted, and supermodel or wannabe, why did he come to me? Regardless of why, he did, and that put a smile on my face. Of course, that meant work was probably about to get complicated.

  CHAPTER THREE - Owen

  “Here are the reports you requested, and I have a message from Mr. Ogawa. He says he is sorry to hear that you’re having trouble within the company. He appreciates that you reached out to him and looks forward to doing business with us once everything is cleared up.”

  Jesse slid a stack of papers across the desk to me. The note she’d scrawled from Mr. Ogawa rested on top of the reports. He hadn’t known about the dinner meeting. He wasn’t even in the States. So, when I asked him if he wanted to reschedule our dinner, I looked like an idiot who couldn’t manage his company. He saw as clearly as I did that someone was trying to sabotage my attempts at earning his business. That had to be dealt with.

  I could see the gently flowing lines of Jesse’s handwriting on the page, and I imagined her fingers holding the pen with care as its tip glided across the paper. When I put my hand out to take the papers, it fell upon hers. My fingertips brushed the back of her hand, and she hesitated for a moment before withdrawing it.

  It was the first time we’d touched since our dinner almost a week ago. My eyes turned up to her face, meeting her stare. My breath caught in my chest. Her beauty was simply arresting, but I saw more than that in her eyes. I saw the person looking back at me. I felt like I could almost read her thoughts.

  Ivy had been right; I needed to have the ability to step back from the company a little. Since Jesse started with us, I’d been able to take a breath, probably for the first time since I started building OBM. I’d kept my hands in every part of the business from day one. Over the last couple of weeks, I’d been able to sit back and appreciate what I’d built, not to mention my amazing team’s efforts to continue building it. And I owed it all to Jesse.

  In that time, I realized something else about myself. Since my mind was no longer preoccupied with work, it drifted off to other things. Well, one other thing. I couldn’t get my assistant off my mind. In a short couple of weeks, she’d changed my life more than any other woman I’d ever known.

  Yet, somehow, we’d managed to mostly avoid each other for the last week. Surely, our impromptu dinner date couldn’t have been that much of a disaster. I had to do something, had to reassert myself.

  “Hey,” I started. She jumped, startled by my voice. “Why don’t we get out of the office for a little while, maybe grab some lunch? I know a great place right around the corner from here.”

  “No, I can’t. I shouldn’t,” she protested, her cheeks beginning to turn red. “I’ve got a lot of work to do today, Owen.”

  “Yeah, you probably do,” I agreed. “You’ve been working pretty hard, and I can’t let it go unnoticed, so I’m going to treat you to lunch today. You need a break.”

  She looked like she was about to argue again, and she started to look over her shoulder, towards the door, as if making sure no one else could hear us. I wondered what Ivy had been telling her over the course of the last week. How much access did Ivy have to her? I couldn’t let my cunning Operations Manager, who presented a problem that still needed to be handled, ruin my opportunity with Jesse.

  “This isn’t up to anyone else,” I told her. “This is up to you and me. I make the offer, and you decide if you wish to accept.” I knew I walked a thin line here, as her boss. I wanted more than just to show my professional appreciation for what she’d done for me; I wanted the chance to get close to her, but her work ethic seemed to be kicking into overdrive. Anyone else in the office would have jumped at the chance to get away from work, but not her. She obviously took great pride in what she did.

  “There is a lot of work to be done, Owen,” she pleaded with me. “I’ve got more reports. There are accounts that need tending to. I need to get your response to the reports I’ve already brought you. You know, your people here really try to move at break-neck speed.”

  “I know they do. I’m partially to blame for that.”

  She shot me a look that said she didn’t buy it.

  “Okay, I’m completely to blame for that, but that’s also why I have an Operations Manager. See, part of what you’re doing is her job, so I think she’ll be fine to take over some of her old responsibilities for a little while this afternoon while we enjoy an extended lunch.” I stood up and pulled on my suit jacket, shrugging as it rested itself on my shoulders.

  “You drive a hard bargain,” she finally agreed.

  I needed to know why she was suddenly so reluctant to accept my invitation. At dinner the other night, I felt like she was eating out of my hand, hanging on my every word, relishing in the attention. Today, getting her to agree to lunch felt like pulling teeth.

  “That’s why the big desk is mine,” I joked with a wink. “Look, I know the perfect place. It’s small and quiet, and it’s a short walk around the corner.”

  “A walk,” she repeated.

  “Yeah, a walk. Some people still do that. It’s not far enough to drive.” I came around the desk and rested my hand on her back. My instinct was to pull it away, as it was hers to step away and let me know the touch was unwelcome. H
er muscles tensed, then relaxed as we both fought the urge to reject the connection we’d felt, a connection that had gone deeper than our working relationship should have allowed.

  I had to be careful. In the current climate, a heightened sense of awareness made even consensual behavior between two professionals that much more dangerous. I didn’t want to be seen as taken advantage of Jesse. I wasn’t offering her a promotion for any intimate behavior or dates, or anything like that. I wanted it to be understood – though I didn’t know how to express it – that any personal relationship that developed between us was as unrelated to work as we were able to make it. Regular romance was already complicated enough. Workplace romance added an entire layer of complications on top.

  And we hadn’t even started moving forward yet. I was still trying to break the ice. This was new ground for me. Had she been a client, I would have already earned her trust and her business several times over. As a love interest, however, I was at a complete loss how to reassure her that she could trust me.

  CHAPTER FOUR - JESSE

  “Hey, it’s Owen!” A large man in a white apron and white t-shirt greeted us from behind the counter, raising his thick arms and sausage fingers in excitement. He adjusted his cap, sitting backwards on his head to hold his graying hair back. His clothes wore sauce stains, and when he wiped his hands across his apron, more appeared.

  “Hey, Tony,” Owen called back, reaching across the counter to take one of Tony’s large hands in his.

  “Good to see ya, buddy.” Tony spoke with a slight New York accent, adding a sense of authenticity to the sign outside that advertised New York style pizza.

  “You brought me to a pizzeria?” I asked when we sat down. We were the only two suits in the restaurant. The rest of Tony’s patrons looked to be tourists or construction workers.

  “Not just any pizzeria,” Owen said, leaning forward, “Tony’s.”

  “Okay, what’s so special about this place?” I wanted to know.