“He took you horse back riding,” Emma pointed out.
“We haven’t had a date that didn’t end in disaster,” Lucy said.
“Dating is messy.” Nicole turned back to the movie. “There’s no way around that. If you’re ditching him because you haven’t shared the perfect meal—”
“I don’t need a perfect meal,” Lucy exclaimed. “But a meal would be nice. It’s been one work crisis after another since I learned he was Philip Ryder. And at the end of the day, the Mitchell Fund is just a job.”
“Not for Jared,” Emma said softly. “It’s not just work for him. He built that company from nothing. It’s his world. His identity is bound to his company. He can’t let it fail. Sure, he could probably afford a few missteps at this point—”
“But not after losing the sugar deal.” Lucy let the reality sink in. He might be the billionaire bachelor now, but back when he was her brother’s “hot” friend, Jared had spent most of his time at her house because his home life was a mess. “You’re right, Em. My life is not a fairy tale. I can’t keep expecting the pieces to fall into place. Sometimes they don’t. I should break up with Jared before I ruin our friendship.”
Or before I fall deeply, madly in love with a man who might slip out of my life, she thought.
“Remind me never to hire you as my matchmaker.” Nicole cast a dark look over her shoulder at Emma. Then she returned her attention to the movie.
The doorbell echoed in the hallway. Emma rose to claim their pizza. But Lucy wasn’t hungry.
“I think I’ll head to bed.” Lucy stood and set her glass on the coffee table. “Tell Emma I’ll have a slice in the morning before the first party.”
“My plane lands at nine-thirty tomorrow morning. I wasn’t planning to travel with it to pick up your brother, but I want to see you.” Jared glanced at the clock on his desk. “If I take the flight, I’ll be in Florida in a few hours. We could meet for coffee.”
“I have a party at noon. We need to be there to set up at eleven thirty,” Lucy said through a yawn.
I was a damn fool to call in the middle of the night, he thought.
But he’d spent the day locked away from the software designers at Tico. For the past three weeks, he’d pushed the Tico team to look beyond failure and fix the software’s bugs in time for the launch. When he wasn’t working with the software group, he’d been prepping the marketing team for a new product that included a few snafus. But no one liked his plan to put the software out and then fix the issues. The Tico CEO, whom Jared had personally hired, had threatened to resign if Jared pushed ahead.
But how could he back out now? He saw Tico’s future if they canceled the software designed to rival some of the greats in the marketplace. The business would lose value. And he could forget about taking it public. This company was his first big success. He refused to accept failure now.
“I can have a car pick you up and take you to the airport,” he suggested.
“Jared.” Lucy sounded more awake but also annoyed. “I’m not meeting you for sex on your plane. That’s absurd.”
“I’m picking up your brother,” he said. “Which eliminates the sex on the plane, or in the limo option, unless we want a repeat of the office mess.”
“No,” she said firmly.
“Lucy, please. Meet me for coffee,” he said. “Then I’ll have my driver take you to your party. And I’ll fly back to New York. We need to be wheels up again by eleven. That should leave you time to change.”
“Fine. I’ll come,” she said. “I need to talk to you.”
He felt a rush of hope. He’d raced from one work-related problem to the next for the past few weeks. He wanted to hold Lucy in his arms and feel the world slow down. Flying to Florida for coffee didn’t make sense, but he could work on the flight down and strategize with Finn on the way back to New York.
“Sweet dreams, princess,” he said. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Chapter 25
Jared took a sip of his coffee and forced himself to swallow. The dark liquid tasted as if it had been brewed a week ago, and it was lukewarm. “You were right to skip the cup of Joe,” he said. “I can’t believe I paid for this.”
“Princesses don’t drink coffee.” Lucy spoke through her smile. She glanced at him every so often, but mostly she smiled and waved at the people walking through the hospital lobby. She’d jumped up three times since they sat. Each time, she tossed her long blond braid carefully over one shoulder.
“Remind me who you are again,” he said.
“I’m Princess Elsa.” She stood and offered him a curtsey. Glancing up from under her lashes, she added, “Not what you had in mind for our coffee date?”
“I wanted to kiss you,” he said. “And I would have chosen a different location. I hate hospital lobbies. Spent too much time here waiting for my mom.”
“Has your mom been ill?” She reclaimed her seat, maintaining her perfect princess smile and posture.