Deke,” Conner said, holding out his hand.
Deke shook it. “Hey, man. Thanks for seeing me today.”
“No problem. I meant to call you, but I’ve been busy. What can I do for you?” Conner asked.
Deke looked uneasy for a moment, then gave him a smile. “I have an investment opportunity for you.”
Conner suspected as much, which was why he’d put his friend off as long as he had. He walked back to his desk, gesturing for Deke to take a seat in the chair that Nichole had recently occupied, and then invited his friend to explain the opportunity to him.
While Deke talked, Conner’s mind wandered back to the time of his life when he’d been in Deke’s shoes. Luckily, Conner had been young enough to readjust, but Deke was an adult, used to a certain standard of living.
“I don’t have many skills, but I’m damn good at sailing and my wife suggested we start up one of those barefoot-type vacation cruises. All my assets have been seized, so I don’t have my old yacht, which is where you’d come in. If you agree, I’d like you to invest in one yacht that I can use for these high-end sailing vacations.”
Actually, it was a great idea. Conner asked a few more questions and Deke produced a business plan with some solid numbers in it. Seemed Deke had married a woman from a working-class background who wasn’t afraid to help her husband out of a bad situation.
Conner agreed to invest in the company from his private funds and not Macafee International’s. Deke was a happy man and once he left Conner felt strangely alone.
He knew it was his own choice to be where he was, but hearing Deke talk about his wife and her ideas had made him long for something he never had before.
Conner wondered if Nichole would react the same way if her man got in trouble. He didn’t know. But then he didn’t know anything about her except that he wanted her.
Nichole dropped by the set of Sexy & Single, the reality matchmaking television show featuring Conner’s company. She had been writing a blog about the daily goings-on of the show behind the scenes. Lots of information and maybe just a little gossip.
The producer of the show was one of her closest friends, Willow Stead. Willow came over the moment she walked on the set, which today was a private balcony near Central Park West. The other part of their trio, Gail Little, had been the first bachelorette on the television show. And Nichole had been happy to report that Gail had tamed her match, the Kiwi billionaire Russell Holloway, and they were engaged.
The second couple featured on the show, fashion designer Fiona McCaw and billionaire game developer Alex Cannon, were also engaged. Willow said her show was on a roll.
But Gail was back to her job in PR and the weekly drinks were the only excuse the three women had to get together anymore. Which was to be expected. A part of Nichole wished that she and her friends had more time for each other, but life was busy.
“Hey, lady!” Willow said, coming over to hug her.
“Hey, you,” Nichole said, trying for her usual cheeriness but it was hard since she’d only just come from Conner’s office and he’d … well, he’d left her shaken.
“Rikki Lowell is a handful. I can’t imagine how she runs a successful party planning business. She’s so demanding,” Willow said about the show’s latest bachelorette. She linked her arm through Nichole’s. “I’m so glad I’m not the matchmaker.”
Nichole smiled. “She has a reputation for demanding perfection.”
“I’ve seen it. I don’t think Paul is going to measure up in her eyes.”
“He’s a partner at one of the top corporate law firms in the country. He should meet at least some of her standards,” Nichole said. She’d interviewed him and found him to be charming, smart and very sweet. “Is he too nice for her?”
Willow threw her head back and laughed. Nichole noticed that Jack Crown, the celebrity host of the show, glanced over at them. He’d gone to the same high school as the three friends, which made them all meeting here a bit of a small-world type thing. But he’d been two years ahead of them and Nichole hadn’t remembered him at all. “Don’t look now, but Jack Crown is watching you.”
“Is he?” Willow asked without turning around.
“Yes, he is. Why is he watching you?”
“I have no idea,” Willow said.
“Liar.”
Willow blushed. “We can chat later.”
“We will. I’m going to call Gail and tell her to bring a bottle of wine and we are coming to your place tonight.”
“Fine, but anything I say must be kept off the record,” Willow said.
“It always is,” Nichole reminded her friend. Her comments made Nichole wonder if that was part of why Conner thought he couldn’t trust her. Was he afraid that she’d reveal all sorts of intimate personal details about him in her article?
“Do you ever worry that I might slip something you said to me into an article?” Nichole asked Willow.
Willow wrinkled her forehead. “No. I know you wouldn’t do that. I was just teasing.”
Nichole nodded. “I guess we’ve been friends for so long we trust each other.”
“We do indeed. I don’t trust him though,” Willow said.
“At least he’s cute.”
“Ha. Like cute counts for anything.”
“Can you believe we went to high school with him? I certainly don’t remember him roaming the halls. But then I was pretty much in the library all the time and something tells me Jack didn’t even know the school had one.”
Willow laughed, but there was something quiet about her as she turned to stare at Jack. “I did know he was at our high school.”
“I’m going to ask you more about that later,” Nichole warned as Jack started to walk over to them.
“I’ve got to run,” Willow said and left before Jack joined them.
Nichole smiled up at the show’s celebrity host. “What’s new?”
“I got to fly with the Blue Angels last weekend,” he said with that big toothy grin of his, which she noticed didn’t quite reach his eyes. And his eyes … well, they followed Willow as she walked away.
“For one of your shows?”
Jack was the host of nearly half a dozen shows that aired on three different networks.
“Yes. Extreme Careers,” he said. “Want an exclusive interview with me?”
“Ha, you talk to every reporter.
