Dream Man (Executive Women in Love Book 1) (5 page)

Felicity didn’t pay attention to what he ordered.

“I’m sure getting a new job and a new apartment at the same time is a lot to handle.”

They continued to chat idly and before she knew it, the waitress returned with their meals.

When Felicity took in the sights of the entrée she stopped herself from being repulsed. Extra rare sirloin, which appeared to have been plated directly from the butcher’s display counter, lay on the plate with blood juice pooling at the edge of the plate. She wished she’d paid more attention to what Max had ordered. She didn’t want to embarrass him and send it back. But she knew she couldn’t eat something that rare.

“Is there a problem, Felice?” Max must have observed her state of distress.

“No. Well, I guess I didn’t expect the steak to be so raw.”

“No problem, Ma’am, we can broil it up in minutes,” the waitress offered.

Felicity agreed to the waitress’s offer and she took Felicity’s plate away.

“Seriously, if you ever need help with anything—please don’t hesitate to call me,” Max said.

Did he mean it like a big brother? Or did he mean he wanted to be more?
“You’ve done enough and I really do appreciate you.”

They were sitting close. Maybe too close. His leg brushed against hers and the warmth of his body shot through her like a bolt of lightning. She died to touch him. Her stomach flip-flopped as she inhaled his male scent. She leaned her head on his shoulder and moved her hand to his thigh.
Please kiss me.

But, then, horror of horrors, he moved her hand away.
And
cleared his throat! “I think I may have given you a little too much alcohol.”

Ouch! That stung!

“Sorry, I—I guess the champagne has gotten to my head, especially on an empty stomach.”

He pointed to the appetizers. “Eat up. The imported olives are great.” He popped one into his mouth.

She quickly buttered a piece of Melba toast and put a roasted pepper on it.

Max hadn’t responded the way she’d hoped. And she’d thought the mood at dinner would be a celebratory one. A happy, easygoing affair now that the business was out of the way. Instead, she’d ruined it with her forward behavior.

Max confused her. He appeared interested in her from earlier meetings. Especially when he asked all the personal questions.

Had she flat-out misread the message?

“I normally handle my liquor just fine.” With trembling fingers, Felicity reached for her water glass, knocking it over, the contents spilling all over the dinner plates, the glass rolling over to the side and crashing on the floor. Waiters scurried to the site busily cleaning up the shards of glass and wiping up the water. “Oh, gosh, I’ve made a mess.”

“No worries. I’m sure you’ll be fine once you eat a good meal. It’s okay. You’re just excited.”

Felicity could tell by his condescending glance her actions humored him. Her pride wounded, he suddenly infuriated her. She suspected he thought of her as an inexperienced child, hence his verbal slips with the nickname “kiddo.” Felicity decided to prove otherwise. “Jenny and I have adjusted quite well without parents all these years. With the salary increase, things won’t be such a struggle. I’m glad we can swing it, independently, without a guy around.”

Whoops.
Now
that
was the alcohol talking.
Damn.
She wished she’d kept her mouth shut.

He patted her hand. “Calm down, dear. No need to get so defensive.”

“I’m not at all. But it seems like you think I’m a child or something. You keep calling me ‘kiddo.’ You know I’ve done things most twenty-four-year-olds wouldn’t dream of. By myself. Until I couldn’t any longer and I broke down and moved in with Brad. I think it was the worst thing for me and Jen.”
Oh no!
Now she’d gotten into the Brad story. There’d be no going back now.

The waitress delivered her perfectly cooked meal. Felicity noticed Max hadn’t started eating his and felt bad thinking it’d probably got cold.

“Dig in,” Max said as he quickly cut his meat and ate with apparent enthusiasm.

Felicity wished she could get her now quashed appetite back, but followed suit. She enjoyed the char-grilled taste and perfect mix of herbs and regained her desire for food. In between bites, she decided to undo any damage she may have done with her over-defensiveness. “I guess, Max, I’m glad I asked for your help. But I would have liked to know I could have done it myself.”

“You did this by yourself. You single-handedly created the entire concept. You know that half the battle in this business is getting the backing and timely breaks. That’s all I did to facilitate this deal.” Max finished more of his meal and then leaned in. “So, tell me about this Brad.”

Suddenly Felicity wanted the dinner over—and fast. But now she’d brought Brad up she needed to fess up. “Normally I wouldn’t consider moving in with a guy. I mean, not that I judge domestic partnerships as being morally wrong. It’s just I really need to feel like Jenny and I can do it on our own. We don’t need to depend on anyone and expose ourselves to disappointment. When our apartment building was taken over by new management they doubled our rent so we had no choice . . .”

“Go on. Don’t stop there.”

“We’d dated for a couple of years. I thought I knew him. But evidently I didn’t.” Felicity could feel the sadness of her old boyfriend’s betrayal creep into her mind. She drank a half glass of water. The waitress appeared and expertly refilled their water glasses asking if there was anything else they needed. Felicity thought she’d not only embarrassed herself with the ridiculous pass on Max, but now she’d over disclosed things in her personal life. “In short, he turned out to be a cheat. I frankly wish I didn’t bring up the subject.”

“That’s very disappointing. I too know the pain of rejection and believe me it happens to us all. Although painful at the time, I do think the experiences make us stronger and better able to pick the right kind of partners the next time.”

Felicity shrugged and finished her meal in silence. She’d just transformed herself from the confident businesswoman back to the child he’d already thought she was. Why couldn’t she just keep her mouth shut about her past? Why didn’t she pace herself with the damned alcohol? She’d made a fool of herself. Well she’d show him that she’d recover from that fall just fine and demonstrate her independence once again.

When the waitress delivered their bill, Felicity pulled her credit card out of her bag and offered to pay half the bill. Max refused to take the card and she relented. “Max, I am so ashamed. I—I don’t usually drink this much and the champagne got to me. The dinner was great. And I appreciate everything you’ve done. But I think I’m going to call it a night and head home.”

“You don’t have to rush off—”

“I’m going to take a cab. Clear my head.”

The waitress returned with Max’s credit card and receipt.

Felicity stood to go and thrust her hand out for a shake.

Max stood up with her. “This is crazy. At least let me take you home.”

“Again, I’m sorry. I don’t want you to think for one second I don’t appreciate all you’ve done.” Felicity continued to hold her hand out, which Max shook.

“It’s an opportunity for both of us. We have a lot to look forward to.”

He obviously only wanted friendship and a professional relationship with her.
How wrong I was!

“Well I do, too. And really, I want to take the cab. We’ll talk soon.”

Felicity left Max at the table with his jaw hanging.

On the way home, Felicity rehashed the horrid evening in her mind. She’d made herself look poorly at dinner with her babbling and over-drinking. Thoughts of her sloppy turned-down advance raced through her mind.

Ugh.
Could she have been any more tactless?

Maybe a girl shouldn’t make the first move.

It didn’t matter. From here on in, she’d keep it all business between them.

Yet despite the evening’s events, she smiled, knowing that somehow she didn’t believe she’d be able to keep the promise.

Max sat at the table, stunned.

I can’t believe she got up and walked out on me.
Maybe it was just as well. He wasn’t sure he could trust himself around her. Now knowing she was on the rebound in her personal life, it wouldn’t be the time to get involved with her. He had to think about business first. If
Executive Women
turned out to be a flop, he’d feel terrible if he’d gotten involved with her during the process. She’d no doubt think he took advantage of her.

Fortunately, since the shooting for
Jack Forth
was postponed by another week, he’d have two weeks to get things in gear.

And he’d hoped Felicity and he could work well together.

Already he had his misgivings.

“So, have you got everything together? You’re okay with the rest of the shoot?” Felicity flipped through the program schedule for the evening at
Teen View.

“Stop, you nervous Nelly. I’m fine. I’ve got David to help me.” Shantae moved in conspiratorially. “Maybe now he’ll have to earn his title as the director and get out of his office.”

“The deal is, until we start filming at Sharpen, I’ll be here every day. I’ll just be out for meetings and at Sharpen in the evenings. Once filming starts with
Executive Women in Love
, that’ll be another story. I’ll probably do the mornings here till late afternoon and be out by, say, three. You normally leave at five so things will work out fine.”

“Girl, you need to take a chill pill. Just go on over there and meet with Mr. Famous.”

Felicity couldn’t resist telling Shantae a few tidbits about her feelings for Max. Felicity glanced at her watch. It was two-thirty, and she was due to meet Max at three. “All right then. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Felicity jumped in her car and zipped over to the Sharpen offices. Fortunately, traffic was tame.

She arrived at the Sharpen building and rode the elevator up to the eleventh floor. The receptionist greeted her and informed her Max was already in the conference room. She made her way there and caught her heel on the carpet thread, nearly tripping. Fortunately Max didn’t witness her clumsiness.

Felicity spied Max through the conference window. He appeared to be in deep concentration as he clicked madly on his laptop. Felicity pushed open the heavy glass door as Max glanced up, smiled, and stood to greet her. “Well, hello, Ms. Burgess.”

He put his hand out to shake hers, which she returned. “Back to Ms. Burgess?” she kidded but caught his apologetic cast. She wanted be professional. She strove to put on her best and most confident business foot forward.

“Only on your first day.”

Felicity took a seat next to Max. “Okay, Mr. Marx, so what do you have going so far?”

Max pointed to the websites of a notable female jeweler in the area. “I thought we might start with this one. We could brainstorm together and figure out who we’d like to target for the show, and then schedule interviews. If we split up the process, we’d have a nice line up before I head out to Australia. Oh and by the way, I’ll have the rest of this week and next before I have to head out.”

“What makes the jeweler’s work noteworthy?” Felicity asked.

“Good question. If you see here . . .” Max pointed to the bio, which Felicity scanned quickly. “. . . she’s started the shop in a competitive area and built it up to a national chain.”

Felicity nodded. She had to hand it to him, he was on the right track.

Max continued, “And here, this gal, Charlotte Winters, who is a personal friend of mine, started on the ground running with her restaurant empire. She’s asked me to be in a feature film during Restaurant Week in New York, so I’ll handle that one. Next, we have Madeline Baxter, the fashion queen of LA—”

“Hold it. I have a personal friend who is the top designer for Madeline Couture.”

“Who is she?”

“Margo Spinelli. She’s actually my best friend.”

Max furrowed his brows. “Do you think we should mix personal acquaintances with the show?”

“You just mentioned the restaurateur.”

“
Touché.
Well, I’m not going to pitch the show to Charlotte until we complete the feature. She’s going to schedule me for it in a month or so, after I’m finished with my shoot. But I see your point. What are Margo’s business stats?”

“She’s top dog under Madeline, created and co-created most of the designs at the house. I think they’re number three in the industry.”

Max nodded. “Sounds good. Okay, let’s evaluate the possible show candidates I’ve found.”

He found.

They continued to brainstorm for the next couple of hours.
If you want to call it that
. More like Max took over the entire discussion and Felicity could barely get a word in edgewise.

If she had any idea he planned to take over the entire process of
Executive Women,
maybe she wouldn’t have signed the contract with Sharpen. As told by the first meeting, it appeared working with Max would be more difficult than Felicity had experienced with the executives at Applaud! At least there she didn’t have
them
looking over her shoulder.