Finally Found (8 page)

“Adam,” she began quietly, “I’m not sure what you had in mind, but I’m not your usual conquest. I have a life I need to get back to. I have work to accomplish. I can’t stay here and entertain you indefinitely. And I most certainly am not going to sleep with you. So, that should help your interest wane, right?” She knew that at the moment, she looked utterly defeated. She was still tired, dreading the drive, and eager to get back to work on this daunting task ahead of her.

He leaned back and brought a hand up to his mouth. She would begin to recognize that as his thinking pose. What was he thinking? Slowly he leaned forward with his hands together, rested on his thighs. “Listen, I know that I asked a lot of you last night. I know that I wasn’t entirely honest with you from the start…”

“Pffft! Entirely honest! When were you honest at all?” She crossed her arms over her chest.

“I told you that I needed a ride…” He said weakly. “Can we just focus here?” She could tell he was waiting for her to respond, so she reluctantly nodded. “Okay, well, my situation hasn’t changed much.” He sighed. “I have a week until my brother will even discuss firing that bimbo playing home health nurse.” She smirked at that. “And he still has my identification, my keys, and pretty much everything that would make my life simple and less complicated at the moment, right down to my phone.”

“I understand that. It’s not like you are in desperate need any more. I’m sure that you can very comfortably hide out here for the rest of the week.” She moved to stand. “I have a life to get back to. I have…”

“Yes, we have already established this. You have a life. You have things to do. Please, tell me about all these many things that are so important to you. Really. Sit.” He gestured for her to sit down once more.

Cammie glanced at the time on her phone. “Listen, not that you would understand, but we don’t all have parents who build up a fantastic company and leave us with built in careers.” She winced a bit when she finished saying that. Maybe he wouldn’t pick up on it. Maybe he wouldn’t notice.

“Okay. So what do your parents do?” He looked at her seriously. And she knew he really had no idea.

Laughing, she responded, “They have a little birthday party business. The Party People. Maybe you’ve heard of it?” She asked smirking.

“Didn’t they do my party last night?” Now he was smirking, too. “What did you do to piss off your parents?” He was smiling widely now.

And so was she. “So what makes you think that they are upset with me?” She was smiling in spite of herself.

“They stuck you in a hot pink bustier behind the bar with a bunch of horny 30 year old men. The alcohol was nearly limitless…”

“About that…for some reason…some of the guests were under the impression that we were out of liquor?” She eyed him suspiciously.

Scratching his head, he mumbled, “Yeah. I may have had a little something to do with that. I needed them to leave. And nothing kills a party full of a bunch of people only interested in free liquor like being out of free liquor. If it hurt sales in any way, I’ll make it up to your family just as soon as I get back to my loft.”

She chuckled. “That’s funny. I love it.” She was actually beginning to enjoy this conversation.

“So, your parents wouldn’t let you stay on in the business?” He was genuinely curious.

She shook her head. “Au contraire. They would love to keep me on. The problem is that they want to keep me on in a different capacity than I want to be kept on. Did I tell you I’m almost done with an MBA from Columbia? I want to go a different direction. I don’t just want to do birthday parties. I want to do catering, true catering. And they wouldn’t agree to expand. I mean, The Party People. The name would still work, but they didn’t think they could handle the expansion. I am going to school for this. I could handle it, but they wouldn’t even discuss it. So…I gave them my notice…and they gave me a bustier.” She sighed. “The party this afternoon promises to be worse. It’s a Circus Circus themed party. And I will be the clown responsible for making balloon animals.”

“And when you say that you’re the clown, it isn’t a figure of speech? You are going to be an actual clown?” He covered his mouth as he tried to hide the laughter that was clearly welling up inside of him at the moment.

Sighing, she responded. “Laugh it up, big guy. Yes. The costume is horrendous. Oh, and the wig. Let’s not forget the nose! On the bright side, we’ll be indoors. If it were spring, summer, or even earlier in the fall, we would have been in a circus tent. I’ve been this route before. Is it any wonder that I want to stick to catering? I want to pull my hair into a bun and thrown on a chef’s jacket, or a business suit. I don’t want to do all this themed crap. I think the Memoirs of a Geisha party was probably the worst. Socks and those crazy wooden sandals. Hot heavy wig with makeup positively caked on my face. No speaking. No smiling…”

Her phone rang. “Sorry. It’s my mother. Since the party is only hours from now, I need to answer. She may need me to pick something up.” With that she strode from the room while answering the phone.

Though she was only gone a few minutes, Adam was used to thinking on his feet. He was used to formulating plans. It was pretty much his thing. He could see how much it meant to her that she no longer dress up for these birthday parties. He could see how much she wanted to go her own way, despite having the chance to enjoy the family business if she was only willing to lower her standards. Instead, she was determined and driven to do her own thing. She was pretty special. Lucky for her, he could help. Luckier for him, he could bargain like his life depended on it, because in this instance it really kind of did.

She was smiling and looked more relaxed when she walked back into the room. She was light on her feet, practically floating on air. Her hair, which had moments before been up in a ponytail, was now hanging in big bouncy curls past her shoulders. Something had definitely changed.

“The party is canceled! The kid has the flu!” She was all but giddy as she spoke. Then it was as if she realized how bad that sounded. “Um, I’m not happy the kid is sick, but now I might not have to do the party at all! I may never have to be a clown again!” She sighed happily as she sank back down in the seat. Her relief was evident. Her happiness was contagious. He just smiled looking at her.

“Great! Now you have all the time in the world to tell me about your catering dreams.” He crossed his hands behind his head and prepared to listen.

“I swear you are just trying to trick me into staying longer. And seriously, I don’t have time. This cancellation was a gift. I must use this time wisely. Gotta go!” She stood, grabbed her bag, and started to walk away.

“What if we make a deal?” He called after her. “What if I give you a free ad campaign for helping me this week?” And he waited. The Davenport Agency carried a lot of weight. If word began circulating that he was endorsing and working with a new catering company, he knew she was bound to be wildly successful as long as she didn’t suck. The people who would hire her, well, they were his people. They had money. They held parties all the time. No really. All. The. Time. He rarely had a weeknight or weekend that he didn’t have some sort of opportunity to eat for free, if he could just stomach the company while some stranger had a hand on his wallet. He never realized how many charities there were until he came of age and was labeled as a rich eligible bachelor.

The footsteps came slowly. He heard them, the pitter patter of her tiny feet. He could practically hear the wheels turning as she thought about all the possibility. “Maybe I have just a few minutes to discuss this deal of yours. What do you have in mind?”

He smiled, but not too big. He couldn’t smile like he had won. He had to smile like he was thrilled that she was giving him a chance. That was the one. So he smiled, warmly, sincerely, and made sure that the smug look was far from his face.

It made perfect sense. The more he thought about it, the more logical it became. This would be a much better situation than the one his brother had intended with Kiki. Now he just had to convince her that this was mutually beneficial.

“Don’t keep me in suspense,” she said sarcastically while sitting back down across from him.

“Okay, here’s the deal. We know I don’t want that nurse, nor do I need her. I could probably convince Sam to fire her if he knew that I wasn’t alone, that I was with…you.” He started to open his mouth to continue that thought when she interrupted.

“Yes, I can see how this would benefit you, but let’s get back to the part about how it benefits me?” She smirked. “At the risk of sounding completely mercenary, or course, I have to consider all this. It’s not as though I have a lot of pocket change. I think I mentioned that I’m trying to start a business and you mentioned something about a free ad campaign…”

He sighed loudly. “I was getting to that. If you would just shut up long enough, I might be able to complete a thought and explain where I’m going with that. Do you think you can listen long enough? Hmmm?”

Adam stared her down. He waited for her to accept the initial terms or he would never get to the big ones that really mattered. “Okay,” she acquiesced. “I’ll be quiet. You have…” she glanced at the phone, “seven minutes. Think that will be enough?”

“Depends. Does it start before or after you finish talking?” He gave her an annoyed look.

She laughed. “And…go!”

“I know that you are starting a new company. I know this means a lot to you. And you know that I have the ability to make it wildly successful.” He watched her for a reaction. While her mouth gave away nothing, those incredible eyes of hers spoke volumes. They were sparkling, belying her true interest in what he was about to explain. “I would love to begin by offering that I create an advertising campaign for you. You would get my services for free.”

“Are you any good?”

“Has it been seven minutes already?” He crossed his arms over his chest and sat back silently, determined not to speak again until she had stopped. Though he couldn’t be certain, he knew his history, and he could out stubborn and outsmart practically anyone. Case in point, he was in the Hamptons instead of stuck in the city, shut in at his loft as Sam intended.

“Fine, I’m sorry.”

He could tell she spoke those words grudgingly. He suspected that she wasn’t in the habit of apologizing, that she was not in the habit of making mistakes, or at least being called out on them. He smirked at the thought that he brought out the dark side of her supposedly light personality.

“Now, here’s the thing. In addition, I’d like to even get you some business. I’d like to see that you have some testimonials. This is the perfect time of year for it. As you well know, I have tons of…acquaintances…that entertain regularly. Certainly some of them will be looking for catering over the next few weeks. By the end of the holiday season, I could have you up and running, looking like a premier catering company in this vast city. And you know it.” He leaned in, challenging her to find a flaw with his plan. He had years of practice in arguing his case and anticipating the arguments he would be presented with. His mother had often said that if this whole advertising thing didn’t work out and he ever felt like applying himself, he might want to consider being a lawyer. However, since he was a barely an advertising executive, he decided to stick with the sure money. He was the only one in the family likely to ever need a lawyer anyway.

Cammie began licking her lips. She was leaning forward, looking down at the floor. He knew that the carpet couldn’t possibly hold that much interest. Instead it was obvious that this was her thinking posture. She rubbed her face, as if the thinking had really been painful. After what seemed like forever, she finally spoke. “I think your idea has merit.” She sat up and stared at him.