The Heartbroker (3 page)

“HOW DID IT GO?” two enthusiastic voices enquire as I sit down at a table at Charlie Noble, one of my favourite restaurants.

I’m meeting my two closest friends, Laura Moore and Alexis Callaghan, for the lowdown on my day with Logan McManus.

“Well,” I begin, “I
think
it went well. Really well.”  I can’t stop my eager smile spreading from ear to ear. Logan had been complimentary about my company and had certainly suggested
You: Now
would want to partner with us. Everything is falling into place, just as I have planned.

“Yippee!” Laura responds, clapping her hands together like an over-excited seal.

Laura and I have been friends since high school. She’s sweet, kind, very ‘down to Earth’, as the saying goes, and has always got my back. Although we live completely different lives—she’s a full-time mother of three under three—we’ve got serious history together, and I can’t imagine my life without her in it.

“So what happened? We want details,” she continues, as both she and Alexis lean in conspiratorially. Seriously, you’d think I was a world famous thief about to divulge the details of my latest heist.

“Okay. He said he was impressed with us after we delivered our sales and marketing plan,” I begin, pushing Stefan’s unfounded concerns out of my head, “and that it confirmed everything he had suspected about us.” I smile.

“Well,
that
could mean anything,” Alexis replies, ever the pragmatic businesswoman. She tucks one side of her sleek shoulder-length behind one ear.

Alexis is more like me than anyone else I know: we’re both competitive and driven, each achieving what we set out to achieve through hard work and tenacity.

“I guess.”

“What if he’d expected
Live It
to be in need of direction or lacking in expertise? It’s a potentially misleading statement,” she continues. “Perhaps his company just wants to buy you out? Maybe they’re not interested in working with you at all.”

I look at her in alarm. Perhaps she’s right. Maybe Logan’s the type of person to shoot off endless, meaningless compliments that don’t mean a thing.

“Alexis!” Laura bleats, gently hitting our mutual friend’s arm and shooting her a ‘shut-the-hell-up’ look.

“What?” Alexis asks innocently, oblivious to the impact her words are having on me.

“I don’t think this is helping. Brooke thinks it went well, so it must have.”

I shoot a grateful look at Laura.

Alexis looks mortified. “I’m sorry, Brooke. You go on. I’m sure I’m being unnecessarily sceptical.”

I try my best to shrug off Alexis’s concerns. “I guess it was the
way
he said it that made me think he wanted to work with us. I really do believe he wants to broker this deal.”

He had definitely sounded positive. I’m sure I’m not just dreaming this: it’s real.

“And, most importantly,” Laura interrupts, with a devious smile on her face, “is he as cute as he looks online?”

I had shown the girls Logan’s headshot on the
You: Now
website, a step I regret as the now overly familiar heat creeps up my cheeks.

“He’s err—” I stutter.

“Are you blushing, Brooke?” Laura cries, raising her eyebrows at me, a look of amused incredulity on her face.

“Oh, my god, he
is
as cute as he looks online,” Alexis chimes in.

“Well, he’s a good-looking guy, sure. If you like that sort of thing,” I sniff, hoping being off-hand will put them off the scent and my deepening blush will go unnoticed.

It doesn’t.

“Oh. My. God. You
totally
fancy him!” Laura proclaims loudly, causing a variety of nearby patrons to turn our way, adding to my mortification. “Look at you, you’re as red as a Santa suit!”

“No!” I reply, as my friends shoot one another a knowing—and thoroughly gleeful—look.

It’s proving pretty hard to fool Little Miss Private Investigator and her sidekick here.

Alexis holds up her iPhone with the photo of Logan I know all too well, and I shrink down into my seat. “Well, he’s definitely hot. You’re only human, Brooke. And it’s been, what? A year since Scott?”

Yes, a whole year since Scott. A whole year since my heart was broken, broken by the man I thought I would spend the rest of my life with.

So that must mean… no! I swallow hard. A whole year since I had sex.

I’ve become a reclaimed virgin.

As I glance between my friends I decide the best course of action is to placate and divert. “He’s actually not as good-looking as his photo. It’s been photo-shopped.”

Again, it doesn’t work.

“So why are you blushing so much, Brooke?” Laura asks, feigning innocence as she bats her eyelashes at me.

Laura is my oldest friend and I love her, but right now I could happily kill her, hide the body, and drive off into the sunset guilt-free.

“Well, I think he’s just as handsome in person as he is in his photo,” Alexis declares.

“How would you know?”

“Because,” she begins, pausing for dramatic effect, “he’s standing over there.”

My heart skips a beat as I glance in the direction Alexis is nodding. Surely she’s mistaken. There are so many restaurants in Wellington, what are the chances Logan McManus would be at the same one as me tonight?

But she’s right. Logan is standing at the bar, on his own, perusing a drinks menu. He’s removed his tie, undone his top button, and looks even hotter than he had at the office earlier in the day.

It’s a Casablanca moment: “Of all the gin joints, in all the towns, in all the world, she walks into mine.” The fact I’m not a washed up American bar owner in Northern Africa during World War II, pining after a woman in love with someone else, is beside the point.

Against my will, a thrum of exquisite desire course through my body, my heart rate increasing, as I watch him absentmindedly run his hand through his thick dark hair.

And, hello? What’s this? My Girly Bits wake up and give me a nudge. ‘
Remember us
?’ Hmm, I haven’t felt
them
for a while. A long while.

Best to ignore them. I shift in my seat.

As he looks over in our direction I swiftly grab my menu, hiding behind it in a move I’ve seen in the movies. It’s all I can think of in the heat of the moment, so it’ll have to do.

Jeez Louise, I hope he didn’t see me!

“It’s him, isn’t it?” Laura asks in hushed tones, leaning in towards me as she too holds up her menu.

We probably look like a couple of Roman soldiers defending ourselves with our shields against a foreign attack. I guess in some ways Logan’s a bit like that—he
is
from another land, after all.

“Shhh.” I hope against all things holy he hasn’t seen me.

“If it’s not him, Brooke, then why is he walking over towards us?” Alexis asks in mock naiveté, revelling in my discomfort.

“Is he?” I squeak.

In an ill-advised move, I lower my menu to determine whether he is in fact approaching our table or if Alexis is just ribbing me, which she has a long history of doing.

“Hi, Brooke?” a deep, rumbling American voice asks by my side.

And there’s my answer.

I lower my menu, humiliated he’s caught me out in such an obvious and childish attempt to hide from him.

“Logan.” I try my level best to act as though I was simply reading my menu at close range, and that it’s just fine to bump into him while I’m out with my girlfriends. “Nice to see you. How are you?”

“Great.” He smiles broadly, amused by my antics.

“You’re having dinner here?” I ask.

He’s at a restaurant at dinnertime: fantastic question, Brooke.

“Yes. I’m meeting a friend soon. Seems like a nice place.” He looks around the restaurant at its stylish décor.

His low voice brings my Girly Bits to attention and I squirm again, trying to ignore them.

“Oh, it is,” Alexis replies for me. “We come here all the time.” She extends her had to shake his. “Alexis Callaghan, and this is Laura Moore.”

“Hi,” Laura says, clamouring over the table to grab his hand as well. “Great to meet you.”

“Yes, sorry. These are my friends. This is Logan McManus, from
You: Now
.”

That’s right Brooke, move the tone of the conversation onto a professional footing.

Work I can do: romance I most certainly cannot.

“I may have mentioned Logan is here from the US to look into the viability of working with
Live It
,” I say to my friends.

“Yes, you may have mentioned that, Brooke,” Alexis replies, her eyes widening.

“Hmmm. Yes, now that I think about it, I do remember you saying something about that,” Laura adds in, playing along.

I shoot an ‘I-am-not-amused’ look at the pair of them and decide it’s best to change the subject. I’ll deal with these comediennes later.

“We’re here for dinner too,” I state.

Why does this man rattle me so much?

“I can see that.” He chuckles in a kind way, and I think I fall for him a little bit more. “Well, I hope you have a lovely evening, Brooke. I look forward to seeing you in a few days’ time.” He turns to my friends. “Ladies, it was great to meet you both.”

“You too,” they coo, as he retreats to the bar.

Once he’s out of earshot I kick them both under the table. “Thanks a lot, you two.”

“Hey, that’s uncalled for!” Laura exclaims as she leans down to rub her shin.

“Oh, come on. I didn’t kick you hard. Not as hard as you deserve, anyway. It was mean, teasing me like that.”

“Oh, Brooke. It’s only a bit of fun,” Alexis replies. “I have to say, though, I think you’re in trouble.” She shakes her head at me as she grins.

“What? Why?”

“You’ve obviously got it bad for Mr McManly over there.”

“Oh, yes,” Laura confirms.

I swallow as I look at my friends. “He’s nothing I can’t deal with.” I hope I sound more confident than I feel.

My friends think the only thing missing from my life is a man. They’re both loved-up and expect me to be too. Laura married her high school sweetheart and is now a proud mother of three, complete with mortgage and house with a white picket fence. And Alexis is madly in love with Tim, a gorgeous guy she met two years ago now.

And just because they’re both fully carded members of Lovesville they think I need to be too. But I don’t feel the need to have a man in my life for it to be complete. Or at least that’s what I’ve been telling myself since Scott left and I picked up my rom com habit.

I steal a glance in Logan’s direction and my heart does a quick squeeze. Although I don’t want to admit it—even to myself—Alexis is right. Logan McManus is quite possibly my ideal man: he’s strong, clever, successful, and confident. Add the fact he’s the sexiest man I’ve met in way too long and even I would have to admit I’m in trouble.

I shake my head. Trust me to fall for the most unobtainable and inappropriate man within a five thousand kilometre radius.

So what if I’m like melted butter when he walks into the room? He’s a man, I’m a woman: it’s only natural. That doesn’t mean I’m going to
do
anything about it.

“You two have sex on the brain, I tell you. He’s here to do a business deal with me: nothing more, nothing less.”

“Sure,” Alexis replies, sounding unconvinced. “Keep telling yourself that, hon. But it’s hard to deny he’s a hottie. And for the record, he looks
just
like he does in his photo.”

I roll my eyes. “Okay, I’ll admit it.”

“And he doesn’t have a wedding band. I checked,” Laura chimes in. She sounds smug.

“So he’s not married. Big deal. That doesn’t mean anything’s going to happen between us. And anyway, Stefan thinks he’s a player.”

Alexis taps her chin, looking over at Logan, who is now deep in conversation with another man of about his age, sipping his beer.

“He might be. But I don’t get that vibe from him. I mean he could be if he wanted to be, he’s cute enough. I think he’s just a nice guy who happens to be better looking than any one person ought to be.” She flashes us a wicked smile.

Laura laughs, nodding. “Totally.”

“When are you seeing him next?” she asks, thankfully moving on from the uncomfortable conversation of how attractive he is. Player or not.

“He has some other thing on for the rest of the week, but we’re meeting him in Queenstown on Friday. He wants to experience one of our seminars first hand.”

Logan’s visit has been timed so he can see how we work ‘in the field’. He’ll be attending our seminar with another member of the
You: Now
executive team, Brad Stephenson. We’re going to dazzle them with our approach—at least, that’s the plan.