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“Ready to meet the others?”
Ace looks up at me with alert, chocolate eyes.Yes,they say.
“There’ll be someone else here today. Someone we have to be nice to, even if we don’t want to. No biting.” I’m smiling even as I say it, and his tail wags harder. So fearsome.
I open the door to Opate and he makes a beeline for Suzy at reception. She grins when she sees him and puts down her lip gloss. “Hi, buddy,” she says, burying her hands in his fur in greeting.
The door to Vivienne’s office is open and voices emanate from within. I step closer and my aunt looks up from her desk, golden reading glasses perched on the edge of her nose.
“Ah, Summer! Come in, come in. I was just talking to Mr. Winter here and his associate, Ryan…”
“Walker,” a young man supplies.
“Walker, yes. They will be here often in the coming weeks to pick our brains on the company and to learn how it works.”
Ah, I think. They’re scouting it out before they make any changes, which means we have to be on our best behavior during this time.
And I’m already off to a bad start with Mr. Winter.
He’s sitting in one of Vivi’s chairs, arms draped along the armrests. The gaze he shoots me is as dark and inscrutable as yesterday. No hint he even remembers our exchange.
I give him a bright smile. “We’ll do our best to make you feel at home then, gentlemen,” I say. “When I don’t have client meetings, my door is always open to answer questions about the business and our practices.”
Both men’s gazes drop to my knees and a second later I feel the solid weight of a golden retriever pushing past me in the doorway.
“Our favorite employee,” Vivienne says. “This is Ace, my niece’s dog.”
The dog in question is busy scouting out the two men. He receives a pat on the head from Ryan, but he’s ignored entirely by Anthony, who only looks from the dog to me. I’ll have to apologize when I get the chance. Try to smooth things over from yesterday.
Oh, the things I’d said to him. Asking our newownerif he had a partner, or if he preferred women or men. Heat rises to my cheeks.
“Miss Davis was helpful yesterday,” Mr. Winter says. “I know she’ll continue to be so in the future.”
I give them both my sunniest, brightest smile. “Whatever you need,” I say and pat my leg. Ace returns to my side and we head into my office.
I’ve survived the first, shameful encounter. Whether I survive the second remains to be seen.
I’m sorting through our ever-shrinking pile of client applications when a single knock on my door sounds. Anthony Winter, hands by his sides, suit jacket unbuttoned. He’s nearly tall enough to graze his head on the doorway.
I turn away from my computer screen. “Mr Winter. Come on in.”
He stops a solid few feet away from my desk. Says nothing.
I clear my throat. “I’d like to apologize about yesterday. About mistaking you for a client. I realize that wasn’t what you’d expected, and well… I’m sorry.”
He pulls out the chair opposite my desk and sits down. Stretches out long legs in front of him. “I’m not,” he says.
“You’re not?”
“Like I said, it was enlightening,” he says and lets his gaze travel from mine to the pictures on the walls. My triumphs, my successes.
I open my mouth. Close it again. And then: “I’m sorry to ask, but why did you buy Opate Match?”
He raises an eyebrow. “Why did I buy your aunt’s company?”
“Yes. Judging from yesterday… you don’t believe in our services.”
“No. But I believe in your ability to generate profit.”
