“I was a lawyer for Mosaic back in their start-up days. We clicked and stayed friends even after our business relationship ended.” Jessica shrugged. “I don’t see him that often since we both travel so much. Tonight was our first time meeting up in months, which is why I brought him. I should’ve asked first—I know it’s ladies’ night.”
“It’s fine. It’s alittleawkward since he’s my company’s client, which is why I’m not drinking anymore—” Olivia gestured to her martini glass, which had been empty for the past hour. The last thing she needed was to embarrass herself in front of Ty freaking Winstock. “But Kat doesn’t seem to mind.”
Jessica grinned. “Neither does he. I’ve never seen him so animated with a woman before. Actually, I’ve never even seen him date.”
“Really?” Olivia’s eyebrows shot up. “He’s a billionaire. He must have women throwing themselves at him.” Winstock wasn’t bad-looking either, but he could look like Gollum and he’d still be a babe magnet given how many zeros were in his bank account.
“Oh, he does. He just hasn’t been interested in any of them. He brings them to events where he’s expected to have a date, but otherwise, he spends most of his time working, traveling, and hanging out with his dog. German Shepherd named Bear. It’s adorable.”
“Huh.” Olivia examined Winstock with new eyes. “Maybe that’s about to change.”
Jessica’s baby blues twinkled. “Maybe.”
Olivia hoped so. Maybe then, Kat would forget about Ben.
The group stayed at the bar for another hour before they split, and everyone pretended not to notice when Winstock and Kat exchanged numbers.
“Tell Sam I’ll see him for drinks next week.” Jessica buttoned her gorgeous coat.
“Will do.” Olivia liked the woman a helluva lot better now that she knew she’d never dated Sammy.
“Olivia.” Winstock made his way over while she waited for her Uber. The rest of the group had already left, and Olivia was passing time answering work emails—including a passive-aggressive one from Logan about her latest report that made her want to punch him in the face. He’d really turned his asshole-ness up after she called him out on his inappropriate comments.
“Yes?” She looked up from her phone and instinctively adopted her professional voice. She felt like she was at a client meeting now that they were one-on-one.
A shadow of a smile crossed Winstock’s lips. “Don’t worry. I’ll pretend tonight never happened.”
“I’m not sure what you mean.”
“You’re uncomfortable hanging out with a client outside of work.”
Well, yeah.Schmoozing clients was de rigueur on Wall Street, but randomly seeing one pop up at happy hour with your friends was a whole other matter. Thank God no one discussed anal or their latest erotic read tonight. Olivia would have died of mortification.
“Tonight was unexpected,” she acknowledged.
“For both of us.” Winstock stuffed his hands in his jeans. He wore a hoodie and sneakers again, and he could’ve passed for a college student if you didn’t know who he was. “But you’re a great analyst, so it won’t change anything about our business relationship—not that you did anything tonight that would’ve changed it. Like I told Michael, your pitch clinched my decision to invest with PHC.”
“Thank you.” She wondered whether she should ask the question that’d been hovering in her mind since their dinner at Avenue, but what the hell. She’d gotten this far. “May I ask why you asked for my pitch during our first meeting? Michael is more senior than me, and he gave an excellent presentation.”
“It was all right.” Winstock shrugged. “I was more impressed by the details you got right. The meeting venue, the decision not to include a slide deck—I hate those things—the details in the pitch that were personalized for me. I don’t do a lot of press, so it’s difficult to dig up information about me, but you did it. And I know you’re the one who did the research, because that’s way too in the weeds for a managing director like Michael.” He smiled at Olivia’s blush. “I run a big company, but I don’t like impersonal relationships even in business. Every other pitch I’ve heard from PE and investment firms felt impersonal. Yours didn’t.”
He nodded at the black car that’d just rolled up in front of them. The driver peered at his phone and then peered at Olivia. “I think that’s you. Good night.”
Winstock walked away, and she climbed into the backseat of her Uber, unable to hide her blossoming smile. Besides Sammy—whom, after some deliberation, she was no longer mad at for deceiving her about Jessica because she didn’t want to waste their remaining time together as roommates being upset over stupid stuff—nothing made her happier than excelling at work.
After a string of bad luck, things were finally looking up.