That’s him.
Her phone rang a second later.
“Okay, explain, because this Jamie MacNiven that I’m looking at online only retired from soccer a few months ago, so unless he has a psychology degree from a sketchy online university, he’s not qualified to counsel you.”
“He started a business to help people win,” she said, looking down the street to see what the holdup was.
“Ah. It all becomes clear. He’s very attractive, isn’t he?”
“I’m sure his fiancée thinks so.” Truthfully, she hadn’t noticed. But she’d never met anyone as attractive as the bad boy in the hallway.Thatman was beautiful.
There was a masculine murmur in the background, and then Louisa said, “Connor says he was very successful so he probably understands a winning mindset.”
“That’s what I’m counting on.”
“How is he going to help you get over your issues with your father?”
“I don’t know.” Just the mention of him made her stomach burn. She reached for her bag, hoping she’d remembered to replenish the antacids. “I have to try though.”
Louisa sighed. “Jules—”
“I’m here,” she said when the cab pulled over in front of the building. She got out a bill to hand to the driver and then pushed open the door. “We can talk about it when we have dinner next.”
“You’re committing to dinner?” Louisa asked in feigned shock. Then she laughed. “If you’re willing to take time out from work to have dinner with us, then this Jamie guy is already doing good.”
Promising to text to arrange dinner, she got off the phone and went up to the reception at the building to give her name. Once they checked her in, she went up. In the elevator, she wondered if she’d run into the bad boy again. A ridiculous thought, she told herself.
Still, she wondered what she’d do if she did.
In Winners Inc.,Jamie was leaning at the front desk, talking to the young woman manning it, when she walked in.
“There you are,” he said, walking toward her, his hand out. “Ready to get going?”
She shook his hand. “Very.”
“I want to introduce you to one of my colleagues. I think you two will do well together.” He smiled, gesturing to the back with the sort of casual elegance that she knew she’d never had. You had to be born into it to have it.
The children Julian had had with the woman he’d married, after he’d dumped her mother, had it.
“Everything okay?” Jamie asked suddenly.
She made an unamused sound as she untied the belt of her overcoat. “You know, I came here because I felt like you were the real thing. But now that I see how good you are, I’m not sure how I feel about it.”
He threw his head back and laughed. “That’s honest enough. Wait until you meet Didier.” Hands in his pockets, he ambled rather than walked. “You had no problem leaving work for a bit this morning?”
She had to hold herself back to keep pace with him. “When I told my assistant that I’d be out for a couple hours, she got in a tizzy. She hates her rhythm disrupted.”
“You didn’t tell her where you were going?”
She gave him a flat look. “This is confidential. I can’t afford to have anyone know I’m doing this.”
“Won’t you have to tell her something at some point?” he asked curiously.
“I’m hoping I can just pull rank,” she said with a wry smile.
Jamie gestured to an open door. “We’re meeting in Didier’s office today. Make yourself comfortable.”
Taking her coat off, she stopped short as she stepped into the office. There was a purple velvet couch with zebra print chairs flanking it, a coffee table in the center. The walls were painted a deep teal behind the modern paintings that hung on them, framed in ornate gold. There was a thick rug covering the floor, the sort that looked like your feet would sink into it, a soccer ball at the far end of it. Instead of overhead lighting, there were crystal lamps.