The Big Boss

“Here,” Lila says, putting a pair of silver high heels on the ground beside me. “Put these on.”

When I slip into the shoes, I feel powerful. Like someone who could take on the world. Or in this case, a date with Keenan Silverman. “You’re a magician, Lila.”

She giggles. “I’m not a magician for putting you in clothes that actually fit and happen to cost more than ten dollars at the thrift store.”

“Hey. That one pair of jeans cost twenty.”

She fluffs my hair a little. “This is definitely the one. Do I need to do your hair and make-up too?”

“Hair, yes. Make-up, no.”

“All right,” Lila takes a deep breath. “Get the dress off. Time to fairy godmother this shit.”

I sit down and let her start to curl my hair, and sigh. “Is this really a good idea? After everything?”

“Has he cancelled the project?”

“As far as I know, yes.”

“Then sure,” she says.

“But what happens when there’s a project that he can’t just move? At some point there’s going to be a conflict that we can’t solve.”

“Or maybe knowing you will change the way that he thinks about taking projects in the first place,” she says. “Maybe he’ll make an effort to see the humans behind the numbers before actually agreeing to things.”

He did tell me that he would give me reason to trust him, and I need to give him that chance.

“What made you this jumpy about stuff like this?” Lila asks.

“You know.”

She shakes her head. “No, I don’t. It’s never come up.”

Lila and I are best friends now, but in the grand scheme of things we haven’t known each other that long. I thought she’d known. “In college I got really close with one of my clients. I was studying social work, and I got to know the whole family. They were living in a building and they were being displaced because of the same thing. The developer wanted to build new apartments. We got enough traction to stop the demolition. The building was fine, it just wasn’t what the developer wanted.”

I sigh and keep going. “But he went around us. He paid off the people that he needed to pay off in order to continue the demolition, and he decided that he didn’t want to wait. The people were practically dragged out of their home so that the building could be torn down. They imploded it. Many of the people living there lost their possessions as well as their homes.”

Lila makes a sound of disgust. “That’s really fucked up.”

“Tell me about it.”

“But Keenan isn’t like that.”

“No,” I say. “He’s not.”

I cross my heart inside that that’s true.

Half an hour later I’m polished and primped, hair curling around my shoulders and waiting outside for Keenan to pick me up. I told him to collect me from Lila’s house. It didn’t seem that important to go all the way home.

There’s no mistaking which car is his when it turns onto the street. A sleek sports car that practically oozes sex appeal the same way that he does. I’m not sure how a car manages to do that, but it does. And when Keenan gets out of the car, I swear that all the air in the world has disappeared.

He’s wearing a silvery gray suit that is tailored exactly to his body. It hugs his shoulders and his hips and makes my mouth water with lust.

Keenan is looking at me the same way that I’m looking at him, and I’m tempted to suggest that we skip the date entirely. But he’s walking toward me now, wrapping me in his arms and kissing me deeply. “You look stunning.”

“So do you.”

“Are you ready to let me wine and dine you?”

I smile. “Unless you want to move to dessert first.”

“Tempting,” Keenan says. “But fair is fair. I owe you a dinner.”

He opens the door for me, and I slip into the car and deeper into his world.

My heels are hanging off the tips of my fingers as Keenan carries me off the elevator and into his apartment. I’m deliciously tipsy, and I can’t remember a time where I’ve truly felt this relaxed and happy.

But with that happiness also comes confusion.

Keenan took me to a restaurant where the meal cost more than my monthly salary and the wine we had practically tasted like gold. Everything was delightful and pretty. There was elegant music and dancing, and we spun under a chandelier that glittered.

I may have had too much to drink, but everything seemed so lovely that I couldn’t help myself. It felt like I was living in a fairytale…and I liked it.

But none of that would have been possible without Keenan and the wealth that he has. It was eye opening to see that it wasn’t all bad. Somewhere along the way I started to think that there was nothing good that could come of it. But he managed to sweep me away. Perfect conversation and dancing, and enough casual touches that I’m ready for him to take me to bed.