Impulse (Billionaire Secrets 5)

“That’s more than okay. We’d love to visit your offices.” Heather flashed Theo a winning smile, desperate to show the producer that she wasn’t going to be nearly as difficult to deal with as Simon. She made a mental note to remind her boss to be a bit more pleasant to the producer in the future.

“Great. Follow me.” Theo headed towards Dover’s entrance, and she quickly tapped his shoulder to get his attention.

“Simon’s a bit off today,” she said to him in a low voice. “Compliments make him uncomfortable, but I promise you he does appreciate it.”

Theo grinned. “No problem. I know all about Simon’s famous surliness with the media. I’m more than ready to deal with whatever he throws at us.”

The TV production office was about fifteen minutes away from Dover, so the drive wasn’t long. Theo ushered them into his tiny, cramped office. There was paperwork on Theo’s desk, the paper weighted down by half a dozen golden statuettes. No doubt awards he had received for his work as a producer.

“Wow,” she said as she glanced at the awards. “You’ve done really well for yourself, Theo.”

Theo motioned for them to take a seat and then focused on tidying his desk. “Most of those awards are for work I did as a cameraman. This documentary is my first shot at being a producer. That’s why I’ve decided to head up here. I’m usually based in Los Angeles, but I decided to temporarily relocate to Seattle. There’s some innovative documentary work going on in Washington right now, and I want to be a part of it.”

“Is that why you want to do this documentary? To advance your career?” Simon asked, a hint of derision in his tone.

“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with Theo focusing on his career,” she said quickly.

“If this is about his career, how do I know this documentary is going to be in good hands?” Simon demanded. “He clearly isn’t going to care about how this affects Dover. Which is what this documentary should be about. The company. The staff. The work that we do.”

“We’re totally down to include all of that stuff, but the focus is on you, Simon,” Theo said as he sat down. “We want to capture the real you. Figure out what makes you tick. Let the world finally get the essence of the most camera-shy CEO in the world.”

“It sounds like a vanity project,” Simon muttered.

She was desperate to get Simon to see the value of this project. He didn’t have to like it, but if he was going to fight this every step of the way they were liable to not even get the film off the ground. “Think about what a documentary like this could do for the staff at Dover. The public’s trust could make our products sell more than they ever have. I emailed some of Dover’s accountants and they crunched the numbers. If the documentary does well, there’s potential for Dover to grow by five percent. That would be so important for us as a company.”

Simon sighed and didn’t respond.

Heather knew that he’d always hated the limelight. It had to be extremely uncomfortable for him to open up his life to complete strangers, especially with his father back in his life and the pressure of next week’s dinner.

Suddenly, she felt his hand on hers, followed by a gentle squeeze. Allowing herself a faint smile, she stole a glance at him.

His body was rigid in obvious discomfort but he was still trying to reach out to her, however quietly.

The subtle gesture touched her heart. Helped ease the stress she had been feeling all day with the documentary and his father hanging over them.

As his fingers laced with hers, warmth spread through her. It was completely unprofessional but Theo didn’t seem to have noticed and, frankly, she didn’t care. Their disagreements of late had worried her. Made her wonder if Simon might just push her away the way her ex-husband had. Of course, she had never seriously thought that Simon could ever be anything like Gary, but her marriage had been so contentious that part of her had grown accustomed to being disrespected. Even if her heart knew that Simon would never mistreat her like Gary had, her gut would knot up in worry. One squeeze of her hand and the apprehension in her gut was already starting to fade away.

“And it would be beneficial for our production company, too,” Theo said. “A partnership like this has the potential to be a game-changer. Your life could change because of this, Simon. You’ll go from being famous to being an icon. Like Thomas Edison. Or Alexander Graham Bell. They’re not remembered because of vanity. They’re remembered because they changed the world. The same way you have.”

Heather flashed Theo an approving look. The producer hadn’t gone with the usual type of flattery. Most members of the media acted like Simon was some kind of celebrity oddity. Theo, on the other hand, seemed to genuinely respect him. The same way she respected him.

“Thank you. That’s kind of you,” Simon finally conceded.

“Simon, did you just thank someone?” she asked.

“There’s still time for me to offend the man,” Simon warned, but he gave her a smile. “What direction do you want to take this documentary?”

“We don’t want this to be some fake, slick piece of corporate propaganda,” Theo said. “We want the real Simon Diesel. We want the kind of stuff that ended up in the newspapers all those months ago. I hope I’m not being too forward when I say that I admired the fact that you risked everything to be with Heather.”

Her cheeks heated. “We don’t want our relationship to be the focus of this.”

“Now you know how it feels.” Another smile from him. Only this one was way too smug for her liking.

“You don’t have to acknowledge anything about the current status of your relationship,” Theo said. “But the stuff that got into the papers is publicly known. It’s kind of fair game. Besides, Simon once credited you as being the reason he followed his dreams in the first place. I know he gave my dad credit earlier, but Heather, you’re the real reason Dover exists.”

Damn, he was good at flattery. Her head was already spinning even though she knew it was his job to butter her up. “So, you want to focus on Simon’s personal life?”

“We want to focus on all of Simon’s life, not just his work. The ups and downs. The drama of it all. We need that drama for