The Business of Love, coming in September

Chapter One

Anticipation of New Year’s hung in the air like the huge diamonds around Jill Atkinson’s neck. The ballroom at the Hilton was decked out in pink, white and silver decorations, and balloons hung in the air ready to drop as the clock struck twelve. In the happy din Jill glanced around the room as the countdown. She wasn’t looking forward to another year, because she was expecting much of the same, success in the boardroom and nothing but exercise equipment in her bedroom.

            “Ten,” the elegant crowd yelled in unison.

            Jill wrapped her arms around herself, wishing that she was half of one of those lucky couples that filled the ballroom. When was the last time that she’d had a date? Two years ago? Unfortunately, she couldn’t hit the clubs on the weekend and troll for men. She had a reputation to uphold. She was after all, the CEO of a Fortune 500 company. Everything she did, every decision she made was under a microscope.

            “Nine.”

            Jill looked up at the mirrored ceiling, which reflected a lonely woman dressed in a strapless powder blue Roberto Cavalli gown. Sure she looked good, but she didn’t feel celebratory. Tonight she was lonely. She wanted to be holding someone’s hand other than her own and waiting for the New Year to roll in, be with a man who would hold her and kiss her at midnight. She wanted to be celebrating something more personal than her company’s bottom line. She wanted to be celebrating love.

            “Eight.”

            Focusing on her reflection, Jill ran her fingers through her auburn tresses. The woman who had everything wanted to be like everyone else in the room, in love or falling in love. But it didn’t seem as if that was ever going to happen. Men wanted things from her, business advice, investment capital or a piece of her company but they never wanted just the woman. They never wanted her heart. Jill didn’t want to be alone all of her life, ending up a bitter old woman with no family to pass her legacy on to. What was the purpose of building an empire if it died the moment she left the Earth?  But the desire to pass along what she’d built wasn’t the total story. Jill actually hungered for a family.

She peered out at the crowd from her vantage point on the round stage, and then pasted a fake smile on her face. As the boss and she had to put on a front of happiness, make it look as if she had it together and nothing got to her.  No one needed to know how lonely and sad she was at that moment.

            “Seven, six, five, four, three, two, one! Happy New Year!” the crowd boomed.

As silver balloons with the DVA logo began to drop from the ceiling, pooling around her feet like water and the band played a jazzy rendition of ‘Auld Lang Syne, Jill enviously watched the couples share their first kiss of the new year. It was her party and she wanted to cry because once again she was alone on New Year’s Eve, just like last year and the year before and the year before that one. She’d never shared a midnight kiss as the New Year rolled in. For some reason, this New Year’s Eve tugged at her heartstrings more than the others did. Could it be that getting older and watching other people her age settling down and starting families was actually getting to her? Or maybe that old Billy Dee Williams line from Mahogany was true: Success without someone to share it with was nothing. Jill took a deep breath and fought back her tears. Because she had no one to share her mega success with, she truly felt that she had absolutely nothing. For years, she’d that trying to build her company into one of Atlanta’s most successful computer consulting firms left no time for relationships. But now, Jill was making money hand over fist. She had transformed her company from an unknown to a nationwide powerhouse. When she went home at night, however, all she had was an empty bed and a stair climber.

Stop feeling sorry for yourself, she chided. Jill Atkinson, CEO and owner of DVA Inc., didn’t have time to lament her nonexistent love life. Forcing another smile to her face, she took the mike from the stand and began to deliver her traditional New Year’s speech.

            “Happy New Year,” she exclaimed with forced gaiety. “I can’t tell you how happy and blessed I am to be spending this night with you all. As you know, last year was a banner year for DVA and it wouldn’t have been without your hard work and loyalty. I’m forever in your debt.”

            “We love you, Jill,” someone shouted from the floor.

            Blowing a kiss like a rock star, Jill returned the love before continuing with her speech. “Tonight’s about partying and having fun but Monday, it’s back to business so that we can make the coming year even bigger and better than any year in company history. Happy New Year!”

            Thunderous applause erupted from the crowd as Jill walked off the stage into a sea of adoring employees and friends. She shook hands with her executives and hugged other employees, like the ones who worked in the mailroom that she saw only during parties like this one. From the bottom to the top, employees respected her because she was fair and treated them with respect. She didn’t play favorites and people liked that.

 Whenever anyone needed something Jill gave, whether it was a gift for a retiring employee or contributing to a fundraiser someone’s child.

            “Good speech, boss lady,” said Malik Greene, DVA’s marketing president, when he caught her alone for a moment.

            Jill smiled at Malik and his wife, Shari Walker-Greene. Seeing the happy couple made her heart lurch, though. Jill loved Malik and Shari and cheered for their union because of what they’d overcome to be together, but watching them tonight--holding each other and exchanging looks of longing desire--was nothing short of torture.

            “Don’t you two look lovely,” she said as she hugged Shari. “I love that dress.”

            “Thank you, but you’re the belle of the ball. Blue’s definitely your color,” Shari replied.

            Malik made a gagging noise. “Women. You could turn a trip to the grocery store into an episode of America’s Next Top Model.”

            Shari playful smacked him on the shoulder. “You should be glad you’re surrounded by beauty.”

            Taking Shari’s hand in his, Malik kissed it gently and Jill cringed inwardly. She wished she knew such a love. Her last relationship had ended because her boyfriend felt intimidated by her power, money and prestige.  Not that Jill was the type of woman to lord her status over anyone in her personal life. Unfortunately, her name was so well known in her circles that when she introduced herself, men tended to shrink away from her. Besides, most of the single businessmen she knew were more interested in winning her company than her heart.

            Jill watched Malik wrap his arms around Shari’s waist and kiss her on the neck. Why couldn’t she have someone in her life to hold her tightly and kiss her when he thought no one was looking? Stop being jealous of their happiness. One of these days the right man will walk into your life, she thought. But those words echoed in her head, not her heart. Jill knew she was going to spend the rest of her life alone.

            “All right, you two, I’m going to take off,” Jill announced, unable to take another moment of watching them express their love.

            “Why? The party’s just getting started,” Malik said. “And it’s your party. How are you going to leave your own party before things get exciting?”
            Jill scoffed at him. “You know I’m going into the office in the morning, but you two enjoy your night.”

            After exchanging kisses with Malik and Shari and grabbing her mink wrap, Jill stepped out into the crisp night air, happy to be out of the ballroom. But as she looked around the streets of Buckhead, she saw just as many couples cavorting there as were in attendance at the party. Young, old, black, white—everybody had somebody except her. Instead of waiting for a cab or calling her car service, she decided to walk the three blocks to her empty high rise, fifteen floors above the nightclubs, traffic and crowds. Like most things in her life, she owned that building as well. Even though it was filled with tenants and people, Jill couldn’t have been more alone. A fact that sadden her tonight. Wrapping her shawl around her bare shoulders, Jill turned and headed in that direction.

Inhaling sharply, she tried to shake off the New Year’s Eve blues. It was just another New Year’s. It wasn’t as if she hadn’t spent New Year’s alone before. She decided that she was going to go inside, put on her favorite terrycloth robe, play some John Coltrane and get a jump on the ton of work she had to do. She was going to streamline her files, look at a few companies to bring under the DVA umbrella and organize some sort of charitable event for the coming year. Yes, she’d spend this night just like she spent most others, up to her ears in work.

            Walking into her place, she kicked off her shoes in the foyer. As they thudded against the marble floor, the echo seemed to accent the emptiness of her personal life. Reaching down to massage her aching feet, Jill decided that she was definitely going to take advantage of the New Year’s Day offer at Thelma’s, a new spa on the edge of Alpharetta, maybe she’d even invite Shari along. She and Malik’s wife had become fast friends and Jill had witnessed how Shari’s love transformed her protégé from a wanna be player into a devoted husband. Honestly, Jill hadn’t expected their marriage to last a year, but four had passed.

            Good for them but I wish it was me, she thought as she headed for the kitchen.

            It wasn’t often that Jill allowed herself to wallow in self-pity, but tonight was a good night to do it. Jill made her way to the kitchen to brew a pot of coffee for her night of work. Standing in the middle of the kitchen, she could have sworn she smelled smoke, but she shrugged it off and began to brew a pot of Colombian coffee. While the coffee perked, Jill headed to her home office to boot up the computer. The minute she walked in, she saw curls of black smoke seeping from the vents. Without a second thought, she grabbed her laptop and rushed out the door and down the emergency staircase, running down twelve flights of stairs, clad in her stocked feet and designer dress, only to run into a wall of flames on the third floor. Blinded by the black smoke, her lungs burning as she tried to breathe, she clutched her laptop to her chest as if were the one thing that could save her life.

            “Oh God, don’t let me die tonight!” she exclaimed before collapsing.

* * *

            Atlanta fire captain Darren Alexander had seen a lot of things in his fifteen-year career as a firefighter, but never had he seen a woman cling to a laptop computer with such zeal, as if her life depended on saving the machine. Darren scooped her up into his arms.

            “I have a victim in the stairwell,” he said into the radio on his shoulder. “Ready an EMT.  It looks as if she’s inhaled a lot of smoke.”

            Rushing down the stairs, Darren took the woman outside to the waiting emergency medical technicians.

            “Is everybody out of the building?” he yelled as he came out.

            “Yes, sir. The fire’s under control as well,” another fireman answered.

            Nodding, Darren then turned his attention to the unconscious woman in his arms. He could tell she was someone who was well kept. Her café au lait skin looked as smooth as Norman Brown’s latest jam, her plump lips looked ripe for kissing and despite the fact that it was disheveled, he could tell her hair was soft and silky.

            He wondered what her story was. What her name was. Where was her man? Why was she home alone on New Year’s Eve?  And what was so damned important about that laptop?

            Handing her over to an EMT, he watched as the technician placed an oxygen mask over her mouth and her eyes fluttered open, revealing a set of brown eyes that would melt an iceman’s heart. Knowing that he should go and investigate the cause of the fire, Darren tried to walk away but his feet remained rooted in place.

            “My files,” he heard her say as she pulled the oxygen mask from her face.

            “Ma’am, don’t do that,” Darren said, grabbing her hand. Her skin was just as soft as it looked. “You inhaled a lot of smoke.”

            She turned her eyes upward at him, causing a chill to run up and down his spine. What was it about this woman that heightened his awareness? He didn’t know, but he was intrigued and he wanted to make sure she was all right, see her to the hospital and protect that laptop.

            “But I have to get my . . .” She began to cough uncontrollably.

            Darren placed the mask back on her face. “Breathe slowly.”

            She rolled her eyes, but did as she was told. Darren smiled, lighting up his grey eyes.

            “You don’t take orders well, do you?”

            She shook her head.

            Wiping his smudge-covered face with the back of his hand, he leaned down closer to her. “Relax and let someone take care of you for a change.” Placing his hand on top of hers, he attempted to pull the laptop from her grip. “And that means letting this go. I’ll hold on to it for you.”

            She was slow to let it go, but Darren gently pried it away. As the woman was loaded into the ambulance, Darren walked to his car and locked the computer inside. Now he was guaranteed to see her again.

* * *

            Jill tried to wrap her mind around what was going on. She was in the hospital, her building was on fire and her laptop—where was it? She sat up in the bed and frantically pressed the call button.

            A nurse rushed into the room. “Yes, Miss Atkinson?” she asked breathlessly.

            “I had a computer with me, where is it?” Her voice was hoarse because of the smoke she inhaled and her throat burned with every word she spoke.

            “Right here,” a rich male voice said from the doorway.

            Jill looked into the eyes of her sexy angel. “You saved me.” Her eyes roamed his tight body, drinking in the man before her. His body was clad in black pants and a white, long sleeved tee-shirt and she could see the outline of his muscular frame. He held her computer out to her. “And I saved this too. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone hold on to a computer so tightly.”

            “Well, I just--uh, I’ve never been in a situation like this before. I just grabbed what was in front of me and held on. By the way, what’s your name?”

            “Darren Alexander,” he said then sat on the edge of Jill’s bed.

            It was not often that she thought of a man as beautiful, but that was an accurate description of Darren Alexander. He had piercing grey eyes, smooth caramel skin and the biggest hands she’d ever seen.

            She wondered what they would feel like stroking her in the middle of the night, spreading her thighs and...

            “Are you all right?” he asked, breaking into Jill’s thoughts.

            “I guess I’m still in shock. Thank you for everything, saving me and my computer.”

            A smile tugged at Darren’s lips. “Just what’s so important about that computer? Vital government secrets? Are you a spy?”

            “No,” she said through laughter. “It’s just work. I was about to sit down and go over some things before the smoke started coming though my vents.”

            “What do you do?”

            “Marketing research,” she said.

            “Don’t tell me you’re one of those career first, everything else second, women?” he asked. “It was New Year’s Eve. Why weren’t you out partying with your husband or boyfriend?”

            She smiled but didn’t reply. Darren reached out and gently stroked her left hand.

            “You’re not married?” he asked.

            Jill shook her head.

            “Seeing someone?”

            “No.”

            “Are you serious? A beautiful woman like you is single in this city? This is a joke, right?”

            “Why do you find that so shocking?” she asked, then coughed again.

            Darren shrugged his shoulders. “Because as Prince said, the beautiful ones are always taken.”

            Jill blushed. “Thank you for bringing me my computer.”

            “I still can’t believe you were working on a holiday. When was the last time you’ve had some good old-fashioned fun?”

            “I went to a New Year’s Eve party tonight and...” Jill stopped talking because the truth was she hadn’t had fun in a long time. Not since she was a carefree college freshman at Spelman College many years ago. From the moment she started DVA, her life had revolved around work, work and more work.

            Raising his eyebrow at her silence, Darren replied, “That’s just what I thought. I don’t usually do this, but you should let me show you a good—no, a great time—when you get out of here.”

            Sitting up in the bed, wishing she was dressed in something more alluring than a puke green and white hospital gown, she asked, “Can you do that?”

            Darren ran his hand over his smooth head. “Unless you have husband that’s about to burst through the door, there’s nothing stopping me from asking a beautiful woman out on a date.”

            Had she been a few shades lighter, Darren would have seen her cheeks turn rose red. He handed her his business card with his cell phone number scribbled on the back.

            “When you’re up to it, give me a call.” Darren stood up and headed for the door, leaving Jill sitting in the middle of the bed with a wide smile on her face. “Take care, beautiful,” he said before closing the door behind him.

            Maybe it was going to be a happy new year after all.

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