Kate Hoffmann - Mr. Right Now

By the time they reached the conference room, all the chairs had been taken by senior staff. Lizbeth and Nina stood against the back wall and watched as Charlotte called the meeting to order. Nina couldn’t recall ever attending a staff meeting before. Charlotte preferred to deal with her one-on-one and important news was usually passed on to Nina through office gossip, haphazard memos, or not at all.

“We have a problem,” Charlotte began. “A huge problem. I’ve called you all in here because, frankly, I don’t know what to do.” To Nina’s surprise, the normally icy Charlotte looked like she was about to cry. “I can’t go to Daddy, so I’m asking all of you for your help.” She sniffed. “I know I haven’t always been the nicest boss, but I can’t change that now.” Her voice trembled slightly. “Yesterday evening I had a visit from a representative of NightRyder, some Internet company with truckloads of cash. They offered to buy the magazine.”

A collective gasp sounded in the silence of the conference room, followed by a low murmur of whispered comments. Lizbeth turned to look at Nina, her eyes wide.

Charlotte ran her fingers through her mussed hair and Nina noticed the shadows beneath her boss’s eyes. She had been crying. “Don’t worry, the offer wasn’t good enough to accept. But the next one might be. And as you all know, this magazine has always operated on a…tight budget. And now that Daddy—I mean, now that my investors have decided to curtail their rather generous funding, the magazine is more vulnerable than ever. We have to tighten our belt, be more efficient and—and do all those other things you people do when we need to save money. I’m sure you know what they are.”

“Like cutting back on expensive business lunches at the city’s best restaurants?” Lizbeth murmured. “And throwing lavish parties for male models then writing them off against our photo budgets?”

“Shhh!” Nina hissed.

“Lena, where are you?” Charlotte demanded. Her gaze searched the room, but no one spoke up. The rest of the employees glanced nervously back and forth. “Well, where is my head of research? Lizbeth, I told you to bring her along. Where is Lena?”

Suddenly Nina realized that Charlotte was talking to her. She raised her hand nervously. “I’m here,” she said. “Tina, I—I mean, Nina. Nina Forrester.” She groaned inwardly and bit back a curse. Now she couldn’t even remember her own name!

“Tina, I want you to find out everything you can about this NightRyder company. It’s owned by someone named Cameron Ryder. Call whoever you call and get me something, anything, on this man. I need to know everything I can about the enemy before I face him again. Oh, and find out if he’s married.” She glanced around the room. “As for the rest of you, no more spending. Cultivate new vendors who will extend us credit. Sell more ad pages. And there’ll be no more free beverages in the coffee room!”

With that, she swept out of the room, leaving her staff to wonder whether they might be better off with Cameron Ryder at the helm of Attitudes. Nina and Lizbeth hurried out in front of the crowd, anxious to regain the privacy of Nina’s office. When they closed the door behind them, they both gasped and gaped at each other.

“I suppose we ought to start revising our résumés,” Nina said.

“You don’t actually think Charlotte will sell to this NightRyder guy, do you?”

Nina shook her head. “She’s not much of a business-woman and the magazine has always struggled. But then, maybe this Ryder isn’t much of a businessman.” She reached for her computer keyboard, then looked at the screen. The moment she’d walked in that morning, she’d typed up her two ads—the “coffee collision” ad for Mr. Right and the “Adonis” ad for Mr. Right Now, still torn between which one to place.

As she stared at the screen, Nina’s mind again wandered back to her encounter with “Coffee Man.” How many times had she brushed him from her thoughts, trying to convince herself there was probably something seriously wrong with him? Maybe he picked his teeth or burped after dinner. Maybe he hated modern art or detested the theater. He could have all sorts of disgusting flaws. Like all the other men she’d met, she’d probably have dropped him sooner or later, so what was the point even wasting brain cells on him?

A soft moan slipped from her lips. But he was incredibly intriguing. She suspected he had a body to match that gorgeous face, hidden beneath his staid attire. And though she usually didn’t go for the suit-and-tie type, he wouldn’t always be wearing clothes. A delicious shiver skittered up her spine and she couldn’t help but smile.

“Well? What have you found?”

Nina blinked, then glanced up at Lizbeth. “What? Oh, nothing. It’ll take more than a few seconds.” She shook her head and turned back to the monitor, hoping to hide the warm flush that had crept up her cheeks. “But I’ll let you know as soon as I do,” she murmured, closing the document that held the two ads.

Lizbeth started toward the door. “Good luck,” she said, the usual light and teasing tone now gone from her voice. “All of us are counting on you.”

She closed the door behind her, leaving Nina to her own thoughts. Though the business with Cameron Ryder was urgent, she allowed herself just a few more moments to think about her fantasy man. Maybe if she finished up her research for Charlotte early, she’d go back to the coffee shop after work. Perhaps, he’d be there, hoping that she might return as well.

And this time, she wouldn’t be such a dope. She’d catch his eye from across the room. And then she’d smile, a hesitant, but coy smile, with maybe a hint of surprise. Then a little wave, playful but not too aggressive. After all, she didn’t want him to think she’d come looking for him on purpose. No, it was best to play hard to get—but not too hard to get.

“So how do I do that?”

She glanced down at what she’d pulled from her closet that morning. It wasn’t exactly conservative, but she thought it was pretty. “Maybe Mr. Right goes for the kind of woman who wears conservative clothes and spends more than a few minutes making herself look pretty in the morning,” she murmured, worrying over a loose thread on her jacket. She tugged on it and a button went flying across the room.

Yeah, she was smooth all right. For all she knew, Mr. Right might have a Ms. Right waiting at home, someone beautiful and sophisticated. He might even be married! Not every man wore a wedding band. Since last night, she’d spun a whole fantasy around this guy, giving him qualities she wasn’t even sure he’d possessed.

“This is ridiculous,” Nina said. “Your social life is so bad that you’ve been reduced to dreaming up a relationship with a complete stranger, turning a few minutes at Jitterbug’s into two kids, a dog and a three-bedroom house in Jersey.”

With a soft oath, she brought up the computer screen that held her two ads. Pounding furiously on the Delete key, she erased her “Coffee Collision” ad. It was time to stop dreaming and take control of her life. Mr. Right was a silly fantasy. And Mr. Right Now would have to wait until after this crisis with NightRyder was solved. For the next few days, she’d have to focus all her time and energy on just one man—the mysterious and very dangerous Cameron Ryder.

THE MARCH WEATHER had turned brisk again, a cold, damp wind swirling around the city and smelling of a late season snow. Cameron pulled his leather jacket closed as he stepped out of the cab in front of the coffee shop. He stood for a long moment on the sidewalk, trying to decide whether to venture inside. The windows were fogged and the sound of music drifted out every time the door was opened, but he waited.