Page 51 of Her Billionaire Boss
“It’s not about her husband.It’s about you,” Charlotte corrected me sternly.“Matt, you have this thing about making everyone’s wildest fantasies come true.And when we’re talking about a sex island, sure, that’s exactly what you should be doing.But you can’t fix everyone else’s lives, and especially not because you feel guilty about some pivotal role you’ve cast yourself in.Scott doesn’t perceive you as being the reason his marriage never happened.You’re the one putting that importance on the part you played.Really...you were a background actor.”
Ouch.
“I guess you have a pretty good point there.”
“But I still don’t see how my meddling is any different than his meddling.”
I realized how petulant that sounded as it ejected from my mouth, but I couldn’t do anything to stop it.
“It’s different because Scott did play a part in the reason I took off,” she explained.“Was he the sole cause?No.But he played a much bigger part in our near-breakup than you did in his.You didn’t even know about the thing with your sister until it was over.”
Also a good point.I wasn’t a fan of the number of those she was having.
“How about this,” she began.“How about you’re allowed to intervene only if Catherine asks you to.”
“She’s never going to ask me to,” I argued.
“Exactly.Which shows you how much she’s willing to fight for my brother.”Charlotte scooched down and punched her pillow as if to make it more comfortable, but she wasn’t fooling me.My pillows were top-of-the-line and needed no punching.I assumed she was picturing Catherine’s face being so aggressively fluffed.“You shouldn’t want your best friend to be with someone who’s going to hurt him.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right,” I agreed.
But hadn’t that been Scott’s argument against me dating Charlotte?That she would just hurt me?
“I won’t do anything unless Catherine asks me to,” I promised.
I didn’t plan to break that promise.
Now, I had to find a way to make Catherine want my help.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
(Charlotte)
As much as I loved working under Matt’s watchful eye—I liked hearing “good girl” uttered under his breath inanycontext—, he couldn’t be there for every meeting and decision.I’d developed a personality for myself that I only put on at the office.I called her “Business Charlotte.”Business Charlotte wore pants suits and severe hairdos, was polite but not overly friendly, and listened intently with an unreadable expression.She wore much higher heeled, less comfortable shoes than I normally would, and threw jargon around like confetti.
Business Charlotte was confident asfuck,and unlike Charlotte Classic, she could tell people no and demand more of them.
“We’re trying to create a space where we make our clients’ fantasies come true,” I said, walking around the conference table with slow, measured steps.
“I hear that,” Leo said patiently, “and I understand how important that is to the Ascend brand.But we’re limited with what we can do here.”
“We’re limited legally, but you shouldn’t be placing any limitations on what we can otherwise achieve.”I pointed to the monitor mounted to the wall, which currently displayed a lush rooftop garden on a sunny day.“This is doable.”
“Maybe in the Caribbean, where there are ocean breezes,” Leo argued.“Summer in New York will turn that into a magnifying glass and everyone inside into ants.”
“Which is where the retractable roof and solar shades come in.”I tapped my tablet screen, and the monitor changed.“In the event that the temperature is so high that we can’t possibly make it comfortable with our own climate controls, the solar panels extend and cover the dome.Will it look as impressive from the inside during those rare times?No.But your electrical engineer believes that even with the surrounding buildings, there will be enough daylight to bank some charge.And you know that will make Mr.I-won’t-fly-on-a-private-jet happy.
“We need to think as big on this project as Mr.Ashe thought on Ascend Red.”I added, “God help us all.”
A chuckle went around the table, loosening some of the tension the topic had once again raised.
“We’ll table the garden for now.I know that we’ll figure out how to do it without attracting interest, but apparently not at this meeting, and we have a lot to cover.Let’s move on.
“Themes.Every Ascend property is themed.Ascend has that very chic,Casa Blancafeel to it.Ascend II is pirates, for some reason.”I cleared my throat; the person who came up with the pirate theme could very well have been in the room with me.“Ascend Red is the castle.All of those are looking backward, not forward.We’re in New York City.Manhattan.Where all the tastemakers for the world are.”Maybe that was overselling the city’s importance, but not by much.As an outsider, I’d always viewed New York as the center of the universe.
“Are we thinking futuristic, then?”one of the interns whose name I shamefully hadn’t learned yet suggested.
I gestured to Marshall.“Write that down.”
