Page 3 of First Kiss
“Mr. Remington, I was hoping that we would have a few minutes to talk about the proposal I submitted last week.” An older man named Jon Stevens tried to pull me away from the crowd.
“Jon, this is a party—lighten up. Make an appointment with my secretary for later this week, and I’ll be glad to sit down with you.” I forced a smile, one that I hoped would be reassuring.
“Okay.” He nodded. “But if you get a few minutes…”
“You’ll be the first to know.” I patted him on the shoulder and turned away before he could see the annoyed expression form on my face.
My life went from normal to extremely complicated the day my father decided to take early retirement and appoint me as the newest CEO of Remington Aeronautics. I always expected to end up in his chair—it’s what I had been preparing for my whole life. I just thought I would have a little more time before it happened. Becoming CEO meant that my life was under the microscope and that included the women I dated—not that I had much time. The main concern seemed to be that I wasn’t datinganyone, which meant every business associate with an eligible daughter thought we would begreattogether.
Hopefully, I’ll have a break from that tonight since I managed to walk through the door with a beautiful woman at my side.
“Speaking of which…” I looked around, talking to nobody in particular. “Where did she go?”
I walked towards the edge of the crowd where I last saw Brittany last, and there was no sign of her. My eyes quickly scanned the room, and I finally caught a glimpse of her heading towards the elevator. I pushed my way to the exit and started walking a little faster once I was out of the crowd. She had already hit the button, and I saw the buttons flashing as the elevator made the way to the top floor.
“Wait, where are you going?”I quickened my pace so that I could get to her before the elevator door opened.
“I know you said you’d like for me to stay…” She turned towards me and sighed. “But, I can see that you’re busy. Surely everyone knows that you walked in with a date by this point.”
“Yes, word has spread…” I chuckled under my breath. “You just want to go home and watch the ball drop at midnight on television instead of watching it live?”
“I’m going to be watching it on television here…” She motioned towards one of the screens that were showing the countdown towards midnight.
“Oh no.”I shook my head back and forth. “Come with me.”
I walked over to the door that led to the roof and motioned for her to follow me. She hesitated for a moment, but then she finally started walking behind me. I took her hand as we walked up the stairs and when I opened the door to the roof, I saw her eyes light up.
“See.” I pointed over the edge of the roof. “We have a perfect view.”
“Wow!” She walked through the door and looked back at me with a surprised look on her face.
“This is the tallest building for miles. It’s like being in the middle of Times Square without the crowd.” I walked over and poured two glasses of champagne from one of the bottles that were sitting on ice. “Although it will be alittlecrowded once everyone is up here.”
“This is in an incredible view.” She took the glass of champagne that I offered her. “It’s—beautiful.”
“It’s the second most beautiful sight I’ve seen tonight.” I sipped my champagne and smiled. “It doesn’t hold a candle to you.”
“Stop it…” She blushed and looked down.
“I’m serious.” I took her hand and nodded. “You’re gorgeous.”
“Should we get back to your party? I’m sure all of your guests are wondering where you went…” She looked back towards the door, apparently trying to change the subject.
“Let them wonder.”I shrugged. “I’m exactly where I want to be.”
It had been a long time since I've been smitten by someone I just met, but I felt an instantaneous connection with Brittany. I could tell she was a little shy, but that didn’t bother me. The few dates I had been on since becoming CEO of Remington Aeronautics felt like job interviews and were hardly relaxing. I missed the days when I was able to go out and have fun without wondering if the woman across the table was only with me because her father was trying to secure a business deal with Remington Aeronautics.
We still had an hour before the ball officially started it’s descent to signal in the new year, so we sipped champagne and made small talk. Brittany told me a little bit about her life, what she was studying at school and her aspirations for the future. I gave her a brief overview of the path that led me to become the youngest CEO of Remington Aeronautics and how much I missed being able to sit down for a normal conversation with someone.
“It looks like we’re about to have company.” Brittany looked towards the door as it started to open.
“I guess I couldn’t hide up here forever.” I chuckled under my breath. “Oh, those are some of the clients that don’t need much attention. We’re good.”
“I think I recognize them.” She tilted her head slightly. “Yeah, their daughter is in my sorority. They were at one of the events we held earlier this year.”
“Do you want to say hello?” I looked over at her.
“Nah, I’m good.” She turned back towards the view in front of us. “They probably don’t remember me anyway.”
