Page 5 of Let Me Love You

Idrum my fingers on the long, rectangular table. The four other men and women that make up my board listen as Griffin Lexington, Barlowe Technology’s chief executive director, drones on about the same things he did last week. Our quarterly revenue is down. We need to downsize staffing. As much as I respect the man, he needs to come up with better strategies if he wants the rest of the board to agree. My staff is here to stay, and I’ll never change my mind. We don’t need to pad our pockets with more money, putting hundreds of people out of careers they worked hard to achieve.

“We are about to launch our newest model of the XT phone, but our marketing team hit a snag,” Mr. Lexington continues.

I swear Mr. Tille, our secretary, is already asleep. His arms rest across his chest, and his head tips farther down. Gray mixes in with his dark brown hair. The man is nearing retirement age but is filling in, replacing Mr. Smith. Mr. Tille’s daughter, who also happens to be my ex-girlfriend, sits beside him, listening intently, training to take over her father’s temporary role.

I’ve been able to avoid Rose since our brutal breakup ten years ago, but now that our stockholders, and my parents, approved of her taking over the secretary position, I have to get used to seeing her. Business is business.

“We need them to work overtime in order to come up with a new marketing strategy,” Mr. Lexington says.

I adjust in my chair. “Then how about they work overtime? Our staff is usually amenable if we give them adequate warning.”

“Well, as I’ve been saying, we’re down in revenue—”

I glare at him, and his words fall off. “We need a solid marketing strategy if we want the launch to be successful. So yes, Business 101, we need to spend money to make it.”

Mr. Lexington’s face is red, a vein throbbing prominently in his forehead. “Of course, Mr. Barlowe.”

His words are patronizing, but I ignore them. “If we’re done here—”

I push to my feet, but Mr. Lexington smiles. “No, there’s one more item on the agenda.” He waits for me to sit back down. “We need to talk about what happened on that television show. Two scandals within five months is too much. Not to mention your upcoming birthday and what that implies.”

Laughing, I look around at each of my board members. He must be kidding. Rose keeps her face neutral but doesn’t jump to my defense, so I can only assume she’s on Mr. Lexington’s side. Even Mrs. Frederick, our treasurer, has a serious expression on her usual soft features.

“You must be joking.”

“No, we’re not. Your grandfather might have approved your request to move the age requirement for you to get married and stay CEO from twenty-five to thirty-five when you were young and not ready to settle down, but your thirty-fifth birthday is in three months. Even your father—”

I clench and unclench my fingers underneath the table, anything to keep me from hitting this damned table. “You’ve talked to my father about this?”

“Yes, he actually called us so we could help come up with suggestions for potential brides.” He gives me a pointed look, and I take a deep breath. Showing my hand here will only push them more. “I’ll be frank with you. We think our numbers are tanking because of your very public breakup with that reality TV woman.”

“Harmony. Her name is Harmony, and she and I are still great friends.” I flex my fingers again. “How can our numbers be bad because I didn’t get married? It’s not like I’m screwing around with a dozen women at the same time like the Hudson heir. And I’m not getting drunk and crashing my car like the Milters’ heir.”

“Well, your scandal with that fashion model was only two months before. All of this is reflecting badly on you and, in turn, the company.”

Ana is still haunting me all these months later. I was lucky I found out she was a scheming liar before I was in too deep.

“Mr. Lexington, don’t you think you’re being a little tough on Mr. Barlowe?” Rose says before I can defend myself. “Like he said, he hasn’t done anything wrong. It isn’t his fault that awful girl stood him up on his wedding day. If she had gone through with it, Victor would’ve been married by the deadline.”

I run my fingers through my hair. They haven’t mentioned this absurd clause for the CEO until three months before the cutoff date. I was hoping they’d let me bypass it.

This must be an elaborate prank. It has to be. That’s the only explanation.

Who am I kidding? All my board members are stale and dry, but they get the job done.

“How about we let me handle this on my own? My love life is my own, and I’d appreciate privacy.”

I need to concentrate on how to increase the revenue without laying off my employees. Finding a wife doesn’t rank in my top priorities, but if I tell them no, they won’t relent.

Mr. Lexington slides a piece of paper across the table, but I don’t reach for it. “I’m starting to think we might have to find another CEO who takes his role seriously.”

I rear back. My grandfather started this company, and no one will take it from me. “How dare you threaten me?”

Mrs. Frederick pushes her glasses up her nose. “I think Griffin is going about it all wrong.” She shoots him a glare. “We just want the numbers to go back up, and with the release of our XT phone, we don’t want this scandal holding the company back.”

Rose raises her hand as if she’s in elementary school. “I have an idea!”

Everyone except Mr. Lexington ignores her. He turns to her with a shit-eating grin. “What’s that, dear?”