Unlucky in Love ( Lucky #1) (3 page)

“Is it totaled?”

“I’m afraid so, ma’am. With the recent weather we’ve had, the water in the creek was pretty high, and the car was slammed into some rocks.”

“Did . . .” She swallowed. “Did the man who stole it . . . ?”

“He jumped from the car before it hit the water. We have him in custody. He’s bruised up some but alive.”

“My purse? My things?”

“Sorry, ma’am. It looks like most of what was in the car floated away in the water. We’ll keep an eye out for it as we pull your car out of the water, but so far, we haven’t recovered any of your belongings. If I was you, I’d still cancel all your cards, just in case.”

“Thank you.” She rubbed her hand over her temple and desperately wished for some aspirin.

She hung up and then opened her eyes to see Amy holding a bottle of pills in front of her. “I don’t have any water, but we can stop somewhere and get some lunch so you can take some of these.” She shook the bottle of Tylenol. Kristen choked, “It’s gone.” Then chuckled at the ironic joke her life was. It was worse than an Alanis Morissette song. “Upside down in a river.”

“Oh!” Amy reached over and took her hand. “I’m sorry, sweetie.”

She shook her head. “Don’t be. It’s better this way.”

Amy pulled her car into a fast food restaurant parking lot and then turned to her. “Promise me one thing.”

She turned to her friend. “Anything.”

“This time, when the insurance cuts you a check, let me know before you do anything drastic again.”

She accepted her fate and nodded her head quickly. “You’ve got it. I am never jumping into anything ever again.”

CHAPTER THREE

Aiden Scott wasn’t the type of man who jumped into anything. He prided himself on weighing risk versus gain in every situation in life. Years of running his own business had taught him that lesson, but years of dating women who knew how to get what they wanted had honed his tendency toward caution.

So, when he was asked by two of his stepfather’s best friends to look into buying out their company, he wanted to know everything he could about the business.

Row and Stein Architecture Firm had been in business for over thirty years. Steven Row was one of his stepfather’s best friends from college. The man had practically lived with his stepfather the first few years after he’d started his business. Actually, it was Steven Row who had initially gotten Aiden interested in the development field.

Aiden’s stepfather, Eric, had introduced Steven to Paul Stein, who bought into the small firm several years later and turned the business into what it was today.

One of the top architecture firms in Denver, they not only restored a lot of the older buildings downtown but also designed some of the newer office buildings and lofts that were popping up around the metro area.

Aiden had been very surprised when Eric had asked him to sit down with Paul and Steven to discuss the possibilities of a business deal where he would absorb the successful business into his own.

“I’d like to spend some time at your offices,” he said as their meeting in his own building wound down.

“Um, sure,” the older, silver-haired man agreed. “Anytime. You’re always welcome.”

“I’d need some office space, and I’d like to look over your books.”

“That’s Paul’s area.” He gestured to his business partner.

“I’ll make the arrangements.” The heavier man nodded.

“Good. I’ve got a few things to tie up here first. I can start in two weeks.”

The men glanced at each other. “How soon could you make a decision?”

“In a hurry?” He frowned.

They both shook their heads. “No, not at all. It’s just we have a few big projects coming up and . . .” Paul sighed. “We were sure hoping for some extra help.”

Aiden replied, “Once I get my foot in the door, it should take me only a few weeks, maybe a month, to make up my mind.” He thought about his schedule and rearranged a few things in his head.

“Good.” Steven smiled at him. “I knew talking to Eric about bringing you in was a great idea.

“Let’s clear something up. I’m not looking to become partner. If I do this, I’ll buy the both of you out. If you want to stay on, I’ll respect that and add it to the contracts, but if I decide to step in, it will be a full takeover. I’ll absorb Row and Stein completely.”

The men nodded in agreement and their smiles grew. “We’ve both decided that we’re too old and tired to continue running things like we’ve been doing. Neither of our kids wanted to follow in our footsteps, so we can’t hand the business down to family. Shame my son turned out to be a surgeon,” he said.

Aiden smiled. “From what Eric tells me, a pretty good one too.”

Steven’s smile was bigger now. “Damn good.”

“I’ll make those arrangements and have all the paperwork ready when you arrive,” Paul said. “Oh, one more thing.” Paul glanced at Steven quickly. “We want to keep this under the radar for now. No one can know about it outside us and the board members. Not until we’ve agreed to a deal.”

Aiden shook both of the men’s hands and watched the men leave. It was easy enough for him to read between the lines and know that they were having difficulty dealing with their growth and handling the financial responsibilities that came with success.

Aiden had been using Row and Stein Architects for the last five years for his own business and knew that the firm provided quality. In the years he’d used them, he’d never had any problems and had always enjoyed working with them.

But since Urban Development was Aiden’s baby, he didn’t want to jump into anything quickly. Not when it could jeopardize his business. He loved being a developer, but he loved being a business owner even more.

He could use a slight distraction. He was in between relationships and had plenty of time to focus on work, which was kind of slowly driving him crazy. This was just what he needed right now.

“Lisa?” He stepped out of his office and waited for his secretary to follow him back in. He walked around and sat behind his desk. “I’ll need to move my schedule around.”

Two weeks later, Aiden walked toward the silver thirty-story building downtown that housed the offices of Row and Stein Architecture Firm.

He’d been in the high-rise building on several occasions but had never been to the seventh level where the firm consumed the entire floor.

As he walked toward the rotating doors out front, he was bumped into from behind and almost knocked to the ground by a hurricane.

The first thing he noticed was the mass of hair flying in the heavy wind. High winds were common in downtown Denver, and today was no exception. He had struggled to keep his tie tucked in his jacket as he’d stepped off the bus into the wind earlier. So when the woman bumped solidly into him, he held on to her, assuming that her hair had blocked her sight and she just hadn’t seen him.

Her long green skirt was flying around, and even though the thing reached her ankles, she held on to it with a death grip to keep it from rising above her head.

There was a stack of papers tucked under her arm, as well as a large black tube for holding designs.

When she had knocked into him, some of her papers had flown out of her hands. She reached out to grab them and lost hold of her skirt, which rushed up high on her thighs. He was rewarded with a view of the sexiest pair of legs he’d ever seen.

It took him a moment to stop staring at the perfect, silky legs and spring into action. He reached out and grabbed at the papers that were flying around their heads in a whirlwind.

Finally, when he’d snagged the last paper from the air, he turned to her and stopped dead. He’d thought the legs were perfect. The rest of her was even better.

Her green eyes laughed at him as she tried to hold her skirt to her body and tame her long hair at the same time.

“I thought they were going to end up in Kansas, and then my next meeting would have been shot to hell.” She laughed. “Thank you.” She took the papers from him.

He stood there like a fool. He probably even had his mouth open, but he was too distracted to notice. All he knew was that his heart tried to escape his chest as the woman quickly walked away from him and into the building.

It took him a few seconds to react and he tried to follow her, but when he entered the building, she was nowhere to be seen.

He shook off his disappointment and made his way to the mirrored elevators. When he finally walked into the Row and Stein’s offices, he was impressed.

The cream-colored carpet accented the warm wood walls in the entryway. A shiny metal sign hung on a wall made with refurbished wood and reused bricks and stone. The mixture of new and old didn’t go unnoticed.

He was greeted by a blonde woman who sat behind the high receptionist desk. “Welcome to Row and Stein Architecture. Can I help you?”

“Aiden Scott to see Mr. Row and Mr. Stein.”

She nodded, then picked up her phone. A few moments later, she smiled up at him. “Mr. Row and Mr. Stein will see you now, Mr. Scott.” She motioned for him to follow her.

He walked through a massive room filled with people sitting behind large-screen computers and drafting desks. He noticed a long conference room that looked much like the one in his office.

“Mr. Row, Mr. Scott is here.” The woman stepped aside and Steven stood up from behind a very messy desk.

“There you are, my boy.” Steven walked over and shook his hand and slapped him on the shoulder.

“Thanks, Shirley. Let’s go into Paul’s office; he’s the neat and tidy one.” He walked across the room toward another row of offices along the windows. “When my boys were little, I once lost them in that mess.” He pointed back toward his office and laughed. “Here’s our savior now,” he said, leaning into Paul’s office.

Paul Stein’s office looked a lot like his own did. Tidy and organized. There was a large drafting table and two massive screens that showed the man was currently working on designs for something big.

“Oh good. I’ve got a place all set up for you.” Paul stood and shook his hand. “I’ll show you to it. Everything should be ready.”

They walked a few offices down and Aiden was shown into an office roughly the same size as the other two. This one was cleared of everything except two large computer screens.

“The IT guy, Darren, should be around soon to show you how to get on the network and set up your user info. That file cabinet has most of our financial information in it. The rest is up on the network that Darren will give you access to.”

“I’ve arranged for you to go out on a couple different jobs, if you want, with some of our people,” Steven said, leaning against the doorjamb.

“I appreciate it. I’ll spend a few days looking over this and then let you know.”

“As far as it goes around here”—Steven leaned in and shut the door behind him—“we haven’t mentioned the possibility of being bought out to any of the employees yet. They think you’re here for a trial period as a new employee.”

“We’d kind of like to keep it that way until we get your final answer,” Paul added.

Aiden nodded. “I’ll let you know when I’ve made a decision.”

“If you need anything, just let us know,” Paul said just as Steven opened the door to a dark-haired man in khakis and a black button-up shirt.

“Here’s Darren now to set you up.”

The two partners left and Aiden spent the next half hour learning their network. By the time Darren left, Aiden had to admit that his own IT guy was failing on the job; Urban Developers’ network wasn’t as efficient as this one was. Nor was his IT personnel as well informed.

He spent the next two hours glued to the screen, looking over the business’s spreadsheets for the last two years. Whoever did the books did a fine job. Everything was well organized and he had an easy time finding everything.

Lunchtime rolled around and Steven knocked on the door and asked if he’d like to join them for lunch. He followed the men down to the lobby and they ate at the well-known sushi place on the main floor. He enjoyed the two men’s conversation during lunch and realized just how close the older men were, which only had him thinking about his own relationships again.

As they rode the elevators back up to the seventh floor, he received a message to call his office. He excused himself so he could go back into his new office area to return the call.

When he walked in, the caramel-haired beauty from before sat with her feet propped up on his desk as she sucked down a long strand of ramen noodles.

When she noticed him, she started coughing on the noodles she’d just inhaled. He rushed over and began patting her on the back.

She couldn’t believe her luck. Her bad luck. The man she’d almost knocked down was standing outside her lunch area. Well, the empty office she’d used as her private lunch area for the last year and a half.

His dark hair, which had gotten messed up by the wind, had been combed down and slicked back. His suit was perfectly in place and he had the most annoyed look on his face, like he’d had when he’d first looked at her.

His hand continued to pound her back, even after she’d gotten air back in her lungs.

“I’m okay now,” she said between slaps on the back.

“You sure?” He stopped, his hand in midair.

She nodded and swallowed.

“What are you doing here?” He looked down at her and she couldn’t really read what he was thinking in his dark eyes.

“I . . .” She blinked a few times. “I work here. What are you doing here?” She set her chopsticks down and glared at him.

“I . . .” He shut his mouth quickly. “I work here too.”

“Noooo.” She thought about it—she knew they hadn’t hired anyone in the last few months. After all, she’d been told there was a hiring freeze in place. “You don’t. I know everyone that works here, and I know for a fact that we haven’t hired anyone new lately.”