Page 1 of Accidental Encounters

1 Karter

I hadn’t been stood up since…well, I had never been stood up before.

There is a first time for everything.

Sitting at Puckett’s on Church Street, I inhaled the spicy, savory air that defined good Southern cooking. Earlier this morning, I had come to my senses as I drove away from the meeting with Xavier Fields. Our biggest rivals in the business world were talking to the distribution company that we wanted. So, I had contrived to send Rhea a message, inviting her to lunch. I had hoped to find a weakness in her designs on WRX Distribution over some delicious food, but I ended up sitting alone, with a silent phone as my only companion.

When the waitress popped over, my eyes flicked to the menu one more time and I caved. “May I please have the Deep-fried Brownie Sunday with extra pecans and extra candied bacon?”

Her conspiratorial grin told me that she knew damn well that I was splurging. As she walked away, however, I studiously ignored the added sway in her hips. Candice, I think her name was, had been trying to get my number all through lunch. But my thoughts were consumed by a wee bitty thing with dark, luscious hair and a razor-sharp mind.

I could be royally screwed.

From all appearances, Rhea was a force to be reckoned with. My internet snooping had told me that Rhea Dimakos was top of her class, had interned at a Fortune 500 in Japan, and was now on her way to be the next CEO of Cirillo INC. And it had all happened off our radar.

“I expected to be briefed the moment I arrived.” The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end as the speaker approached my table. “Instead, I hunted all over the city because your secretary led me on a wild goose chase.”

My eyes flicked up to the owner of that nasally voice. I hadn’t forgotten that my father’s second in command was coming to town—I had just been hoping to avoid her. “Bobbi, how good to see you,” I mocked, knowing she hated when I called her that. So I made sure to do it all the time.

“I don’t appreciate your games.” Bobbi was always moving her slim figure with her military-like precision. Her red hair was short and un-styled. Her clothes were always different variations of the same black jacket, trousers, and white dress shirt. There was no feminine physique to flaunt under the boxy cut of her shirts and jackets. But it was her unflinching gaze from that towering height that made most men stop and obey her every command.

Candice chose that moment to show up with my guilty pleasure snack. The eyes of the waitress were wide, and I would be lying if I said I didn’t detect a hint of jealousy in her gaze. No, honey, it’s not what you think. Far from it—Bobbi was the bane of my existence. Therefore, I failed to see Bobbi’s attractive qualities that most other mend drooled over.

“Bring the to-go order and the check, please,” I called after the waitress as she retreated, escaping Bobbi’s rueful stare.

“Your father told me that you had been informed of my arrival.” Bobbi crossed her arms. “Yet you were not in your office to give me a report on the acquisition of the distribution company.”

“Because that is none of your business,” I bristled. Stabbing my spoon into the dessert, I tried to take a few calming breaths. “You are here solely because the subsidiary Capitoline Foods is setting up shop in town.”

“And your father didn’t think you could handle it.” Although it was nothing new, Bobbi’s words cut. I dropped my spoon and glared up at her. An anger-filled retort was on the tip of my tongue.

That’s when it hit me. Bobbi couldn’t know that Cirillo had one very conniving little employee looking into the same distribution company. And I wasn’t going to be the one to set my father’s pit bull onto Rhea.

I swallowed my anger. Rhea was mine to deal with—a card that no one else knew about. I shifted in my seat at the thought, as my heart beat a little faster.

“Your father asked me to give him a full report of what was going on in Nashville—that includes your dealings with WRX Distributions,” Bobbi prodded, but I kept my cool.

“Tell him everything is fine and if he wants details beyond the weekly reports I send, he can fucking call me himself.” I shoveled another spoonful of my dessert into my mouth, before rising and pulling out enough cash to pay for lunch and then doubling the amount for a tip. I walked across the room, to intercept Candice with the take-out bag and check. “Keep the change. I’m taking the dish with my dessert to go.”

Better to eat outside and alone then to sit there with my father’s bitch breathing down my neck. Brushing past Bobbi, I walked out into the humid southern day in the direction of my office building. My control was only so thin, and I couldn’t explode on her—that was what she wanted to have happen after all. Whether Bobbi followed or not, I wasn’t sure. I took a quick turn and cut through a back alley to ensure I lost her.

Halfway through the alley, I saw a pile of old blankets move and realized it was just the man I was looking for. Still breathing hard from my encounter with the anti-Christ, I squatted down and asked Tom-Joe how he was feeling. “I brought you something soft to eat today,” I added, noticing immediately that his cold wasn’t any better.

“The medicine you got for me sure did help,” Tom-Joe wheezed, shuffling through the contents of the paper bag.

I pursed my lips and shook my head. “I would really rest easier if you went to the clinic and got checked out, Tommy boy.”

“No, sir! I told you what those doctors done to me—”

“Yes, but these are different kinds of doctors,” I spoke softly, trying to reason through his psychosis. Some days weren’t as bad as others. Today, he seemed a little cognizant. “Well, if you aren’t feeling better in the next twenty-four hours, I’m going to have to take you in myself, Tommy boy. And I swear,” I held up my hand to stop his protests, “I won’t let them lock you away in a psyche ward.”

Even though my unprofessional opinion was that he needed psychiatric help, I couldn’t force it on him, and a court wouldn’t mandate it unless he committed a crime. And Tom-Joe, despite being a homeless man on the streets, was not a criminal.

His eyes had latched onto the rest of my dessert and I felt my lips twitch into a half grin. “You don’t mind that I already tasted a quarter of this?” He shook his head. “Well then, here ya go, sweet tooth. I reckon you could use the pick-me-up more than I can.”

Those dull eyes lit up for just a moment and he muttered his thanks before diving into the decadent concoction. I stood up and finished walking to my office complex. Just that little interaction had entirely changed my mood, pushing away the dark clouds that had manifested during the brief interaction with Bobbi.

And with a clear head, I came up with a solid plan as I rode the elevator to our office suite. I would continue to pursue the lead that had seemingly dropped into my lap. A smile played on my lips at the thought of professionally interacting with Rhea Dimakos. The excuse to see her was not lost on me. What was important, however, was keeping any information from the animal that was Bobbi. The Wicked Witch of the West might be the COO, but Bobbi didn’t deserve my cooperation. It wasn’t like I was an anti-team player. I just knew that Bobbi would take all the credit. And even though acquiring the distribution company would be a mark in my favor, if I could root the Greeks out of town, then I might finally earn my place at the company table and perhaps even a nod of approval from our boss.

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