Page 9 of The Fix Up

“Right,” Ben said, willing himself not to think of Holly again. “I’ll see what I can do.”

“Go, Benny Boy!” If his dad looked pleased at the thought of money, he looked like he might be on the brink of wetting himself at the idea of Ben having a date. “Make sure she’s a looker. Appearances matter in business, you know. Gotta show the Kleinberger guys you’re the sort of man who strolls in with a good-looking female.”

“In that case, maybe I could borrow my buddy’s cocker spaniel,” Ben offered. “Daisy could always use a good walk.”

“Don’t be cute.” His father frowned. “Dating an attractive woman is a smart career move. You think I got where I did by making dumb business decisions?”

The fact that his dad regarded the opposite sex as a business commodity was depressing as hell to Ben, but now didn’t seem like the time to argue.

And yeah, he had to admit he’d noticed those lush curves under Holly’s blouse and the way her eyes widened as he’d touched his lips to hers. He remembered the urgent way she’d pressed her whole body against him when he’d kissed her.

Yet another reason to regret that she’d rejected his offer.

“Here’s another business tip from your old man,” his dad said, and for a startling moment, Ben thought his father planned to offer him kissing pointers. But no, Lyle was still talking business. “To get a woman like that,” his dad said, “you’ve got to wine her and dine her. Take her out someplace nice, buy her jewelry every now and then.”

“I’ll take that under advisement,” Ben said, thinking of his mother. He remembered walking into the living room at fifteen to see her looking sadly down at a diamond tennis bracelet.

“That’s nice,” Ben had said, hoping to cheer her up.

“Thanks,” she’d said, swiping at the corner of her eye. “Your father can’t make it for our anniversary dinner, but he sent this.”

Ben had nodded, taking a closer look at the bracelet and realizing it was the same damn one he’d sent her the year before. And the year before that. And the year beforethat.

Even then, he’d known his mother would have given all the diamonds in the world for a quiet night on the sofa snuggling with her husband eating popcorn and watching movies.

Truth be told, that was Ben’s idea of a perfect evening, too.

“So you’re sure I can’t get you out on the golf course with the Kleinberger execs?” his father said.

“I’d love nothing more,” Ben lied. “But business calls.”

His dad sighed and shook his head, but he must have seen there was no changing Ben’s mind. “Okay then. See you in the Jefferson Room at seven thirty.”

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

Another lie so bad it almost hurt his tongue to spit the words out. God, this was going to be harder than he thought. The words coming out of his mouth sounded nothing like his own, but they seemed to be a requirement of the job. How could he convince people he was this powerful CEO if he didn’t believe it himself?

He waited until his dad strode from the room before slouching back into his chair. He turned back to his laptop and pulled up a spreadsheet on Langley’s international manufacturing operations.

But he didn’t find the usual focus that came to him when he immersed himself in data and spreadsheets. Maybe it had been wrong to take this CEO gig. Maybe he was trying to be someone he couldn’t be even if he wanted.

His dad’s words echoed in his head.You’ve gotta step up now.

Ben knew exactly what he meant by that. He’d seen Lyle demonstrate it at the country club countless times, a glass of scotch in one hand, the other hand greeting strangers with an anaconda death grip as his dad flashed his most charming smile.

God, there weren’t enough Crest Whitening Strips in the world for Ben to pull off that smile, much less the handshake. Or any of it, for that matter. What the hell was he doing here?

You’re seizing the chance to run this company your way. You’ve just gotta hone your leadership skills first.

Ben had no intention of following the Langley tradition of being an all-around grade-A asshole when it came to human relationships, especially with women. That seemed to be par for the course among Langley CEOs, and Ben had spent years watching his dad break his mother’s heart again and again with short-skirted secretaries and questionable business trips and long work hours that left no time for them to spend any quality time together.

If that was part of the job, Ben would just as soon light his desk on fire and crawl under it right now.

But he could do it his way, he was almost sure of it. He just needed charm and people skills to pull it off. Holly had seemed like the perfect person to help him out with that, but she’d turned him down. He’d gotten off the phone with her hours ago, but he still couldn’t shake her final words to him.

Good luck!

“I’ll need a helluva lot more than luck if I have to do this on my own,” he said aloud, then grimaced. Talking to himself was probably one of those habits he’d need to break in his new position. It was one thing to sit at your home office all day muttering about non-oxide ceramics. It was another to do it with a secretary sitting fifteen feet away and a whole building full of people occupying the nine floors below him at the Langley headquarters.

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