Page 22 of Saving the CEO

Ha! You’re pretty funny sometimes, Devin. You should show Moira how funny you are.

I honestly don’t think she’d care. I’m about to stop caring, too. I have work that I could be doing right now.

Devin waited for Scarlett’s reply, but none came. After a minute, however, Moira cleared her throat and began talking.

“I’m so sorry, Devin,” she began in a stilted tone. “I didn’t mean to leave you high and dry during our dinner together. I feel terrible. I would like to get to know you better if you’ll give me the chance.”

He glanced up, expecting to see Moira’s trademark smile again, but she still had her eyes on her phone. She’d apparently been reading off her apology, one that Scarlett had no doubt written for her.

Devin didn’t know whether to sneer or laugh. It was bad enough to be ignored by his date all night, but for her to not even know how to apologize to him was ludicrous!

He flagged down their server and paid for the bill. “It’s obvious you don’t want to be here, Moira, which is fine by me. I have things I need to do. It’s time I put us both out of our misery. Have a good night,” he added as he stood up and grabbed his jacket.

“Thanks for dinner!” Moira called out as he walked away.

The moment Devin got behind the wheel of his car, he dialed Scarlett’s number. He was ready to give her an earful for this failure of a date.

She answered on the first ring. “Now, Devin, before you start griping about how much time you wasted tonight, hear me out.”

Gritting his teeth, he replied, “I’m listening.”

“But first, put me on speakerphone. You need your hands free to drive.”

He couldn’t roll his eyes fast enough. “I’m perfectly capable of driving and talking at the same time,” he barked as he reluctantly switched the call over to his car’s speakerphone. “I’m paying you to be my matchmaker, not my driving instructor.”

“I know, but safety first! I need you to be in one piece for your next date tomorrow.”

“Next date?” he repeated as he hightailed it out of the parking lot. “You’ve got to be kidding me. What makes you think I’m putting myself through this nonsense again? Whatever screening method you used to match me with Moira failed—miserably. We had nothing in common. There was no effort made on her part at all. I might as well have been talking to a wall. All she was concerned about was her job. She couldn’t even apologize on her own; you had to feed her the words to say!”

“That was my sister Emerald’s doing; Moira’s her client. She is genuinely sorry though; she just needed help verbalizing it. She’s not used to apologizing, something I know you’re familiar with. See, you two do have something in common.”

Devin could hear a smile in Scarlett’s voice, but it did nothing to appease him. In fact, her cavalier attitude made him scowl even more. He stepped on the gas, enjoying the rush of adrenaline that coursed through his body now that he was on the move again. “If you’re trying to be funny, I’d advise you not to quit your day job. Actually, I take that back. If my date tonight was any reflection on your matchmaking skills, you’d be better off reconsidering your career choice.”

A soft sigh came over the line, followed by silence. When Scarlett failed to speak, Devin wondered if he’d been too harsh. He’d been warned by HR more than once to watch his tone. After three of his Executive Assistants quit in the span of a year, he could no longer deny that he shared some responsibility in the matter.

Some responsibility, not all.

Not everyone could meet his standards, but was that his fault? When had it become wrong to demand excellence?

“All right,” Scarlett finally piped up, “I assume you’re done griping, Mr. CEO? If so, it’s my turn to say my piece.”

Devin blinked, completely caught off guard. Not only had Scarlett not been offended by his spiel, but she was ready to give him hers? What sorry excuse would she come up with to defend her lack of experience? “Go on.”

“I did exactly what you asked for, Devin. I offered Moira as a candidate because you said you wanted someone driven and independent. She fit the bill perfectly. The reason the two of you didn’t click is not because you don’t have anything in common; on the contrary, you have too much in common. You’re both go-getters and overachievers and both in need of someone who will offer you what you can’t offer to each other.”

“And what is that?”

“Support and peace. A sense of home if you will. You need someone to pull you away from work, not toward it.”

He clenched his hands on the steering wheel, not knowing whether to be impressed or annoyed. Who did Scarlett think she was—a shrink? And how did someone her age have the gall to be lecturing him about what he needed? Didn’t he know himself better than she did?

Apparently not.

What she’d said wasn’t wrong. She made a lot of sense, but he wasn’t in the mood to admit defeat, especially not out loud. While he felt somewhat bad for giving her a hard time, he only allowed himself a low humph.

Scarlett filled the lull with a soft chuckle. “I know you agree with me, Devin, but you want to plead the Fifth. It’s fine, you’ve had a long week of work and a not-so-ideal evening. I’m really proud of you for doing things that were out of your comfort zone tonight like putting your phone away and doing something fun—although it didn’t end up to be all that fun. But tomorrow’s a new day with a new opportunity to try again. I guarantee you that tomorrow’s match will be more compatible for you.”

“You guarantee it? That’s bold of you to claim. What if she isn’t?”

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