Page 34 of The Unlucky Waitress

"You know at first I was afraid that if I let you in I'd get hurt, but I've been thinking about it," I say honestly. "Beth paid a lot of money to get me into that Cameron Robinson talk and it was all worth it."

Ethan is lost again. He still hasn't caught on.

"My new life philosophy, I don’t expect anything. I didn’t expect a happily ever after from you," I laugh. A revelation even to me. "Because I didn't expect this to last forever, I was able to enjoy things for what they were and it was great."

Ethan laughs a full, hearty laugh, throwing his head back and clapping his hands.

"Cameron Robinson is insane, the only reason she's making so much money is marketing," he says.

I raise an eyebrow. Ethan wants nothing to do with this, but now I have an in. He is nothing if not competitive. The only thing I need to do is provide him with the challenge.

"So what you're saying is that her marketing team is better than yours?" I ask, goading him into taking up the challenge.

Ethan rolls his eyes. "Seriously, Cas, I would have hoped you thought better of me. That was a cheap shot," he says, still unconvinced.

"Fine," I sigh. "But you see where I'm going. All you need is to change your perspective. People have been trying to find love since the beginning of time: we have match-makers, online dating and even mail-order brides. Why not a resort with all the resources people need to build lasting connections?” I ask.

“Lasting connections?” Ethan smirks. “There are no lasting connections. People at the resort will believe what we tell them to believe, what we convince them they feel, and then when they leave the bubble and go out into the real world all that will crumble,” he says. “The real world is no place for something as delicate and needy as love and after our first round of newly in love clients leave the resort, everyone will see it for what it is–a sham.”

Ethan’s hang-up about manufacturing a counterfeit love didn’t make much sense to me. No matter where love comes from, it doesn't hold any guarantees. People get hurt, manipulated and sometimes it lasts.

“No one is naive enough to think there won’t be any challenges. It’s the love that makes it easier and some people just need a little help seeing that it’s all worth it in the end,” I argue.

"You aren’t going to give up, are you," Ethan asks.

Strangely, he looks less burdened even though I’ve come to his house specifically to challenge him and change his mind.

"On love? Never," I smile.

Ethan relaxes and offers to pour me a drink. With drinks on the table and a twinkle in his eye, Ethan leans over in his chair towards me.

"You said it first. Love isn't a business. How do you expect me to turn it into one?" he asks.

His tone is seductive and low, his confidence is obviously coming back.

"Because I've read up on you and I know you can turn anything into a business as long as you believe in it," I reply.

I had read it all - Ethan Knight's meteoric rise to success had stunned all the journalists who had written about it. He came up from nothing and built himself an empire many could only dream about. If he could become the Ethan Knight with all the odds stacked up against him, there was nothing that could stop him from succeeding with all the resources he now has access to.

Ethan had turned a shoe shine on the corner of the street into a lucrative franchise. He bought a dying hotel chain and revived it with just a few relatively minor changes. If anyone could sell love around the world it would be Ethan Knight.

"But we both know I don't believe in love," he says, crossing his ankle over his thigh.

A glimpse of the old Ethan resurfaces–a touch of arrogance ready for the challenge.

"It isn’t so much that you don’t believe in love, it’s just that you haven't let yourself experience it," I say, copying his confidence.

I square up across from him and prepare to deliver the missing piece of my proposal.

"You think you know what women want, but you have no idea and you can't give something you don't really know," I set myself up, building to the real matter I had come to discuss.

Ethan is clearly intrigued. He watches me, barely taking a sip from his glass, weighing everything I have to say.

"Now that you've listed all the reasons I should never consider business in anything even remotely related to romance," he says, "-tell me, Cassidy, why are you here?"

I feel a sudden rush of nerves and I move around trying to get comfortable.

"Because I know women," I say, putting my glass down and leaning towards Ethan.

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