Chapter 1
Olivia
Ethan grabbed my hands and squeezed. I'd been on edge all morning waiting for this meeting and it was time. The entire board was gathered, the few investors we had left after a few had pulled out. The PR guy, Adam, stood in the door with a dirty scowl on his face because I refused to take his advice, and all that was left was the pitch.
"Remember they love you. Focus groups have proven your algorithm works ninety-eight percent of the time. That's like three times as well as your closest competitors, Liv." He kissed my cheek and smiled at me affectionately, like a big brother who's proud and waiting to hear the results. "Go get 'em tiger."
"Just watch," Adam chimed in, "they're going to spout off a dozen reasons why we'll tank. They have the same data available to them that I do, Olivia." Adam pushed off the wall and walked toward me menacingly. Yes, I hired him to do a job but I fucking hated how smug he was. "They're going to tell you the public won't trust your image."
He'd been spouting the same drivel for weeks and I was so over it. I wanted to fire him but so far everything else he'd said had been correct. Besides, Ethan wouldn't let me. He said Adam was the best. I let my hands fall from Ethan's grasp and stepped backward. He and I shared a close bond we'd had since college, but Adam and I were perfect strangers. At least I was to him. He studied me like a textbook the week of cramming before finals in college. It was his job.
"How do I look?" I asked them both.
Ethan's suave personality and looks always charmed our supporters, but Adam made me work on my look and my edge. I was a boss bitch and I knew it. Total resting bitch face wrapped up in a "sporty hot bod and luscious locks" as Adam would say.
"You look fantastic. Remember to smile," Ethan said encouragingly, and I returned his smile with one of my own.
"He's right. Smile so you look happy. We know you are, but they have to see that And the power suit was a bit over the top, but it works. Red is your color. Remember to keep the creases out of your forehead--" as he said it Adam pressed both thumbs into my forehead and smoothed the lines "--and don't talk too much. Keep answers simple and to the point, but casual. Don't use a tone."
I swatted his hand away from my face. At least they smelled like the hand soap in the men's room and not something gross.
"Okay, Dad," I chided, pushing past him. "I have a meeting to do."
One step in front of the other, I sashayed off through the door and out of my office toward the conference room. My spiky heels clicked on the tile floor announcing where I was going before I got there. This pitch was incredibly important. With Dating Game in the final round of focus groups, I needed to know our board and investors were in agreement with us. I was the CEO of the first-ever dating app exclusively for gamers and the unique sell had taken a lot of energy and effort to pull off to begin with. Now that we were so close, two of our largest financial supporters had pulled out. We needed more money, and we needed it fast. Launch for the app was coming up and without the infusion of capital we'd kiss it goodbye. No marketing equals no success.
"Hello everyone!" I burst into the room with all the warmth and happiness I could muster. Seven board members, three investors, and several members of the press and secretaries sat around the large table. Each of them had a glass of water and a notepad in front of them, though a few had tablets in their hands. "Thank you all so much for coming."
Victor stood and buttoned his suit jacket. As chairman of the board he was in charge of organizing and hosting meetings. At times he overshadowed my role as CEO but he was the sort of man who was uncomfortable with female leadership--old fashioned and stuck in his ways. I intended to win him over wholly and fully with my charm and personality, which Adam said was a disaster waiting to happen.
"Ms. Bennett, we're eager to hear your update." Victor's no-nonsense approach to business was comforting at least. From the moment we voted to make him chair I knew he was the man for the job. Whether he liked me or not, he believed that the person with the idea who takes the initiative should be the leader and that was me.
"Good, good..." I stood at the head of the table as he sat back down and undid his coat. Thirteen sets of eyes were on me expectantly waiting for what I'd say. Now was the time to make Dating Game shine. I wasn't much of a gamer, though I dabbled a little in college. Still the algorithm was good enough to take my likes and dislikes from years ago and select several "perfect matches" for me. I was certain no matter who used it, it could do the same.
"Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I would like to start by telling you our focus groups are tracking at ninety-seven percent." The tests revealed almost every person who used the app was satisfied with their matches, and those who were less than satisfied with match one or two were thrilled with three or four, grateful to have used the app itself. "We're projecting ten million downloads in the first quarter after launch as it stands, but we've made a few improvements based on those focus groups and--"
"Cut to the chase, Ms. Bennett." Sylvia pushed her glasses up her nose and glared at me. She was a hard-nosed bitch who demanded answers. The only reason she was here--to keep us accountable financially. She seemed to have other interests today though. "Your public is going to hate you. You are the owner of a dating app and you can't get a date? What does that say about your success on the app?"
Adam's words were coming back to haunt me just like he said they would. I was prepared for this though. My sordid past of broken relationships and drunken one-night stands wasn't anything to boast about, but I wasn't interested in settling down. I knew if I was, the app would help me find a great selection of candidates.
"Sylvia, I hardly think that my personal love life has any bearing on how well the app performs." I sucked in a breath to continue but she cut me off.
"What it says to your fans and followers is that it's not even performing well enough to get the CEO a date, and she's a very popular, wealthy woman, with a very public image to maintain." Sylvia's words dug at my chest the way Adam's always did when he lectured me. He'd told me the same thing just in different words. "It says, Olivia Bennett can't get a date."
"With all due respect, I don't want a date. I don't approve of society thinking a single woman is an unhappy or unsuccessful woman. A man on my arm does not make me any more successful or happy or fulfilled." My blood pressure was rising quickly. I hated being grilled like this. I wanted Ethan here to defend me. He understood.
"With all due respect, Ms. Bennett," Victor cut in, "what it says isn't that you're content and bucking societal norms. You're broadcasting to a very specific group of people. Those people want dates. Those people want partners. Those people want to see a happily ever after fairy tale romance at the helm and they want to follow it. When they look at you they don't see that.
"They see a sad, lonely woman who can't get a date so she fixes others up. And you know what that says? It screams 'unsuccessful.' Because I'll tell you what, no one follows someone who knows nothing about a topic. You won't hire a mechanic to teach physics, and you won't hire a physics teacher to fix your car. You hire based on expertise. They want to look at your life and see expertise."
"That's why we have the focus groups. They'll leave reviews." I was fuming. I pressed a hand to my forehead and thought I might pass out.
"Reviews go only so far, dear." Sylvia was trying. They all were. I was losing. They were right. I hired the best PR guy in Charlotte to help me and I was ignoring him.
"I'm sorry for wasting your time today. If you'll be so kind as to excuse me. I need to gather my thoughts and we'll reconvene in two weeks." I never gave them a chance to respond. I walked out of the board room and up the hall, shedding my ridiculous garb as I went. The heavy dangling earrings came off first, then the jeweled necklace, followed by the hot suit coat. I didn't want to be Olivia Bennett, CEO of Dating Game. I wanted to be Olivia Bennett, cute, sporty blonde who just wanted a drink and some fun. I didn't even want to talk to Ethan right now. He'd only say to listen to Adam.
I snuck out the back and sat in the tent erected behind the office building for smokers and vape users. The warmth of the late-fall heatwave was sweltering, and I was thirsty, but I wasn't going back in there. Instead I called my best friend Lanie, because who else was I going to talk to? She picked up on the first ring.
"How'd it go?" she asked excitedly. I'd told her everything about the pitch and how nervous I was. She knew what was riding on this. Without board support there was no way I was going to pitch to new investors. And without that cash flow, we were dead in the water. I could put in from my personal accounts but my financial advisors told me not to, that it would look bad--people would see my lack of investors as bad juju.
"Not good," I whined. I desperately needed a girls' night with my ladies and some wine or at the very least a pint of ice cream. "They want me dating someone seriously, proving my app. Just what Adam said. I'm just so over this, Lanes."
"Oh god... Sounds like time for a whine and wine night." She chuckled. "Just date someone. You said the app picked three guys and two of them were great." What I hadn't told her was that the third one--who was the app's top pick for me--was Grayson Thorne. Bastard. He'd practically thrown himself at Lanie to get in her pants while she was just starting to date Ian, her now fiancé and his best friend. Thorne was a loser. And she knew I thought that.
"Lanie, I don't want to compromise my integrity. I'm. happy being single. Women should be allowed to be single and happy without someone thinking they're defective or gay." She laughed at my comment and it made me smile too. I'd gotten a lot of that question too. "Besides, number one is a real number two if you know what I mean."
"Number one?" she asked, and I heard her slurping a soda through a straw.
