Page 1 of See You Maybe
CHAPTER ONE
Atlanta—Present Day
Olivia wiped her damp palms on the black pencil skirt of her suit, and took a deep breath to steady herself.
Breathe Olivia.
Anticipation fluttered wildly in her chest making her feel like she might jump out of her skin.
This is actually happening.
Olivia fought the urge to check her reflection.
Do I have lipstick on my teeth?
“Nervous, sweetheart?” Richard, her boss and former father-in-law, his face pale and drawn, asked. Normally, she’d remind him not to use the endearment at work but today she let it slide, as her eyes searched his face. Richard’s treatments were taking their toll on him, and Olivia’s heart squeezed with guilt, knowing her decisions over the last couple of years had added to his stress.
“Our financials are in order, and the presentation you put together looks incredible. Don’t forget they approached us about XEROS,” Richard reassured her.
Olivia smiled weakly. Nervous wasn’t the word she would have used. It was far too simple for the maelstrom of emotions currently wreaking havoc with her central nervous system.
Excited. Overwhelmed. Hopeful. Terrified.
Her heart pounded as she stared unseeing out the window at the cars far below. Richard strolled away from the window, his own anxiety over the meeting with Bloom Capital evidenced by his hands clutched in front of him. She swallowed a curse as the sharp smell of her ex-husband’s cologne polluted the air around her.
“Yeah, Livvy.” Kyle pitched his voice low, ensuring others in the reception area couldn’t hear him. “Don’t be nervous. Don’t think too much about the fact that if you mess this up, you’ll cost my father millions,” he sneered. “His only chance to retire and live out his last days in peace entirely depends on you.”
Olivia tried to shift away, hating that his body standing so close to hers immediately made her nauseous.
“So many people are counting on you to not fuck this up.”
Olivia stiffened but refused to let his words affect her. Kyle’s poison couldn’t reach her.
Not today.
She should be worried about all of those things. If the presentation to Bloom Capital went well, and the equity group purchased Armstrong Electronics, the Armstrong family would make a fortune, and her employees would keep their jobs.
But she wasn’t thinking about any of that.
What had consumed Olivia from the moment she received the introductory email from Bloom Capital was the realization that…
She would see him again.
Declan is on the other side of those mahogany doors.
The man Olivia thought she’d never see again after their magical week in Ireland.
“It’s in the bag,” Stuart Pruitt, head of the Armstrong Electronics’ Research and Development Division, said confidently as he joined them. “You have nothing to worry about Olivia.”
Kyle curled his lip at the man and strode to where his father was waiting. Olivia gave Stuart a grateful smile. It wasn’t the first time he’d intervened when Kyle had tried to corner her.
“Bloom Capital isn’t the only one interested in getting their hands on XEROS,” Stuart reminded her. “We still have that other meeting in a few days.” He shook his head. “But I still can’t figure out how Bloom Capital and Bloom Communications are connected.”
Olivia licked her lips, pleased when her voice sounded even as she explained. “Declan Bloom was the CEO of his father’s media company, Bloom Communications. After his father’s death, Declan formed a private equity firm—Bloom Capital.”
She forced herself to focus. There was a lot more at stake than just seeing Declan again. The executives she was meeting today played in a much bigger sandbox than she was used to. Olivia needed to be flawless.
Over the last four years, Armstrong Electronics had sunk everything they had into the development of the microprocessor they named XEROS. That gamble was about to pay off. The XEROS prototype had performed beyond their expectations, and several companies had approached them about purchasing the entire company to gain control of the invention.