Chapter One: I Don’t Have Time to Be Empowered
“He’s staring right at me and it’s kind of creeping me out.” My assistant James was talking to me through the Bluetooth speaker in my car.
“Then don’t sit at my desk. Personally, I think Gordon Ramsey is hot.” James was referring to my screensaver, which was a close-up of the famous chef’s face.
“Anyway, that new client Kimberly keeps calling. She wants to move their meeting to tomorrow morning. I keep telling her that you’re booked, but she won’t take no for an answer.”
I’d been a caterer for five years and just opened my own business last year. Kimberly Sterling was a new client who had hired me to cater a very elaborate engagement party, and I was hoping it would go well enough to land me the wedding next summer. Evidently her fiance was some billionaire tech guy and, as she put it, “money is no object.” This kind of a gig could put One Night Only Affairs on the map.
“Who do I have in the morning?” I could hear James tapping on my keyboard, ostensibly opening up my calendar. I’d check it myself but I was just leaving my friend Karen’s house after our monthly book club meeting, and was in the van driving home.
“The Olsens. It’s about the retirement party.” James answered.
James had been with me since the beginning and was the best personal and professional assistant I could ever hope for. I literally didn’t know how I could run the business without him. He was an assistant, a friend, and was as invested in building this business as I was. Someday, I could envision making him a partner. But that depended on landing big gigs like this billionaire wedding.
“I think we can move that. Elizabeth Olsen is a dear. Totally sweet to work with. Let’s fit Kimberly and Bryant in and move the Olsens.”
“Okay, I’m on it. How was book club?” I could see the smirk on James’ face in my mind. He always said that my friends and I formed a book club as an excuse to get together and drink wine. Truth be told, he wasn’t wrong about that. Sure, we read books, but it wasn’t as much about the reading as it was the friendship.
“It was fine. Karen is going to Paris for a couple of weeks and it was Pam’s turn to pick the next book. It’s called Woman on Top.” As soon as I said the title, I regretted it. I knew what was coming next.
“Oohhh girl. You need to get on top.” He was always teasing me about my sex life. Or lack of sex life, to be more accurate.
“It’s not that kind of book James. It’s some kind of female empowerment thing.” Honestly, I had no interest in it. I run a business and am already on top.
Except when it comes to sex, Nikki. It’s been a long time since you’ve been on top of a man.
Ignoring the voice in my head and the comment from James, I wanted to get off the call. I was almost home. “Let me know how it goes with the Olsens and what time we’re meeting Kimberly.”
“Will do, Nikki. And maybe I’ll read that book once you’re done. I need to learn how to get more women on top.” He laughed and hung up the phone. That was the last thing James needed, actually. He had women throwing themselves at him constantly. Which wasn’t surprising—he was a good looking guy. Not my type, but other women seemed to disagree with me. James was more like a little brother than anything.
Just then I got a text that my copy of the book had shipped. I sighed and rolled my eyes. I didn’t have time to be empowered. I had a business to run.
***
I parked my van in the underground garage of the condo complex I lived in and headed toward the elevator. I bought the condo when I got the job working with Lexi’s Catering. It was my first job out of culinary school and I felt like such an adult with what I thought was a prestigious job and a mortgage. Little did I know that my “prestigious” job was going to be doing nothing more than prep cooking, coming up with great recipe ideas only to have them stolen by Lexi, and doing more dishes than the lady on television who had seventeen kids.
My friend Karen was an accountant and she showed me how to set aside part of my earnings for savings and so in just a few years I was able to save enough to start my own catering business. The first thing I did was hire James away from Lexi, and we started One Night Stand Affairs.
Putting my key in the lock, I kicked the door open with one booted foot. My hands were full of some groceries I’d picked up before book club, and I was going to make myself a late dinner.
Setting the bags down on the counter, I took a moment to appreciate the kitchen. It was absolutely the selling point of the condo. A large butcher block island stood in the middle of what was a huge kitchen, considering the size of the condo. There was a ton of counter space and outlets galore for my commercial-sized appliances.
At first, I was using my personal kitchen to do the cooking for my jobs. That was one reason I’d bought the place. Unfortunately, the homeowner’s association found out (Thank you Mrs. Swanson) and sent me a stern warning that operating a business was a violation of the regulations.
James and I searched all over town, and finally found a reasonably priced commercial kitchen. It wasn’t in the best neighborhood, but it was all we could afford for now.
I’d just finished putting away the groceries when I heard the text message alert from James
We’re good to go with Kimberly at 10am. See you then.
I wondered what a billionaire and his fiance would think of our office and the neighborhood we were in. I guessed I’d find out soon enough.
Chapter Two: The Billionaire and the Bimbo
“Good morning, Boss!” James was already in the kitchen, sitting on a stool, reading People magazine. “Coffee’s ready.”
“Morning.” I was most definitely not a morning person. This came in handy for late nights at events, but less so for early morning meetings.
Pouring myself a cup of coffee, I looked at the large clock on the kitchen wall. 9:45 am. Hopefully the liquid energy would kick in before those clients got here.
“I just can’t believe how good Jennifer Lopez looks. Every time I see her, I want to go to the gym.” He held up a photo of J Lo taken during her Vegas show and I did have to admit the woman was in incredible shape. Not just for a woman in her fifties, but for a woman of any age.
The door buzzer sounded and my eyes flew back to the clock. Were they early? Please don’t be early!
James slid off the stool and headed to the door. I grabbed my apron and started to tie it around my waist when he came back with a small cardboard box.
“It’s from Amazon,” he said, handing it to me.
“Oh, probably that book.” I set it on the counter and breathed a sigh of relief. For some reason, I was nervous about this client meeting. Probably because they were really wealthy and could make or break my reputation.
No pressure there, Nikki.
***
“Are you sure she said 10:00, James?” The kitchen clock said 10:25 and Kimberly and Bryant hadn’t shown up yet.
“That’s what they said,” he answered, scrolling through his phone to confirm. “No message about cancelling or being late, either.”
I wondered if they could be lost, or maybe took one look at the outside of the building and turned around to leave.