LITMIR.BIZ

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do badly out of it either. She’d be able to fund an entire chain of Kayla for Kids facilities, instead of the single local group home for foster children, with neighborhood after-school activities, she currently did.

      “No.” Andreas frowned. “I answer to no one.”

      Now, that didn’t surprise her. While she might have dreams of funding Kayla for Kids houses in every major city, she knew how unlikely that really was. Andreas did not want to answer to shareholders, or a board of directors. His father had dictated things about Andreas’s life when he’d had no way to stop the overbearing Greek tycoon, and no way would her Greek-American business mogul ever tolerate someone else having major say in his life again.

      “Perhaps you should consider selling the company outright as you spoke about at our first meeting. It would free you up to make your search for the right marital partner,” Genevieve suggested, her tone implying she thought it an imminently practical solution. “Being a liquid billionaire wouldn’t hurt your chances in the dating pool either. I’m sure we could snag you royalty.”

      So much for not looking for a trophy wife.

      Kayla couldn’t get a full breath. “You want him to sell the company?” So he could buy a princess?

      “It is one solution.”

      “To what?” So far, Kayla didn’t see a problem that needed solving.

      Except the whole buy a bride thing. And Andreas had plenty of money to do that without selling their company. Without ripping out from under her everything she’d spent the last six years building.

      “Andreas cannot continue to put in twelve-to sixteen-hour days. It’s part of the agreement with my firm.” Genevieve tapped her tablet with one long fingernail.

      “You signed an agreement?” Kayla asked Andreas.

      He gave her that look. The one that implied she was a few steps behind in the business side of a discussion. It had happened before.

      But this was crazy.

      “That limits the number of hours you work?” she clarified.

      “Yes.”

      “That doesn’t mean you have to consider selling the company.” Andreas wouldn’t give in on this particular issue, would he? It was too important.

      He might not love Kayla. Heck, maybe he’d never even really cared about her as anything but a brilliant programmer with a new idea, but he cared about their company. It wasn’t just Kayla who’d found stability and a purpose with KJ Software.

      Andreas had always been crazy protective when it came to the company and pure predator in his role as president. The idea that he would even consider selling it should be ludicrous. Only, the calculating expression in Andreas’s green gaze made Kayla’s short nails dig into suddenly sweaty palms.

      No. He’d made comments over the past year. Sarcastic one-offs about selling KJ Software that she’d given the credence they deserved.

       None.

      Andreas might be the lifeblood of the company, but Genevieve had gotten it wrong. Kayla’s job might technically be director of research and development, but she was KJ Software’s heart and she couldn’t be that when her own stopped beating. Didn’t they realize that?

      “Are you all right, Kayla?” Andreas asked, handsome features etched with concern.

      She stared at him, not sure she could answer. Her entire world was imploding.

      “We’ve done what we set out to do with this company.” Andreas leaned back in his chair, his big body relaxed, his tone satisfied...like his words weren’t slashing jagged wounds right into her heart. “Sebastian Hawk has approached me about a merger with his security firm.”

      “A merger or a buyout?” she demanded.

      Andreas winced, perhaps recognizing his news was not as welcome as he’d expected it to be. “A buyout is the most likely final scenario.”

      “Why?” Owner of one of the largest security firms worldwide, Sebastian Hawk was one of their biggest customers and had been since the beginning. “He already licenses our software.” For his own company and in a secondary capacity for his own clients.

      Andreas replied, “He wants to own it.”

      “He’s a control freak, like you.”

      Andreas shrugged. “He has three children and a legacy to leave them.”

      “What about your children?” Presumably if Andreas was ready to get married, he was looking forward to parenthood, as well.

      He had often said the only reason he would ever marry was to have a real family. Didn’t he want a legacy for his own children?

      “I’m thinking about going into venture capital investments.”

      “You’ve been watching that show again, haven’t you?” she asked, referring to a favorite reality television show of his.

      They’d watched the show about venture capitalists who invested in and mentored start-up businesses together many times. Andreas prided himself on being able to guess which entrepreneurs were going to get multiple offers from the “sharks” and which would leave the “tank” without a single offer at all.

      “As fascinating as all this is, we need to wrap this meeting up.” Genevieve’s voice grated in unwelcome reminder of her presence as she glanced at her designer watch. “I have another client meeting.”

      Really? Lots of superwealthy guys were looking for bride pimps? “How many clients do you take on at a time?”

      “That is privileged information,” Genevieve informed her haughtily.

      But Kayla had spent most of her life in the foster care system. Haughty wasn’t going to intimidate her. “Not with the kind of retainer you charged Andreas.”

      “I was under the impression you paid out of your personal account?”

      Andreas’s expression filled with annoyance. “Of course I did.”

      “Then, I do not see where this is any of your business.” The matchmaker’s condescending tone might have annoyed Kayla, but she had concerns much closer to her heart right now.

      She stood on shaky legs. “You’re right. It’s not. In fact, I still don’t know what the heck I’m doing here at all. If you’re going to sell the company, my tiny minority percent isn’t going to stop you. If you want to pay this woman more than a lot of people make in a year to find you some dates when I don’t see you struggling for company now, that’s none of my business.”

      The cold inside her grew with every word, but so did Kayla’s resolve. “I do not appreciate being called away from my work for something you could have handled in a text.” I’m hiring a matchmaker.

      “You expected me to tell you I was selling the company in a text?” Andreas demanded, sounding shocked.

      “I didn’t expect you to sell the company at all, certainly not to tell me about it as a fait accompli in a meeting with a third party.” Dismissing Genevieve’s presence, Kayla met Andreas’s gaze. “But I’m realizing now I’ve been wrong about a lot of things.”

      He’d said this meeting was about the matchmaker. The selling of the company had come up as part of the discussion. Or that was how it had seemed. But apparently, it had been part of his agenda all along.

      Kayla turned on her heel and walked out of the office, the numbness spreading with the cold. She’d been like this a few times before in her life.

      The day she realized her mom was not coming back. She hadn’t spoken for two years after.

      The day her foster mom died and she was placed in the first of another string of homes.

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