| |
JAXON
Pulling on his tie, Jaxon twisted his face left and right as he tied the long silk strip under his chin at the base of his neck. His custom-fit shirt and suit clung to his muscular frame and Jaxon was bored with the same sight every morning in his mirror.
This morning was darker than most of his starts to the day – even for the Seattle clime of rain and clouds by the dark harbor. Usually he only had to face that shade of morning when he got up ridiculously early, like that three-thirty timeframe.
His phone glowed from the counter beside the sink, pulling his attention from his clean-shaven cheeks and the cologne he splashed on his neck.
An email. A new one that had passed through the filtering system he’d set up? He’d take it. Anything to keep him awake.
Re: Interested Investor for CnW
He clicked on the email and nodded as he read the reply. Great. He needed to get out of the city for a few days. There was a cloying emptiness in his world. Going into a small town in Nowhere, Idaho was exactly what he needed. The fact that he could mix business with pleasure would be even better.
Another buzz on his phone caught his eye as the text message preview scrolled across the top of the screen.
Are we getting together tonight?
Jaxon rolled his eyes and swiped the text message off his screen.
The email replaced the place of the message and he pressed on the subject line to open the contents. The contents were promising and gave him a reason to escape Seattle that weekend even more. The last thing he wanted was to deal with dodging Amelia.
Amelia Bronson was the regular socialite you saw in every rich community. She partied until early in the morning and slept all day. She didn’t know what work was or what values were.
Unfortunately, Amelia hadn’t stopped bugging him since he’d broken things off with her. All she wanted was his money, going so far as to leave Post-It notes with lists of things she wanted and when all over the place – even his car dashboard. Her greediness was only surpassed by her clinginess and apparent unwillingness to hear when things were over.
He’d dropped her when she’d brushed off his mother, saying, “I don’t need to deal with that hag until she’s my mother-in-law.” She’d looked coldly at Mrs. Stint who hadn’t reacted with more than an elegant smile and inclining tilt of the head.
Jaxon hadn’t needed his mother to respond. That probably would have incensed his anger further than it spiked. He’d kicked Amelia out and taken his mother with him to the event Amelia had demanded he get tickets for.
Speech-to-text helped Jaxon finish getting ready while rattling off a list of things for his assistant to do for him. Priority was to get some plane tickets and an itinerary off to Colin.
Only a couple days and Jaxon would be able to see what the possibilities were with regarding a business venture he planned to help him find a match.
~~~
JAXON LEFT THE HOPPER plane that made the short trip from Seattle to Spokane on a regular basis. He rolled his carryon behind him. The Spokane airport was small but refreshing after the craziness of the SeaTac airport.
By the baggage claim area, a man stood with a cardboard sign with Jaxon’s name written in block letters and permanent marker.
The man was well-built and had a rough look about him that was offset by the business casual clothing he wore and his pleasant smile.
Jaxon approached him, waving as he shifted his carryon to the other hand. “Hey, Colin? I’m Jaxon Stint. Thanks for picking me up.” He’d thought for sure Colin would have an assistant or something and with the online-marriage program, Jaxon was embarrassed to admit he had expected Colin to be a little softer around the edges.
The man lowered the sign, his smile congenial as he reached out to shake Jaxon’s hand. “I’m Carlisle, Colin’s assistant. Colin sent me to pick you up and make sure you get settled in before your meeting.”
Colin did have an assistant. The business was doing well enough for staff. That was a good thing as far as Jaxon was concerned. For a second there, he’d been worried that he’d gone off Jeremy’s word and Jeremy was trying to uptalk a small business owned by a friend. But Jaxon knew better. Jeremy was nothing, if not ethical.
Jaxon walked beside Carlisle out of the airport and across the three-lane airport street. In the parking garage, Carlisle led the way to a sporty little ride Jaxon would never have the guts to drive around Seattle. Anything over there ran the risk of getting flattened, especially that small. He climbed in the passenger side, surprised that the Jetta was more spacious inside than it appeared from the outside.
As they got on the road, Carlisle leaned toward Jaxon. “Have you ever used the ClickandWed program? I mean, I know you haven’t been matched yet, or I would know everything about your profile and the progress on the app. If you have a profile, though, Colin will know. That’s part of the analysis that each member of the program has to go through. Colin approves or disapproves each potential match. The company is very hands on.”
“Matchmaking? No, not really my thing.” Jaxon smiled, shifting on the seat. Things weren’t working as they were, though, so maybe he needed to keep an open mind. Wasn’t he there to hope for a match? How could he be open-minded when he was doubting everything about it already? Jaxon paused and then asked, “Have you?” It wasn’t really something men talked about. He wasn’t sure if it was emasculating to be matched online or not. Jaxon had never researched that part of the business since he’d only considered being matched as a more desperate answer to his Amelia problem.
Carlisle nodded proudly. “You bet. I’m married to my match and we’re happier than I ever thought possible. We were more of a practice run on the beta program but we fit well.” He rested one wrist on the lower curve of the steering wheel. He was easy to talk to and Jaxon wondered if he’d come with the business when Jaxon bought it.
“Maybe I’ll give it a try.” What would he put on his profile? Billionaire looking for love, not leech?
The more Jaxon considered the possibility of actually being matched with ClickandWed, the more he realized he needed the program for more than a business venture. There were a lot of possibilities. All Jaxon knew was that he had a lot of plans both business-wise and romantically. If ClickandWed was going to have a role in his future, he needed to take over the company as soon as possible.