Lie With Me Read online

  “So, what was the bad news?” I asked. The idea that Lucas was hiding something serious was concerning.

  Annie frowned. “The bad news is that I don’t understand his matchmaking algorithms yet. I was expecting something that was halfway like our other portfolio companies, but he’s on a whole other level. The math is incredibly complex, and the variables are just ridiculously numerous. I guess I should have known that it would be really tricky to use musical preference for matchmaking, but damn.”

  “Will you be able to figure them out?” Being able to thoroughly evaluate why something like a matchmaking algorithm was unique and valuable was kind of her job.

  “Eventually.” She shrugged. Her expression was both intrigued and annoyed. I had total faith in Annie’s ability to figure out the algorithms. She’d never met a puzzle she couldn’t solve before. I smiled at her encouragingly and received an eyeroll in reply. “Don’t worry. I’ll figure it out,” she insisted. “I always do.”

  “How about the financials?” I asked Kyle.

  He lit up like a golden retriever who’d just heard the word ‘walk’. He swallowed down a bite of french-fry as quickly as he could to answer. Kyle was six months straight out of business school and eager to prove himself. His ambition, energy, and drive made him fit right in on our team.

  “I’ll be done with my preliminary report by the end of the week. He doesn’t have a lot to report on since his company is so young. Obviously, he’s operating at a loss right now since he has no advertising. It’s not a complicated job for me.” He grinned at Annie, who stuck her tongue out at him. He stole a fry off her plate in reply.

  One of the reasons that Lucas was looking for a private equity investor in the first place was to do all the things that he didn’t know how to do. Like marketing. In order to make his app truly successful, he’d need to monetize the concept. That meant advertising. One of Azure Group’s strengths was in providing the expert advice and connections to our portfolio companies that would allow them to grow.

  The other reason was capital. Scaling up his app beyond a successful prototype would require money. A great deal of money. Unless he wanted to take on a lot of individual investors, or sink his own money into Notable Match, Lucas would need to sell the majority stake to someone like Azure Group. Unfortunately, his desire for assistance would come with a considerable loss of power.

  “Have you discussed the CEO considerations with him yet?” Annie asked. Sometimes I wondered if she could read my mind.

  I shook my head at her. “I’m waiting on the right moment,” I admitted. Azure Group was willing to accept the idea of Lucas remaining the CEO, but they would be able to remove him at any time and for any reason. Whether he understood that they would become his bosses, I wasn’t entirely sure. I had a bad feeling that he imagined some sort of strategic partnership between him and Azure Group. That wasn’t how this worked.

  “He’s going to hate 0ur management agreements,” Kyle asserted. “I can tell this is a guy that dances to his own beat. You should see his bookkeeping. Its immaculate but… eccentric. He included a spreadsheet along with his P&L sheet of the music I should listen to while reviewing it, as well as a recommended list of accompanying snacks. He doesn’t strike me as somebody that’s used to answering for himself or how he spends his time.”

  “He gave you a personalized playlist for reviewing financial records?” I asked Kyle.

  He nodded, grinning. “It’s a lot of New Wave. Some early punk stuff and grunge.”

  “I got a playlist for the code, too,” Annie said. “All electronica. I’m not gonna lie. I really, really like it. I forgot how good Radiohead’s electronic stuff was.”

  Yeah, he might have a problem adapting to a more traditional corporate approach. Lucas would either have to give up all of his control of Notable Match in exchange for a higher price or keep the illusion of it for a lower price. I hoped that he chose the former over the latter. My time at the company had proved to me how rarely the original leadership enjoyed being subject to new corporate overlords. I couldn’t see Lucas enjoying the idea of flying up to New York and putting on a suit to justify himself to a board of directors every quarter. He was too independent for that.

  “We’ll cross the CEO bridge when we get to it,” I told Kyle and Annie. I put on a professional smile. “First we have to get through our due diligence. Just because it looks good right now doesn’t mean there’s anything here we want to invest in. Lucas may be leading us on. Keep at it. Find out all his secrets. We need to know if he’s hiding anything.”

  If only I could convince myself to follow my own advice.

  9

  Rae

  One problem with going on a fake date while on a business trip was that even if I knew what I wanted to wear, I hadn’t packed it. As it was, I had to improvise. I ended up wearing a sapphire colored wool sheath dress that I usually wore with a matching blazer and my highest heels. A side benefit of my new hair color was that my blue eyes popped more than they had before, so a little mascara and blush was all the makeup I needed.

  Lucas snapped a couple of photos of us before going into the restaurant. They were cute. Convincing. We looked like a real, happy couple in them. He carefully posted them to social media before we went inside.

  “Taking a New Yorker to a seafood place in a landlocked city is a very ambitious move,” I told him as we sat down. “We’re notorious snobs, you know.”

  “Good,” Lucas replied, grinning. “I told you I like a challenge. Prepare to be wowed.”

  His confidence and good humor were contagious. I wanted to be skeptical and snobby, but he was right. This place was amazing. I ordered a bouillabaisse, fulling intending to criticize every bite, but it was heavenly. I found myself relaxing and enjoying myself. I drank a glass of buttery white wine, ate my fish soup, and talked to Lucas. This was a hell of a lot better than room service and pay-per-view in my hotel room.

  “So, what made you choose this restaurant?” I asked between bites of my soup. “Do you come here a lot?”

  He shook his head. “No, I’ve actually never been here before. I’ve always wanted to come though.”

  “You didn’t bring Victoria here?”

  Just hearing her name made him wince. After a moment he shook his head again. His sandy hair danced around his ears. “No, we never came here. She doesn’t eat seafood.”

  “Allergic?”

  “No.”

  “Vegan?”

  “No.”

  “Religious thing?”

  “No.”

  Each question sounded a bit more desperate, and each ‘no’ sounded a bit sadder.

  “She just… doesn’t like it? Any of it?”

  He shrugged. “She has a lot of foods she doesn’t like.” I thought I detected a tinge of annoyance, but I might have imagined it.

  Or maybe it was my own. The thought of never eating seafood again was anathema to me. “Do you really mean any seafood? No shrimp? No oysters? Lobster? Calamari? Sushi? Not even fish sticks?”

  “None of it.” His expression was bemused.

  “Why?”

  “She’s just picky and not very adventurous.”

  Picky and not very adventurous? She sounds like she’d be a bore in bed. Or anywhere, actually.

  “Well, more bouillabaisse for me.” I thought about making a joke about there being ‘other fish in the sea’ but thought better of it. Too corny. I happily ate another bite. It seemed to melt in my mouth.

  “So, you aren’t disappointed in my selection?” He seemed genuinely curious. I wondered if he really wanted to please me or just didn’t want me to be difficult. I decided it didn’t matter.

  “I’m not the least bit disappointed. Feel free to subject me to all the seafood Victoria hates until you two get back together.”

  “Duly noted. I’m glad you like it.” His smile was wide, and it looked very real. I thought it was possible that he honestly wanted to make me happy, and that thought in itse
lf made me happy, too.

  Lucas didn’t have to be nice to me. Our ‘relationship’ was fake. But he was being very nice, in addition to being funny, clever, and interesting. I found myself really enjoying his company much more than I’d hoped or intended. Too much.

  He took more pictures of us at our table. The entire evening was exceptionally well documented. The waitstaff clearly thought we must be going out for our anniversary. They sent us a free dessert to ‘celebrate’. That was a bit awkward, but I’m not one to turn down a dessert.

  “You want to hear something sad?” I asked Lucas as we ate the cake.

  He raised an eyebrow since his mouth was full of chocolate.

  “This is the best date I’ve been on in a while, and it’s not even real.” I shook my head. “Dating in New York is the worst.”

  “Really? I would have thought the singles scene there would be pretty good.”

  I groaned. “No. It’s horrible. At least for women. It’s fantastic for men. The ratio of single, straight women to single, straight men is almost three to one.”

  “Maybe my app will help.”

  I smirked. “It certainly can’t hurt. But if I end up going out with one more popped collar, boat-shoes-wearing guy who just wants to talk about his parent’s Hamptons house, or is perfect aside from being secretly married, you’re gonna get an angry text and a one-star review.”

  “I can’t take any responsibility for the quality of who you match with. That’s up to your taste in music and the magic of the algorithms.”

  “It matched me up with you.”

  His smirk turned into a real smile. “There’s no accounting for taste.”

  “So, what’s the magic? How does it really make the matches?” I hadn’t had a chance to talk to Annie about it again yet.

  Lucas smiled at me mischievously. “It’s a secret.”

  “You know I’m here to figure it out and decide if it’s worth buying, right?”

  “You wouldn’t be here if you didn’t think it was already worth buying. And if you can’t figure it out, that’s on you. I’ve given you all the information.” As always, his confidence was rock solid. It made me respect him more that he knew what he was worth.

  Fair point. However… “Why won’t you tell me?” My eyes narrowed. “You must have a reason not to be transparent about it, since you’ve been totally transparent about everything else.”

  He shook his head. Lucas clearly wasn’t going to tell me.

  Fine, keep your secrets.

  “Will you tell me about Victoria now?” I asked, remembering his promise to tell me about her from earlier.

  As always, he flinched at her name. “I guess so. Clearly you aren’t going to let it go.”

  “I’m just curious,” I said, feeling weirdly guilty. I didn’t like seeing him sad. “Never mind. You’re right. There’s really no need for me to know. I’ll let it go.”

  He blinked in shock and stared at me in silence.

  “What?” I asked after a moment when he continued to look at me with a mixture of surprise and suspicion.

  “You’re just going to let it go?” He looked at me like he was trying to figure out if I was being passive-aggressive. That wasn’t really my style. If the situation merited it, I preferred aggressive-aggressive to passive-aggressive.

  “Yeah.”

  “Really?” He clearly thought I was messing with him.

  I shrugged. “We’re not really dating, and even if we were, it doesn’t matter. It’s none of my business. If you don’t want to share, that’s your choice. I’m a big believer in respecting other people’s choices. Especially if they don’t affect me one way or the other.” I paused for a second to gather my thoughts. “Besides,” I told him, “talking about her clearly makes you sad. I don’t want to make you sad. I’d rather have you happy.”

  After a moment, he smiled at me and it was a different sort of smile than I’d seen before. It tugged at my heart in a way that made me feel weak and lightheaded. There was heat in that smile, and pain, and hope. All of a sudden, my own heart was hammering against my ribs. My eyes lingered on his lips, his hands, and his beautiful, expressive eyes. I could sit here all night, just looking at him. But touching would be better.

  Just what had I gotten myself into?

  If this scheme didn’t end up mending Lucas’ heart, there was an increasing chance it might break mine.

  Although the food was long gone, we lingered at the table over coffee. The differences between a real date and a fake date, as least as far as I could tell, were few. Even the fact that Lucas didn’t really like me seemed distant as we talked. I was shocked to find how much we had in common, and because I didn’t need to impress him for a second date, I felt like I could really be myself.

  “So, Lucas, do you have, like, a thing for redheads?” I asked him, setting my cup down into my saucer with a little clink. I’d never be this brazen on a real first date, but I was honestly just curious. He’d said that he had a type. I assumed it was my hair that had attracted him in the first place.

  Lucas looked a bit uncomfortable, but his tone was not defensive. “It’s not a thing. It’s just a preference.” He shrugged. “Lots of people have preferences.”

  I smirked at him. “Do you remember your first redhead?”

  His big hazel eyes blinked. “Huh?”

  He probably thought I was talking about sex with his first redhaired partner. I rephrased. “The first redhead that you liked. There must have been some formative female in your past that created your preference. A celebrity maybe? Or a redheaded babysitter?”

  “That’s a very personal question, Rae.” His words were serious, but his tone was teasing. There was a mischievous smile on his handsome face, and it invited me to keep digging.

  “Well we are on a date,” I countered.

  “A fake date.”

  “You’re no fun,” I pouted.

  “I’ll answer your very personal question if you’ll answer one of mine.”

  A challenge? Oh, sweetie, you don’t even know what you’re getting yourself into.

  I smiled sweetly. “Well let’s up the stakes then. We both get three extremely personal questions.”

  He smiled right back at me. “Ok. I’ll play. But we both get one pass. Deal?”

  “Deal.”

  I extended my hand over the table formally and he shook it. Then he sighed.

  “Ok. Why do I prefer redheads, was that your question?”

  Nice try.

  I shook my head. “My question was, who caused your preference for redheads?”

  He shifted in his seat. I could tell that he knew he’d been caught. Finally, he sighed. “Ok. Fine.” He shook his head and then took a deep breath to prepare himself. “I’m the middle child in my family. I have an older sister and a younger brother. When my sister was sixteen or seventeen and I was eight or nine, she made a new friend. Her name was Jodie. Jodie had red hair. Jodie was gorgeous. Legs for days. She, uh, caused an awakening in my eight-year-old mind. All of a sudden, I realized that girls were not gross after all. Let’s just say that I spent a lot of time around my sister that summer, and that one time, I might have accidentally walked in the room while Jodie was changing into her bathing suit.” Lucas looked totally and completely mortified.

  I giggled and his embarrassment visibly deepened. The tips of his ears turned adorably red. That was such a benign, ordinary story. What normal, healthy eight-year-old boy wouldn’t try to get a look at a pretty, naked teenage girl? Still, I could tell that Lucas was worried that I judge him.

  “That’s so cute,” I told him. “Thanks for telling me.”

  He didn’t seem to know quite what to do with the pronouncement that I found his story cute. After a moment he straightened, going businesslike and confident again. “My turn,” he told me. “Are you ready?”

  “Bring it on. Do your worst,” I challenged. My past was a pretty open book. I didn’t have a lot of secrets, and those that I did ha
ve, he wouldn’t have a chance in hell of guessing.

  “Why did you agree to be my fake girlfriend?”

  That was his first question? I frowned at him. Coming up with an answer that didn’t sound insipid was a bit difficult.

  “A couple of reasons,” I told him. “One, this is my first and probably only chance to leapfrog over my boss Cliff. He’s the one that swallowed the bee the other day. Clenching this deal will let me do that.” I smiled at him. “The second reason is a bit less practical. I was curious. I’m going to be honest with you Lucas, I don’t think this will help you get your girlfriend back. But everyone says you’re a genius. So maybe I’m wrong. I want to see how this plays out.”

  Lucas listened to my reasoning with a bemused expression on his face. He shook his head when I was finished. “Well that wasn’t the answer I was hoping for, but I did ask. Your turn.”

  “What was the answer you were hoping for?” I asked, curiously.

  Lucas arched an eyebrow at me. “Is that your second question?”

  I bit my lip. Crap. Did I want to use my second question to know the answer? I nodded reluctantly.

  Lucas’ smirked widened to a grin. “I hoped you were a born romantic and were one hundred percent sure it would work.”

  I frowned. Lame. That wasn’t a good answer at all. My secret heart had wanted him to admit that he wanted me to tell him that I was dying to spend time with him, because he was equally into me. I should have known better. I rolled my eyes. “Your turn.”

  Lucas looked at me for a long time. Long enough that I started to feel self-conscious. “Why are you so ambitious?”

  I blinked. “What?”

  “I looked you up,” he told me. “Your resume is on the Azure Group website. You graduated from high school at sixteen, from college at twenty, and were valedictorian of both. You were a track star in high school and college. You’re not tall enough to ever run super competitively, but you did very well. It seems like you’ve gone your entire life looking for challenges and then moving on. You even said that was part of the reason you liked your job. You got to learn what there was to learn, but then you move on. You say I’m a genius, but you’re more successful than most people with my IQ. When did you realize enough wasn’t going to be enough?”