“Ms. Guzzo and I will be back at the office soon.”
“Well?” Brie asked the moment Oren left the room. “How do you think the meeting went?”
“Good.” He stared at the fish tank that ran along the back wall.
“Just good?” She poured the last of the sake into their ceramic cups.
He shrugged. It was hard to remember the specifics of the meeting.
Brie frowned. “Kai, I hope you don’t find this offensive, but you’ve been…off lately.”
He cut a sharp look in her direction, ready to argue, but in the end he only shook his head. She was right, of course. And there was no point in getting pissed at her for noticing it.
“Anything on your mind that you want to share?” Brie asked.
He took a sip of sake, considering. Usually, he kept work and his personal life separated. Which wasn’t hard. He spent a lot of time with his employees, but they never went to events together unless they were work-related. All of his vacations he either took on his own, with his parents, or—a few times—with whoever he was dating at the time.
He and Brie were friendly, and he trusted her expertise and intuition in the business world, but he hardly ever discussed personal matters with her.
“I haven’t been sleeping well,” he settled with saying.
That much was true. It just wasn’t the whole truth.
“Does it have anything to do with Diane?” She eyed him over her cup.
Hearing the name was a punch to the gut. He found it hard to sit up straight.
In all his years of dating, Kai had never been this torn up over a woman. Worst of all, he didn’t know what it meant. Were he and Diane supposed to be together, but she was denying that truth for whatever reason?
Or had he reached his breaking point from years of stress at work and little to no energy being put into relationships?
“I’ll take your silence as a yes.” Brie sipped her sake and smiled. “It’s okay. She’s an amazing woman.”
He swallowed. “Yes. She is. We don’t have much of a personal relationship anymore, though.”
Her lips twisted. “Yeah. I heard.”
That made his ears perk up. He knew that Brie and Diane had struck up a friendship, but he wasn’t sure how deep it went or what they talked about.
He probably shouldn’t do this, but…
“Have you heard anything else?” he asked.
Her eyebrows rose in surprise.
“Forget about it.” He looked away and shook his head. “I shouldn’t have asked.”
“No, it’s okay. From a female perspective, it’s sweet that you’re asking. You seem to truly care about her.”
“I do.” He locked his gaze with hers. Since he’d already opened the conversation, he might as well follow through. “She says that she doesn’t have time for a relationship right now.”
Brie shrugged a shoulder. “Well, you have to understand that. You know how busy life can get.”
“Yes,” he said. “I believe it’s more than that, though.”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t know.” He chewed on that for a moment. “It’s probably only that. I’m being paranoid.”
“I can’t offer any insight on that, but I can put in a good word for you.”
He smiled sadly, only slightly relieved at her offer. “Thanks, Brie. I would appreciate that, but I won’t hold my breath. It’s probably time I moved on.”
From her purse, she extracted her phone. “I have an idea. Perhaps it’s time you try online dating.”
He immediately shook his head. “I can’t do that.”
“Hear me out. There’s this new app that advertises itself as being for the elite.”
Kai bit the tip of his tongue. He despised that word. Elite. It held connotations of an exclusive club. Though he worked with some of the richest and most well-known people in the world, he’d never considered himself elite. If anything, the careless and selfish behavior he often saw in the land of the uber-rich disgusted him.
“Even if I did want to online date,” he said, “everyone will know who I am, and that doesn’t give a relationship a fair chance. Diane liked me before she knew about my success.”
His chest ached. God. Would there ever be a day when thoughts of her didn’t hurt?
“On this app,” Brie said, “people have to be invited. It keeps the pool small and refined.”
She turned her phone to him so he could see the app she’d pulled up.
Kai shook his head. “I appreciate you trying to help, Brie. Thanks. I don’t think that’s for me, though.”
“Okay. Understood.” With a shrug, she put her phone away.
He pushed his chair back and straightened his