Yours Truly(22)

His desire to find her even overrode his ethics. He had taken a peek at the sales of silver Louboutin shoes from his website, but no one in the area had purchased a pair that size. The only pair on record with his company still sat in his warehouse in Atlanta.

He had no way to find her.





12





Kat



The presentation was tomorrow and Kat felt like she needed an IV drip-line of coffee to make it. There was still so much to do, despite having worked her ass off for the last two weeks. Her normal work hours were long over, but she still had to put the final finishing touches on her presentation to the CEO of the company.

If the presentation went as well as she thought it should, she’d be glad she’d done all this work.

“Oh and when you go to Hawaii, you have to try the malasadas,” Renee told her, spinning in her desk chair and oblivious to the concentration Kat was putting in on her computer.

“Mmm hmm...” Kat replied, not really listening. She had started out paying attention, but at the two hour mark of Renee going on about how amazing and expensive her Hawaii vacation was, Kat had zoned out.

“They’re like donuts only better,” Renee said. “I wish we could have stayed longer, but Bob had to get back to work.”

“Is he working right now?” Kat asked, hoping that he wasn’t. Maybe that would mean Renee would go home and leave her alone to finish. Despite being a part of this project, Renee hadn’t been terribly helpful the last few hours.

“He is,” Renee pouted. “He has to work late this week to make up for us being gone. But, that means I get to stay here and help you!”

“Help me, right.” Kat wasn’t sure how Renee telling her three times about malasadas was helping. “Did you finish that spreadsheet I asked you for? I need it for page three of the report.”

“I think so,” Renee replied. She stopped spinning in her chair and focused on her computer for what felt like the first time in ages. “I thought I already sent it to you. I replied to one of your silly emails that you signed ‘Yours Truly, E. Ryder.’”

Kat sighed. “I didn’t get it.”

“Well, it’s around here somewhere. Let me send it to you again.”

Kat took a deep breath. This project was her best idea yet. Shoesy, Inc. was the largest online retailer of designer shoes, handbags, and clothing. The company was booming, yet there was always left over merchandise sitting in the warehouses. Kat’s idea made that idle merchandise profitable.

She wanted to rent out the unused merchandise. For a small fee, a customer could rent a thousand dollar pair of shoes or a dress. If they wanted to keep their item, they could purchase it. If not, they could return it. She’d even found a system of shoe inserts that made the shoe basically new for each patron, even in strappy heels. She’d done months of research to find out how to rent these items so that every person got “new” items. She had it all together.

And as long as she got to present it tomorrow, she knew Shoesy would only grow in market share. This could even combat the negative press going on with the current sex scandal. It not only utilized the company’s excess warehouse space, it created a new revenue stream and marketing opportunities.

Kat knew the problem with designer shoes was that most people didn’t want to spend thousands of dollars on a pair of shoes. Even with her employee discount, Kat still hated spending that much money on something she only wore occasionally.

This would change that. Women and men could use this and get designer label things at a fraction of the cost, and it would negate some of the warehouse issues the company was currently facing. It was perfect.

Thinking of designer shoes reminded Kat of her silver Louboutins. She was missing one. Her beautiful, perfect shoes were short one. She knew she had to have left it in AJ’s suite, but when she had called to ask if the staff had found it, the room was empty.

The shoe, and the man she had left it with, were gone.

“Oh, did you see that Andrew Jacobson came to the wedding?” Renee asked, pulling her back into reality.

“You mean the CEO of the company?” Kat asked, surprised. “The one I’m meeting with as long as you get me my spreadsheet?”

“I just sent it to you, and yes, that CEO,” Renee said, rolling her eyes as she clicked a button on her computer. “Can you believe it? How many people get to say that a billionaire came to their wedding?”

“Not very many, I imagine,” Kat replied, letting Renee revel in the moment. Renee’s world was all about status. To her, having a billionaire at the wedding was probably as big a highlight as the actual getting married part.