Crazy Love (Emerald Lake Billionaires 3) (7 page)

“What changes did you make?”

“Instead of being the eldest child in his family, I made Picasso the youngest. Another student pretended that Picasso’s family didn’t move to Barcelona when he was a young boy. Some of the changes were even smaller, but could have had just as much impact.”

“You think that chaos theory accounts for the reason we’re still talking to each other?”

“I can’t see why it wouldn’t. My friends filled out the questionnaire based on what they know about me and the person they thought I’d be attracted to. All of those slightly wrong answers matched me with you. It’s what we make of the chaos that determines the outcome, not the algorithm or any programming thingy.”

Daniel smiled. “You think the programming thingy is wrong?”

“I’ll wait and see what comes out of the chaos before I answer your question.”

Kate walked across to their table. “More coffee?”

Holly shook her head and glanced at her watch. “No, thanks. I need to see Nick soon.” She gathered all of the papers together and put them in her bag. “It was nice meeting you, Daniel, but I need to leave. I’ve got another appointment I can’t miss.”

“With Nick?” he asked.

Kate tutted. “What Holly should have said is that Nick is the owner of the warehouse that’s hosting her art auction tomorrow night. He’s seventy-four years old and treats Holly like his granddaughter.”

“Seventy-three,” Holly said as she pulled on her jacket. “And I’m part of a group of artists who are organizing the auction.”

Daniel stood up and held Holly’s scarf out to her. “Can I call you next week to see if you want to compare ice cream flavors?”

Holly wrapped her scarf around her neck and jammed her hat on her head. “Okay, but before I go anywhere, I’ve got something for you. Wait here.”

She grabbed Kate’s hand and pulled her toward the counter. Within thirty seconds she’d paid their bill and was standing in front of Daniel.

She held a brown paper bag toward him. “Your chocolate brownie.”

“You didn’t need to pay for lunch or a brownie, but thank you. I’m paying for our ice cream next week.”

Holly held out her hand. “It’s a deal. Thank you for meeting me. I’ve had a great time.”

Daniel shook her hand. “I’m glad I came, too.”

Before Holly could lose herself in Daniel’s blue gaze, she let go of his hand. “I’ll see you next week.” She left the café with a smile on her face. Their date had been strange but enjoyable. She didn’t know much about algorithms, but she did know that Daniel Sullivan was an interesting man.

More interesting than she thought he’d be.

***

As soon as Daniel left the café he called Blake. “We need to talk.”

“I take it your date went well?”

“As well as can be expected when Holly didn’t fill the questionnaire in herself.”

He heard Blake take a deep breath. “The story of my app gets worse and worse. Did you have anything in common with her?”

“The Bee Gees, Casablanca, and Brussel sprouts.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, but that’s three things you could have talked about. At least tell me you stayed in the café for long enough to finish your pancakes?”

Daniel opened the door of his truck and sat inside the cab. “You were lucky. We spent nearly an hour going over the questionnaire. Holly is an interesting person.”

“Sounds promising. Are you telling me the go-go dancer in the photo isn’t as flaky as you thought she was?”

There was nothing flaky about Holly. If anything, he had a feeling there was a whole lot more to her than he’d first thought. “The photo was taken at a fancy dress party. Her friends not only registered her for the trial, but they provided the photo and filled out the questionnaire.”

Blake sighed. “Are you telling me that I need to start again and match you with someone else?”

“Holly is okay. I’ve only got one regret. She took home the questionnaire we filled out. If I could get a copy, I’d start analyzing why the app put us together.”

“Here’s a news flash. Call her.”

Daniel rested his arm on the steering wheel. “I can’t let her know what I’m doing. She’ll think I joined the trial for the wrong reasons.”

“You did. If anyone is going to understand your motives, Holly will. At least you filled out your own questionnaire.”

“But I wasn’t honest about why I was there. Holly told me everything, including why her friends registered her. She gets nothing out of being part of the trial apart from three dates with me.”

“Are you telling me that you’re going to see her again?”

Daniel hadn’t considered not seeing her. She intrigued him and left him wondering if an artist and a computer programmer could have anything in common. “I told her I’d call her next week.”

“You should have said this weekend. My blood pressure won’t survive if you haven’t got the questionnaire she filled out.”

Daniel watched Doris Stanley and her friends leave the café. They wore thick coats and clutched party bags in their hands. He assumed everyone would be eating cake for the next few nights. “If you want stress relief, I’ll wake you up at six o’clock tomorrow morning. There’s nothing like an early morning run to make you feel alive.”

“Just because I’m staying with you doesn’t mean I want to be like you. I’m happy with my slug-like lifestyle.”

Daniel knew Blake was exaggerating. He’d completed his tenth half-marathon two weeks ago in a personal best time. “I’ll give you until six-thirty. After that, I’m setting my rooster on you.”

“I wondered what was making that awful noise this morning. You’re really getting into ranch life if you’ve got a rooster.”

“He was a gift from someone who was desperate. If a horse float pulls up while I’m not there, don’t let the driver leave any animals in my barn.” Daniel had inherited Rocky the rooster from one of his neighbors. Sally fostered half the animals from the local animal shelter on the property she shared with her fiancé. When she ran out of space, she found homes for the unwanted strays with any family that would take them.

Six weeks after he moved in, she arrived with Rocky. On each visit after that, she’d made not so subtle hints about the amount of free space on his property. If you added in the fact that she had a donkey and two sheep looking for new homes, he was worried. A rooster he could manage. A zoo was out of the question.

“You’ll be wearing a straw hat and plaid shirt before you know it,” Blake said with a laugh. “What about the art auction tomorrow night?”

“What about it?”

“Hannah and Claire will be there, so Holly’s bound to be there, too. If you see her, you could ask for a copy of the questionnaire.”

“Considering she’s helping to organize the auction, I’d say there’s a good chance she’ll be there. But she’s going to have a lot more on her mind than your trial.”

“I was hoping she’d have you on her mind. Dazzle her with your brilliance. Before you know it you’ll have her eating out of the palm of your hand.”

Daniel was getting more and more uneasy about where this conversation was heading. “Holly’s not like that and neither am I. If you want me to help you, we do it my way, not yours.”

“You’re probably right. If you rush her she’ll realize what you’re up to. Did you bring any of your city clothes with you or are you wearing jeans to the auction?”

“Why? Are you planning on taking me as your date?”

“I hadn’t planned on going, but I could change my flight. I don’t need to be back in New York until Monday. A cultural experience might be good for me.”

“Cultural experience my foot,” Daniel snorted. “You’d better not mention anything about the trial to Holly. If you so much as mention why I’m helping you I’ll back out of our deal faster than you can chase me.”

“I take it the app wasn’t a total failure, then?”

“Holly and I have a theory about that,” Daniel said. “I’ll see you in an hour. Try not to burn my house down while I’m not there.”

Blake laughed. “I’ve never managed to burn water, but I guess there’s always a first time.”

Daniel heard Rocky doing his usual cock-a-doodle-do-ing in the background.

“Your rooster can’t tell the time,” Blake muttered. “It’s challenging enough working out here. When Rocky gets excited he makes enough noise to annoy everyone within a forty-mile radius.”

“You don’t have to stay with me.”

“Someone needs to keep an eye on you. Besides, after we’ve finished with my app we’re going to fix your Internet connection. It’s the worst I’ve ever used.”

“Maybe you should work on something that doesn’t involve technology?”

“Not going to happen,” Blake said slowly. “But if I’d known how complicated matching people would be, I might have thought twice about developing the app.”

“I don’t believe you. Even though you try to hide it, I know you’re a closet romantic. If anyone can make an online dating app work, it’s you.”

“Tell that to my competitors. If I don’t get Crazy Love on the market soon, someone else will be playing Cupid.”

Daniel pulled his seatbelt on. “It’s not going to happen on my watch. I’ll see you in an hour.” He left his phone on the passenger seat and started his truck. Between Blake and Holly, Daniel was sure he could iron out any bugs in the program. He just needed to do it quickly and carefully. Otherwise, he had more than his own plans at stake.

Holly had already been let down by someone she trusted. He didn’t want to be the next person who broke her heart.

***

The next day, Holly rushed into Nick’s warehouse half an hour before Tommy’s family were due to arrive. They’d been looking forward to their pre-auction tour ever since Mia had talked to them about it.

“You make my head spin,” Nick said from the other end of the room. “The world will not end if you are a little late.”

Holly took off her jacket. “I promised Mia I’d be here fifteen minutes ago. Has Kate delivered the platters of food we ordered?”

“Kate arrived twenty minutes ago. Emily will be here soon with two clothes racks for our guests’ coats. Come with me.” Nick left her jacket on the back of a chair and led her across the room.

Holly stared at the transformed area in front of her. They’d all thought long and hard about the layout of the warehouse for the auction. Turning the old brick building into a warm and welcoming exhibition space hadn’t been easy. Luckily, Nick had ideas about what he’d like to do with the warehouse going forward. The temporary walls and additional lighting they’d designed would be used for future exhibitions.

Nothing could have prepared Holly for what she saw. Hannah and Claire had been put in charge of decorating the warehouse. They’d strung twinkling fairy lights through the rafters. The walls had been lined with yards of fabric in the softest shade of lemon she’d ever seen. A row of delicate chandeliers glowed under the lighting track that Nick had installed last week.

Holly touched the edge of one of the curtains. “This is beautiful. Where did Hannah and Claire find everything?”

Nick shrugged. “They have developed some valuable contacts. Creating a little magic wherever they go has become their trademark. Hannah said to tell you they will be back soon. Mia won’t be far behind them.”

Three large tables held white platters filled with dipping sauces, bread, fresh fruit and all kinds of delicious looking finger food.

Holly glanced at a fourth table that held fruit juice, wine, and beer. “I think there’s been a mistake. We didn’t order all of this. Kate must have mixed up our order up with someone else’s.”

“It is her way of helping Tommy’s family,” Nick said with an encouraging smile. “Let her help, my dear. She wants to feel part of what you girls have done.”

“I just hope we raise enough money to help Tommy’s family.”

“I have no doubt that we will see a little miracle in our warehouse tonight.”

“Have you done something we don’t know about?”

“Who me? I am a simple Greek man who enjoys art.”

The door of the warehouse slid open. “Is anyone here?” Mia’s voice echoed across the wooden floor.

“We’re over here, my darling. Come and reassure Holly that tonight will be a success.”

“Of course, it will be,” Mia said as she walked toward them. “It’s going to be a great night.”

Holly’s eyes widened. “Wow. Look at you.”

Mia spun in a circle. The skirt of her red-sequined dress spun away from her legs, sparkling under the overhead lights. “I thought I’d make an effort to look like a professional artist.”

“You don’t need to make an effort,” Holly said. “You’re already a professional artist.” She glanced at Nick. “Are you sure there’s nothing you want to tell me? Mia doesn’t wear a dress and high heels very often.”

“You will have to wait for the surprise. For now, we need to concentrate on Tommy’s family and friends. How is the temperature? I turned the heaters on three hours ago. I don’t want our little boy getting cold.”

Mia kissed her granddad’s cheek. “It’s perfect. Thank you for everything you’ve done.”

“It’s what granddads are for. Besides, I want Holly to let me sell another two of her beautiful landscapes. She might look more kindly on me if she knows I’ve got a good heart.”