Chapter 1

    After work, Laura met her best friend Sarah at their favorite lounge, Painter’s Cove in Brooklyn. It was a cozy little place with live music and murals all over the walls, which were painted by local artists. Laura loved the place.

    It was their neighborhood haunt. The drinks weren’t too expensive and the people were friendly and welcoming.

    Not like the places in Manhattan, where they felt the heat of condescending, disapproving looks for not being up to snuff. The two 28-year old friends had tried it once, but had felt very uncomfortable with the rest of the patrons. The women looked like they came straight of the fashion magazines they were so done up and wearing expensive designer clothes and shoes. They were also stick thin, unlike Laura's and Sarah’s curvier forms. The girls also got sticker shock once the bill came. It was $20 plus tip for each of their glasses of wine. Way out of their budgets. Since then, they had stuck closer to home, where they fit in and didn’t have to worry about being judged for their modest wardrobes and decidedly non-model like few extra pounds here and there.

    “Hey girls,” the bartender waved, “good to see you! The usual?”

    “You betcha, Barry,” Laura said.

    Barry was the 31-year old owner of Painter’s Cove. He was an artist and guitar player, too, but since it was hard to make a living as either one, he did the next best thing. He opened a place where artists and musicians could come hangout, leave their mark on his walls and talk about their craft amongst friends. It was a home away from home for the people who went there, and for Barry, it was his actual home. He lived by himself in the loft above the lounge.

    Sarah and Laura grabbed one of their favorite tables, which was against the wall and half way between the bar and the small stage.

    “So,” Sarah said as they sat down, “did you ask boss lady about a promotion or getting paid for your overtime yet?” She flipped her long, partially braided sandy blonde hair over her shoulder. She had pale, slightly freckled skin and a hippie vibe in how she dressed and kept her hair.

    Laura shook her head. “No, Raquel was in an extra bad mood today. I didn't dare.”

    “You’ve got to speak up for yourself, you know,” Sarah said, shaking her head. “She’s never going to respect you unless you do. Especially in the advertising world, you need to sell yourself. Just like any other product you guys market.”

    “I’m not very good at that. It makes me uncomfortable. I don’t think she’s ever going to respect me anyway, I can tell she doesn’t really like me,”

    Laura said.

    “Don’t say that, she only needs to realize what a valuable asset you are. You just need to prove yourself.”

    Barry came over carrying a tray with their wine. “Here we go, ladies.”

    He set the glasses down, his thick, chestnut brown ponytail falling over his shoulder as he did.

    “Thanks, Barry,” Sarah said, taking her glass. “Just what we need after a busy day.

    “Yes, thanks,” Laura said.

    He smiled at them, then glanced back at Sarah for just a moment. His brown eyes warm with affection. He quickly looked away. “Allow me,” he said as he struck a match and lit the glass-encased candle on their table. “A little firelight for you.”

    “Lovely,” Sarah said.

    Barry looked at her and blushed. He nodded. “Your appetizers will be right up.”

    Laura and Sarah always ordered the same thing. Hummus and pita and edamame beans to start. Then they shared a plate of fettuccine Alfredo.

    They were both trying to lose a few pesky pounds, so they had started ordering healthier appetizers, but couldn’t yet let go of their favorite pasta dish. So they opted to share it instead.

    “You know,” Laura said, leaning forward and lowering her voice, “I think Barry likes you.”

    Sarah looked up in surprise. “Don’t be silly. He’s just being friendly.

    He’s nice to everyone here.” She took a sip of wine.

    “But there’s something else when he looks at you,” Laura said, “I can tell.”

    Sarah shook her head. “You’re imagining things.” She glanced over at the bar. Barry quickly looked away when she caught him looking at her.

    “See? I told you,” Laura smiled. “He’s cute, you know, you should talk to him some time…alone. I’d bet he’d love that.”

    Sarah looked over at the bar again. Barry smiled at her. She smiled back. “He does have a nice smile, and I do love that long hair of his,” she said, looking back at Laura. “Kind of makes me want to run my fingers through it.” Her cheeks reddened and she took a deep breath. “I don’t know…maybe. Anyway, enough about me. What about you?” Sarah asked.

    “What about me?”

    “Anyone interesting in the picture?”

    “I wish,” Laura said, then sipped her wine. “But I did have an encounter earlier today. Closest thing I’ve had to a date in a while.”

    Sarah leaned in close, holding her wine glass. “Do tell.”

    Laura told her about the morning coffee incident that had happened as she made her way to work from the bodega where she’d stopped for stamps.

    “How embarrassing, what's your take?”

    “But he was handsome?”

    “Oh yeah, jaw-droppingly so,” Laura said, smiling. “And rich. His family’s company is Tsar Enterprises.”

    “What?”

    “Yeah, Angelo Tsarkopolis. Gorgeous. Greek. Rich. I almost died.”

    Laura laughed.

    “But you said he invited you in for coffee?”

    “Well, yeah, but there was no way I was going to.”

    Sarah flicked her in the forehead.

    “Ow! What was that for?”

    “What do you mean, what was that for? A gorgeous, wealthy man invites you for coffee and you just leave?” She flicked her again.

    “Ouch, cut that out!” Laura said, laughing as she rubbed her forehead. “I had just spilled coffee all over myself, including my boob no less, as well as his expensive suit sleeve and very shiny, nice-looking shoes.”

    “And did he take note of where your coffee was so lasciviously spilled?”

    “Yeah, he did. Pretty hard not to.”

    “Mmmhmm,” Sarah said, grinning from ear to ear. “Then, there were sparks.”

    “Well, yes,” Laura said, then cleared her throat. “But, I wasn’t about to be paraded into his high-end office, with all his high-class staff wearing coffee on my very inexpensive blouse from Target, with everyone knowing I’d spilled it on him too. I’d already made enough of a fool of myself.” She took another sip of wine. “I have some self-respect, you know.”

    “If a man is checking you out, he’s not going to care about the rest of that. He’ll be thinking of one thing. What you look like under that coffee-stained top.” Sarah raised her eyebrows.

    Laura sighed. “I would’ve probably ruined his image of me by more idiocy.”

    “Men have a one-track mind. Once anything remotely sexual is on their radar they can’t think of anything else.”

    Laura took a longer sip of her wine, thinking of what her friend was saying.

    Sarah tapped the table with her finger. “What you need is a sense of adventure. And risks be damned! You don’t want to go through life racking up regrets and what ifs?”

    “You’re right. But it’s not like I was prepared for that first thing on a Monday morning.” Laura's voice was tinged with regret. “It happened so fast and I was just really flustered and Raquel has been on my case a lot lately. As it was, I barely made it to work on time. She made me work most of the weekend, too, so I was rushing around. I’m bagged. Probably one of the reasons I was so clumsy this morning.”

    “You know, I don’t think making it to work on time is a life-goal that needs to pre-empt a chance encounter with a gorgeous man. We need to work on your priorities. Sexy men are number one.”

    Laura giggled at that.

    “Did you at least give him your number?”

    Laura shook her head and ducked another flick to the forehead. “He did ask for my name though. I only gave him my first name. He said to call him at work if I wanted a coffee to replace the one I spilled.”

    Another duck.

    Barry came over carrying their appetizers. He smiled. “Here we go, ladies. For my two favorite customers.” He set the plates down along with cutlery and napkins.

    “I bet you say that to all your customers,” Sarah ribbed him.

    “No, only you…two,” he said looking at her, quickly catching himself.

    “I’ll be back to check on you.” He turned and walked away, placing a hand on his forehead.

    “I told you,” Laura whispered, grinning. “He’s sweet on you. You should consider him.”

    “He is cute, and kind of sexy,” Sarah said as she watched him walk back to the bar. “I’ll make you a deal, I’ll speak up if you do.”

    “What do you mean?” Laura asked, starting in on the salted edamame beans.

    “Well, Mr. Rich and Handsome may not have your number, but you know his name and where he works and he said to call him. So call him.”

    Laura sat back in her chair and considered it.

    “Is he married?” Sarah asked, grabbing a slice of the fresh pita bread and spreading some of the roasted red pepper hummus on it.

    Laura thought for a moment, frowning. “To be honest, I didn’t think to look. I was so embarrassed by fumbling and spilling my coffee everywhere. Plus he was so crazy gorgeous, I think my mind went blank.”

    Sarah made to flick her forehead again.

    “Uncle!” Laura cried out. “Look, the whole thing was…he was a lot to take in. You wouldn’t believe how good-looking he is. Straight out of GQ magazine, movie-star worthy looks. Seriously. I’ve never seen a man that gorgeous in real life. It freaked me out.”

    “You need help,” Sarah chided her. “We need to work on your game, girl.”

    “Yeah, probably,” she laughed. “But seriously, this guy would be light years out of my league. It was a nice little flirtation. Nothing more. Back to reality.” She took a sip of her wine.

    “Where’s the fun in that?” Sarah challenged her, grabbing some beans.

    Laura frowned, then focused in on the hummus and pita. She quickly stuffed her face before she could answer.

    “That’s it,” Sarah said, crossing her arms. “You need help. My help.”

    She grabbed her purse and started fishing around inside. She took out a pad of paper and a pen, along with her iPhone.

    “What are you doing?”

    “I am a reporter, you know,” she said, raising an eyebrow. “I’m going to do a little investigative work. Find out some Intel on Mr. Handsome and Tempting.”

    “You’re a freelance journalist who writes Arts and Culture articles for the NY Indie Voice,” Laura reminded her. “And don’t go snooping around. It’s pointless. I won’t see him again.”

    Sarah sighed, giving her friend a withering look. “You won’t if you don't know where to go or how to approach this. Or if you don’t try.” She took a long sip of wine. “For courage. Fortune favors the bold, and all that.” She raised her glass.

    Laura reluctantly raised her glass, too. They clinked glasses and both polished off their wine, giggling.

    “So, celebrating something?” Barry asked as he walked up.

    They looked at each other. Laura was giving her a look that said, 'say nothing'.

    Sarah winked at her. “Laura met a gorgeous man today and she’s too shy and chicken to do anything about it.”

    Laura gave her a good kick under the table.

    “Ow,” Sarah said, giggling again.

    “I see, and so you two are plotting a strategy then?” he asked, looking amusedly from one to the other.

    “If a strategy is to be plotted, it will be for both of us, since we’re both single. Especially Sarah.” Laura gave her a sly grin.

    Sarah eyes went wide as she looked at her friend in disbelief. Her cheeks turned red.

    “Actually, Sarah really likes artistic types, musicians, that kind of thing,” Laura said, grinning from ear to ear.

    “Does she now?” Barry said, smiling. “Well, you’re in the right place then.”

    “Yes, she is,” Laura said, “she definitely is.” She received a swift kick to her shin.

    Laura muffled a shriek.

    Barry looked highly amused. “Would either of you like another glass of wine before your dinner comes up?”

    “Yes, yes, please,” Sarah said, now barely able to make eye contact with him.

    Barry nodded, winking at them. “Coming right up, ladies.”

    They watched him walk away out of earshot.

    “I’m going to kill you!” Sarah said between clenched teeth.

    “Not if I kill you first,” Laura said. “Besides, a deal’s a deal.”

    “Fine,” Sarah said, sitting back in her chair in a huff. “But don’t rush me. These things need to approached carefully.”

    “What, love? Dating?”

    “Men. And whatever it is you want to do with them,” Sarah stated, giving her a sly smile.

    Laura laughed. “Indeed!”

    “Speaking of that, we should see what we can find out on your mystery man. I may not be a full-fledged reporter yet, but I bet I can find some juicy tidbits on him.” Sarah’s eyes flashed with excitement. “A guy like that, rich, handsome, successful, will have gotten press in this town. For sure.”

    “Maybe I don’t want to know,” Laura said, biting her nails.

    “Stop that,” Sarah said as she smacked her hand away. “You need to break that nervous habit.”

    “I know,” she replied, now sitting on her hands.

    Sarah was busy doing searches on her phone, while Laura waited quietly. She was certain whatever they would learn would only scare her off more. “Aha!” Sarah said. “Get a load of this. Angelo Tsarkopolis was one of New York City’s Most Eligible Bachelors three years ago.” She looked at Laura. “Boy, you do know how to pick them!”

    “I didn’t pick him. My coffee did. And this only freaks me out even more.”

    “Another thing we need to work on, your courage and self-assuredness.”

    Sarah scanned through the article, reading a passage aloud.

    “Angelo Tsarkopolis is 33 years old…that would make him 36 now,” Sarah commented, “and the eldest son of the Tsarkopolis family. He’s a Senior Vice President in his family’s business, Tsar Enterprises, which is a Fortune 500 company. Tsar Enterprises is an investment management firm with clients around the world. Angelo has one younger brother, Nikolas, 30 years old, who is also a company Vice President. The Tsarkopolis family has called New York City their home for the last 29 years, since emigrating from Greece.”

    “Big-time successful,” Laura said. “He’s probably used to women throwing themselves at him.”

    Barry brought their second glasses of wine by. “Here we go.” He placed them on the table. “Dinner will be right up, ladies.”

    “Thanks, Barry,” Sarah said, giving him an extra bright smile.

    “My pleasure,” he said, holding eye contact for just a moment longer than usual.

    “See?” Laura said, as he left.

    “You might be right,” Sarah said, clearly intrigued. “I will have to leave that for my next investigation. Right now, we are trying to find out all about Mr Rich and Famous.” She read more of the article.

    “The multimillionaire Mr. Tsarkopolis has a double masters degree in economics and business and is a well-known philanthropist.”

    “He has brains, too,” Sarah said, grinning. “And he helps the less fortunate. Sounds like an incredibly good catch.”

    “I would imagine many have tried.”

    “Oh no, this is sad,” Sarah said, spotting a related news item. “This is from an article last year.”

    “Angelo Tsarkopolis, 35, was appointed CEO of his family’s business,Tsar Enterprises, after the death of his father, Vassilis, due to prostate cancer. Angelo has one younger brother, Nikolas, 32 years old, who has also stepped up to Senior Vice President of the company.”

    “Oh man, that is sad,” Laura said. “Boy, they’re young to have such high profile positions.”

    “Yeah,” Sarah said, nodding, “but their father probably groomed them from childhood to be leaders in the company.”

    “Good point.”

    Sarah kept scanning the search items on her phone. “Let me see if I can find out anything about his love life. He’s probably all over the society pages, too.” She scanned through some news clips. “Uh oh.”

    “What, what is it?” Laura asked.

    “He was engaged to a wealthy socialite a year and a half ago,” she read.

    She looked up at her friend. “Guess that bachelor ad worked.”

    Laura smirked. She knew he’d be too good to be true.

    Sarah kept reading. “They were planning on getting married at one of New York City’s elite hotels. Hmmm…let me see what happened with that. It’s pretty unseemly if he’s flirting with you, but has a wife at home.” Sarah scrolled

    through some news items. “Wait, here’s another article. I searched for his fiancée’s name. She’s married to someone else now.”

    Laura's eyes widened. “Interesting.” She sat forward, feeling a tiny bit of hope in spite of herself.

    Sarah kept searching. “Aha! They broke up about a year ago, six months after getting engaged. His ex-fiancée met her older, wealthier husband a couple of months later and they got married not long after that.”

    “She moved fast.”

    “No kidding,” Sarah said. “I can’t find anything else on a wife or fiancée. I think he’s single and ready to mingle. Ooh, his family also owns extensive properties back in Greece.” She nudged her friend. “I seem to recall someone who has always wanted to travel there.”

    Laura smiled and shrugged. “There and lots of other places.”

    “I have to say, wow.” Sarah looked up at her. “This guy is something else. You don’t come across men like him every day.”

    “Yeah,” she said, her voice catching in her throat. “Imagine that.” She cleared her throat. “The decision is made. I’m staying way clear of this one. He's light years out of my league. There are plenty of other fish in the sea. I need to keep fishing.”

    “What? When a fine catch like this lands in your net? No way, girl, am I going to let you pass this up. He was into you, plus maybe it was destiny, you bumping into him like that. You need to see where that can go. Even if it’s only one magical date.”

    “I don’t belong in that world, you know that.”

    “Nonsense! He’d be lucky to land a girl as great as you. Most of the people in his circles are probably just pompous fakes, anyway. You’d be a breath of fresh air in his world. He needs you,” she said, giving her friend a playful push on the shoulder.

    “I don’t have the best track record with men, if you’ll recall. None of my relationships, which have been few and far between, go the distance. They either fizzle out quickly for one reason or another, or like Aaron, he leaves me after two years for someone else.” She lowered her eyes, not wanting to show how much that still stung.

    “Aaron was young and a jerk. You were both young. College is about finding yourself. He wasn’t right for you anyway,” she with a dismissive wave of her hand.

    Laura and Sarah had met in college, even though they hadn’t studied the same things. Laura went into PR and Marketing, while Sarah was a Journalism student. However, they often saw each other in the cafeteria and the local pub and started talking. They’d been fast friends ever since.

    Laura nodded. “You’re probably right…no, I know you’re right. It still hurt, though. We chose that college together,” she said, her face showing the hurt of rejection she still felt all these years later. “I just didn’t think it would lead to him falling for someone else there. That kind of thing stays with you.”

    “Just because he did that, doesn’t mean every guy will,” she said leaning forward to look in her eyes, driving home her point. “The right guy won’t do that.”

    “Maybe, or maybe I’m just not the kind of girl that guys fall for in a big way, you know? Maybe I’m okay to spend time with until something better comes along.” She took another sip of wine, then stared into her glass.

    “Don’t give him that power over you. You’re so much better than that.”

    Laura looked up at her and smiled. “You’re a great friend, you know, thanks.”

    “Just pointing out the facts, ma’am, you’re a great catch. Mr. Handsome would be lucky to go on a date with you.”

    “But I’ve never dated anyone like him.”

    “The perfect reason for you to give it a whirl. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?” Sarah said. She took a sip, glancing over the rim of her glass at Barry, thinking.

    “Well then, to chance encounters with the exciting unknown. May it not eat us alive,” Laura replied, holding her glass up. They clinked glasses, both wondering what the days ahead held for them.