2 Maid in the Shade by Bridget Allison Page A

about spending the night together since it didn’t count. Lucy had coerced her friend Jackson into lugging a tranquilized Jared into my bed that same night as a prank).
    B en nodded, satisfied. “But you will admit today with me was a date?”
    “ You men,” I said playfully, “always trying to label things, talk things out, trying to pin us down.”
    “ I believe you were pinning me down less than an hour ago, literally. “By the way, your place or mine? Actually your place is more convenient for my trip, but the schedulers don’t like change.”
    “ Your place or mine ? You are so bad at your pickup lines I don’t think I’d ever have to worry about you and other women. Your place THEN mine.”
    “ As in, you’re not coming up? That’s it? I took the day off. This day is hardly over.”
    “ You need to slow down Ben,” he glanced at the speedometer, “No;” I amended, “we need to take it slow. You’re too important for me to screw this up.”
    “ Okay”, he said, “but you have to promise me something.”
    “Do I ?”
    “Just keep an open mind okay ?”
    I nodded.
    “I have to be out of the country for three weeks or so, I’m leaving late tomorrow, and I’d like you to come with me.”
    I opened my mouth to protest.
    “ I’d like you to come with me but it is work and it’s too dangerous. Not for me,” he added hastily “believe me; that is one place where I’m too valuable to lose. I can bring help to their economy if things go well and the corporations which hire me can realize a staggering profit.”
    “Where are you going ?”
    “I really can’t say exactly, the Middle East, I’ll be moving from place to place. Trust me, the last thing I want to do is leave you after the day we’ve had. If I could send someone else I most definitely would.”
    “ But you’re a venture capitalist, why venture there?” I asked.
    “ I do a bit more than that. Venture capitalism was always the simplest way to label my work in the past. But I left the company just as you stopped answering my calls for a while and suddenly you had a new, may I say very odd job and a completely different life and actually so did I. With all you had going on my work was literally the last thing I was interested in discussing. But now I own an international, very specialized consulting firm.
    I do tell people where to put their money and when it is safe to do so, with a slightly different emphasis on the “safe” part . You read the news, you know more than one dictator has been overthrown, the people are moving toward some semblance of democracy throughout some regions?”
    “ Of course I know that,” I said.
    “ Global businesses are getting ready to pounce on all those countries as soon as it is practical. I’m to be their man on the ground, as it were, advising which governments have the best chance of success for my investors.”
    “ But, why you? I never knew you were doing things like that.”
    “ It’s a small firm, you knew I traveled for business, you knew I advised on start-ups and expansions. I speak several languages. The world has come to be a place where companies are more powerful than countries.” I’m traveling too much now, but it’s for us. I’m building it up while I look for someone to take over that part so I can spend more time with you.”
    I nodded doubtfully too concerned about the “for us” part at the moment. “You promise you won’t be in danger?”
    “Of course, I told you I’m particularly well suited for this work. Think of it this way, these regions are still considered high risk, so every possible scenario for my protection is mapped out in advance. Then consider what is going on here in the United States. People walk into their routine jobs, schools or shopping and suddenly there is a gunman mowing people down. No one is ever prepared for that in those places. But when I travel for business I have people waiting to ensure my protection and safe passage every step