Page 13 of Midnight Kisses (Spicy Fat Cinderella Retelling)

I narrowed my eyes. “Don’t try and frighten me, blondie.

I’m not a child. Yes, I know there’s the chance it will escalate.

I heard what you said about mediocrity being driven by person, not circumstance, and I’ve thought about it.

I’m not saying I want to get married tomorrow, but…

uh…” I had to clear my throat, it had gotten all thick.

“But what, Miles?”

“The idea isn’t repulsive.”

“Wow,” she said, sounding decidedly un -wowed.

Somehow, somewhere, this had all taken a turn for the worse.

I wasn’t sure when exactly, but my palms were sweating and I felt nauseous–which took me up to three feelings.

Plus, I was starting to feel desperate, because she wasn’t jumping up and down with excitement like I’d envisioned when I’d come up with this plan this morning in the shower.

Bringing me to a grand total of three too many fucking feelings.

Trying to buy some time to think, I carefully rinsed the plates and stacked them in the sink. When I turned back to face Perry, I still couldn’t read her expression.

“Let’s get back to talking about scaling up Perry Skin,” I said. Back to safe territory. “I assume you have some kind of business plan?”

She nodded.

“And a marketing plan? And you’re where you need to be with product testing?”

“Yes.”

“I know some people who do mentoring for startups.” I was one of them, but she wasn’t going to accept my mentorship if she wouldn’t even accept my money.

“They take on new projects all the time—all I would be doing would be adding you into the mix. Sleeping with me won’t help or hinder you in any way.

Once you’ve synthesised the feedback, I think you’ll emerge with valid investor leads, but I also believe you should crowd-fund in tandem.

You’ve probably already thought of crowdfunding—” she gave another a stiff nod.

“—I knew it. But you probably disregarded it because it would be more efficient to find a singular investor, right?”

Yet another nod. She wasn’t giving me a fucking thing . I began to feel like I was standing in a town square, flaying myself.

“I have to say, I think you’re underestimating how much people will like you.

People will invest in your product but they’ll also invest in your journey.

For a business like yours with a core value of trustworthiness, you’ll get more mileage if your target audience feel like you’ve come from the ground up and they’ve been part of that.

Sure, a one-off five bucks from a mum in Kirikiriroa, Hamilton doesn’t mean much.

But if she’s a loyal customer for years because she feels like part of the Perry Skin origin story, that’s, 100 or 200 a year.

It doesn’t need to be either/or, as long as you manage the optics carefully—you can crowdfund and hook a big fish investor.

You’ll need to vet investors carefully, but someone like my mother—it doesn’t have to be Helen—” I said quickly when Perry shook her head in one quick, jerky motion, “if you don’t want any Lawrences involved. But someone like her.”

“This is a lot to process.” Perry rubbed her face tiredly, making her skin pinken. “First you emotionally blindside me, then you dismantle my business plan. In your head. In the shower.”

“It’s what I do,” I said, matter of fact. “This might come as a surprise to you Perry, because I’m such a fun-loving rascal , but I’m good at it. Pure nepotism wouldn’t have kept an export business afloat through a pandemic.”

She studied me.

It made me a bit uncomfortable to stand still as she mentally stripped me of my blithe exterior, all my carefully affected rascalry .

“Trust me, blondie. People think money is the only thing a business needs, but brand equity is just as valuable, and it’s the change-marker in terms of longevity.

I’ll get Sadie to email you tomorrow with some valuable contacts who can help you implement this plan, and advise you on the necessary disclosures.

Again, all I’m doing is giving advice and contacts, so you’re not beholden to me in any way.

You’ll owe me nothing.” Finally, I ran out of steam. “How does that sound?”

She rolled her lips. “It sounds like very .. sound advice.”

“ Sound ?” I was offended. That was the fine of compliments.

“Good advice,” she amended. “Expensive advice. People charge a lot of money for strategic direction from an expert like this.”

I wiggled my eyebrows at her. “That’s why my father pays me the big bucks.”

“You said it was a family business, and you mentioned exporting. But what exactly do you do?”

“I’m the CEO of Elysian Wine Exports. My dad founded it and when he retired, I took the reins.”

Her expression still didn’t give much away.

I was an expert at reading people’s faces, it was one of the ways I was able to stay a few steps ahead in negotiation.

But with Perry, it was harder. Either because emotion was clouding my judgement, or because I just didn’t have the right frame of reference.

Either way, it was hell.

“But what does a CEO do ?”

“I make sure the good ideas work, and stop the bad ones from fucking us.”

“I see.” After a minute she said, “Excuse me, I’ll be right back.”

She disappeared down the hall and I waited an age for her to return. When she did, her bag was slung over her shoulder and she was wearing sweats. I could see a scrap of her blue dress dangling out of where she’d stuffed it in her bag.

“Perry?”

“I appreciate your business advice, Miles.”

“Yeah, I’m a fucking genius. I know. Why are you dressed like you’re about to take off?”

She tilted her head then, and it was like a floodgate burst when I could identify this new expression.

It was remorse.

Fuck.

“Perry, hang on?—”

“We’re at totally different places in our lives, Miles. I had a nice time with you. But I have so much I want to achieve now, and I need to do it by myself. Because it’s for myself, you know?”

Every muscle in my body was locked, I was so tense.

“I understand that. But for God’s sake, Perry, be smarter than you are proud.

Accept whatever help you can get. That’s how shit gets done.

Any opportunity? Seize it. Good advice? Take it.

You have to choose if you want to cling to some imagined moral high ground, or you want to actually build this thing.

I’m not saying don’t have ethics—don’t use child labour or avoid taxes or whatever.

But you can be upstanding and ethical without fucking yourself over. ”

She looked at me properly then, her heart in her eyes, her hands trembling as she clasped them in front of her. Perry was scared , I realised. Scared of this thing vibrating between us—potential, possibility, happiness .

That made two of us

“Miles, this is all too much.”

“I know.” I came out around the kitchen counter and put a hand on her arm. “Perry, sweetheart, I know. But?—”

She held up a hand, and I saw the square card she’d been clasping. “Please give Sadie this. I’d be glad of any contacts she sends through.”

I took it, studying the swirling Perry Skin logo with her name and contact on the back.

“This is just for Sadie’s use, not mine. Is that what you’re saying?”

Her eyebrows, a rich earth colour, bunched over her face.

She had a light spread of freckles on her nose which I hadn’t been able to see in the lights at the party.

I hadn’t even known they were there when I kissed her nose this morning, after she collapsed, boneless over my chest. There were so many things about her I was hungry to learn, and now I wouldn’t have the chance.

This was my first attempt at getting a girl to date me, and it was an even bigger failure than I could have imagined.

“I don’t think we would be a good idea, Miles.”

“Why?”

Damn, my chest was hurting. Probably another fucking feeling.

What did violent devastation feel like? A heart attack?

I had a sudden vivid recall of a scene in one of Sadie’s favourite shows, with a blonde person knee deep in a wishing well, scooping coins from the bottom of it and throwing them out, shouting, ‘unwish, unwish!’

Too late, I realised that my search for bathroom girl hadn’t been unfairly hard, it had been correctly hard. I wasn’t supposed to have found her, I wasn’t supposed to feel like this.

And I couldn’t unwish it.