Chapter 2 - Oliver

OLIVER

Oliver ended the call angrily and frowned.

"Great!" He put down his smartphone and turned to the mall's railing. He gripped the railing with his hands and looked down at the crowd of shoppers. But he didn't even notice the hustle and bustle around him. His mind was on his conversation. Amelie had turned him down. He snorted angrily.

"Where am I going to find a replacement? Damn it, we're not a charity that can be canceled at the last minute!"

He had actually been on his way to the Café Rialto to discuss the final details with Amelie. She had been booked by a billionaire who wanted to meet her here in the mall in an hour for a shopping trip. She was to make him look pretty, buy with him a suit, and then accompany him to his hotel room.

Alexander Fitzpatrick had been a client of her agency for several years. Whenever he went out or planned a shopping trip, he booked a girl. Twice he had taken a lucky girl with him on his travels. The fact that he had only booked three different girls in the last two years was a testament to his loyalty. It was never his fault that he needed a new agency. But at some point, the girls had tired of being photographed at Alexander Fitzpatrick's side and of knowing that he was gay and never asked for more than the basic hostess service. Tabea, his last girlfriend, had always made it very clear in the end that she was not only willing to go to the hotel bed, but had demanded it. So Oliver had not been able to set her up with Alexander.

Today would have been Amelie's first appearance at the side of the coveted bachelor, who as a millionaire designer of creative furniture was always in the headlines. The press had long been informed that he was planning to buy a new suit at the Fashion Center today, and that he would be accompanied by his lovely new girlfriend, after Tabea had dumped him three weeks ago. So much for the plan. Which was now abruptly thwarted.

Sighing, Oliver took out his smartphone. He didn't have time to be annoyed now; he needed a replacement for Amelie as soon as possible. He opened his agency data and looked up the numbers of women who were blonde, short and blessed with ample breasts. Alexander's only conditions for the matchmaking. He wouldn't take another hostess because it wouldn't fit his image. It couldn't hurt to broaden his choice of women a bit, after all, he didn't want anything sexual from them.

Oliver dialed the first number and got a message that the subscriber was not available. He hated those messages! Almost as much as last-minute calls that a date had been canceled.

Sybille, the second number, answered.

"Hello, Sybille, would you like to go shopping?"

"Hi, Olli, how spontaneous?"

"You have to be at the Fashion Center in the next hour."

"No way, no chance, Olli. I already have a date tonight. This is too spontaneous."

"Okay, Sybille. Have fun, whatever it is."

He paid no attention to her ciao. He hung up and dialed the next candidate.

Several ladies had turned off their cell phones or simply pushed him away. Growling, he made a note of them. No one pushed him away, especially not his own employees! The two he got on the line didn't help either.

"Oliver, the drive alone will take two hours. How am I supposed to make it?" Eileen told him.

"I can only do it on the weekend, Oliver. Haven't you updated your data yet?" Sandra sounded annoyed.

Now he was annoyed too. His partner had to enter the data of all the ladies into the company's database and keep it up to date. So that something like this wouldn't happen. Now he looked unprofessional to Sandra. He hated that too... that anyone would think he was unprofessional. Apart from the fact that he could have saved himself the call.

But what now? He didn't have a suitable woman to offer. If he didn't want to scare off Alexander Fitzpatrick completely, he had to find a solution quickly. At the very least, he needed a good excuse for the press as to why the thirty-six-year-old designer couldn't present his new girlfriend.

Annoyed, Oliver pushed himself away from the railing and turned around. He only managed to take one step before he bumped into someone who was obviously not thinking about what she was doing in the mall.

"Damn it, can't you be careful?" he snapped at the person with the gym bag who had bumped into him with full force. A tear-filled look and a real wet trail on both cheeks told him very clearly that this person was a woman in tears who certainly had not seen where she was going. "If you want to cry, sit down and don't run into complete strangers!"

"Thank you for your concern," the stranger hissed at him, and he narrowed his eyes in anger. How dare she talk to him like that? "But if you had been paying attention, I wouldn't have hit you. I'm not that fat!

That last remark took away some of his anger, and he looked down at her in surprise. "Fat?"

"Yes, fat!" She took a step back so he could see her better. She glared at him angrily. He knew he had never done anything to this woman and had never met her before. She couldn't possibly know him and therefore had no reason to be angry with him.

"I don't know what your problem is, ma'am..."

"Ma'am?" She interrupted him rudely, crossing her arms.

Good heavens, the woman was making such a fuss that security would be here in a minute to ask if he had offended her.

"Madam?" she repeated in a shrill voice. "First you call me fat, and now you tell me I'm old? What the..."

He didn't listen to her anymore. Oliver was used to women fighting to let off steam. When they had said everything, whatever was on their minds or elsewhere, they felt better. He used the time to scan her. The first thing he noticed were her magnificent, voluptuous breasts. They couldn't be overlooked in that tight sports shirt. She was small and blonde, exactly the type of woman he needed so badly. Only her sweaty clothes and unvarnished face didn't fit the picture.

"Do you have a change of clothes?" he asked as soon as she stopped complaining.

"Excuse me?" She stared at him with her eyes wide open.

"A change of clothes - do you have any? You can't go shopping with a billionaire in these sweaty clothes."

"Billionaire? Shopping?" She looked around, even standing on tiptoe as if there was something to see behind him. But he was still standing almost at the balustrade. Did she think he was mocking her?

Frowning, he reached into the inside pocket of his coat and pulled out his business card. As he handed it to her, he continued: "Creative furniture designer Alexander Fitzpatrick requires..." Oliver looked at his watch and frowned. "...a presentable, sexy woman in half an hour to present to the press as his new girlfriend. Amelie, that would be your new name by the way, just called and canceled because she's sick. Do you have a friend who could sabotage the operation?"

"Alexander Fitzpatrick? The Alexander Fitzpatrick?" She stared at him as if he were an alien. She didn't even look at his business card. "No one will believe this. You're kidding, right?"

He was already thinking about how to convince her that he was telling the truth. But she crushed his hopes with three little words.

"It's not possible."

He sighed. It really had been a stupid idea to ask a customer, a sweaty customer in the mall, about escort services. Still, he needed to know the reason for her refusal. Maybe he could convince her. He had no choice. "Why not?"

"Because I... um... can't."

"So you have a boyfriend?"

"No, but..." She hesitated again and blushed.

"But...?" he asked. Damn, he was serving the most eligible bachelor on a silver platter! Why did she turn him down? After all, she couldn't have known that Alexander Fitzpatrick was gay and just wanted her to play his girlfriend.

"It's just a single date?"

He sighed, annoyed. How could she ask such a stupid question? As the furniture designer's new girlfriend, she would of course be going out with him on a regular basis. If she didn't understand that, he had better not make it clear now. Surely she would melt away if she was allowed to shine in the spotlight at his side.

"One meeting," he confirmed, "to accompany Mr. Fitzpatrick while he shops."

Before she could say anything, he grabbed her arm and pulled her along. First he had to get her into a decent dress. Then there was a quick visit to a beautician in the mall. And then he could only hope that the little girl wouldn't cause any trouble for his customer!