Free In Bed with Beauty by Katherine Garbera

Sarah was so important to him he didn’t analyze. He only knew that it was.
    When they arrived at her house he got a surprise. Harris hadn’t realized that Burt was a twin or that Isabella would look just like Sarah.
    This glimpse into her life and her close-knit family made him feel even more the outsider. Made him realize that the distance he’d been using to supposedly protect Sarah was really there to protect him. Seeing their happy family, Harris was more determined than ever not to end up like his dad, alone in an apartment afraid to care because he’d been hurt too many times.
    “Catch you later, man,” Burt said, disappearing through the house.
    “Burt, I need a ride to the Y.”
    “Shake a leg, Bella. I’m not your taxi service.”
    Harris heard them bantering until the front door closed behind them.
    “My life is craziness,” Sarah said.
    She’d showered and changed after they had arrived at her house. Now he regretted letting her leave his suite. He understood his father a little better at this moment. There was something to be said for that kind of aloneness. The kind that left a man feeling in control of his world. The kind that made him realize how superficial the life he’d been leading was.
    Ray’s cell phone rang again. He glanced at the number and pitched the phone into Sarah’s pool. For the first time that day his driver smiled with unholy glee.
    “What was that about?” Sarah asked.
    “Certain people are too hands-on,” Ray said, leaned back in his chair and calmly took a sip of his espresso.
    “Your boss?”
    “Yeah. I knew this new job was going to be a pain in the ass.”
    “That’s why I started my own business,” Harris said.
    “You worked for someone else?” Sarah asked.
    “For a few years,” he said.
    “Why?” she asked.
    “I needed to learn the ropes.”
    “Did you?”
    “Yeah, as much as it chafed taking orders in the office I did it.”
    “Smart man,” Ray said.
    “He’s an M.B.A. from Harvard.”
    “That’s okay. He’s got street smarts, too.”
    “Do you?” Sarah asked.
    “I’ve never lived on the streets,” Harris said, not really wanting to talk about his life.
    “Yeah but you’re no babbeo.”
    “Babbeo?”
    Ray scratched his head and shrugged. “I don’t have an American word I can use in mixed company.”
    “Wimp?” Sarah suggested.
    Ray winked at Sarah. “Not exactly what I was thinking, but yeah, wimp works.”
    “I learned early you can only count on yourself,” Harris said. He liked working for himself. He knew his own limitations and had made his business successful by driving hard toward his goals. He didn’t have to worry about other people’s weaknesses only his own. And he was intimately acquainted with those.
    “Amen,” Ray said.
    Ray’s pager started going off and he glanced at the LCD screen and cursed under his breath. “I’ll be in the car.”
    Sarah watched Ray leave and then turned back toward him. “Do you really think you can only count on yourself?”
    “Yes.” He’d had three administrative assistants in the fifteen years he’d been in business for himself. He’d learned that those people worked hard but the ultimate loyalties lay elsewhere—not with him or his company. Once he’d figured that out he’d been able to manage more effectively.
    “Seems like a lonely way to live,” she said.
    “I’m content—what more can a man ask for?” Harris said.
    “What about family?”
    “I prefer things I can measure with a spreadsheet,” he said. He’d learned a long time ago that the ability to count losses was an important one.
    “I’ll take family.”
    He didn’t like the path this conversation was on. There was no way he was going to be able convince her his viewpoint was right. Her life had been different than his. Even the loss of her parents hadn’t warped her the way his dad’s behavior had shaped his life. “But you also have your business.”
    “That was really my parents’ dream.