Have Gown, Will Wed

Love was never on Rosalind's calendar, but when her newly-engaged friend pitches her on the growth potential marriage holds, she's sold. The sexy-but-single CEO books the venue, sets the date, and is ready to wed. All she needs now is a groom, and where else would a young entrepreneur go to fill a high-level vacancy than to San Francisco’s best headhunter?

When Xavier Hommes is approached by the charming CEO and her quirky plan, he’s intrigued but reluctant. Until Rosalind offers him an exclusive contract to staff her rapidly expanding start-up, that is. But as Xavier comes to know Rosalind and what she wants, he starts to think he might be the one she needs... even as she makes an offer to a leading candidate that Xavier himself recruited.

Can the hapless and handsome headhunter risk his heart and his career to win the position, or will Rosalind walk down the aisle and out of his life forever?

Throwing open the door, I ran inside and did my best to fake surprise. But as I turned out, faking was unnecessary.
No streamers, no banners, no twinkling lights.
Just Kamakshi, who beamed from her position in the middle of the entryway, with a bouquet of daisies at the ready.
“Congratulations!” She rushed forward and took me in her arms, jumping up and down like she’d just won the Showcase Showdown. “I knew you were up to something. A thirty-million-dollar contract with SeaTech? This is awesome. I’m so happy for you!”
“Thanks.” I tried not to sound like I’d just been handed a plate of catfish when I’d expected caviar. Instead, I lifted my arms, put them around my friend, and hugged her back.
Carmen shuffled in behind, her head turning left and right, searching. “Where is everyone?”
“Everyone?” A beam of hope lit as I pulled back and dashed my head in ten directions.
All it took was Kamakshi’s inability to meet my gaze to answer that question. As though realizing I’d disappointed her, a string of rushed explanation burst from her mouth.
“I knew when you said you were going for a game-changing meeting, you meant it. But I didn’t want to plan anything too extravagant, just in case it fell through. I texted everyone, but I only had an hour’s notice when I knew for sure and—”
“Kamakshi, you are the most anal-retentive person I know when it comes to planning,” I declared, cutting off my friend. “You schedule your dentist check-ups a year in advance. Just, tell me the truth, when did you really plan this?”
“A week ago.”
No one actually punched me in the gut, but it sure felt like it. I drew in a deep breath and cranked up my rationale-generating machine. Truth number one: my friends all had their own lives and jobs. Some even had families now, if I remembered correctly. But still, a whole office of workers and not a single one accepted Kamakshi’s invitation?
“Didn’t you invite anyone from BetaHouse?”
“I was afraid they would blab to the press if I told them too early,” Carmen admitted. “I did give the office manager a call on my way over here, but he said everyone had already left to celebrate on their own.”
“Okay.” With fists planted on my hips, I looked at my feet, lecturing them about the importance of staying under me. “But what about the gang? None of them could make it?”
Kamakshi diverted her gaze. “Well, not without cause.”
Carmen closed the door to the elevator lobby and dashed off to the kitchen, emerging a moment later with a bottle of Pinot Grigio.
“Andrea’s at home taking care of the baby. Lani couldn’t fly up from L.A.; she and Jack are leaving for a cruise in the morning. Angie really, really wanted to be here, but she’s visiting her in-laws in London this week. And Nichole. Well, you know about Nichole.”
“No, what about Nichole?” My upper and lower teeth had declared war on each other. Not out of anger, but out of fear and confusion. The clenching stopped, however, when my imagination took over. “Oh my God, is she dead? Kamakshi, tell me she’s not dead. I know I’ve been busy, but I haven’t been that busy. I would notice if one of my best friends died.”
“No, she’s fine!” Kamakshi took the flute Carmen offered. “She moved to Dubai with her husband last month. You don’t remember me telling you about that Arab millionaire she married?”
“Wait! Nichole is married?” Shell shocked was putting it mildly. “And Andrea had a baby? Like, a baby human?”
“Last spring. Ben. He’s almost a year old. He is so cute! Last week he started doing this thing where he… Roz, you don’t look well. Sit down. Carmen, help me?”
Together, they hooked my arms and maneuvered me around the glass coffee table, then lowered me onto the white leather sofa.
“Drink this.”
Carmen pushed mercy alcohol into my hand. Focusing dead ahead, I pressed the glass to my lips, tilted it back, and in one fell swoop, downed the entirety.
Kamakshi bit her bottom lip. “Maybe we should have gotten her some water instead.”
The empty glass sunk to my side. “No, alcohol was the right decision.”
I took several deep breaths, coming to terms. Okay, so I was a little behind on the lives of women I used to be so close to in college, we’d text each other good night across campus as part of an on-going joke.
“What did I think, that they’d all stop moving on with their lives just because I got a little distracted?”
I didn’t realize I’d posed the question aloud until Kamakshi answered.
“Of course not. And they all understood. You’ve been building BetaHouse, working sixteen-hour days when you’re not jetting halfway around the world. You’ve been living the dream we all had.”
“But that’s what gets me, Kam. This is what we all wanted. We all said biz before bros and cash before cocks. What happened? Seems like you and I are the only ones who remained true to that.”
Carmen attempted the role of impartial life coach. “But that’s how life works. Sometimes you set out towards a destination and discover somewhere else you like much closer to home.”
With another breath, I gathered all my tension into a ball at the pit of my stomach, then imagined it becoming particulates as I pushed the contamination through pursed lips.
“You’re absolutely right. Besides-” I turned to Kamakshi. “We’re still in it together. I got BetaHouse, you have KeyTerra, and we’re going to rule the world, just like we planned, right? No relationships, just equity.”
As though Kamakshi had suddenly developed an intestinal bug, she cringed and squirmed. “Um, yeah.”
The nerves were back, and so was my pulse pounding in my ears.
“No, I am not that out of the loop! You, I know. We still have dinner once a week! Well, except these last few weeks, but leading up to the big meeting… What happened? Did your funding fall through? Did you liquidate? Whatever it is, we can undo it. Now that I have the SeaTech deal closed, we can get together and brainstorm like we used to do. We’ll find a way to fix it.”
“KeyTerra is fine. And both you and I know that your big contract is going to double your work, not lighten it,” Kamakshi returned. “It’s something else completely. This isn’t really the way I pictured telling you this, but…”
Pushing her hand into her pocket, Kamakshi withdrew a gemstone that could choke a goat. It was only when she slipped the rock over her finger that I noticed there was a gold band attached to it.
“I’m engaged.”