CEO Joined His Buddy’s Game Night, Never Expected the Woman Beside Him Would Capture His Heart
Perspectives and Priorities
During a break between games, he found himself alone with her in Tyler’s kitchen as they refilled their drinks.
“So, how does a high-powered CEO end up at a Friday night game gathering?” she asked, leaning against the counter. “You don’t strike me as a regular”.
“That obvious, huh?”
Jackson ran a hand through his dark hair.
“My sister thinks I’m becoming a hermit. Said I needed to remember what having friends is like.”
“Smart sister.”
“She’ll be thrilled to hear you say that.”
He poured himself a glass of water.
“What about you? How’d you end up here?”
“Hannah and I work together. She’s been trying to get me out more since my fellowship ended. Apparently, I spend too much time with sick children and not enough with people my own age”.
Jackson nodded.
“I get that. It’s easier sometimes when work matters.”
“It does matter,” she agreed.
“But so does…”
She gestured vaguely toward the living room where laughter erupted.
“…this”.
When they returned to the group, Jackson found himself more aware of Jasmine’s presence—the way she tucked her hair behind her ear when concentrating, and how her laugh started deep and built into something musical.
He noticed the intelligent spark in her eyes when she was plotting her next move. At midnight, when Jackson finally checked his watch, he was shocked by how quickly the hours had passed.
“Same time next Friday?” Tyler asked as everyone gathered their belongings.
To his own surprise, Jackson nodded.
“I’ll be there.”
Outside, as they all dispersed to their cars, Jackson found himself walking beside Jasmine toward the parking lot.
“Which one’s yours?” he asked.
She pointed to a sensible blue Subaru.
“That practical specimen over there. You?”
Jackson gestured toward the Aston Martin.
“Of course,” she laughed. “Very CEO appropriate.”
“It’s my one indulgence,” he admitted, slightly embarrassed.
“We all need something.”
She paused at her car door.
“It was nice meeting you, Jackson. You’re not at all what I expected.”
“What did you expect?”
“Someone much more self-important, honestly.”
Her frankness was refreshing.
“You have a reputation in medical circles as being brilliant but ruthless.”
“Ruthless?”
The description stung more than it should have.
“Rumor has it you once fired an entire research division for missing a deadline.”
Jackson grimaced.
“That’s not exactly how it happened. The division had falsified data to cover their delays. It compromised patient safety. The team was reassigned, not fired”.
“Ah.”
She studied his face.
“That makes more sense. The man I played games with tonight doesn’t seem like someone who fires people for minor mistakes.”
Their conversation extended another twenty minutes in the chilly night air until Jasmine finally glanced at her watch.
“I should go. Early rounds tomorrow.”
“Of course.”
Jackson hesitated.
“I enjoyed meeting you, Dr. Powell.”
“Jasmine,” she corrected. “Only my patients call me Dr. Powell.”
She opened her car door but turned back.
“See you next Friday.”
“I’ll be there.”
Jackson watched her drive away, aware of an unfamiliar feeling expanding in his chest. For the first time in years, he was genuinely looking forward to something that wasn’t related to work.
The following Friday couldn’t arrive fast enough. Jackson rescheduled a dinner with potential investors, delegated three major tasks he would normally handle himself, and left the office at five.
This caused his assistant, Diane, to ask if he was feeling well. When he arrived at Tyler’s, he was disappointed to find Jasmine hadn’t arrived yet.
An hour into the first game, Tyler received a text.
“Jasmine’s stuck at the hospital,” he announced. “Emergency with a patient. She says to start without her”.
Jackson tried not to let his disappointment show, focusing instead on the complex strategy game Marcus had brought. Around ten, when the doorbell rang, he found himself straightening in his seat.
Jasmine entered looking exhausted, still in scrubs beneath her coat, her hair hastily pulled back.
“Sorry I’m late,” she said, collapsing into an empty chair.
“Rough day? Everything okay?” Hannah asked.
Jasmine shook her head slightly.
“Lost a patient. Seven-year-old boy. His cancer was too advanced by the time they found it.”
The room fell silent. Jackson watched as she forced a smile.
“But I didn’t come here to bring everyone down. What are we playing?”
“You don’t have to play,” Tyler offered. “Just hang out.”
“I want to,” she insisted. “I need the distraction”.
They dealt her into the game, but Jackson could see her struggling to focus. During a break, he found her alone in the kitchen again, staring blankly at a glass of water.
“Want to talk about it?” he asked quietly.
She looked up, her eyes red-rimmed.
“Not really, but thank you.”
He nodded, understanding.
“Sometimes distraction isn’t enough.”
“No,” she agreed. “Sometimes it isn’t.”
“Do you want to get out of here? Get some air?”
She considered for a moment, then nodded.
“Actually, yes”.
Jackson made their excuses to the group, ignoring Tyler’s raised eyebrows. Outside, the October night was crisp and clear.
“Where to?” he asked.
“Somewhere with a view,” she suggested. “I need perspective tonight”.
Twenty minutes later, they sat on a bench in Riverview Park overlooking the city skyline. Jasmine hugged her knees to her chest.
“His name was Ethan,” she said finally. “He loved dinosaurs and could name every single one. Wanted to be a paleontologist”.
Jackson remained silent, giving her space to continue.
“His parents brought him in too late. They thought it was just growing pains.”
She shook her head.
“By the time we diagnosed the osteosarcoma, it had metastasized to his lungs. We tried everything.”
“I’m sorry,” Jackson said softly.
“The worst part is early detection would have given him a fighting chance with the right treatment protocol,” she trailed off.
“That’s why your work matters,” he said. “And mine.”
She looked at him, then really looked at him.
“It is. But days like today, it doesn’t feel like enough.”
“I know.”
He hesitated, then added, “Our new pediatric cancer treatment could be ready for trials next year. It might help the next Ethan”.
“That’s something,” she acknowledged.
They sat in comfortable silence for several minutes.
“Tell me about your company,” she said suddenly. “How did you end up running a pharmaceutical empire at—what are you, thirty-five?”
“Thirty-four,” he corrected. “And it’s hardly an empire”.
“Ten thousand employees in fifteen countries. I’d call that an empire”.
Jackson was surprised she knew those details.
“I started with a research grant right out of medical school. My father had died of Parkinson’s, and I was developing a new approach to neurodegenerative disorders”.
“You’re a doctor?” she asked, clearly surprised.
“Technically, yes. Though I haven’t practiced in years. My research led to a breakthrough drug. I needed funding to develop it properly, so I started Meridian”.
“One success led to another, and the company grew.”
“You never wanted to practice medicine?”
Jackson considered the question.
“I thought I did, but I realized I could help more people through research and development than I ever could seeing patients individually.”
“Scale versus personal connection,” she mused.
“Exactly. Though I admit sometimes I miss the human element.”
He turned toward her.
“That’s what impresses me about what you do. You’re in the trenches every day, facing the hardest parts of medicine head-on.”
“Some days are harder than others.”
She looked back at the city lights.
“Thank you for this. I needed to clear my head”.
“Anytime,” he said, meaning it.
When he drove her back to her car at Tyler’s, something had shifted between them. As she got out of his car, she turned back.
“Same time next Friday?”
“I wouldn’t miss it,” he replied.
But the following Friday, it was Jackson who couldn’t make it. A crisis with a manufacturing facility in Singapore kept him on conference calls throughout the night.
He texted Tyler his apologies but found himself wishing he had Jasmine’s number to explain directly. He considered asking Tyler for it, but something held him back.
Their connection, whatever it was, felt too new, too fragile to push. The Friday after that, Jackson arrived early, hoping to catch a few minutes with Jasmine before everyone else arrived.
To his disappointment, she wasn’t there and didn’t show up all evening. When he casually asked Hannah about her absence, he learned she was presenting at a medical conference in Chicago.
“She’ll be back next week,” Hannah assured him with a knowing smile that made Jackson wonder how transparent his interest was.
The following Friday, Jackson found himself checking the clock repeatedly during an afternoon meeting. At 6:30, he was the first to arrive at Tyler’s, apart from Tyler himself.
“Eager much?” Tyler teased, handing him a beer. “She’ll be here. And for what it’s worth, she asked about you last time, too”.
Jackson felt a ridiculous surge of pleasure at this information.
“We just have interesting conversations.”
“Sure, that’s it,” Tyler laughed. “Just like Hannah and I had interesting conversations before we started dating”.
Before Jackson could respond, the doorbell rang. When Jasmine walked in, her face lit up upon seeing him, and Jackson felt something shift in his chest.
“The busy CEO returns,” she said, settling beside him on the couch. “Singapore crisis averted?”
“You heard about that?”
“I asked Tyler why you weren’t here.”
She shrugged, a slight blush coloring her cheeks.
“I wanted to tell you about a patient who might be perfect for one of your clinical trials.”
It was an excuse, and they both knew it, but Jackson appreciated the professional pretext.
“Tell me about them,” he said, genuinely interested.
As more friends arrived and the games began, Jackson found himself hyper-aware of Jasmine beside him. Their knees occasionally touched when she reached for game pieces. Her arm brushed his.
Each contact sent a current through him that he hadn’t felt in years. That night established a pattern.
Every Friday, they’d meet at Tyler’s, play games with the group, and inevitably find moments to talk privately. Sometimes they’d step outside for fresh air, other times they’d linger in the kitchen.
Or they would be the last to leave, extending their conversations into the parking lot. They discussed everything: their work, their families, books they’d read, places they’d traveled.
Jackson learned that Jasmine had grown up in a small town, the daughter of a high school teacher and a nurse. She’d worked her way through medical school on scholarships and student loans.
She had a younger brother who was a firefighter and a cat named Hippocrates who hated everyone except her. In turn, he shared parts of himself he rarely revealed.
He spoke of how his father’s long illness had shaped his career path, how the early years of building Meridian had nearly broken him, and how success had gradually isolated him from normal life.
“You’re not what the business magazines make you out to be,” she told him one night as they walked around the block, both reluctant to end their evening.
“What do they make me out to be?”
“A ruthless corporate titan. The Pharmaceutical Prince with the Midas touch”.
Jackson groaned.
“That nickname… I hate it.”
“It’s not entirely wrong, though,” she observed. “You do turn things to gold, professionally speaking”.
“At what cost, though?”
The question slipped out before he could stop it. She looked at him curiously.
“What do you mean?”
“Sometimes I wonder if I’ve sacrificed too much for success. Family, relationships, normal life experiences.”
He hesitated.
“When was the last time I did anything just because it was fun? Before these game nights, I mean.”
“What would you do if you could do anything just for fun?” she asked.
He considered the question.
“I used to sail. My grandfather taught me when I was young. I haven’t been in years”.
“Why not?”
“No time. No one to go with.”
“Those sound like excuses,” she challenged gently.
“They are,” he admitted. “The truth is, I forgot how to prioritize anything but work.”
“Well,” she said. “It’s never too late to remember”.
The following week, instead of texting about game night, Jackson called Jasmine directly. Tyler had finally given him her number after weeks of teasing.
“I’m not going to make it Friday,” he said when she answered.
“Oh.”
She couldn’t quite hide her disappointment.
“Big crisis at work?”
“No,” he replied. “I was wondering if you might want to do something else instead. Just the two of us”.
The pause that followed felt eternal.
“What did you have in mind?” she finally asked.
“Sailing. Saturday morning, if you’re free.”
“You have a boat?” She sounded surprised.
“I do. It doesn’t get nearly enough use.”
Another pause followed.
“Are you asking me on a date, Jackson Moore?”
He took a breath.
“Yes, Jasmine Powell, I believe I am.”
“Then yes,” he could hear the smile in her voice. “I’d love to”.
Saturday dawned clear and perfect. Jackson arrived at the marina early, checking everything on his 36-foot sloop twice.
When Jasmine pulled up, the sight of her in simple jeans and a sweater, hair loose in the breeze, made his heart race like he was twenty again.
“This is gorgeous,” she said, admiring the sleek vessel. “What’s her name?”
“Second Opinion,” Jackson replied with a grin.
She laughed.
“Very appropriate for a doctor turned pharmaceutical CEO.”
The day unfolded like something from a dream. Jackson taught her the basics of sailing, enjoying her quick grasp of the principles and her willingness to try everything.
They navigated along the coastline, talking easily as they had during their game night conversations, but with a new layer of openness.
When he helped her adjust the main sail, standing close behind her to guide her hands on the rope, he caught the scent of her hair—something citrusy and clean.
She turned her head slightly, and their eyes met. For a moment, he thought about kissing her, but something held him back.
They anchored in a secluded cove for lunch, a gourmet picnic Jackson had arranged. As they sat on deck enjoying the food and wine, Jasmine studied him.
“Can I ask you something personal?” she ventured.
“Of course.”
“With your success, your looks, your obvious charm when you choose to use it…”
She gestured vaguely at him.
“Why are you single? There must be women lining up”.
Jackson considered his answer carefully.
“There have been relationships. None that lasted. The last serious one ended three years ago”.
“What happened?”
“She said I was married to my company. Said I’d never make room for anything else.”
He looked out at the water.
“She wasn’t entirely wrong.”
“And now?”
He met her gaze.
“Now I’m realizing what I’ve been missing”.
The moment hung between them, charged with possibility. This time, when he leaned forward, she met him halfway.
Their first kiss was gentle, questioning—a beginning rather than a culmination. When they pulled apart, her smile made everything in Jackson’s complicated life suddenly seem very simple.
