Page 61 of Negotiating Tactics

She was capable of taking care of herself, but I wanted to pamper and spoil her, wanted to protect her. She wasn’t very forthcoming about her life, but I knew that she hadn’t had much of the protection and care that she deserved.

Which pissed me off.

And reminded me of my nonna and even my mother.

But especially Nonna.

My grandmother was the toughest woman I’d ever met, but also the kindest, and Alex reminded me of her.

And like Alex, Nonna had never had anyone take care of her. I’d sworn I would, but she had died before I’d had the means to keep that promise.

Fortunately, due to stubbornness and more than my fair share of luck, money wasn’t problem anymore. And every instinct I had, the same instincts that had carried me this far, demanded that I take care of Alex.

Assuming, of course, that she would let me.

I stutter-stepped at that thought.

Alex giving in.

Not fucking likely. She’d fought me every step of the way, and even though she’d never said anything, I knew she thought she didn’t deserve to be cared for.

I just wished I knew why.

But maybe it would have been better if I didn’t, because if I found the person responsible for making Alex feel like she was unworthy, there was no limit to what I would do.

For now, I was content to nurture the trust that was growing between us and show her, in big ways and small, that she deserved the world.

It was a tough fight, but even though she tried to pretend, I saw how much she liked and appreciated it when I did things for her.

Two nights ago had been a perfect example. She had almost burst out in tears when I’d bought her a new stack of legal pads. I’d brought them to her office when I came to walk her home because the day before she’d mentioned she was running low and hadn’t had a chance to get new ones.

It had been nothing for me to grab some of her favorite brand—recycled paper, white, wide ruled, never yellow—because I knew how busy she was, but her gratitude, and her shock, had made me that much more determined to see that she was taken care of.

Thinking about Alex made my workout pass in a blink. I gave the bag one last kick to punctuate the point, and then I showered, dressed, and headed to Beau’s office.

“You should buy the building,” I said to Beau when he stepped off the elevator wearing ratty jeans and what had to be a ten-year-old T-shirt.

“We’re a startup, Noah. Can’t afford it,” he said.

“Are you taking on investors?” I asked as we exited the lobby.

“You looking to buy in?” he asked.

I laughed. “Business with the Wilders? I’ll pass,” I said, shoving him with my shoulder.

Beau shrugged. “Whatever you say. But thanks for saving me from having to turn your ass down. Now I guess I’ll have to worry about you buying the building and becoming my landlord,” he said.

I looked at him out of the corner of my eye as we walked and looked down the block. “I just might do that. It’s a good property. And given its location, if demand for office space plummets, it’ll be easy enough to convert to housing. As close to a no-lose as you can get.”

He laughed. “Listen to you. Talking shop like a true Wilder. You claim you’re not one of us, but I don’t know, Noah.”

He slapped me on my shoulder companionably, and we continued down the block, not talking but with no lingering discomfort.

That was something I appreciated about Beau.

The issue of my parentage was touchy, one that most people wouldn’t touch.

Not Beau.

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