Page 22 of Best Laid Plans

"Nova," he said.

"Mr. Larue, I just informed Miss Hyatt that Savannah Lace will not be able to work with Larue Homes after all."

He arched an eyebrow. "Explain."

I chuckled. "That's something your employee should do, don't you think?"

Anson blocked my way and looked at his fiancée, who looked dang uncomfortable.

"Ah…I made sure Nova signed a contract saying that she won't take anything from Larue Homes…as in steal." She winced when she saw Anson's eyes go cold.

"I had no problem signing such a contract," I smiled broadly. "But no way am I going to allow a security guard to pat me down on my way out of here. If this is how you work with partners, I'm afraid we're not the right fit for you."

Anger flashed in Anson's eyes. It looked like Bailey had taken some initiative herself, and he was pissed. He hadn't wanted this kind of confrontation right off the bat.

"Bailey, I think our guest must've misunderstood you," Anson bit out.

It took Bailey nearly thirty seconds to speak. "Ah, well, actually, yes," she tittered. "I was only joking, Nova."

I raised an eyebrow. "I didn’t find your joke amusing. Please refrain from making such comments again in the workplace. We’re a professional company, and we value working with partners who uphold the same high standards."

It was a direct hit because Anson's cheeks went red with anger, and Bailey went pale.

Well, dang! This might actually be fun.

"Also, Mr. Larue, may I request that the lilies be removed from the office? I'm so sorry to ask for this, but I'm severely allergic."

He knew I was allergic to most flowers, which was why I loved dahlias. They were beautiful and didn't make me sneeze. Or maybe he'd forgotten. I was just one more notch on his bedpost while he'd been my everything, the raft that kept me above water when my world was drowning.

Anson nodded at Bailey. "Can you remove the flower arrangement, Bailey?" And then he turned to me. "Please, take a seat. The team will be with you shortly. We're looking forward to your presentation."

"Thank you, Mr. Larue. I'll set up in the meantime."

I took a seat, my back to the Blue Ridge Mountains so that when I presented, I wouldn't have the sun in my eyes. I focused on the work at hand and not on how attractive Anson looked in a linen suit without a tie. It was what a lot of businessmen wore during the summer—a three-piece suit was untenable in the Georgian heat.

The blue of the suit made his eyes look even bluer, and his face, oh my, that beautiful face, carved by the gods when they had a shit ton of time, still took my breath away.

He may be an asshole, but that didn't make him any less handsome. Most people showed their personalities on their visages, like Bailey, who was pretty but looked like she had a stick up her ass. Or Nina, who exuded no-nonsense energy, but you could also see that she was someone who knew how to have fun. How you lived your life showed on your face. Bailey looked like she lived a miserable life, which was why there was no joy on her perfectly made-up face. Anson looked handsome, yes, but there was a hardness to him that spoke of difficult times in the past, and an expectation of more in the future.

Once, Katya had asked me what success meant to me. I'd told her that knowing who I was and living my life as honestly as I could by being myself was a success. I wanted my truth to be reflected on my face.

After I met Trevor, he pushed me to go to therapy to deal with what happened in Sentinel. After years of work, I could now say that I had recovered from the emotional onslaught of losing my family, Anson, and being attacked—all in a short period of time, when I was most vulnerable.

I was still in therapy, even though I wasn't in crisis any longer. It kept me grounded. My therapist would have a field day when I talked to her about seeing Anson again. There would be a lot to unpack, and I would be proud to tell her that I didn't crack, didn't break—I stayed faithful to the woman I had become, and didn't revert to the insecure girl I used to be.

Chapter 11

Anson

Iwatched her in awe.

She was super prepared for the meeting.

Bailey and Nova were the same age, but they were light years apart when it came to handling people and business in general. It was evident that Nova possessed a strong work ethic. I didn't know how she pulled it off, but she'd read pretty much everything we had sent to her, and asked critical and intelligent questions that forced me to think about new possibilities for Sentinel Heights.

"We recommend setting up a smart home so your homeowners can control their house from an app." Nova flipped slides to show exactly what she meant. "In San Antonio, for a similar luxury condo enclave, we worked with Secure Systems, a Savannah-based IT company."

"Is that Beau Bodine's company?" I asked, my jaw tightening. Was she involved with Beau? He was a manwhore and was known to have slept with most of the eligible female population in Georgia. And he was Emmett Bodine's son.

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