Page 46 of Billionaire Unforgettable: Tanner

It made sense for Tanner to have the jet, and to be comfortable while he was traveling, but it was stunning to realize just how much outrageous wealth he actually had now.

Yes, he’d been wealthy by the end of our relationship, but he hadn’t spent much of that money, and they’d put a lot back into their business at the time to keep gobbling up more assets.

He’d still been busy trying to conquer the world.

“I don’t travel as much as I used to,” Tanner said as he took the seat next to mine. “But when I do travel, it’s nice to get to where I’m going feeling rested.”

“No more jet lag?” I asked.

Tanner had battled with jet lag from traveling internationally, so I knew exactly what he was talking about. He’d never slept well on a commercial plane, so he always drank a lot of coffee to compensate for his lack of sleep.

“Not anymore,” he said drily. “It’s hard not to sleep in a dark bedroom with a comfortable bed, and I eventually got used to switching time zones.”

“Are you still acquiring new companies?” I asked, genuinely interested in how much KTD had grown.

“Yes,” he affirmed. “But not like we did at the beginning. We have to have some personal interest in a company. We’re the parent company for a lot of very valuable businesses now. That keeps us busy, and at some point, you have to stop acquiring businesses and focus on and perfect the ones that are already huge producers. We’re picky about what we acquire these days. KTD is a mature holding company now. We don’t need to pick up every company available and make them into huge, moneymaking corporations. Life and work has changed for me, Hannah. I still work hard, but I’m not willing to sleep in my office anymore. Losing our father changed things for all of us. I think we realized that the only thing in our life was KTD. We all had a lot of regrets about not spending more time with my father while he was still with us. Granted, there was no way of knowing what would happen to him, but I think we all had to face the fact that none of us are going to live forever. Neither are our loved ones. It was time for us to step back and realize that we only have so much time, and we want to be able to say that we don’t have any regrets. Mom will never admit it, but she needed us after our father died, and we’re always going to be there for her.”

I reached out instinctively and took his hand. “I get that. I feel the same way about my own mother. She’d never admit that she needed me here, either, but I think that heart attack scared her. I know it scared the shit out of me. I guess it’s just hard to imagineyou living a quieter life. You always needed more hours in the day for KTD.”

He squeezed my hand. “Actually, I didn’t. I just didn’t realize it back then. We didn’t need to build KTD at a breakneck pace like we did. I think success got to all of us, and we lost our minds. I don’t think any of us were prepared for that kind of success, and we got caught up in that. KTD could have become successful at a slower pace, but we were all too bullheaded to realize what we were sacrificing at the time.”

I was finally willing to admit that it seemed that Tannerhadchanged.

Just like me, he’d grown up while I was out of his life.

He’d actually left work a little early to pick me up today, and judging by his frequent appearances to take me places, he wasn’t obsessing over KTD.

He or one of his brothers stopped by the ranch to check on Millie every single day.

Honestly, it was a miracle that he was taking me to Helena for the weekend because he was visiting an old friend.

That wouldn’t have happened after his business had started to grow at a crazy pace.

He seemed…settled and at peace with who he was now.

He was comfortable with his outrageous wealth, and he didn’t seem like that money ruled his life.

Tanner drove a luxury SUV, and he had the perks of his wealth like this crazy, extravagant private jet, but he didn’t have as many toys as some billionaires.

The house I’d helped him plan was large with some features that most people couldn’t afford, but it wasn’t an opulent mansion dipped in gold.

Nobody that met Tanner in person would know that he was extraordinarily wealthy.

He was a nice guy who didn’t mind getting his hands dirty to help a neighbor who needed him.

Suddenly realizing that I still had a tight grip on Tanner’s hand, I immediately started to pull back, but he held on tighter, and I simply relaxed.

Even though I was starting to crave this kind of closeness with Tanner, it was still dangerous, but I decided to just trust my instincts.

“How long will you be tied up with the wedding tomorrow?” Tanner asked casually.

“All morning and afternoon,” I explained. “I can’t leave until the bride is ready to walk down the aisle, and I’m doing makeup and hair for her maid of honor and two bridesmaids. It’s an important family, and they’re paying me a fortune to be there. It was a referral from a wedding I did in Washington. I’m hoping it might get me more business here in Montana.”

“If you had contractors in Helena, you could be managing this wedding from Crystal Fork,” he said lightly. “Have you thought about my partnership offer at all?”

“You just said that you’re picky about acquisitions,” I teased.

“It wasn’t a business proposition or a proposed offer from KTD,” he said huskily. “You wouldn’t be partnering with KTD. You’d be partnering with me. It was a personal offer.”

---