Page 127 of Reckless Harmony

“I just finished setting up my laptop, and I’m glad you’re here,” she said.

“Yeah?” Isaac’s uncertain smile was kind of adorable.

“Yeah,” she said. “In fact, I was about to text you.”

The uncertainty in his face fled, and he leaned down to kiss her. “Of course you were. I’m great.”

She laughed and gave him a gentle poke in the stomach before opening the bag of food.

“I got two orders of the lasagna. Hopefully, you don’t hate Nan’s lasagna.”

“One, everything Nan cooks at the diner is delicious, and two, who could hate pasta? I work out so much because of my love of pasta,” Rayna said.

He pressed a kiss against her neck. “Samesies.”

She laughed again before nudging him toward the silverware drawer. “You set the table, and I’ll open a bottle of wine. Sound good?”

He pulled her close, giving her another sweet kiss before breaking into a smile. “Sounds perfect.”

“Do you want to talk about your dad?” Rayna asked.

A small smile crossed Isaac’s face, and he pushed his empty plate away before sipping at his wine. “I love how blunt you are.”

“That’s good because it’s an integral part of my personality,” she said with a grin. “I didn’t bring it up over dinner because I didn’t want to ruin our appetites, but I am happy to listen if you need to talk.”

He ran his finger around the rim of his wine glass, studying the liquid. “I haven’t decided if I’ll give him the money.”

“It’s okay if you don’t. You know that right?” she said.

“I do,” he said, “but I appreciate you saying it.”

She sipped at her wine as Isaac continued to stare at his glass. “But he’s right in that a lot of good people will lose their jobs if I don’t help.”

She stayed quiet but reached for his hand, linking their fingers together as he gave her a brief smile. “But his fuck-up isn’t my responsibility, is it?”

“No,” she said. “It’s not.”

“I don’t want other people to suffer because of his bullheadedness and stupidity, but I don’t want to deal with him again,” he said. “Investing in his company means being a part of his life, and I don’t want that. I know that makes me selfish, but -”

“It doesn’t,” she said. “Setting boundaries doesn’t make you selfish, Isaac. Besides, you have no idea if investing in his company will do anything beyond keeping them afloat for another three months.”

“I looked into this Jaxon Miller guy,” Isaac said. “Turns out, he’s a rising star in the gaming community. He was working for a small gaming company in New Cassel before he joined Dad’s company. They released a few games he developed that did well enough to win them some awards. I talked to Lucas about him, and he said he met him at a conference about six months ago. He impressed Lucas, and Lucas tried to get him to send in a resume to Stark Entertainment, but the kid declined.”

“So, what your father said was true,” Rayna said. “He could be the key to turning their company around.”

“Possibly,” Isaac said.

Rayna squeezed his hand. “Could you help your father’s company without investing?”

“What do you mean?”

“If you don’t care about getting the money back, you could give him the money as a gift instead of an investment,” Rayna said. “You’d help his employees without being sucked back into your father’s orbit.”

Isaac stared silently at her, and she blushed before standing and clearing the dinner dishes off the table. “Sorry, that’s a stupid idea. Obviously, you would want your money back. I really shouldn’t give financial advice of any kind. I still can’t even get my damn accountant to meet with me to go over the rescue finances and - oh!”

Isaac had moved silently behind her, his big hands cupping her hips and turning her to face him. Before she could say anything, he kissed her hard on the mouth, stealing her breath and skyrocketing her pulse.

He pulled back and grinned at her. “You’re fucking brilliant, Rayna Abrams.”

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