Page 91 of Broken Dreams
“Well, thank you.”
I extend my hand. “Ready?”
She nods, and I focus on heading to the door and not the bed.
* * *
“Addison, my dear, you look absolutely stunning,” Mateo says as he approaches us.
“Mateo, you look very handsome yourself.”
He chuckles and then his wife appears next to him. “It was a lot of hard work getting him to look this good.”
Addy laughs and kisses Lily’s cheek. “You’ve done an exceptional job.”
“Thank you.” Lily beams and slaps her husband’s chest. “See.”
He rolls his eyes and looks to me. “See what I put up with? Once you put a ring on their finger, it’s over.”
We shake hands and then I wrap my arm around Addison’s back, hand resting on her hip. “Thankfully, Addy hasn’t had to do much work with me yet.”
“Yet,” Addy echoes.
Mateo grins. “It’ll come, trust me.”
“Well, hopefully I don’t have too much to do. He’s a pretty great guy as it is.”
Lily’s eyes glimmer. “So things are good with you both?”
Addison looks to me, a smile on her perfect red lips. “Definitely.”
“That’s great to hear. You can’t do better than Addison, other than my Lily. But Addy is truly a wonderful person.”
“I agree,” I say quickly. “She makes me want to be the man she deserves, that’s for sure.”
He nods. “Is that one of the reasons why you’ve been working so hard to secure the investment you need?”
“It is.” Her back stiffens just a little and if I wasn’t holding onto her, I probably wouldn’t have noticed it. I squeeze her hip just a little and she relaxes again. “When I moved Jett up here after his mother died, I promised him that I would do anything to give him a good life. That includes being able to provide for him—and any woman I’m building a life with.”
“Has Grady told you about the new investor he met?” she smoothly asks.
“A new one?”
“Well, he’s not an investor as much as it’s a security company that sees the value in the private standby service. They have parties, much like this, and clients they need to fly often. It’s just an idea we’re tossing around.”
Mateo nods, taking a sip of his whiskey, and I do the same. “I see. If you could keep things as your original plan, then what?”
“Then that would be my first choice.”
I feel a jolt of excitement because this is exactly what I want.
“Maybe when we return to Sugarloaf in two days, we can have a drink, talk a bit more about it? I talked to a few friends here and after the two hours of traffic they sat in yesterday, I think the idea is very appealing to them now.”
“That sounds great,” I say, keeping my voice even. “I’ll reach out on Monday.”
He inclines his head, then turns to Addison. “And I look forward to our meeting about the grant paperwork.”
“I can’t wait.”
