Page 94 of Tender Offer
“Me and you,” I repeat. My voice is raw in a fight to cling to this moment. To us. “I love you.”
“I’ve always loved you, Puff.”
Chapter 46
Preston
“Have you considered staying out here for the summer?”
“You planning on keeping my auntie across the pond?”
I grin. “Is that a serious question?”
Jewel and I have kept every one of our check-ins since the day we met. Our video calls are a highlight, outside of spending time with her aunt, who she assumes is heading back to New York. Having Jewel here would be a win-win. She mentioned London-based groups who advocate against environmental racism and the impacts of climate change on low-income communities.
“Sure you don’t want to reconsider? I know a guy with free housing…”
“I know a guy.Don’t try too hard to sound like us,” she jabs with a snort.
“I spent many years at boarding school outside New York. I don’t try, I am,” I wink.
Jewel sits up from what has to be the largest bean bag I’ve ever seen. “Did you go to school over here because of your mama?”
And to get away from my father.
I nod and clear my throat. “My mother died after childbirth during one of my father’s work trips. Environmental conservation was her passion. I picked it up and donate to the same charities. But I want to do more.”
“Great-Mawmaw lived in St. James Parish—part of what we call ‘Cancer Alley’—until she moved in with us because of respiratory issues,” Jewel explains about the former matriarch of her family. “I loved every minute growing up with her as a kid, and I assumed she moved because she wanted to be closer. Not because of cancer.”
She wipes away a tear. “Many people are living out death sentences in frontline communities because of fossil fuel plants stationed near neighborhoods that look like us. Regulation is a joke, which is why it’s no surprise Louisiana is one of the top carbon-producing states. This is why I fight, Preston. Because billionaires inflict harm. They donate to charities and pat themselves on the back with one hand and receive tax breaks in the other. We’ve normalized their existence at the expense of ours.”
Hearing Jewel weaponize her pain for the greater good stirs at my chest. She’s among countless young activists, unashamed and unafraid to challenge the status quo.
I’m not directly responsible for her great-grandmother’s death, but I benefit from the same systems as the people who are.
“You once asked me what more you can do,” she says, the window of vulnerability now shut behind stoic eyes underneath a hoodie of curls. “Your efforts are commendable, but you understand billionaires and equity can’t coexist.”
“I do.”
A slight smile peeks out. “My answer to you would be to take yourself out of the equation. The fewer billionaires this world has, the better off we’ll be.”
My sigh carries through the corner office I inherited from my father. Financial stability isn’t in question, ultra-wealth is.
“Anything else?” My question earns a chuckle. Jewel knows, as I do, that untethering myself from my legacy won’t happen overnight.
“Yeah, Richie Rich.” She smiles. “Keep loving my auntie the way you are.”
“I intend to.”
For the rest of my life.
“I told you to take them off.”
Madison squirms in my lap, inviting my dick to prod the cotton material that separates us. I groan and cup her breasts over her shirt when she rolls her hips. “Don’t play with me, Puff.” I nip her neck.
The look she aims over her shoulder is all I need to lift her, unzip my trousers, and sit her on the rod she wants to tease so badly. Granted, I did pull her into my lap to share the lunch we ordered, but I was the perfect gentleman. Until she bounced on me reaching for the soy sauce as if she didn’t know what she was doing.
“Coat my dick, baby. Fuck.” My fingers dig into the skirt bunched at her hips.
