Page 57 of Blame It on the Bikini
He couldn't stop himself from looking over at Lexie. She met his gaze and gave him a happy smile, and he felt that same warm feeling of joy run through his body. They'd started out as enemies, but she didn't feel like his enemy. Nor did she feel exactly like his friend, not after the way they'd kissed each other. But what did that make them?
Her smile faded, and she gave him a questioning look. "Are you okay? Are you tired of driving? I'm happy to take over."
"No, I'm good. I was just thinking about something else."
"Something that put a frown on your face. What was it?"
He definitely could not tell her, so he settled on a half-truth and told her what he'd been thinking before he'd looked at her. "I've been so busy the last few years I haven't taken time to do things like this."
"Well, it's good that you're going now. But for me, it's also a job, not just a look around."
"I know. I didn't mean it that way. I don't want you to think I'm not taking your work seriously."
"I don't think that. You're actually surprisingly supportive."
"Why surprisingly?"
"I don't know. Because you thrive on business and dealmaking and love the kind of corporate world I left."
"It might not have been right for you, but that doesn't mean it's not right for me."
"Do you love what you do?" she asked curiously.
"For the most part."
"And the other part?"
"Well, it is work," he said. "Does anyone love everything about their job?"
"You're right. Work has its ups and downs. But you do seem particularly driven, and you've admitted as much to me. Is it about proving something to your dad? To yourself? Or is it just about making the most money you could possibly make?"
"It's all of that. I don't want anyone to think I'm running the company because I was born into it. I want to have the same respect my father had and perhaps even more. I want to grow the company. I want it to be even better than it has been."
"Why does it have to be better?" she challenged.
His frown returned. "I don't know. Because it does. Everyone wants to make their mark. I'm sure you're not aiming to take less-than-amazing photographs. You want yours to be better than everyone else's."
"I don't think of it that way. I want the pictures to be good, but mostly I want them to be a representation of how I see the world. I want to expose people to places they've never seen. But I don't think about being the best photographer in the world. I just want to be really good at what I do."
"So do I."
"But you also want to be better than your dad." She gave him a smile of understanding. "I actually understand that, Grayson, because I had that feeling when I worked with my father. I felt a pressure to prove to him that I was worthy of following in his footsteps. But the truth is, I wasn't as good as him, because I didn't love it as much as he did. I know it's different for you, because you enjoy what you do. But maybe…" She paused for a moment, then said, "Maybe what's most important is that you make the company yours when you take it over. That could mean bigger and better, or maybe it means you take a turn in direction. You do what you want to do. That's really what you've been working for. The opportunity to call your own shots. When your father retires and you're fully in charge, you should be running a company that you're proud of, whether it's one your father would have wanted to run or not."
He gave her a thoughtful look before turning his gaze back to the road. Her words echoed around in his head for a long minute. "You're right. I wasn't looking at it that way, but I should because my father and I are different people."
"If he respects you enough to hand over his company to you, he'll respect whatever you do after that."
"I'm not completely sure that's true. He has trouble giving up control. He tells me another year, and he'll be done. But I don't know if that year will turn into two or three."
"Would you ever think about starting your own company?"
"I would," he admitted. "It has crossed my mind, especially when my father annoys me with odd requests."
"Like living at Ocean Shores for a month?"
"Exactly." He gave her another quick look. "But I'm not mad about that anymore."
"Why not?"
