Page 39 of BillionHeir
“Sadly, no. But then Jenna had the bright idea to go into a grocery store. We paid a young mother twenty dollars to buy a bottle for us. Now that I think about it, I don’t really know why we didn’t just do that in the first place.”
“And what became of your not-so-dear friend, Tank?” Max asks.
“You know something? I don’t think I ever saw him again. I hope he found a lovely woman who wanted everything he was offering,” I say, giggling a little to myself as the memory floats through my mind once more.
“You have to hand it to the man,” Max says, thoughtfully.
“Do I?”
“Aw, come on. You can’t blame the man for trying to pick up a beautiful woman.”
“With no shirt on? In a dark apartment? While said beautiful woman stands on your doorstep?” My voice gets increasingly more shrill the more I list all the reasons why I was so incredibly uncomfortable with the whole scenario.
“Okay, fair enough. What should he have done?”
“To pick me up?” I ask, using his words.
Max nods.
“Perhaps he should have started with wearing a normal amount of clothing and some lighting that didn’t make me worry he was some kind of serial killer waiting for his prey.”
“So a man must be dressed in a well-lit room to make an advance?”
“At the very least,” I say, laughing.
Max chuckles to himself, the low timbre of his laugh sending chills down my spine.
We fall into a pleasant silence as we continue our walk. We are both seemingly lost in thought, but together. I never thought I would enjoy a man’s company as much as I am right here and now.
“I have always loved this place. I have been all over the world, but to me, there is something so untamed and wild about it. It soothes my stress and anxiety far more than picturesque views,” Max says, nearly echoing my thoughts from earlier as he looks ahead to where the waves crash against the rocky shoreline.
“I couldn’t agree more. This beach reminds me so much of home.”
“There has always been a loneliness here for me, too,” Max says quietly, no longer looking at our surroundings, but rather, directly at me. “But I think I can feel that starting to fade away.”
Rather than use my words to say something that would fall flat or sound meaningless, I do the only thing I can think to do when someone says they are lonely. The only thing I want when the feeling of aloneness overwhelms me.
I reach down and thread my fingers through his.
Chapter 15
_______________________
Maxwell
“You and I both know this is not going to work.”
“I have tried to get them to come down on the price, but they are not budging.”
When we returned from the beach, I needed to spend some time focusing on work. I thought that kissing her would be enough to stifle my growing attraction to her, but unfortunately, it has only made me want her more. I have spent the morning in my office trying to forget about the way her body felt pressed upagainst mine.
“I know Melvin Benton pretty well. He used to come to the annual Fourth of July party my family held every year. He is playing hardball, but he needs this buyout. Neither one of his good-for-nothing kids are capable of taking over the reins, and it is no secret that the man is getting up there in age. He is just trying to take as much of his money as possible with him when he retires. He knows we are interested and thinks he can negotiate a better deal. What he doesn’t know is that I am not my father, and we are not going to give in to his demands.”
I look at my father’s custom Rolex watch on my wrist to check the date and time. I have been out of the office so long I can barely remember what day of the week it is anymore. I see that it is Thursday, which plays right into my hand.
“Here is what you need to do,” I say to Ethan, confident that my plan will work. “Get Melvin on the phone and tell him that I have changed my mind. For the price he is asking, I am no longer interested in buying. I am a fickle man, after all. We will give him the weekend to stew on it. By Monday, I expect that we are going to be looking at a much more reasonable offer.”
“Are you sure?” Ethan asks, sounding dubious. “When we met last week, he told me that he had several offers on the table.”
