Page 2 of Her Billionaire Hero
Before we even got out of the car, three men came out a side door of the ranch house and headed toward us. “Hi there, cousins,” the tallest of them called out. “Welcome to Whisper Ranch.”
“They seem nice,” Warner said as we got out. “Hi there. I’m Warner Nash.” He extended his hand.
But the tall guy pushed it to the side, then hugged him. “Tyrell Gentry, Warner. And family hug.”
“Jasper,” the man right behind him said as he took me in for a hug.
Laughing at how nervous I’d been before, I hugged him back. “Nice to meet you, Jasper. I’m Baldwyn.”
Patton came around the front of the car, then was hugged by the last brother.
“I’m Cash.”
Hugging the man back, my brother smiled. “Patton.”
Stone and Cohen stood there, as if waiting for their turns to get hugged. Cash and Jasper grabbed them up as I introduced them.
“Come on inside the house. We’ve got some sweet tea ready.” Tyrell led us inside.
We entered a small alcove with a coatrack full of raincoats and cowboy hats. It was the only stick of furniture in the small space. Wonderful smells wafted through the air as we headed toward what seemed to be the kitchen.
“It smells good in here,” I said. “You guys have an awesome place.”
“Thanks,” Cash said. “We do like it here.”
Passing the kitchen, Tyrell led us to a dining area where more than just iced tea waited on a side table. Several platters of finger foods sat along each side of the large dispenser of tea. Jasper gestured to the serving table. “Help yourselves, gentlemen.” He grabbed a glass of ice and filled it up with tea then took a small plate and began filling it. “We had lunch a couple of hours ago, but I’ve got room for more.”
None of us could pass up the food and we all loaded our plates before taking seats at the long table. “Thanks, guys.” I held up my glass. “And here’s to finding long-lost relatives. May all our future years be happy ones.”
“Cheers,” everyone said as we clanked our glasses.
“How was the trip in from Houston?” Jasper asked.
An hour of light chit-chat followed, making us all a lot more comfortable with each other. It wasn’t until now that the time felt right to bring up our business idea.
So, I went for it. “Our Uncle Rob told us that you boys are looking to make some investments.”
“We are,” Tyrell confirmed. “But before you go any further, let me tell you that we’re not going to be handing money out for just anything. We all must agree on the investment. And I’ll let you know right now that we rarely agree on much.”
Shit.
Shrugging, I knew I had to accept a negative response if they gave us one. “Let’s hope you can see the big picture of what we’re proposing here.” Looking at Warner, I began to give our credentials. “Between Warner, myself, and Cohen, we’ve got a couple of master’s degrees in business and a bachelor’s. Stone has a degree in culinary arts and Patton’s got one in interior design. We’ve all been working in the hospitality industry for years now. There’s well over a decade of experience between us.”
Jasper held up a finger to stop me. “So, your business idea has something to do with the hospitality industry then?”
“It does,” Warner answered. “We’re interested in the Austin area.”
Stone took over. “The diversity in the capital city is why we’ve chosen that area.”
Cash nodded. “There are a lot of people there. But there are a lot of businesses there for you to compete with. What gives your idea the edge it’ll need to take some business away from some of the other ones?”
Cohen said, “First, you should know that our idea is a resort and spa.”
Carefully, I pulled the short version of our business plan out of my briefcase and handed it to Tyrell. “Here’s the business plan. The basics. We do have a detailed plan as well. But it’s a hundred and seventy-five pages long, so I thought we’d start with this.”
Tyrell looked it over, then handed it to Cash who sat next to him.
Cash took a few more minutes to check it out than his older brother had, before passing it to Jasper.
