The Ruthless Gentleman(24)

“A guy in his mid-sixties. He started the business nearly fifty years ago. He’s selling up and retiring.” I was probably telling her too much but I trusted her, trusted Landon to have vetted her.

“Oh wow. Fifty years. So he’s gotta find it tough to let go.”

I chuckled. “I’m not getting it for free. He’s going to retire a very rich man. He could live on one of these for the rest of his life and his kids are still never going to have to work again.”

She drew the edge of her thumbnail across the desk, dividing the space between us and I imagined her delicate wrists circled by my hands and pushed up over her head as I kissed her. “But that’s not it. If his company’s that successful, he probably could have sold a long time ago and never worked again, right?”

“Absolutely. He’s crazy to have waited until now.”

She nodded as if what I was saying completely made sense. “So that’s it then. He’s deliberately placing obstacles in the way of the sale. So he doesn’t have to let go.”

I sat forward, almost crossing the invisible line she’d created, and she lifted herself off the desk and stepped back. Was she concerned I was going to touch her? I could read women pretty well, and I was more than sure this attraction I was feeling was mutual.

“No one gets that successful without being driven by the performance of the business. Of course it’s about the money for him.”

“Is it all about the money for you?”

I took a breath. I wasn’t about to confess to Avery that it was important for me to be successful and for people to see me as such. I wasn’t about to tell her how I wanted my father to feel some sense of satisfaction from me building up a business more successful than Cannon. “I’m not sure I’m the right comparison. Most people in my business are driven by pounds and pence.” I wasn’t convinced by Avery’s theory. Greed was the guiding force in the City.

“I’m not saying that he will give his company away for free. But that money represents something for him. I bet you a hundred dollars that this is personal when you get down to it.”

“A hundred dollars, huh?” I grinned at her. I liked the way she stood behind what she was saying and didn’t back down.

I sat back in my chair. I’d heard rumors of several abandoned attempts at a sale over the years. Was it less about the cash and more about Harold not wanting to see his legacy belong to someone else?

“Yes, a hundred dollars. How would you feel if you’d built something up for fifty years and a perfect stranger was going to take it over? The people he works with are probably like family to him and then he’s got to decide what to do with all the time he normally devotes to his work.”

“It’s possible. But I’m not sure it helps. If he doesn’t want to let go, he doesn’t want to let go.”

“Really? So you just give up? I can’t imagine you made the kinda money you need to make to rent a yacht like this for eight weeks by just surrendering.”

I laughed. “You pretend you’re all sweetness and what-can-I-get-for-you but in fact, you’re actually kinda pushy. A fighter.”

She shrugged, trying to hold back a smile. “I have both sides to me. Most people don’t get to see beyond the sweet.”

For a long second we held each other’s eye, on the edge of acknowledging that she’d confessed I knew her better than most. I liked that I did. I liked her and both her sides.

She looked away first and backed toward the door. I stood and shoved my hands in my pockets.

“I think you might be on to something. I need to figure out how to get this guy comfortable with selling to me, and it’s not going to be about what’s in the legal documents.”

“Sounds like your brain rearranged. I hate to say I told you so but . . .” Her voice was higher, less conversational than before. Sweet Avery was back. “I should get back to it. Can I get you anything else?”

I shook my head, smiling at her, keeping my gaze fixed on her as she slipped out of the office. I wasn’t sure if it was because she was the only woman I’d been physically close to in weeks, but my cock was twitching, and I’d been seconds away from reaching for her. Sweet, funny, sexy and smart—Avery Walker had it all. And as much as I might not want to fuck her quickly, bent over my desk. I definitely wanted something more from her.





Twelve





Avery


“I owe you, Avery Walker,” Hayden said, turning from where he was leaning against the balustrade facing the sea. He grinned as the sliding doors of the main salon closed behind me.

“You do?” I set down his coffee on the side table near his usual lounger. I wasn’t quite sure what he meant but his British accent, softened a little by the sun and that wide grin, felt overfamiliar.

“You were right. He was getting jittery about letting go,” he said, striding toward me.

As he leaned to pick up his coffee, I caught his scent—a combination of ocean breeze and forest floor, clean and masculine.

“That’s so great,” I said, moving away from him, trying to keep my distance, trying not to notice how his face had bronzed in the sun and his hair was smattered with licks of gold. “It was just a suggestion.”

“It was a good one. Really good,” he said, looking me straight in the eye. My heart began to pound. Was he making a pass at me? No, this man was all business. He was clearly just grateful for me talking to him. Yes, that was definitely it.