The Billionaire's Marriage Proposal (Billionaire Bachelors #4)(9)
He was also realizing he couldn’t continue to punish his father for something out of his control. Seeing the pain in his dad’s eyes hurt him. Trenton shook his head, trying to clear the depressing thoughts.
He gathered his belongings and headed out. He wasn’t in the mood to be alone so he called his brother, who luckily was in town, and they met for a beer and some talking. It lifted his spirits up.
“How are you settling in the rainy city of Seattle?” Max asked.
“It’s not as bad as I thought it would be, but there’s no way I’m admitting that to the old man,” Trenton said.
“Am I detecting you’ve already met some local ladies?” Max teased him with a waggle of his brows.
“Well, there’s a smorgasbord of women to be feasted upon,” he said, but his mind was only on one particular woman.
“Yeah, but I sure wish our father would’ve gotten the idea to move somewhere warm like California or Florida. The women wear far less clothes there,” Max said with a laugh.
“I agree,” Trenton said, but without his usual emphasis. He was starting to feel empty escorting different women every night. He was thinking a longer relationship may be interesting, especially if the woman didn’t bore him. He had a feeling Jennifer wasn’t boring.
“Where did you go?” Max asked.
“Sorry, it was a long day at the office. When are you taking off?”
“I need to go up to Alaska next month. I’ll be up there off and on over the next year. We finished that facility and you know I like to check on things first hand. Seattle feels like the freaking tropics compared to the weather up there.”
“You can always make snow angels,” Trenton laughed.
“No thank you, not when it’s like fifty degrees below freezing on the average day. I’m amazed at how many people actually want to spend months on end up there,” Max said.
“You know how scientists are, they don’t need another person around, just a microscope,” Trenton said.
“Hey, I majored in biology for my bachelor’s so no need to be dissing. Besides, you know the smart girls tend to repress a lot, and when they let go, they really let go,” Max said with a leer.
“Sounds as if you may have intimate knowledge of that,” Trenton teased.
“I’m stuck in some pretty remote locations at times,” Max said.
The two of them continued to banter about their choice in companions, and without even realizing they were doing it, reverted back to the easy camaraderie of years ago.
Chapter Three
Jennifer pulled up to the large home, feeling awed. It was quite a ways outside of the Seattle city limits and she’d almost got lost a few times on her drive. Coming down the long driveway, she almost turned around, thinking she had to have taken a wrong turn.
She finally made it to the home and sat in her car, feeling intimidated. Her little Honda, which was a perfectly good car, seemed like it was completely out of place when surrounded by the other luxury vehicles.
Molly was bouncing in her seat, waiting for Jennifer to get her out of the car. Her niece’s shout finally snapped her out of her stunned silence and she slowly climbed from the vehicle. She shook off her nervousness, feeling ridiculous for being intimidated.
“Auntie, I want out,” her niece shouted, losing patience at being stuck in her booster seat for so long.
“I’m sorry, baby,” she offered and quickly unstrapped her. Molly tried to take off up the stairs, but Jennifer grabbed ahold of her hand and walked slowly to the top of the steps and rang the doorbell.
“Good afternoon,” a woman said. “You must be here for the party, go straight through the house and out the back door.”
“Thank you,” Jennifer replied and had to jog to keep up with Molly as she took off in the direction of the back yard.
“You made it. I’m so glad,” Emily said, as they stepped through the doorway.
“Thank you for inviting us,” Jennifer told her.
“I adore Molly, she’s a great kid. I forgot to tell you to bring a swim suit for her but we have plenty of extra swim attire. If you don’t mind, she can get changed with Tassia and get in the pool with the other kids,” Emily said.
“That sounds great. Do you have extra life jackets?”
“Yes, of course we do - also the guys are taking turns, two at a time, being life-guards so there isn’t any chance the kids can get hurt,” Emily reassured her. “I have extra swimsuits for adults, too, so why don’t you change as well. It’s a very rare, warm day, and if you don’t want to brave the pool with the kids, you can enjoy the hot tub.”
“Thank you, that sounds nice,” Jennifer said. She quickly changed and it didn’t take long for her to start enjoying the party. She’d never before met such a wealthy family who were so down to earth.
“I hope you’re enjoying yourself,” George said as she sat down to eat something.
“I’m having a wonderful time. I can’t believe how many people are here,” she told him.
“I’ve missed being here. Family is so important. I lost my wife a few years ago, and disappeared for a while, but it feels good to be home, again,” he told her.
“I’m sorry about your loss. I didn’t know,” Jennifer told him, feeling empathy.