AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Her shocked expression confuses me. I’d love nothing more than to have her alone with zero distractions.
“We’d have to turn off our phones,” I say. “House rules. That place is for watching stars and enjoying nature.”
She sips her coffee, her cheeks turning light pink. Could her mind be as dirty as mine? When she mentioned pleasuring herself to my pictures, I was shocked in the best way. I wouldn’t have guessed she was the masturbating type. The secrets she keeps continue to surprise me.
“It’s a date, then.”
Her response pours through me like an Old Fashioned, smoky and sweet.
My phone vibrates in my pocket. I turn off the alarm I set for this exact reason. Sadie doesn’t know how distracting she is to me.
“Time to go.” I turn for the garage.
“You’ve got this,” she calls out in her sweet voice.
I pump my fist in the air and exit the house, ready to prove myself but nervous as fuck. Daire can be harsher than my dad at times. I would have waited until the baby is born. I’m certain he’d say yes to anything on that day. But now is the time. The product is ready, and my connections are eager and on board. Now is the time. I just have to convince Daire of that.
* * *
I stand at the end of the conference table, one room down from Daire’s office at the farm. It’s on the second floor of the store and café, where Everleigh and our other baker Millie create and sell the sweetest desserts ever.
The presentation went flawlessly. Daire seemed interested at first, then a barrage of texts kept dinging his phone and distracting him. The last one was followed by him leaving the room for a moment and making a call.
“What do you think?” I gesture to the bottle of Bourbon and printed projections of sales and growth.
It’s all in the presentation, but I want Daire to have something to sit on his desk, a tangible reminder of the product.
His phone dings again. I want to toss it from the room.
He reads the text and stands. “Today is not a good day for this.”
“Seriously?” I knew this would happen.
“I need time to go over this and at present, we have a situation with one of the pecan distributors. They’re claiming we didn’t ship the correct number of bags and—You don’t need to hear this. But I need to deal with it. Let’s revisit this later.” He walks to the door.
I follow. “When? Later today? Tomorrow?”
He pauses, already out the open door on his way to his office. “With all we have going on right now, I think after the new year would be better.”
No! “Daire.” I’m on his heels. “This is ready now. Everything is ready now. It’s the best time with the wedding venue and the inn. My investors could pull out of the deal if we wait until after the new year.”
He stops behind his desk and meets my gaze. “I’m sorry. It seems like you put a great deal of work into this, but with the construction, the baby, and everything else, it’s too much right now. I’m not saying never. Just wait a few months.”
“I’m not asking you to do anything. I’ll take care of it all; I already have. I just need your approval. Come on.” I shuffle into the room when he sits in his big black chair. “Give me a chance to prove I’m not who I used to be. I’m smart, Daire. I can do this and bring in even more revenue for the farm. It’ll be an expansion of what we already do.”
He raises his hand, his focus half on his phone, half on me. “An expansion we don’t need right now. The farm is more than lucrative for both of us. Keep doing what you’re doing, and we’ll revisit this in a few months.”
I barely do anything. I help wherever I can. He has me go over spreadsheets and numbers sometimes, which is why I join the workers and get my hands dirty on occasion. But it’s not enough for me to feel worthy. I guess that’s what this comes down to. Worthiness, self-respect, and the respect from an older brother who chooses not to take me seriously.
“If I were anyone else other than your brother, you wouldn’t be this dismissive.” I close the door and stomp down the stairs.
A few months, my ass. He’ll say the same thing then. It’ll be a merry-go-round of excuses that never lead to an approval. So much work went into this, and he treated it like I was a college dropout, taking the easy road through life.
If I’d have taken this anywhere else, to anyone else, they would have given me the respect and consideration I deserve. Hell, they would have bought it. Sadie is right. It’s a brilliant idea. Daire should have thanked me and congratulated me for doing something worthy for once. He should have been proud.
Chapter 16
Sadie
