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“Jesus, Aiden. You can’t just—”
“I can,” I assured him.
I started to think about what Skye had said about people always telling her what to do, and I could relate.
“Somehow, I can’t see you lying on the beach with a beer for very long,” Seth warned.
“Neither can I, which is why I’ll be working on my own company. I’ll start in my home office and see where it goes.”
“What’s your plan?” Seth asked.
“I want to amass one of the biggest seafood-supply companies in the world. I want to build a fishing empire. What I can’t get myself, off the boats I plan to launch here, I’ll source from fishermen around the world. I have a ton of contacts. And I want it all to be done with sustainable fishing. I’ll use the guys who do it the right way. No more bycatches.”
Even though I’d always loved fishing, there was too much waste and too many species that were caught and killed without being our targeted catch. If my grandkids were going to be able to still get protein from the oceans, there needed to be more responsible fishing.
“You seem to have it all figured out,” Seth said flatly.
I nodded. “I’ve been thinking about it for a while.”
I could provide a ton of jobs in Citrus Beach, and I could also do fishing the way it should be.
Not that I planned on going out again for long-ass trips. I could find great captains and crews to man the boats.
Building up the name would take a lot of work, but I was up for the challenge. In fact, I knew I’d relish it.
“If that’s what makes you happy, I think you should do it,” Seth said grudgingly. “But maybe we could swap your part of this business for half of your fishing empire. I’d like a piece of it. I could run Sinclair Properties, and you could build your business. But we’d be partners in both businesses.”
“I’d have to think about it,” I said in a noncommittal tone.
“You’re still pissed?” he said, astonished.
“Not really,” I shared. “Busting your face and watching you bleed helped.”
“That’s cold,” he shot back.
“You don’t exactly give me a warm, fuzzy feeling right now,” I rumbled. “What you did was stupid. And it caused Skye a lot of pain she didn’t deserve.”
“Agreed,” he said in a hoarse voice. “If I could go back and change it, I would. But I can’t change the past.”
“I can’t either,” I conceded. “All I can do is work for a better future. Skye and I are going to get married.”
Okay. Yeah. I knew she hadn’t agreed yet. But she would.
He gave me a cautious look. “You want to get back with a woman who left you for another guy?”
“I told you. She had nowhere else to go,” I said, knowing it was the truth now. “And I never saw that damn letter.”
She’d thought I’d abandoned her.
So she’d had no choice.
“If it makes you happy, then I’m glad,” Seth said as he threw the tissues away.
His face was swollen, but the bleeding had stopped.
I nodded. “Thanks.”
“So when’s the wedding?”
“As soon as I can convince her to marry me.”
“She said no?” Seth questioned.
“The only thing she agreed to was moving into my house so I could get to know Maya.”
“You’re stubborn enough to convince her,” he said drily.
I stood up. “I hope so.”
“Where are you going?” Seth asked as he rose from his chair.
“Home,” I decided.
“I was hoping you might hang out and help me.”
Since I was used to never saying no when my family needed me, I asked, “What do you want help with?”
“We got a prime piece of real estate down by the water, but we can’t build. Some tree-hugging lawyer is having a fit because it’s the nesting place of some endangered bird species. The California least tern or something like that. She called early this morning. I have a feeling she’s going to be a pain in my ass.”
“Conservation is important. I think Jade would agree.” Our sister was a die-hard wildlife conservationist.
“Don’t tell Jade,” Seth requested with something that sounded an awful lot like panic. “She’d be all over my ass.”
“Maybe you could just make the land a sanctuary.”
Seth glared at me. “I bought the real estate to develop. It’s right on the water. I’m not willing to lose that kind of money.”
“I’d kick in. Those birds are at pathetic numbers.”
“Not. Happening,” he answered obstinately.
“Then good luck developing,” I told him as I strode toward the exit.
“Aiden,” he called.
I stopped as I reached the door to look back at Seth.
“You can’t stay mad at me forever.”
“I’m sure I’ll get over it.”
Time would be my friend. Eventually, the hell of listening to every bad thing that had happened to Skye would stop. Or at least I hoped it would get easier.
“I’ll miss you being here,” Seth confided.
“It was never really my thing,” I said, letting him off the hook. “But it’s always been your dream. Don’t give it up.”
“No way in hell,” he agreed.
“Give the tree hugger a break,” I suggested. “It isn’t going to hurt you that much to give up the property.”
“For a bunch of birds?” he said roughly. “Hell, no. We can just arrange to get them moved.”
I grinned because I couldn’t help it. “I think Eli will agree that it should end up a sanctuary, since he’s marrying Jade.”
“We’ll see,” Seth said ominously. “I don’t think he became one of the richest guys in the world by having a bleeding heart.”
Really, it didn’t matter how my soon-to-be brother-in-law had gotten rich before. Eli Stone was crazy about Jade, and he’d back her in a heartbeat. If my little sister got wind of the fact that there were rare birds that needed to be saved, Seth would never hear the end of it.
“Good luck getting Eli to back you up,” I said, still smirking as I walked out the door.
I was pretty sure that Eli Stone would rather go broke than make my little sister unhappy.
It was the primary reason I liked the guy so much.
CHAPTER 11
SKYE
I was surprised to see Aiden come through the door of his house a little more than an hour after he’d left. “You’re back early.”
I was seated at the breakfast bar with a cup of coffee, looking over ideas for the café. I watched as Aiden moved to the coffeepot and made himself a cup, too.
It wasn’t difficult for me to see that his right hand was swollen, since I loved to watch those capable hands do almost any task.
I stood up and walked over to him. “What in the world happened to your hand?”
I took his hand in mine as I examined it.
“No big deal,” he grumbled. “It just connected with Seth’s face. Well worth the pain.”
