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“Sure. That’s believable.”
“I’m serious. I haven’t spoken to Bruin in years. I didn’t even know he had a sale. How the hell was I su
pposed to know he was the owner? And besides, why is that a bad thing? It’s always better to buy from someone you know, right?” he reasoned. I was losing patience at this point, even though he certainly did sound genuine.
“Well, clearly he wasn’t prepared to sell today, because I just walked in on him naked.”
There was a long pause.
“You… what?” Jeff asked, his voice small and quiet.
“Yeah. He was still onboard, in his stateroom, with some chick he clearly just finished fucking. I went into the room to take a look around and, well, I sure as hell did get a look,” I spat.
“Jesus. I’m sorry, Jill. That’s awkward.”
“You think?” I retorted.
“I’m dead serious, though. I had nothing to do with this. It’s the weirdest coincidence of all time, but it is a coincidence. I wouldn’t do that to you. I swear,” Jeff said earnestly.
I took a deep breath and ran my fingers back through my hair. “If you’re being honest with me, then okay. But you know I can’t go through with the sale now, right?”
“Jilly…”
“No,” I said firmly. “You cannot expect me to march back to him and ask to see the paperwork now. I just saw… everything, Jeff. Everything.” The image was seared into my mind.
“Please. I want the yacht. You saw it. The boat is pristine, isn’t it?”
I rolled my eyes and sighed, “Yes. She’s perfect.”
“I want it. I’ll be in Fort Lauderdale soon and I’ll look over the specs, but I want it.”
“Are you kidding me? Jeff, I love you and I know we’re all about ‘family first’, but I really don’t think I can face him after… that.”
“Look, if you go through with this, I’ll give you thirty percent.”
My jaw dropped. “Th-thirty?” The industry standard was ten percent. “Can you even afford that?”
“Yeah, sis. I can afford that. Business is booming. Dad taught me well.”
I groaned, rubbing my temples. Thirty percent?
“Fine,” I relented. “I’ll look into it.”
Seven
Bruin
Sitting in my office and staring out onto the water from the window, I might as well have been spending the work day throwing pencils at the ceiling.
I hadn’t been able to focus all day. No matter what piece of work I put in front of me on my laptop, regardless of whether it was urgent or meaningless, I just found myself bouncing work onto my long-distance employees all day. Even the couple of business calls I’d taken, I’d been just going through the motions.
And that wasn’t like me. Ever.
I had always taken a hands-on approach to everything in my life and my business. Ever since college, life had been one lesson after the next that the way to dive into business was to roll up your sleeves and take charge in a very personal way. I knew that when I started my app development company, and I knew that when our hard work paid off for me in millions.
But one look at Jillian, and I felt like I was in my freshman year of college again. My thoughts were scattered, I felt pent-up, and I wanted to do anything other than what was in front of me.
How could Jillian-fucking-Hargrove have this kind of effect on me?
