AllFreeNovel
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“That T-shirt is obscene. Really, you think it’s okay to walk around wearing something that shows off your pecs like that? Not cool.”
“I wore it for you, baby,” I tease, putting a sleazy emphasis on the wordbaby. It makes her laugh.
“You thought you might tempt me with your chiseled abs, huh? Sorry, mate. No can do.” She tilts her head back and looks up at me. What I’d give to have those eyes looking up at me all the time... “I’m immune to muscles.”
“Technically my cock is a muscle—are you immune to that?”
The laughter that bursts out of her is so loud that she startles a poor old man who’s walking past. “I’mnotimmune to your sense of humour, it seems.”
“Eh, that doesn’t sound quite as manly as me having a magic dick, but I’ll take it.” God, I sound like a tool, but I love the playful banter. The fun. The fantasy.
When I’m with Presley, I feel like I’ve shrugged off all the bad shit in my life. She lightens me...makes me feel new.
“This is going to hurt, isn’t it?” she says, her voice small. “I mean, when you go home tonight.”
“I’ll stay until the morning.” I kiss the top of her head, totally avoiding the fact that I want to wrap my arms around her and never let go. “But yeah, it’s going to hurt.”
There’s no point being upset; we both know that. It’s bad timing, and when you add the baggage...
No relationship that started off like that wouldeverhave a chance. But a thought dawns on me—what if we give it time? What if we walk away temporarily—long enough for me to claim the CEO job and get settled in the role, long enough for her to find a house and get her life back in order? Longer for my family to forget the sharp pain of a failed wedding.
What if we gave it time and tried again? Would the magic still be there? I think it would be. And then I wouldn’t be breaking my rule of letting a relationship distract me, because I would already have what I wanted: control of my grandfather’s company. Once I’m in the CEO spot, that’ll be it, right? Foster & Co. forever.
Nothing to be distracted from achieving if I’ve already achieved my main goal.
“Maybe I’m being greedy, but I don’t feel like we’ve had enough time.” I smooth her hair back from her face and she sighs, her body leaning comfortably and heavily against mine. “We could change that.”
She stills, her body freezing up, and it feels more like I’m cradling petrified wood than a person. “What do you mean?”
“After I’m CEO, maybe we can meet up again...see if the spark is still here.”
Presley sits up, her hair tumbling over one shoulder. She looks like a fifties Hollywood starlet in her pretty blue dress and big sunglasses and sandals, but her mouth is set into a grim line.
“After you’re CEO,” she repeats.
“Well, yeah. I have to get control of the company first and then I’ll need time to win the board over.”
“And you can’t do that with your stepbrother’s almost-wife hanging on your arm,” she says bitterly.
“You know my family would lose it if they knew. Wouldn’t yours?”
She shakes her head. “I don’t know. Frankly, it doesn’t matter, because this isn’t happening.”
Now it’s my turn to be confused. “I thought you said a minute ago it would hurt to walk away. I agree, so I’m trying to think of a solution. What’s wrong with waiting until things settle down before we try to see if there’s something here?”
I wish she’d take off her sunglasses. It’s so hard to read her without those expressive silvery-blue eyes giving me information. Those beautiful, beautiful eyes.
“Iknowthere’s something here, Seb. I feel it in my bones every time I see you, no matter how much I try to tell myself that it’s a disaster waiting to happen. I don’t need to wait and see—I know.” She grabs the strawberry punnet and puts it back in the picnic basket. Then she reaches for the bread, then the half-eaten wheel of cheese. “For once in my life, I’d like to end up with someone who didn’t think of me second.That’swhy I need to give up on relationships.”
“Whoa. I’m not thinking of you second,” I retort. “I’m trying to be realistic about the situation we’re in. We’ve got enough baggage between us to fill theTitanic. It’s not possible to ignore that.”
“I understand that, but I also won’t play second fiddle to a company. I’m a person, okay? A real-life human being and I’m sick of men treating me like an afterthought. Or a means to an end.”
“You’re putting me in the same category ashim?” That stings.
“I am, because you’re chasing the same damn thing and neither of you wants it for the right reasons.”
Her words echo what my father said and my blood runs cold. “Iamdoing this for the right reasons. I’m trying to save this company. I’m trying to stop every effort my grandfather made from being turned to dust so that he’s forgotten like his life meant nothing.”
