Total pages in book: 21
Estimated words: 20048 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 100(@200wpm)___ 80(@250wpm)___ 67(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 20048 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 100(@200wpm)___ 80(@250wpm)___ 67(@300wpm)
“So this is the friend you had dinner with?” She gives me the dirtiest look I’ve ever seen. It shifts to pain in her eyes, and I want to just take her away and tell her that she has nothing to worry about ever. “No, beautiful. He’s right behind you.”
“Hello, Autumn. I’m sorry, but my bratty sister is up to no good again. If you’ll excuse me.” He walks around all of us and over to the table to a smiling Caroline, who waves at us. I could choke that bitch.
“Beautiful, you’re going to listen to me and you’re going to listen to me good. We’re not going to have this misunderstanding. After you canceled on me, Matthew called and wanted to have dinner. I agreed because there were things we had to discuss, including his dumbass sister. Shortly after we sat down for dinner, he had a call that came in for him. When he left that shrew showed up; not two minutes after she did, you walked in. I already told her to leave, and she told me not to make a scene in front of everybody. Now if you’d like, I’d make a scene and carry your pretty ass out of here.”
“That won’t be necessary,” her father says. “Why don’t we all just sit down for dinner together?”
“I’d like that a lot as long as that little witch is not there,” Elle says, cocking her brow with her arms crossed. Autumn’s sister is hilariously bold.
“Of course, I don’t even like that girl. She’s manipulative and rude.”
I took Autumn’s hand and led her to the large table next to us, and we all took a seat. Luckily, the restaurant isn’t as busy right now. “By the way, I’m Owen Monroe.”
“Wait, you are Owen Monroe? As in the Monroe Corporation?” Mr. Sager asks.
“Yes. Is that a problem?”
“You bought Sager Orchard. My family orchard,” Mr. Sager says. The dawning of where I had heard the name finally struck me.
“I had no idea. I’d been so worked up over getting things together I hadn’t looked into the details yet.”
“You’ve had the orchard for four months.” It had gone on the market once he had gotten out of the hospital and had the mental capacity to handle the sale. After all the legal wrangling, my family company acquired it, and it was given to me.
“I haven’t had it that long; the family company has. My father made the transactions before handing them over for me to run. He knew that Matthew and I were friends, so when the property became available in the area, Matthew mentioned it, and it was an investment for me.”
“Investment?” Autumn asks. I’m about to elaborate when Matthew returns to the table.
“Yes, Matthew, are you going to join us?”
“No, I’m taking my sister home. Will you excuse me? Sorry about this evening.” He looks directly at me and says, “And as for what we discussed, you’re making the right decision.”
“I thought so.” They all stare at us and then attempt to look busy. Our waitress approaches and we order drinks.
“So you’re the one building the massive property at the other end of the orchard,” Elle says.
“Yes, it should be done next month. I want it ready soon even though I’m not sure when I’ll be moving in. They told me I can stay in one of the smaller bedrooms right now, but it’s not finished.”
“We were supposed to be meeting to discuss the ideas you had and my methods,” Mr. Sager says.
“Yes, I wanted to pick your brain if you were feeling up to it, Mr. Sager. Although I don’t have experience in apple farming, I spent a great deal of time on my grandfather’s farm as a child and then my father raised me to run his company before I went off to the service.”
“Wow, you’ve done a lot in your years. How old are you?”
“Twenty-eight, almost twenty-nine.”
“Dang, you’re old,” Elle says. Autumn kicks her, but misses and hits my calf. I let out a little grunt, and she turned completely bright red.
“Oh gosh, I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry. You were defending my honor. Your sister’s only pointing it out because I’m interested in you. I didn’t realize how young you were when I saw you this morning.” I give her an apologetic frown because I wish there wasn’t such a large age gap.
“So now you think I’m too young.”
“No, we’ll figure things out. I’ve already learned more about you in the past twelve hours than I’ve learned about people in months. Besides, once I make up my mind about something, I don’t change it.” I smile at her, unwilling to waver.
“You have no shame in flirting with my sister.”
“I’m not flirting, Ms. Noelle. I’m stating the obvious.”
I lean over the table, stare at Autumn, and say, “When I part those lips and taste the apple from this afternoon, you’ll know I’m flirting.”