Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 85565 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 428(@200wpm)___ 342(@250wpm)___ 285(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85565 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 428(@200wpm)___ 342(@250wpm)___ 285(@300wpm)
“I’m counting on you, son.”
He hung up before I could even respond. I wanted to curse and throw my phone to the ground in frustration. Reality came crashing in, bringing with it a thunderous headache. This should have been an easy, run-of-the-mill business deal, yet somehow I’d let it get out of hand.
The solution was blindingly simple: offer more money until Sawyer’s uncles couldn’t say no and they overrode Sawyer’s objections. I’d learned early in my career that everyone had a price, that anyone was willing to sell their dreams if offered the right amount of cash.
Sawyer would be no exception. And hadn’t I just spent the entire afternoon pushing him in that direction? Making sure he had a fallback plan because I already knew where this was headed?
I turned and glanced through the large windows into the lobby. Sawyer sat at the table, hunched over a spread of paperwork, one pencil clenched between his teeth while another was tucked behind his ear. A lock of hair hung across his forehead, and I knew that even if I tried pushing it back, it wouldn’t stay. I knew that as well as I knew exactly what he would taste like if I pressed my lips to his. What he would sound like if I trailed my tongue down his neck and sucked at the hollow at the base of his throat.
I knew the feel of his sweat-slicked chest sliding over my back and the weight of his body on mine after sex. I knew the smell of him fresh from the shower, and the way his mouth curled just before he smiled.
Still, though, it wasn’t enough. Because there was so much more I wanted to know. I wanted to know what it felt like to hold hands strolling down the beach at sunset. I wanted to know what his favorite food was and if he preferred chocolate for dessert or fruit. I wanted to know what he was like on vacation, if he was a sit in the sand and read kind of guy or one that always had to be active.
I was falling for him. And it terrified me. I’d been broken up with Richard for months, and even before our breakup the distance had been growing between us. I was over him, but that still didn’t mean I was ready for someone new. I especially wasn’t ready for someone who had a lot of the same warning signs that Richard had: namely youth. Inexperience.
I wasn’t willing to waste another bunch of years waiting around for my partner to grow up and be ready to settle down and start a family. Time was ticking—had been ticking—for me for a while now. Judging by the business plans I’d been helping him draw up, Sawyer had big goals that would require all of his time and attention.
And of course all of that was skipping ahead a step or five hundred. I didn’t even know if Sawyer cared about me that way or he was interested in seeing if there could be something more between us.
Not to mention the fact that I was about to crush his dream of renovating and running the Sea Sprite. I didn’t have an option. Dick Sr. was my client, and I owed him a duty, both personally and professionally as his lawyer. If I failed him, if I somehow chose Sawyer over closing this deal, it would mean losing Dunning Capital as a client, which could mean losing my place at the firm. My career would implode.
Plus, I’d be letting Dick Sr. down. The man who’d given me a chance and entrusted me with his business. The man who depended on me and saw me as part of the family, even if I wasn’t dating his son any longer.
What if I gave all of that up for a chance at being with Sawyer, only to have him change his mind?
The reality was, I couldn’t choose Sawyer. I couldn’t take that risk.
I needed to close this deal, finish my due diligence, go home, move on, and forget about Sawyer.
With a heavy heart, I pulled out my phone and started drafting an email to Sawyer and his uncles, upping the amount of the offer and adding an additional million-dollar bonus if they agreed to the deal by 10:00 a.m. the next morning. I knew Sawyer would be furious and he would try to talk his uncles out of accepting, but I also knew his three uncles could, and likely would, override him.
My thumb hesitated over the Send button as I stared through the window at Sawyer. He would hate me when he found out. I had to accept that. But maybe it would make it easier to say goodbye and move on. Swallowing thickly, I sent the email.
I watched as Sawyer distractedly reached for his phone and frowned.