Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 83343 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 417(@200wpm)___ 333(@250wpm)___ 278(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83343 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 417(@200wpm)___ 333(@250wpm)___ 278(@300wpm)
“It’s good to be working with you. Would you have thought it would happen when I met you up a mountain, all those years ago?” he asks.
“Working with you isn’t surprising. Buying two- and three-bedroom new-builds in Cambridgeshire from you just isn’t how I thought it would happen.”
He chuckles and looks at the menu. “Yeah, me neither.”
“So have you abandoned Mayfair, the place where you made your name?”
“Not at all. This high-volume residential stuff is a bit of a hedge in case the London market tanks. I’ve got to see how it goes, but I’ve been thinking about setting up another division. High-quality housing on the outskirts of large villages. Small developments. No one else is doing it.”
“Makes sense to diversify.”
“Which is what you seem to be doing. Life in the English countryside suits you. You don’t miss New York?”
Honestly, I haven’t missed New York at all. “New York is still there,” I say.
Our waitress comes over and I’m slightly disappointed when she doesn’t make a menu recommendation, complete with nutritional insights.
“I’ll get a ginger beer,” I say. “And the Cobb salad.”
“Sounds good. I’ll have the same,” Beck says to our waitress.
“So you think you’ll settle here?” he asks. “You clearly like being in the UK.”
I laugh. “I don’t think I’ll settle anywhere. Here is good for now. I’m closer to my extended family, although I haven’t seen them as much as I wanted to. I’m going up in a couple of weeks though. I guess at some point, I’ll go back to New York. Or maybe I’ll spend some time in London. It depends on the next opportunity. Do you ever consider investing and developing in countries other than the UK?”
“Now we have kids—or a kid—I don’t want to be traveling. I want to see her grow up. I want to hang out with Stella when I’m not working. If we travel, I want us to travel as a family. I have a good life and I want to enjoy it. I wouldn’t rule it out in future, but I’m not looking for anything outside of the UK. Why? Did you have something in mind?”
I laugh. “It wasn’t a leading question, I just thought you must get opportunities farther afield, yet I know you’re firmly based in the UK.”
“Yeah, I dabbled in Dubai for a couple of years, but Stella hated it and didn’t want to travel with me. I don’t want to be anywhere she’s not.”
“Stella’s great.”
“She is. And has plenty of single friends if you want a set-up. She actually told me to tell you that. I don’t usually play matchmaker.”
“Thanks, man. I’m…I haven’t really been dating since I got here.”
“Doesn’t sound like you.”
“I mean, I haven’t taken a vow of celibacy or anything. I’ve just been…” I can’t say I’ve never gone this long without sex, but it’s difficult to remember a more celibate time in my life. “I’m actually working with someone who—”
“I have to stop you. I don’t know if you know this about Stella, but if I don’t tell her everything about my friends’ romantic lives, she’ll chop my balls off. So just imagine you’re talking to us both.”
I chuckle. “Nothing I’m going to say has to be kept from Stella. I actually wasn’t going to say much at all, other than I’ve never noticed how…attractive someone doing a good job is.” I wince. That can’t be right. “I don’t know if I’m being an idiot. I work with competent people all the time, it’s just—”
“You’re talking about Kate?” he asks.
I look up and meet his eye. “How’d you know?”
“Because she’s very good at what she does. And…she’s attractive. There’s an energy between you two.”
“An energy?” I ask, intrigued.
“Almost like you’re communicating without speaking. I’ve only seen you together a couple of times, but there’s a connection there.”
“We had sex. Maybe that’s what you’re seeing. Before I bid on Crompton. When I first came to have a look around.”
“But not since?”
I shake my head. “She works for me now.”
“My wife works for—nah, who am I trying to kid? My wife and I work together. Makes sex better I think.”
“Did you always work together? I can’t remember how you guys met.” Beck was single when I met him, but it wasn’t long before he met Stella.
“She blackmailed me for a job.” He grins at the memory.
“Really?”
“Sort of. I needed something from her. It was payment. But agreeing to her terms was the best deal I ever made.”
“I never really saw you settling down.”
“It’s a cliché, but I’d never met anyone before Stella who I wanted to settle down with. I’m sure it will happen to you.”
“I’m sure it won’t. I don’t really commit to anything.”
“Well that’s just bullshit. You commit to all sorts of things—buildings, investments, your family. You just haven’t found a woman you want to commit to. That’s all.”