Total pages in book: 33
Estimated words: 30692 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 153(@200wpm)___ 123(@250wpm)___ 102(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 30692 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 153(@200wpm)___ 123(@250wpm)___ 102(@300wpm)
She liked my answer, but it was evident she didn’t think she was in the running for my wife. Again, I had to stifle the caveman inside me who wanted to simply tell her what was in her future. I didn’t want to scare her off.
I changed the subject to the upcoming inspection, and she seemed to appreciate the reprieve. We’d return to it eventually, but for now, we got back to business. Once we were finished, I led her to my office and pulled a chair over to my desk for her. I slipped on my glasses as we sat down, then we went over the inspection checklist together. Once we finished, I quickly showered and dressed in a gray Brunico Virgin wool, two-piece suit before grabbing my keys and wallet.
As I led her toward the door to the garage, she paused in the hallway and bent down to pick something up. Seeing her little rolling suitcase, I realized she had packed up her things and irritation pricked my temper.
“You don’t need to bring that.”
Her expression clouded with confusion as she glanced at her luggage. “It makes more sense for me to take everything now and drive my car than to have you bring me all the way out here again before I head home this afternoon.”
I inhaled slowly, forcing back the urge to tell her this was her home. “Just leave it here, Samantha,” I ordered. “We’ll deal with it later.”
She looked as if she wanted to argue, but something in my expression must have tipped her off to the fact that I wasn’t going to budge on the matter. Finally, Samantha set it down, and without another word, I took her to my blue, two-toned Rolls-Royce Boat Tail, unlocked it, opened her door, and held my hand out to her. She looked at it, then at the car, and finally up at my face.
Sensing she was about to argue about the car again, my eyes narrowed in warning. She huffed but let me help her into her seat.
“I can do it,” she said softly when I crouched down to buckle her in. She pushed at my hands, and I gave her a hard look that had her going still while I completed my task.
“I like taking care of you.” I brushed my lips over her cheek before standing and slamming her door shut.
5
JAMES
Once we were on the road, I asked her questions, getting to know her and sharing more about myself. “We were lucky not to end up in foster care,” I told her when she asked about my parents. “The only reason we didn’t was because our mom and dad would have lost the welfare benefits.” Jason, Jeremy, and I had grown up in a shit hole with no money and junkie parents. But we’d vowed not to end up like them. I didn’t like talking about my past, but if I wanted Samantha to be open and honest with me, it was only fair that I give her the same. “We had jobs as soon as we were old enough, and we worked our asses off in school to get scholarships to college.”
“Did you all study construction?” she asked.
I shook my head. “Construction paid the best, and the owner of the company was willing to accommodate our school schedules because we were his hardest workers. We all graduated with a business degree, though we each focused on a different emphasis so that we made a good team. We earned our diplomas in three years, but I think that had more to do with the shitty one-bedroom apartment we shared and all of the ramen noodles we ate.” I chuckled at the memory even though just the thought of eating those again made my stomach queasy.
“We were only twenty-one, but we scrimped and saved every penny until we were able to purchase a trashed foreclosure in a better part of our hometown. We bought it outright, then took a business plan to the bank and managed to secure a construction loan—although the amount required us to get creative with the budget. We did most of the work ourselves, only hiring out what we weren’t licensed to do. Two months later, we sold the property for almost double what we’d paid for it.”
“Jeremy mentioned that,” she murmured. “He said you still flip houses from time to time.”
My knuckles turned white as I squeezed the steering wheel and reminded myself that my brother was happily engaged—even if his fiancée didn’t know it was real yet. But it didn’t stop the jealousy completely. I hated that he probably knew her better than I did since they’d spent time together.
“We do,” I replied, keeping my tone neutral so she wouldn’t know how fucking obsessed I was becoming with her. “You know that we make most of our money by bankrolling the building of new developments, houses, business complexes, skyscrapers, and that kind of thing. But from time to time, we’ll take on a passion project. Of course, those flips are on a much larger scale these days.”