Total pages in book: 114
Estimated words: 106150 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 531(@200wpm)___ 425(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106150 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 531(@200wpm)___ 425(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
I leaned in to kiss his ear before stepping away. “Eat,” I repeated. “Then you can tell me more about it.”
After I pulled back, he wobbled for a moment before seeming to snap out of it and reaching for the snacks. I poured myself a glass of wine, handed him his beer, and led him to the sofa, where we resumed our seats from earlier.
Between bites of a fruit tart, Rowe told me more about how he motivated himself through his workout videos, and I found myself promising I’d try one. And he told me about his adventures as the Burrito Bandito… which made me laugh so hard I snorted wine through my nose for the first time in my life.
“It’s actually really fun,” he admitted, crunching a handful of rosemary sea salt mixed nuts. “The tips aren’t great, but it’s nice to know you’ve brightened someone’s lunch break with a little song and dance. I might even miss it a little when I’m back in Linden in a couple months.”
“So why go back?” I asked lightly. “I mean, couldn’t you stay—?”
“No way. I’m barely making ends meet here, even sleeping on Joey’s futon. I couldn’t afford to rent a tux last night, which was why I was wearing Joey’s.”
“The bunny tux was your cousin’s?”
“Better than his stripper tux, or so I’m told.” Rowe grinned. “Anyway, I told you, I have to go back to Linden so I can help my folks. They don’t have much money, and my job at Bobby’s Tech Barn pays pretty well. And it’s fun, too, in a way.”
“So you’re interested in technology, then?” I asked, unable to stop myself from edging closer to the topics I’d promised to avoid.
Rowe snorted. “Nah. I’m the opposite of a tech geek. But I don’t need to be. Most of our customers are sweet grandmas who don’t remember how to get into their email and clueless middle-aged guys who thought they knew what they were doing but ended up downloading a bunch of viruses while trying to stream movies. Bobby and some of the other techs get impatient with them, but I know what it’s like to be technologically challenged and learn things as you go.”
He set his empty beer bottle on the side table, licked the last bits of salt off his fingers, and scooted closer so our knees touched. “Okay, enough. I feel like you know way too much about me now,” he teased. “All the mystery is gone.”
I’d hoped that would be true. Instead, I felt like we’d barely skimmed the surface, and I had a thousand more burning questions about him and the way he saw the world. This attraction was definitely not going away.
“What about you?” Rowe asked. “What was it like where you grew up? Who’s got the unfortunate photos of you in their living room?”
I propped my feet on the coffee table. “Daynes don’t take silly photos, Rowe,” I said mock-severely. But as to the rest… it was hard to talk about the privations of growing up incredibly wealthy after hearing about Rowe’s childhood.
“I’m not sure what to tell you,” I said finally. “I had a very privileged upbringing. My parents both come from old money. My dad’s great-grandfather founded a lumber company that put sawmills all across the Midwest—”
“Dayne Lumber,” Rowe said, putting it together. “Holy fuck. Dayne Lumber has been around since Jesus’s time.”
“Slightly longer.” I reached for a handful of nuts, more for the distraction than because I was hungry. “My family doesn’t deal with any of the day-to-day operations anymore, though. My parents socialize and travel and donate money to many, many different causes they know little about. I take my work seriously and spend a lot of time in the office. I prefer to be more hands-on with the things I’m involved in.”
Rowe’s nod made the light from the lamp glint off his curls. “So what do you do for work, exactly, other than having a seat on the board at Sterling Chase?”
I hesitated over how much of a connection I wanted to reveal, and Rowe immediately tried to backtrack. “Are we getting too close to things we shouldn’t talk about?”
We were. We definitely were. But I plunged right ahead anyway, like I was hang-gliding off a cliff.
“It’s not really a secret. I work closely with some of Sterling Chase’s clients to support and nurture early business ideas,” I admitted. “Fledgling entrepreneurs need a lot of help to get their businesses off the ground, as you know. I help them find money and connections, to hone their ideas. I meet with their developers, match them to the right resources, mentor their leaders, note places where their progress is lagging, and find ways to help them improve their processes to help bring their projects to market.”
“Ah.”
I could tell Rowe knew exactly what I was describing since he was one of the people who needed money and connections. I braced myself for him to cut in excitedly and give me his own pitch, despite our agreement, or to give me puppy dog eyes and reiterate how badly he needed me to fulfill my promise and give him contacts, preferably now. I was mellow enough, charmed enough, I’d probably even go along with it. But he didn’t do either of those things. Instead, he shifted his weight, settling more deeply into the sofa, and nodded again, encouraging me to continue.