I fold my arms, sure I will not like where this conversion is heading. Nathan isn’t one to mince words, and I didn’t have to wait long.
“Charity mentioned what happened at the bank.”
I groan. Pride and embarrassment chasing the remaining butterflies in my stomach. I had melted into his kiss earlier, proving that after years, he can still make me weak.Now he’s taking a sledgehammer to my ego by offering me money.Money I haven’t earned. I slam my eyes shut. Any hope that Nathan would see me as more than a charity-case. Or his daughter’s friend who’d lost her mother, then Grams, and now her passion slowly evaporated.
“I know you’re looking for investors.”
“I’m sorry Charity wasted your time.”
He cocks a brow as if waiting for a misbehaving child to explain herself.
“I appreciate you wanting to help, but Charity should have never forced you—”
“Charity is a force, but persuading me to do anything I don’t want to isn’t one of her superpowers.” Nathan chuckles. “You need me and I’m here.”
“I don’t,” I whisper, frustrated my the crack in my voice. I needed him when Grams died too, but he’d flown back to New York the day after the funeral. I had picked up the pieces then and would do it again now. “The bank declined my loan,” I admit. “But I’ve already found an investor. A company who understands my industry.”
“Meaning, I don’t?”
“I know you’re good at what you do—”
“Great.” His gaze sparks with challenge. “I’m great at what I do.”
“Ruthless,” I say before biting the damning word back. My needling only seems to add fuel to the fire.
“And you’re too trusting. Too generous.” He closes the gap between us. “You need a knight at your back.”
This man anywhere close to me is reckless. “I’ve already accepted an investor.” Even if I want to accept Nathan’s help, which I don’t, it’s too late.
“With Quadpoint, I know.”
“How?” I don’t remember sharing the name of the company with Charity.
“It pays to know who my competitors are and in the fashion business, investors are a small pool.”
“Then you know they have the resources I need.”
“I know that if your clients don’t prove to be profitable, you won’t have a business in six months.”
I cringe at his bluntness. Without the bank’s help, repaying a loan of that size would mean selling my house. Losing Grams' home to strangers would be a surreal nightmare, a cruel twist of fate worse than losing it to the bank.
“I don’t know fashion, Naomi, but I know business.”
I tilt my chin. “Why would you help a competitor?” I’ve never known Nathan to do anything without a reason.
“I’m helpingyouaccomplish your dreams.”
No one other than Charity has helped me without expecting something. Not even Grams, who brought me to Candy Cane after my mother’s accident. I still don’t know if Grams did it because she was lonely or saw her opportunity at a do-over she never had with mom. I never questioned Grams’ love, just her motives. Being a designer is my chance to run a business on my terms. Not that I’m doing a first-rate job on the business end. But how do I say yes to Nathan and maintain my pride?
“I invest in people, Naomi,” he says, as if reading my reluctance. “Let me transform you into a successful designer.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHARITY
Istumble to a halt, seeing Mason and my father in the kitchen. Heat climbs up my body and I wait for the flush blanketing my skin to dissipate before announcing my presence. Keeping Mason and I secret won't be easy, especially since we're living under the same roof. However, reminding myself we aren't in a romantic relationship makes it easy. He wants me in bite-size pieces. In secret.
While I want it all.
