She shook her head. “Haven’t heard of them.”
“Long diatribe short, my father has us looking at a partnership with some people I’m not sure we should partner with. It’s not my role in the company to pull in prospective partners but I’m taking a chance here because when I tell my family I don’t think we should partner with Home Needs, I want to have an alternative.”
“I read that that Nolan guy got arrested. That’s the son of the CEO of the company?”
Will’s jaw tightened. He set his glass down on the bar top. “Yeah. That’s him. Sometimes, you don’t need to know someone long before you get a feeling for who they are. You know what I mean?”
She wanted to reach out and smooth the tension in his face, run her fingers along his high cheekbones, along his striking jaw. “Yeah. I think I do.”
He smiled at her, everything about his posture and expression softening. “I guess we both do, don’t we?”
She nodded, not trusting herself to speak with the level of attraction and energy buzzing around inside her.
“I don’t have a good feeling for the Home Needs deal.”
“Have you told your family that?”
He lowered his chin, staring at the bar for a moment before looking up again. “A couple of them are a little frustrated with me and recent decisions they believe I’ve made. Which is why I want to have something in hand when I talk to them.”
“Then I guess we better charm the pants off this Holden guy, huh?”
Will smiled. “He’s closing in on seventy, his wife is with him, and I want to work with them. I think it’s best if he keeps his pants on.”
Lexi laughed loud enough to turn a few heads. She leaned into Will. “Are you taking humor classes? That was funny.”
Coming close enough that they shared the same air, he shook his head. “Must be the woman I’m falling for rubbing off on me.”
She bit her lip, hard, doing her best not to think about rubbing and Will in the same breath.
“Mr. Grand. The rest of your party is here,” the hostess said beside them.
Lexi moved back, looked over to see an elegant couple watching them with pleased expressions.
“Do you remember what it was like to be young and falling in love, Holden?” Average height with silver-blond hair shimmering around her shoulders, diamonds glittering in each ear, in a lovely blue cocktail dress, the woman beamed at them.
The man, Holden, lifted his wife’s hand, kissed it. “Young, not so much. Falling in love? Yes. I do it every morning when I wake up and see your face.”
Even the hostess sighed. Lexi’s heart turned over in her chest. If her dad had lived, had grown old beside his wife, that’s the sort of thing he would have said.
“Holden,” Will said. “It’s a pleasure to see you again.” He shook the man’s hand, reached for the woman’s. “I’m William Grand. This is my fiancée, Lexi Danby.”
“Lovely to meet you, dear. I’m Bethany. Holden and I read about your engagement online. Congratulations.”
Lexi shook off the discomfort of the conversation and focused on the prospect of spending time with a charming couple and a man she truly enjoyed. There were worse ways to spend an evening. Like sitting at home wishing life would move faster so she could get to the good stuff. This right here was pretty damn good.
Fifteen
Will didn’t have much of a temper. He got irritated the same as any other person on earth. He disliked when people weren’t prepared for meetings, judged others unfairly, or used anyone in his family as a means to an end. His grandfather was a smart man so Will didn’t understand why he was letting Fredrick Banner and his asshat of a son run the meeting. After meeting with Holden and his wife the other night, he was certain Grand Babies was currently moving in the wrong direction.
“Listen, we want to make this fair for everyone but if we’re investing inyou,we need a higher percentage. Having Grand Babies products in every one of our stores is going to quadruple your income. I know you’ve got some personal stuff going on.” Fredrick Banner paused, his too-wide smile turning Will’s stomach. “Congratulations on that front. We could be capitalizing on your son’s fantastic news, Jackson. He’s getting married; we’re entering a marriage of sorts. I’m tired of going through lawyers and secretaries for the details. I want this sorted sooner rather than later and quite honestly, we could use a little positive press. As you know, Nolan recently had some trouble when he got pulled over by the police.”
“Wouldn’t have gotten in trouble if you hadn’t had drugs on you and you weren’t driving under the influence,” Will said from his seat next to his grandfather.
“It was weed. Big fucking deal. You and I aren’t so different, Will,” Nolan said, his thin mustache over his snarling lips making him look like even more of a jerk. “People are always trying to capitalize on shit that doesn’t matter. Who cares if I had some weed, I got drunk at a party, or you’re marrying some nobody? Everyone just wants to see and be seen.”
Before Will could react, his grandfather put a hand on his wrist even as Fredrick chastised his son. Will’s phone buzzed but he was too worked up to check it. He didn’t know why his dad wanted to work with these men, and couldn’t fathom why his grandfatherwould,but Will couldn’t keep quiet anymore.
“I think we should all take a step back and reconsider whether or not our path and values line up,” Will said.
