I narrowed my eyes and leaned forward. At first, I couldn’t decide if it was the dumbest idea I’d ever heard or one of the best. Then I thought about what I’d seen since we’d come to Julian Ridge with all the Bark Bites employees. Everyone had been having a blast terrorizing the typically no-dogs resort with their pets. I wasn’t sure if it was the most representative sample of people to base a business decision like this on, but she might be on to something.
“We’d have to do some testing,” I said slowly. “Surveys, test groups . . . we’d also need to talk to legal about potential pitfalls as far as liability goes. But yeah.” I nodded as I felt the idea solidifying in my head. “I think that’s an amazing idea.”
“Really?” she asked. She flashed the most genuine, excited smile I thought I’d ever seen from her.
I wanted to reach across the table and pull her in for a kiss, but I was doing my best to respect the fact that she still wanted space. It was killing me inside, but I’d already made such a mess of things with her that it was the least I could do. “Really,” I said. “I think that’s exactly the kind of idea we needed. And I’m exactly the right kind of guy to make it happen.”
“You mean because you’re loaded?” she asked.
I laughed. “That’s partly it, but I still try to fund our acquisitions with investors’ money instead of our own, when possible. The ultimate goal is to hand the company off once we’ve made it profitable to sell, and we’ve found that investors are much more motivated to keep a business on the right track. Besides, paying for it all out of pocket takes some of the challenge out of it.”
“I’ve always wondered what motivates someone in your position. Is that it, the challenge?”
“My position?”
Miranda shrugged, maybe a little self-consciously. She probably wasn’t comfortable talking directly about money with me. Most women weren’t, and I didn’t blame her. It was a sensitive subject, where even a few careless comments could make somebody seem like a gold digger. “I mean somebody who appears to have it all. Most people are motivated to work hard because there’s always something bigger and better they want to buy. I can’t imagine there’s anything you couldn’t have with a snap of your fingers, so it made me wonder what gets you out of bed in the morning.”
“Do you remember when I said my brothers and I had reasons for wanting to buy Bark Bites? Personal reasons?”
“Yeah,” she said.
“I might’ve fibbed a little. The truth is that I had personal reasons. The companies Sion acquires are usually massive, almost faceless organizations. There’s hardly any personal stake in the success of the business. It’s just numbers and investor expectations—that sort of thing. For once, I wanted to feel like I was helping turn around a company people cared about. Instead of heartlessly streamlining it and turning it into a money printer, I wanted to make it better.” I laughed softly. “I’m not sure that makes as much sense when I say it out loud.”
“No. It makes a lot of sense, actually.” She looked down at her fingers, clearly deep in thought. I wondered if she was disappointed in my answer.
“What are you thinking? That I’m an idiot to imagine what I’m doing with Bark Bites is any different?”
“Actually, I was thinking how the Nick King I knew back in high school must really be in there, after all.” She narrowed her eyes at me and then laughed. “Did I just make you blush?”
I took a sip of my drink, partly to cover my face a little. “Life didn’t go exactly as I planned, so I guess I had to change and adapt.”
“What part weren’t you planning for?”
Letting you slip through my fingers. “You know . . . You said there’s nothing I can’t have at the snap of my fingers, but that’s not entirely true. There is something I never managed to get, even though I wanted it more than anything. Are you implying I should try snapping my fingers and seeing if she comes?”
She drew her eyebrows together in confusion, then her cheeks went red. “Unless she’s a dog, I don’t know if that would work. It might take more work to get her to come than that.”
“Somehow, I don’t think making her come would feel like work at all.”
Miranda nearly choked on the sip of her drink she was taking.
I watched her, barely containing the urge to reach across the table for her hand.
“You never answered my question,” she said a little awkwardly. She was clearly trying to change the subject. “What gets you out of the bed in the morning? Is it really just trying to make more money?”
“No. At this point, my brothers and I donate almost everything we earn. I couldn’t spend a billion dollars in a lifetime, let alone several billion. I also have no interest in hoarding a giant pile of money to create a legacy of entitled children. I enjoy the work, and if I can take the money and do something good with it, then I see no reason to slow down.”
“So you do want children?” she asked.
I nodded. “Eventually, but only if I find the right person to have them with. Then again, I wonder if anyone ever really knows.”
“I’ve always thought it’s like those kid toys. A circle fits in a circle-shaped hole and so on. And when you find the right hole, it just fits.”
“Hmm,” I said. “Why does that sound vaguely sexual?”
She flashed a wicked smirk. “Maybe because you’re wondering if I could fit in your hole?” Miranda clapped a hand to her forehead. “Oh God. I’m terrible at flirting. I meant—”
I almost spit out the beer I’d just sipped. I coughed, then shook my head, smiling. “I feel like there’s no way to answer that question without compromising my . . . manhood. But I’ll say this: I have no way of knowing if we’re right for each other. Maybe it’s just feeling like I’ve wanted a chance with you for over seven years. I know what it feels like to regret missing an opportunity to be with you, and I don’t want to have to live with that again. I don’t know much more than that, except that I feel good when I’m around you. I feel like work isn’t everything. I don’t feel as lonely.”
She was biting her lip. “You mean all that?”
“Yes. Every word.”
“Oh God,” Miranda said. Her eyes were focused on something behind me.
I rolled my eyes in preparation for seeing Cade strolling toward us, but it wasn’t him. It was Max Frost, and he was wearing a smug expression I didn’t like one bit.
“Hey, kids,” he said. He grabbed a nearby chair and plopped it beside our table, then sat. “Yes, I survived the rabid bears, and I came back because my friend didn’t hear back from Miranda about his offer. He asked me to come clarify some things for you two.”
“I was holding Miranda last time I wanted to punch you,” I said. Then I showed him my very empty hands. “You sure you want to keep talking?” I was starting to develop a working theory on this situation with Max Frost and the person named Robbie he’d been on the phone with, and it wasn’t a theory I liked at all.
“You’ll want to hear this,” Max said. “So, that story I was working on was a little different than I led Miranda to believe. It was actually a piece about a spoiled playboy billionaire who forcefully took over a local company just so he could make a move on his old high school crush.”