“Guess I have a thing for assholes,” I fired back in defense.
“Man, you assume a whole lot, considering.”
“Considering what?”
“Considering you think you’re so dumb.”
I opened my mouth to argue when Marcus busted into the workroom with Jett and Laney in his wake.
“We have a problem,” he said, his face dark as a storm cloud. And the pressure in the room changed to match.
The five of us gathered around one of the tables, Marcus at the head, looking grim.
“We’re being sued by Bower.”
Luke and I were too stunned to speak. Marcus didn’t require a response.
“They’ve requested immediate turnover of the financial statements, which aren’t ready. But we’re easily over the noncompete limitations. If we comply, Longbourne won’t open its doors tomorrow.”
“But our contracts,” I started, thinking immediately of Lila, the risk she’d taken on us, the events we had lined up. “What about our contracts?”
Marcus shook his head. “I said, if we comply.”
“What do you mean, if?” Laney asked.
“Ben and I have been trying to build a case that the clause is unconscionable. If we can, it would mean the contract won’t stand in court. In fact, we could get the whole thing thrown out before it goes far. Theoretically. With enough money and weight to throw around, anyone can take a case like this all the way to the end.”
“And Bower won’t back down,” Jett noted darkly.
“There’s another thing to consider. If Bower makes all the right moves, the cost of litigation alone would bankrupt us.”
The room fell silent.
“What do we do?” I asked.
Marcus paused, scrubbing his hand over his mouth as he thought. “My instinct is to tear up the contract and throw it in the fire. I don’t think they can prove that Longbourne’s success would in any way threaten their own. And I don’t believe they can win.”
“Of all the Bennets’ gut feelings, yours is the one we’d follow without question,” I said to a chorus of nods. “But is there any danger for Lila? Will her contracts be caught in the crossfire?”
“I don’t know,” he admitted, offering nothing more.
“If there’s any risk, I won’t put her anywhere near it.” I scrambled for a moment. Until an idea struck me like a bell. “Can we transfer them to me?”
Marcus paused, then lit up, his mind whirring behind his eyes. “You know, I think maybe we can. Why didn’t I think of that?” He was practically pouting.
“Think of what?” Laney asked, her gaze bouncing between us.
“I own a business. We can transfer the contracts to me, and I can fill them.”
Three-fourths of my siblings blinked at me.
“You own a business?” Luke echoed.
“Selling his hybrids,” Marcus added. “I made him set it up years ago. Seriously, why didn’t I think of this?”
I chuckled. “It’s all right. I forget about it too.”
“No, I mean … you have all that money to work with. You can get whatever you need. You could even lease Longbourne from me and keep it running, if it came to that.”
His words climbed their way through my thoughts, leaving me confused. “All what money?”
Marcus stared at me. “What do you mean, all what money? You have almost two hundred thousand in that account.” He kept staring as I stilled. “You mean to tell me you haven’t even looked?”
“No,” I breathed. “I didn’t ever need to. Didn’t even think to.”
He ran a hand over his mouth, glancing up at the ceiling as if to ask for deliverance from my idiocy. “Kash, you’re hopeless.”
“How about you berate me later,” I suggested. “Are we sure this is legal? They won’t see it like, I don’t know, like we set up a shell to evade paying them?”
“I think there’s a way to do it, but let me talk to Ben. Whatever we do, it’s got to be by the letter. If we don’t, Bower will burn us to the ground. Talk to Lila, see if you can get new contracts drawn up under your name. The rest of you, help Kash with whatever he needs to switch gears and get himself going. And maybe brainstorm a new name for his business, would you?”
“What, Kash Bennet Hybrid Flowers not catchy enough for you?” I joked, not at all feeling funny.
“That’s your business name?” Laney said in disbelief.
“It’s not like I ever thought I’d put it on a sign,” I defended.
“We’ll come up with something,” she promised Marcus.
“Good,” he said. “And I’ll figure out how to get us the rest of the way out of this mess. Kash,” he started, turning to me with earnest, grateful eyes, “thank you. I really wish I’d thought of that.”
I chuckled, but the flame in my chest fanned brighter. “I’m just thankful you forced me to do it in the first place. And that there’s some way I can help. Though I hope it doesn’t come to me taking over Longbourne. I don’t know the first thing about running the shop.”
“If it does, you won’t be alone,” Luke said.
And looking around that table, I took comfort in that fact, believing it with so much conviction, I knew without a doubt that if there was a way to save the shop, we’d find it.
We dispersed, chattering our way out of the shop, but I wandered into the greenhouse looking for I don’t know what. Clarity. Answers. Comfort. And in many ways, I found it as soon as I stepped through the doors.
It was quiet and still, the darkness dotted with flower heads in rows. My worry eased to a bubbling whisper, one that spoke Lila’s name.
I thought of my past, of the things I’d run from, the things I’d feared. Things I never thought of, things dredged up by the depth of my feelings for her. It was easy to want her when I thought she didn’t want me. But now that I’d been given hope, the stakes had risen to dangerous heights.
The door opened behind me, and the familiar sound of expensive heels on concrete had me smiling, smiling and turning to find Lila walking toward me.
She glowed, floating down the aisle with a blissful, tired smile. And I met her, sweeping her into my arms.
When I’d kissed her well, she sighed, looking up at me with adoration.
“The baby is perfect. Everything is absolutely perfect, and I cannot believe my sister created that sweet, tiny thing. I’ve never been so terrified as I was holding her. I kept thinking I was doing it wrong, or worrying I’d drop her. Isn’t that silly?”
“Oh, I dunno,” I said, drawing her closer. “I think it’s natural to worry when you’ve got something precious in your arms.”
Her face tilted to inspect mine. “Are you worried, Kash?”
“I’d be crazy not to be.”
“But why?”
“Because I don’t want to lose you.”
She softened, her hand moving to cup my jaw. “Why would you think you would?”
I turned to press a kiss into her palm. “You didn’t do flings? Well, I don’t do serious. And I’ve realized I am very serious where you’re concerned.”