Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 96752 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 484(@200wpm)___ 387(@250wpm)___ 323(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96752 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 484(@200wpm)___ 387(@250wpm)___ 323(@300wpm)
“It will be okay,” I promise him.
Jeremiah takes a step back. “Yes, it will be. I’ll make sure of it. I’m going to get some sleep because sometimes staying sober is tiring, but I want to talk later. I want you to know.”
He gives his brother a long look and then walks away, moving toward the bedrooms.
Reid steps in front of me, a grave look on his face. “Harper, I know what I said, but I need you to think about the ramifications. She’s not wrong. If she does what she says she’s going to do, I will likely be unemployable for a while.”
I shrug. “I have an office with your name on it, and then you can deal with Paul’s whining and make all my big box stores beautiful.”
A hint of a smile hits his lips. “I have been thinking about this. I know you take your family obligations seriously, and I don’t know if I want to go to California without you.”
“Babe, you’re just taking meetings there. You’re not moving.”
“I know, but we would be on the road all the time,” he says. “That never bothered me before. Now the thought is only joyous if you’re with me. So maybe I will take you up on the job offer.”
I’m floored. This man doesn’t belong in an office picking out paintings for rando motel lobbies. And he’s forgetting the most important part. “What about Jeremiah?”
He nods slowly as though processing the words. “Yeah, I’ll have to have a hard conversation, but he’ll understand. I need to put you first. I love my brother, but you’re going to be… I told him not to push you.”
“How about we agree that we’re both happy in this relationship and it’s likely going to end in marriage and a couple of kids who we’ll be terrified we’ll screw up the way our parents screwed us up, and so we’ll fuck up in totally different ways.”
The sweetest smile lights up the room, and I’m shocked at how we can go from the abyss of Britta’s dictates to this amazing, sunshiney place where we have a future. “We can agree on that. And in honor of our accord, I think I’m going to sell the penthouse, give my brother his half, give Aggie her pension, and then I’m going to bribe your cousin Sheryl to sell me her stock so your position at Ross Construction is unassailable. They won’t be able to vote you out. You’ll own fifty-two percent of the company.”
The Dorsey brothers seem determined to put my jaw on the floor today. “What? You can’t do that. I know it’s a small company, but Sheryl’s stock is worth a million easy, and she can’t sell it to someone outside the family.”
He nods and proves he can pivot. “Then I’ll give you the money and you can buy it. Or I can push you. We could upend all of Britta’s plans with one trip to the courthouse.”
“You can’t. You can’t give up your dreams for me.”
“What if I just figured out you are my dream?” He asks the question so simply. As if something’s happened and all of his previous anger and anxiety are gone now and he’s been left with peace.
I wish I was. I’m a swirling ball of emotion right now. I…I’m so happy I have a chance with him, but what if he resents staying here with me? He’s used to money, and a lot of it, and I know it’s mostly gone now, but will he be happy in my tiny apartment? Will he be okay with not working with his brother? Can he ever be happy in a family I’m not happy in? “You can’t stay here. You need to be out there doing the work you love.”
He sighs and leans over, pressing his forehead to mine. “I love something more than work. Harper, you don’t get to tell me what my dreams are. You can tell me you don’t share them. You can tell me you don’t love me. But you don’t get to break us up because you’re afraid, and yes, I sound like the biggest hypocrite of all time. I learned something from you when you refused to leave our bed last night. I learned that I’ll go through whatever fire I have to in order to keep a woman I can trust the way I can you. I’m going to figure out a way to get you what you want because making you happy is the job I would like to do for the rest of my life.”
“I don’t know what to say.” He’s right. I am terrified. Terrified that I’ll love him and it will all go to hell. Terrified that he’ll love me the way he says he will and I won’t be worthy of it.