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“That’s not what I mean. I meant in terms of operation, you wouldn’t need to be an active partner. Get me in with some of your connections, and we’re golden. That’s all I’d ask. I’m willing to give you royalties as well until the twenty is paid back,” I promised, the words coming quickly and desperately. “The twenty million would be for revamping the lodge and setting up the trails, clearing out the bits of woodland that we can, and getting everything up and running. I’m more than willing to purchase the land itself with my own money.”
“Your old fashioned and the latte,” Erin chimed, setting them down on the bar before us.
“Thank you, Erin.”
“Look, son,” Alec sighed, wrapping his fingers around the crystal glass. “Just because we’re about to be family doesn’t automatically mean I’m happy to invest in you. I like to know who I’m working with, and all I knew about you before today was that you had a… busy past, if you understand. I don’t tend to make deals with people like that.”
He had to be kidding. I didn’t just go through all of that to get a fucking no.
“But here’s what I’ll do,” he said, and hope flooded back in. Seems I was a rollercoaster on the little bit of sleep, too. “Let me get to know you a bit more. We can see how we get along over the rest of our time here and then I’ll consider it. It’s not an outright no.”
For fucks sake.
————
I pushed open the French doors that led out onto the terrace. Freezing air hit me in an instant, the snow just barely starting to pile up on the railing of the balcony.
“What are you doing out here?” Ray asked, her sleeves pulled fully over her palms as she leaned on the frosty barrier wall. She looked at me over one shoulder, her nose pink, her legs covered in goosebumps.
I crossed the distance, my dress shoes crunching on the snow. “I could ask you the same thing. I was wondering where you’d wandered off to.” Shrugging my jacket off my shoulders, I joined her on the balcony and draped my suit jacket around her. With only the muffled sound of the live band and the din of chit-chat inside, it was calm. The moon was just breaking through the thin layer of snow clouds, the woods beyond. I loved that it was just the two of us.
“Thank you,” she mumbled, tugging the jacket around her. “I came out for some air. Then I realized the doors locked behind me, and decided hypothermia was my only option.”
I glanced back at the doors before turning back to her. “Seriously?”
She grinned and looked away, turning her face up toward the moon. “No, you ass.”
Her hair cascaded down her back in perfect spirals, daring me to touch it, play with it, grab a fistful of it. In the moonlight, she looked ethereal, every part of her glowing despite the lack of sleep.
“How was it with Dominic’s dad?” she asked, her eyes closing, her breath fogging above her lips. “It looked tense.”
I sighed and pushed my hair back, the cold slowly seeping in and making me shiver. “It was a bit awkward. There was some progress, but still awkward. He seemed interested, just not entirely sold.”
She peeked at me through mostly-closed eyes, her lips twitching upward. “That’s good either way. I truly hope it works out for you, Wade. Really.”
Just those words were enough to prove to me that the version of Ray that was ice cold to the touch was nowhere to be found out there on the balcony. I was worried she’d creep back up with no announcement of her arrival, but no, Ice Bunny was long gone, and in her place, I still had the one thing I’d been aching for. Raven. “Thank you,” I said, and I fucking meant it.
She opened her eyes and turned to me, little snowflakes dotted across her lashes, her brows, her hair.
“It means we’ll need to keep up the act a little bit longer, though,” I said, ensuring each word came across as gently as possible. “He’s considering it. Once the papers are signed?—”
“Can I ask you something?” she cut in suddenly, those piercing amber eyes boring into my soul. She took a step toward me, the little bit of warmth she still had heating my chest as she placed her hand against it. Every part of me stood on edge. I’d tell her whatever she wanted to know, of course, but it was hard to think straight with her so close.
“Anything,” I breathed.
“Is it…” she gulped, “…still an act?”
I swear the world tilted on its axis the second she spoke those words. It was as if everything around me stopped, no sound except our breaths, not a snowflake in the sky, not a gust of wind. It was only us.
I didn’t know how to answer. There were two routes I could take: be entirely honest both with myself and with her, something I wasn’t sure I had the strength to do; or I could lie, tell her yes, it was still an act, and ensure her that I hadn’t been sucked into something I couldn’t handle. Both options were terrifying but one had the potential to be exceptionally worse.
I placed my hand on her cheek, and she turned into it, placing a soft kiss against my palm. My heart thudded in my chest, every muscle braced, every neuron firing a green light. Tell her. Tell her now.
I opened my mouth to speak.
“Honey!” Mom called, and Ray and I turned our heads toward the doors. “Jesus, it’s freezing out here. Come on, it’s time for your speech.”
Chapter 23
