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“What can you possibly do to change what we both know is inevitable?” she asks. “You’ve sided with your family. Either you win or we do. Either way, one of us hurts the other.”
“Just let me see what I can do, okay?” I say, as I brush a strand of hair behind her ear. I could melt when she nestles her cheek into my hand.
“I can’t let you hurt me again.” She pulls away as if she’s coming out of a dream.
“I won’t,” I promise. “I know you might not believe that, but I promise I’m going to do everything I can to make this right.”
“I really hope you’re telling the truth this time,” she says, then looks up when someone calls her name back inside. “I have to go.”
No matter how many times it happens, I can’t stand watching her leave. Every time she does, I can’t help but wonder if it will be the last time.
I meant what I said about making things right. I know I can, but I’m not sure how my family will react to the ideas I have brewing in my head.
I don’t think they would go so far as to disown me but I can’t see them passing up a deal like this simply because I have a thing for the owner’s granddaughter.
But still, something Meg said has stuck with me.
Why can’t you just be a regular businessman instead?
I wonder what she means by “regular” but I can guess that it means the kind of guy who isn’t in charge of buyouts and conversion projects like this. I might be good at it, but it’s eaten up my life.
There have been so many times when I’ve finally been able to slow down for a little while, only to realize I don’t have anyone to come home to, no one to share my life with. Suddenly, that missing person has a face, and she’s got the most gorgeous blue eyes.
The more time I spend with her, the more I begin to question my own motivations and wonder if there could be more to life than just business. Troy might think I’m crazy for thinking that, but what kind of life does he have?
Chapter twenty-five
Meg - I Can’t Leave Him Alone
My sister Mia is fiercely against selling our property. She is my biggest ally in the fight against Drew’s buyout. In a way, I’m grateful for her fierce attitude because it keeps the seductive haze around Drew at bay long enough for me to snap back to reality.
Every time I snap out of it, out of daydreaming of him, I swear to myself up and down that it’s the last time. Of course, it never plays out that way. He comes too easily into my mind, especially when I see a couple walking down the beach and I think of how we did the same.
I want so badly for that to be us again, blissful in paradise. I start thinking of his hand holding mine, the contagious sound of his laugh, the irresistible pull of his lips hovering over mine. Why couldn’t he have been someone else? Why did a corporate predator from New York have to capture my heart?
The tension between Drew and Mia escalates, adding a new layer of conflict to our dilemma. Mia is the queen of being petty and passive aggressive. Anytime that Drew asks a question about anything, she replies by taking jabs at him living in New York, how Floridians aren’t just motivated by greed…it just keeps going.
Just when I think she’s out of new remarks, there are at least ten more she has up her sleeve.
How can I be so opposed to everything Drew is doing but so drawn to him romantically? The thought of seeing Seaside stripped and gutted from the inside out and made into something entirely different makes me want to cry.
I’ve grown up here and the idea of someone destroying my home just to make a profit infuriates me. I start to feel like my home is already being stolen before a single change can be made. My mind starts to wander into what-if territory.
Suddenly, the bright, open lobby with the mahogany front desk is no longer there. The floors have been stripped and gutted, the paint on the walls changed to a monotone gray color, and the light that once stretched in from the beach is diminished with silk curtains to give a posher look.
Our adorable cafe and restaurant will be stained with darker colors that interior designers call “royal” hues, but all they do is steal the light and heart of the place. In seconds, the inn is unrecognizable and my mind spirals down deeper into the layoffs, as that’s usually the next step.
It’s too easy for the Bellamy family to do it because they probably have never had something like Seaside to call home. They’re rich and detached. Authenticity means nothing to them.
Whoa. If that’s true, then Drew has never known a place like this.
I can’t imagine not having a place that I undoubtedly feel like I fit right into. Maybe that’s why it’s so easy for his family to act so detached from places they convert. Suddenly, his family seems even colder than before. But somehow, hints of Drew’s warmth still seem to find me. How well does he really fit in with them, and with their company?
He manages to find me at random times during the day and I can’t help but get caught up in him every time. He’s like gravity. I’m pulled to him more than I care to admit. When I tell myself that I’ll lie and say I’m busy with something else, he catches my lie before it can even escape my lips.
“You have a ‘tell’ when you’re fibbing, just so you know,” he smirks, kissing my forehead. “You can’t keep eye contact.”
Damn, I really can’t lie to this man.
