Page 193 of The Sweetest Return

I went quiet.

“I’m moving the thing blocking you from doing what you're good at.”

My throat tightened.

“I can figure it out.”

“I know you can.”

“Imani Bennett does not require rescue.”

“I ain’t offer rescue. I offered transportation.”

I closed my eyes.

“That transportation is a private jet, isn't it?”

“Charter.”

“You said that like the distinction makes this normal.”

“I do not own a jet, Mani.”

“You rent them often enough for that sentence to lack humility.”

His laugh loosened some of the pressure sitting between my shoulders.

“Send me the atelier address and Solara House. Pittsburgh to Teterboro, then Van Nuys probably makes the most sense. Cars on both ends. Security too if your insurer needs it.”

I stared at the flight options until they began looking even more disrespectful than they had five minutes earlier.

“Dre.”

“Do you trust me to help without making you feel small?”

There it was.

The real question beneath everything I had been arguing about.

Dre's resources were enormous enough to make a logistical problem I had been wrestling with disappear after one phone call, and years ago that kind of imbalance might have terrified me. His world could open doors mine had to calculate, budget, and negotiate first.

But Dre wasn't trying to become the reason I succeeded.

He was offering to clear an obstacle and trusting me to do the work on the other side of it.

“Yes.”

His breathing shifted.

“Then let me help.”

I released mine slowly. “Okay.”

“Good. Pack for two nights.”

“Two?”

“You planning to fly across the country, handle all that, and come straight back like punishment builds character?”