“I looked her up.I wouldn’t poke my eye out if she crawled into bed next to me.”
“One more crack and this conversation is over.”
“You’re marrying a beautiful woman, Connor.And it’s abusiness matter?Then you are either blind or stupid.She’s Pernell’s only heir.And according to sources, she’s fucking brilliant with money.”
“Sources?”
“She was an intern at one of my companies.”
No surprise there.Connor nodded.
“She doesn’t consider herself an entrepreneur,” Julien continued.
“That wouldn’t have come from a confidential HR file, would it?”
“Perish the thought.I’d never be so crass.”
Connor remained skeptical.
“She can do amazing analytics and risk assessments, but developing new ideas isn’t something she has a desire to do.And, my friend, that’s your forte.So why is it simply a business arrangement?It looks like a match made in corporate heaven.”
“You ever met a relationship you didn’t want to meddle in?”
“What’s the sticking point?I mean, besides you being an asshole.”
Nothing like old friends to give you medicine without sugar.“You know better than anyone that love is messy.”
“It is.And that’s what makes it so…oozingly delicious.”
Connor shook his head.“It’s not that easy.”
“Be bold,” Julien said.“You’re not responsible for anyone else’s mess.It’s time you saw that.You’re a different person than your father.You wouldn’t make the same choices he did.”
He recoiled.No one else but Julien Bonds would have the guts to say words like that.But he supposed it was easy to be a sage when you were examining someone else’s life and didn’t have to live with the consequences.
“So I take it I’m not on the guest list after saying that.No, wait.I’m confused.I was never on it, anyway.I might as well say anything I want.”
“There is no guest list.”
“Pity.Every woman wants a wedding.”
“This one would prefer there was nothing other than a legal certificate.Wants to live in her own house and pretend we’re not married.”
“Can you blame her?”
The tension sledgehammered the back of his neck.“I might add it was her idea to begin with.”
“Judging by what we know of Pernell, I’m guessing your bride-to-be needed some support.So my guess is she offered you something in return, a seat on the board, the opportunity for you to acquire the communications division.A sacrificial lamb, as it were.Unless you’d bend a little and offer some love, I wouldn’t want to live with you, either.”
“Thanks for that.”
“Anyway, I’ll be in Houston sometime next week.I have a real estate investor who wants me to look at sites for a new retail store.”
“Galleria area?”
“Among them, yes.”
He was intrigued.
