Nate cleared his throat quietly, and both Will and I glanced up to look at him when he spoke, though it looked like he would rather have a tooth extracted than actually contribute to the conversation. “What that means is that we’ll be looking at competitive yield projections backed by historical performance metrics, not sentiment.”
I smiled sweetly. “That too.”
Will snorted, covering it with an unconvincing cough. “You, dear brother, are terrible at explaining things like I’m five. What the fuck does that even mean?”
The door opened and Alex strode in, scanning the room with that laser-focused energy that I was sure made people either fall in line or flee. “Give me an update.”
As he sat down, I slid the printed report across the table. Confidence settled into my spine while I walked him through the summary and what we’d come up with so far. Alex listened without interrupting and I recognized that for what it was—a compliment. Possibly a rare one.
“Are you confident Hinds will respond to this structure?” he asked when I finished.
“Yes,” I said. “My father will back it up and it includes continued financial management from our side, so this gives him continuity without stagnation. The company keeps going, its growth potential remains significant, and his retirement is secure. That ticks all the boxes.”
Alex nodded slowly, his eyes shifting between Nate and me. “I want a face-to-face meeting with Hinds. Both of you will be there.”
“Of course,” I replied immediately.
“I’ll have my assistant set it up.”
After that, he left just as abruptly as he’d arrived and Will leaned back in his chair, sliding his hands behind his head. “Well, that was terrifyingly efficient.”
“I try,” I said. “Alex doesn’t just try, though. He succeeds.”
Will laughed. “That, he does. He always has.”
Nate said nothing, but his gaze lingered on mine for half a second before he stood and gathered his notes, heading from the conference table to his desk. Will peeled off to take another call, tossing me a casual salute on his way out.
I turned back to my laptop, riding the quiet high of a strategy that had landed exactly how I’d hoped it would.This might even only take a week.Two at most.
I could survive that.
Just as I started pulling up new projections, the door shut behind me with a deliberate click. Nate stood in front of it with his arms crossed, the expression on his face making it pretty clear that he’d shut it so he could give me a talking to.
I had no clue what could possibly have gotten his panties into such a twist, but it was hilarious he thought he could look at me like that. He wasn’t my fucking father.
“If you’re trying to figure out if you’d like to become a bouncer when you’re all grown up, I’d stick with finance.Honestly, you’re just not intimidating enough to keep people away from doors they really want to walk through.”
That part wasn’t entirely true. He was plenty intimidating, tall and with that face hard enough to resemble a stone gargoyle ferociously guarding a castle or a fort. If gargoyles were hot and had the most intense blue eyes on the planet. But I couldn’t let him know any of that, so I just stared coolly back at him.
“What’s your plan with Will?” he asked pointblank, his voice clipped and harsh.
I stared at him for another beat before laughing. “My plan? With Will? I’m not sure I follow.”
“You heard me, Kate. What are you doing with him?”
I leaned back in my chair, spinning it to face him directly. “I’m going to need you to be wildly more specific.”
His jaw flexed, his shoulders tightening. “He’s not someone to mess with.”
“Why is he not someone to mess with?” I asked, folding my arms to mirror his defensiveness. “Is he secretly a serial killer or something?”
Nate blinked once, hard enough to make him look like he was mentally recalibrating his personal opinion of my sanity, but then he scoffed. “No. He’s not a serial killer, but he is as good as married.”
“Okay.” I frowned. “First, I wasn’t flirting with him and I don’t have any plans to either, but even if I was, he hasn’t mentioned a girlfriend. If he’s taken, he should be clear about that. That’s on him, not on me.”
Nate gave a short, humorless laugh. “It figures that you’d stubbornly avoid taking any responsibility whatsoever, but it’s not that. He doesn’t have a girlfriend.”
“Then what is it?” I tilted my head. “A fiancée he keeps in your family vault?”
