“In the floor.” Adam finished filling his fizzing drink and set the bottle on the table with a soft clink.
“Genius.” She lifted her glass to him.
He lifted his in return, his eyes burning with something she couldn’t identify but that made butterflies fill her stomach.
Adam grabbed a handful of grapes and settled back into the cushions. “Does it still bother you that you didn’t get married that day?” His tone was casual, but there was a tilt to his jaw that made Bella think he was bracing for a blow.
She peeled a banana slowly, taking her time. “I probably should be—since I’m the jilted bride and all. But I’m not. Not in the least.”
“Really?” Adam’s eyes brightened.
The sight took her breath away. “Truly. My life would have been so different, so dreary compared to my life with y—” She caught herself from sayingmy life with you. She and Adam didn’t have a life together; they had a contract to fulfill.
Still, her time at The Cove was like a dream. A wonderful, enchanted dream where an unseen maid did her laundry and a cook made her meals; where she had access to all the law books her heart desired as well as work that fulfilled her. And she had Adam to share it with. Yes, the sharing was limited, but that didn’t make it any less precious to her. “… my life as it is now,” she finished.
She smiled, hoping he understood that she was happy here. Well, as happy as she could be without her father, but they spoke daily. She wished she could see him with her own eyes and know that he was doing as well as he claimed with his recovery, but there was too much to do, and he insisted she finish up the contract as soon as possible so she could be done.
“Have you met the owners of Lot 13 and 14?” Bella motioned to the south where the two lots were located, hoping her feelings weren’t shining through her face. The gazebo was located on an acre of shared land just above them—well, still owned by Adam but shared with the residents, much like the security stations and the caregiver’s cottage were part of his trust.
“Unfortunately,” he grumbled.
Bella shoved his shoulder, feeling a zing up her arm from the contact. “They can’t be all that bad. Lot 14’s already applied for permits to do fireworks over the lake for the 4th of July. It should be a great party.”
He sighed heavily, rolling his eyes. “One for the books.”
“You don’t like parties?” she asked.
“All that fuss and fumble.” He rolled his hands around and then tossed them up.
She poked his side. “I suppose you’d rather be cooped up in your library with a good book.”
He poked her side in return. “As a matter of fact, I would.”
Bella giggled. She couldn’t help herself; she was hypersensitive and ticklish. “I still think you should hold a ball.” A ball would bring the residents together, something that hadn’t happened yet. Many of them ran in the same circles, but there were a few that didn’t. They may not be dropping fruitcake off on each other’s doorsteps come Christmas, but knowing your neighbors was important.
“And I think you should spend more time worrying about the bar exam than my social life.”
“Trust me, I worry about that more than you know.” She broke off a piece of banana and chewed slowly. “Did you know 72% of applicants fail? I can’t help but think that the odds are not in my favor.”
Adam shrugged. “So you fail. Take it again.”
“Says Mr. Pass-the-first-time.”
He lifted one eyebrow. “FDR failed the NY bar exam once. JFK failed it twice. Michelle Obama failed in Illinois on her first try. It’s a hard test.”
It was Bella’s turn to roll her eyes. “You’re making me feel so much better.”
A slow, lazy smile spread across Adam’s face, and with it came a warm, delicious feeling in Bella’s lower belly.
“One of these days we’re going to run out of things to talk about, and then you’ll be bored,” she warned him. It never ceased to amaze her when he sought her out during the day. Or that he’d gone to so much trouble for a lakeside lunch. Then again, for a billionaire, all it took was telling the right people what he wanted and things got done. Maybe that’s why it was the thought that counted. And the fact that he’d thought of her was almost too much.
“Not possible.” He tossed the grape stem onto the table and brushed off his fingers before snatching a cube of cheese. “Tell me what you’re studying.”
Bella blew out a breath. “De facto corporations.”
Adam scooted closer, his energy zinging. “And the three requirements are …?”
Bella set her half-eaten banana on the table and ticked them off on her fingers, happy to have someone to review with. She retained most of what she read, but being able to repeat it back was just as important. “Number 1: there must be an incorporation statute that the entity could have incorporated under had the articles of incorporation been properly filed. Number 2: the corporation made a good-faith effort to comply. And number 3: the business is running as if it were a corporation.”
