“What?” I’m caught off guard by her calm rejection. “Why not?”
“Well, let's break it down.” She glances around, notices a small pad of paper sitting on my kitchen island, and pulls it over to her. Clicking open a pen, she begins jotting notes in a clean, clear hand. “The pitch is solid, but aside from the fact that we live in different parts of the country, you’re not taking into account the amount of media scrutiny we’d get. Our families will want to meet and discuss some kind of grand wedding, future plans, and even how the companies could work together.” She bites the end of the pen for a moment, thinking. “No, no, we’d have to be expert liars to pull it off.” She taps the page, which now lists out the problems she brought up in bullet points, andstares at me pensively for a moment. “Which brings up one other problem.”
“What's that?” I ask, impressed but also dreading what she's about to say.
“We'd have to make it look real, and that could get confusing. We wouldn’t want feelings to get involved and bog the whole scheme down.”
Damn. That’s a good point. I hadn’t really thought of that. To be clear, I don’t have any concerns about my own feelings becoming confused. I don’t do serious relationships, even though Sutton is awesome. But I don’t want her to get confused either. Still, if we’re clear from the outset that this is not a relationship…?
“Well that’s fine,” I offer. “I never develop those sort of feelings. As long as we agree that it’s just a business deal, it can work.”
Sutton grins and shakes her head with a chuckle. “It’s an intriguing idea, but I’m going to have to say no.”
Before I can reply, her phone buzzes and she checks it with a small frown.
“Oh, that’s my aunt,” she says off-handedly, typing out some quick response. “I’m supposed to be visiting her after this. I need to get going.” She hops off her stool and gathers her things up from where they’re resting on the island. “Thanks for the fun night, and the delicious breakfast. Don’t worry. I know this was all a one-time thing, so you don’t have to be worried that I’ll get clingy or anything. I’ll see you around!”
With a smile and a wave of her hand, she turns and hurries out of the kitchen. I watch her go, a little stunned by how easily she turned me down. Dismissed me like she might do with any potential deal she wasn’t interested in. She wasn’t walking away from a relationship or a friendship. She was clearly walking away from a business partnership, and she did so with ease.
Well, shit.
Sighing, I shrug. Guess I can scratch that idea. It was a long shot, anyway, but I really didn’t expect her to shoot me down so succinctly. It’s impressive how confident and commanding she can be when she’s not walking a tight-rope around her parents.
Deciding to get on with my day, I clean up the breakfast dishes then grab my phone to get my flight back to Denver scheduled for a little after noon. I need to get back for practice tonight, and we have a home game tomorrow, so I just need to push Sutton from my thoughts so I can focus.
Once my flight is secured, I flip through some of my unopened emails. Suddenly, a text message pops up and I grimace when I see it’s from Ryan.
Ryan: So I heard you dipped out of the gala early last night with some girl. Way to meet everyone’s expectations, lol. Don’t worry. I already let Grandfather know.
“Motherfucker,” I hiss.
The little shit just won’t get off my ass. Again I feel tempted to call up Grandfather’s old P.I., Harvey, and see what dirt he can scrounge up on Ryan… but that feels petty. Harvey might even tell me it’s petty, for that matter. Still, I need to do something about Ryan trying to undermine me, and since I can’t rely on Sutton’s help, I’ll have to come up with a new plan to prove myself to my family and put my shithead brother in his place.
CHAPTER EIGHT: AUNT DELILAH
SUTTON
Mom and Dadare waiting for me by the time I reach our jet on the airport tarmac. I step out of the SUV and Mom hurries over to me, her brow furrowed in concern.
“Sutton, sweetheart.” She takes hold of my shoulders and looks me over. “Are you okay? You left the gala so early last night, and then when you didn’t show up for breakfast, I got worried that something had happened. I know it’s been so long since you had those awful anxiety attacks, but still, I’m always afraid…”
I feel a stab of guilt, but at the same time, it’s comforting to be on the receiving end of some good ol’ motherly affection like when I was a kid. I wish that I could be more vulnerable and open with her about my anxiety disorder without endangering my professional future by doing so… so instead, all we end up talking about these days are suitors. It’s depressing.
I slap on a reassuring smile and say, “I’m sorry, Mom. I got a headache and didn’t want to cause a scene last night so I just slipped away. Slept in a little this morning because I still wasn’t feeling one hundred percent.”
“My poor baby.” Mom cups my face and kisses my forehead like she used to when I was a kid and she would check if I had a fever. “Are you better now?”
“I’m fine now,” I assure her, wanting to end this conversation so I can stop feeling so damn guilty about lying to her. “I promise. Let’s get on the plane so we can get going.”
She nods and we turn and join my dad.
“You okay, sweetheart?” Dad asks as we move toward the stairs leading up to the jet.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” I tell him. “I just had a headache last night. Sorry for leaving the gala so early.”
“It’s quite all right.” His smile is warm, and I bask in it. “There will be plenty of other galas and events for you to attend in the future. Plenty of opportunities to practice networking.”
The reminder is a little condescending, but thankfully, they both seem to accept my explanation, so I let it go. It’s a rare moment of no judgment from them, and I’m going to soak it in with everything I’ve got.
