Jack's Surrender (Holiday Cove 5)

Noah laughed. “I get that a lot. I try to keep my surfing excursions for the weekends but I’ll admit to ducking out early on more than one occasion to go chase a few especially tempting waves.”

“You surf?”

He nodded. “I didn’t see the ocean until I was a teenager. But as soon as I did, I was hooked. Now I try to soak up as much of it as I can.”

“I’ve never tried. I like to stay on the sand. Less sharks.”

Noah chuckled and unbuttoned his suit jacket before waving at the seat opposite his desk. I took my seat and Sharice appeared with a bottle of water and a glass filled with ice. I thanked her and she left, closing the door behind her. The office suddenly felt smaller now that it was just me and Noah. His eyes mirrored the color of the ocean beyond his broad shoulders and I nearly fumbled the bottle of water as I moved to set it on the table between my chair and the one beside it.

“Well, let’s get started,” he said, clasping his hands together in front of him. “I did a little digging and I must say, I’m impressed, Holly.”

My cheeks pinked. “Thank you.”

“You mentioned that you’d been overseas,” he prompted.

“That’s right. I was with my fiancé. He is—was—a Naval Officer. Reserves now. He took a post in Germany and I went with him.”

“Fiancé?” Noah’s eyes darted to my left hand.

“Yes,” I replied, suddenly feeling too warm. “Jack McGuire.”

Noah leaned back in his seat. “Sounds like quite the adventure. Were you still working for your regular clients while you were there?”

“Some of my clients stayed with me,” I said, not wanting to offer too much information. Between the time difference and our constant travel, most of my clients decided they needed to go another route and opted to move their business to a local firm. I’d tried to drum up new business while abroad but nothing had panned out. After several months of bashing my head against a wall, Jack told me not to worry about it and that I could get reestablished once we were back home. And with all the new places to explore and experiences to have, I’d been more than fine with letting my business slip to the back burner for a while.

“However, at this point, my client roster is very manageable, and I don’t see any reason I wouldn’t be able to take on a new client. Even one with full-time needs.”

Noah nodded and his smile returned. “Very good. Well, let me tell you a little bit about what we’re doing here and then I’ll take you for a tour.”

“Sounds perfect.”

“I started this company when I was twenty. My grandfather helped me invest some money as a teenager. It wasn’t supposed to be anything big. Just a little experiment and he figured if I got anything out of it, it would go to help pay for college. We had a bit of a winning streak and when I walked away, I ended up with a quarter of a million dollars.”

“Whoa.” I blinked, unable to imagine having access to that kind of cash as a teenager. I wasn’t sure I would have been so prudent with it. Looking around the office, he’d obviously made wise choices. He looked to be in his early thirties and obviously had millions—if not billions—of dollars at his disposal if he’d been able to afford the O’Keefe properties.

“Anyway, to make a long story short, I invested in real estate. I bought a house, flipped it, and then bought another. After a while, I started doing income properties and even bought an entire apartment building before I hit twenty-five.” Everything he said was so matter-of-fact. Like, he wasn’t bragging or trying to impress me. He was just stating fact. “I’ve been very fortunate and now I’m looking into the development here in Holiday Cove. It’s going to be the biggest undertaking of my career and I need to make sure I have a rock-solid team behind me. I think you could be a part of that team.”

He went on, covering the details of his company and the expectations of what I would do if I were brought on staff. I’d be the head CPA but he assured me there was room in the budget if I needed an assistant. My head started spinning after ten minutes and I hoped my glossed over expression didn’t give me away. Working for a man like Noah Scoville was way over my head and experience but somewhere between the polished exterior of the office and the cool, comfortable elegance of the office space, I’d decided it was exactly where I wanted to be. Wrapped in the security of a beautiful office, wearing fabulous designer clothes, and going out to posh corporate lunches. Instead of working at the dining room table with my hair piled in a messy bun and fuzzy socks on my feet.