Secret Billionaire's Frosty Lover (The Secret Billionaires 3)

“That wasn’t panic.”

She waved off his explanation. “It’s nothing to be ashamed of. My mom—now, she had it bad. Got to the point she couldn’t walk outside her own door. So I get it.” Paris poured a good slug of dark whisky into their empty glasses.

Dominic sniffed. “This smells like turpentine.”

“Yeah. It’ll go down about the same. My dad makes the worst whisky in the country…or perhaps the world. But he’s my dad. If I don’t drink it, he looks at me and reminds me how I’m depriving him of grandchildren.” She pushed his glass over to him. “To art.”

“How about to connections—new and old.” He took a good swallow of the drink and his eyes went wide. He gave a hard cough. “Little bit of an edge.”

Paris laughed. “Yeah, like an ax.” She took a swallow and gasped for breath. “This sorts the men from the boys.”

“And the girl’s from the women? I’m guessing your father’s isn’t a bit related to the Macallans.”

The burn of the strong liquor warmed her blood. She leaned an elbow on the bar. “What did Michael say to you? I should warn you, he never lets the truth get in the way of a good story.”

“For a bartender, he hasn’t said much. But I guess his job is to listen more. So what kind of changes do you want to make to the place?”

She wrinkled her nose and waved a hand. “Lots. More than I can afford right now. This place used to drive my husband crazy.”

“Sorry. Didn’t know you were married.”

“Widowed. Weird, I know, since most people end up divorced. But my late husband put his private plane into the side of a mountain.”

“I’m sorry.”

She gave a shrug. The regret was still there, deep and wide, but the rest had long faded into bittersweet memories. “It was…Jack wanted a smart, pretty wife. Unfortunately for him, he got me.”

“I don’t see what was so unfortunate about that?”

She turned and leaned both elbows on the bar. “We honeymooned here—our special place. Jack bought it for me on the spot.” She shook her head. “That was Jack. He thought it would be our retreat. And he had the money to buy whatever he wanted. But Jack also thought everything he touched should produce a thirty-percent growth rate every year. This place drove him crazy. Even more than I ever did.”

Tipping his head to one side, he looked like he was studying her, a curiously intent expression on his face. “You don’t sound happy about it. Why’d you marry him?”

“You mean, why hook up with a driven businessman who can’t see past the bottom line?” Turning, she smiled. “Great question. All I can say is I was young enough not to know better. I fell in love—hard and fast. And I had this weird idea Jack needed someone who could make him laugh. I also had this idea that with his kind of backing, he’d make me a ski champion. I was wrong about just about everything. I’m good on the slopes, but I’m not great. I’m no Suzy Chaffee.”

“Who?”

The corner of her mouth twisted up with a smile. “You really aren’t in the skiing scene. But don’t you remember those Chapstick commercials way back when?”

He shook his head. “Sorry. I’m not much on pop culture.”

“Ever been married?” she asked.

“Do I look like it?”

“No…no, I guess not. You’re probably too smart for that.”

“And you sound way too cynical for your age.”

She nodded. “Yes, well, that happens when your husband ends up making you cry most of the time. He had money and we always fought over it. Maybe we’d have been happy if we were broke, but Jack…he couldn’t focus on anything but business. We were probably six months from divorce when Jack—” She cut off the words and shook her head.

“You thought he might have done it on purpose?”

“Oh, hell, no, not Jack. He thought he was immortal. Money could buy him everything. The only reason the divorce didn’t come soon was that Jack also hated giving up on any project. He was still trying to make me the perfect wife, and this place…well, he couldn’t ever get it to do more than break even.”

“What? With the prices you charge?”

“Oh, yeah. This place eats money. Pipes break every damn year. There are always repairs and upgrade, and heading. Jack tried everything from expansion to shutting it down for half the year. The expansion couldn’t be done because of local zoning. Shutting it down cut costs, then cost more since Jack had to hire the staff back at double the rate to get them to come back. And me…well, I was just as expensive.”