What bothered me was that if the company was failing, why hadn’t Ben come to me for help? I could see why Beth might keep it to herself. She had to be pissed about how I left her. But Ben and I had been fast friends until two years ago when his father first showed signs of getting ill. Of course, Beth made comments that indicated Ben didn’t think I was his friend. Sure, we hadn’t seen each other for a long time, but I still thought he was my friend. Unless he found out about me and Beth, in which case, why hadn’t he come and tried to kick my ass?
I tried to remember the last time I saw Ben. We’d been at the same party, and he’d been drinking pretty heavily and flirting with the ladies. Nothing new about that. He did seem brusque with me and I had the feeling he’d been avoiding me. At the time, I thought it was because he was trying to woo a woman and I was interrupting his efforts.
Perhaps he was upset about something else, but Ben wasn’t one to keep his feelings to himself. If he was pissed at me, he’d let me know. So the whole situation was baffling.
I wanted to blame him, but I knew our growing apart was partly my fault, just as my breaking things off with Beth had been my fault. Or more accurately, my father’s fault. Both our fathers forced me away from Beth by threatening to ruin my and Ben’s chances of opening Jet. Like a good lemming, I fell in line. Jet had been the lure by my father to get me in the family business.
At first, I resisted, but when Chase questioned my abilities, I showed him first hand what I could do and that I should never be underestimated. By the time Kade joined the business, and later Hunter after leaving the military, all of them knew I could hold my own against them and my father. Turned out, I drank the Kool-Aid too. But as I spent time with Beth, I was beginning to see what it cost me.
That expenditure walked into the restaurant, and I wasn’t the only man watching her in the stunning dress that looked both conservative and too fucking sexy at the same time. I made sure no other man got any ideas by meeting her halfway.
“We have a table in the back,” I said, guiding her toward a private area reserved for business meetings or people who didn’t want to be seen. “I’ve talked to the chef about what’s the best today, can I order for you?”
“Sure. I’m not really hungry though. I just want to complete our business.”
Inwardly I was pissed but worked to stay calm and ignored her comment. I called over Jean-Luc, and in my best French, ordered the full seven-course meal. When she figured out we were going to be here for a while, she’d probably be pissed at me but try to hide it. What a pair we were.
To help ease her irritation, I pushed the envelope with the contract over. “I do need to see something that gives you the authority to sign on behalf of Ben and the company since the company is still an investor if you want me to transfer the money tonight. Otherwise, you can take that and bring it to me when you’ve had Ben and a company representative sign, assuming that’s not you or Ben.”
She took some papers from her purse and slid them to me as she picked up the envelope. I looked over the papers and saw that she was the signer for the company and Ben had given her authority to sign for him. I began to wonder if maybe something was wrong with him. Was he sick?
I waited and watched her as she read the contract while sipping wine from the most expensive bottle the restaurant served. She was so beautiful, but not in a fake, over the top style as many women wore. Her makeup was subtle because she didn’t need it. Her skin was like porcelain with a few little freckles on her nose and cheeks. Her hair was up, but a few strands hung in loose curls that I really wanted to reach out and touch. Her brilliant blue eyes studied the contract, and I wondered if they still turned a deeper shade when aroused. I cursed myself for not paying attention to that the other night when she fucked me in the limo.
More than anything I wondered what my life would have been like if I’d chosen her instead of Ben and bowed to the whims of our fathers? Would I be happier? Would she? Would her family’s company be doing better or would the feud that came between our fathers have erupted sooner? I had a sense that perhaps the McAdam’s troubles might have come with some help from my father.