An Accidental Date with a Billionaire

He must have mistaken her silence for confusion, because he continued on. “What that means is that I find companies that would fail, ones that are about to go under, and I buy them. Then I either turn them into something profitable or close them down.”

She crossed her arms. “I know what it means.” Figures he’d think she didn’t understand.

“Okay.” He approached a stop sign. “Straight?”

“Right.” She hesitated. “I mean, right, as in turn right.”

He got into the proper lane. “Where are we going?”

“You’ll see,” she answered. Boy, was he going to be surprised when they arrived. “Are these people whose companies you take willing to sell, or do you rip them from their hands by force?”

She already knew the answer.

He opened his mouth, then closed it. “A little bit of both.”

“So…some are forced into it.”

He nodded. “Unfortunately. In those circumstances, shareholders find me and ask me to step in.”

“For a hostile takeover.”

He frowned. “I’ve helped a few, but they’re not the norm.”

“And the employees…?”

Clearing his throat, he said, “Some lose thei

r positions, but—”

“So, basically, you take people’s jobs and companies away?”

He squared his jaw. “There’s more to it than that.”

“Is there, though?” She had no patience for people like him.

He didn’t answer, and she glanced out the window, ending the conversation. He might try to make it sound better, but at the end of the day, he took people’s dreams and lives, crushed them in his palm, and walked away with the profits…

Just like her parents.

Chapter Four

Damn, she really didn’t like him.

Some small part of him liked that about her, but the bigger part wondered what the hell had happened to her in her life that she hated him so damn much. Had her family lost their business to a company like his? Had it been his company? That would, at least, explain the anger.

“How about you? What do you do?” he asked, breaking the steely silence. There was something about her that drew him in, and he was genuinely curious about her.

“I work for a small organization that helps struggling companies save themselves, and we create plans to help them succeed before the sharks sense blood in the water.” She shot him a smile that wasn’t so sweet. “Sharks like you, I guess.”

Out of all the jobs in the world, she had to be on the opposite side of the ring as him.

He cocked a brow. “I see.”

She might think he was a complete dick, but his company was fair, honest, and generous. He didn’t get off on ending dreams. He did what he had to do, and he tried to make it as painless as possible for everyone involved.

“You make a living off ending businesses,” she added, as if that proved anything.

“And you make yours from trying to help people who can’t be saved, and in the end they walk away from me with less cash in their pockets than they’d hoped.” He gritted his teeth. “So, really, who’s the bad guy here?”