Marrying Mr. Wrong (Dirty Martini Running Club #3) - Claire Kingsley Page 0,42
like a man obsessed.
This wasn’t like me.
Why was she fucking with my head?
It was one thing to know what I wanted and to pursue it relentlessly. That was what I did. No, it was who I was. I worked hard. Hustled. Made things happen. I knew how to charm, enchant, captivate, and mesmerize to get what I wanted and meet my goals. That was why I’d met with so much success. Why my mama no longer lived in a single-wide trailer and the big logo in my office had my name on it.
But it was quite another to keep knocking on a door after it had been slammed in your face a couple of times. A real man knew that occasionally he had to take no for an answer, whether he wanted to or not.
Which was why I’d walked away from Sophie yesterday.
Despite what she seemed to think, I hadn’t gone down to that bar because I thought her texts were an invitation. I knew I’d surprise her. I’d simply seen an opportunity and taken it. And really, how could I have resisted? I did want to peel the clothes off a sweaty Sophie.
But she hadn’t taken to that suggestion the way I’d thought she would.
I clicked away from a website that sold zip-front sports bras. I needed to let that go. Sending her one would probably just make her mad.
And why the fuck did I care? Why was I sitting here agonizing over what to do about her? I was putting a lot of mental energy into a girl I just wanted to fuck a few times.
Except, maybe—
Nope, that wasn’t it. Feelings need not apply.
Althea came in, dressed in head-to-toe black, her hair in her usual bun. “Here you are. Not coming into the office today?”
“Just trying to get caught up on some things.”
She pulled a chair up to my desk and sat. “Sorry to bother you, but you’re going to want to hear this.”
“You have my attention.”
“I spoke with Drew Easton from Easton Development this morning. They’re very interested in what we have going with Skyline.”
Easton Development wasn’t exactly a competitor, but they did operate in the same space, doing large-scale commercial real estate development. “Interested how?”
“They want to buy it.”
“No shit?”
With a self-satisfied smile, she pushed a piece of paper across my desk. “Yes. It’s basically a no-brainer. This isn’t official, just the terms we discussed over the phone.”
I scanned the bullet point list she’d drawn up.
“We should take it,” she said. “This is going to make you an obscene amount of money.”
My brow furrowed. It was going to make Althea an obscene amount of money, too. But if Easton bought us out now, our other investors weren’t going to see nearly the return than if we completed the project as intended.
“Would this break the existing contracts with our investors?”
“I admit, we’d be walking a line, but not so close that we risk litigation.”
I met her eyes. “So we’d screw them over, but only a little, and not enough that they’ll sue.”
She nodded. “Exactly.”
I tapped my fingers on my desk, mulling it over. Cox Development had a majority ownership in the project. It was my call. But this didn’t sit right with me. Shepherd Calloway hadn’t signed on so I could take his money and hand it back to him a few months later with a little bit on top for his trouble. He’d invested because he wanted to build something that had substance and value. True, if I sold now, I’d walk away with millions, but Calloway and my other investors wouldn’t.
“No.” I pushed the paper back to her. “We’re not selling.”
“What?”
“If it was just us, I’d consider it. But our investors get the short end of the stick on this, and that’s not how I want to do business.”
“Who gives a shit? We’ll make enough money on this deal that we won’t need outside investors anymore.”
“I happen to give a shit. They’ll do better if we see this through to the end. A lot better.”
“Does this have anything to do with your…” She trailed off.
“My wife?”
“I was trying to come up with a more accurate term, since your so-called marriage is a joke. But yes. Does this have anything to do with her?”
“Why would it?”
“I don’t know. Because she works for Calloway. I’m just shocked you’re not even willing to consider their offer.”
“This is not about Sophie,” I said. “This is our project and I want to see it through.”