Technical Threat (Westin Force #4) - Julie Trettel Page 0,62
My car was largely packed with all of my stuff. We still had Sapphire’s car to fill with her stuff. Sage’s would have to be dispersed between the three vehicles. Not wanting to pay for a moving truck we all agreed to stop and buy air mattresses. We weren’t going to take any of the furniture or big stuff. Only necessities and important personal items.
That proved easier said than done. While I had never really had much, Mom had spoiled the other girls with an over abundance of clothes, shoes, and well, stuff.
“If I’m being honest, I don’t even like this stuff. Can I just pick out the things I actually want to wear and just start over buying what I need when I need it and can afford to do so?” Sapphire asked. “I mean look at these?”
She pulled on an orange, yellow, and green dress that had the gypsy appeal our mother loved. She fancied herself a gypsy, but personally I thought she was just being insulting towards all real gypsies throughout history. She was no gypsy. She didn’t even know anything about their culture.
I burst out laughing. “That looks like Mom.”
“Right?”
“Just take what you want, Sapphire. I’m going to leave a key with Jimmy. If there’s anything left we absolutely need, he can send it to us after we’re settled.”
“Thank you,” she said with a relieved sigh.
With that established, bags and boxes were dumped and repacked. There was only a fraction of what we had started with. I was confident we could fit everything into the cars now.
The front door opened. My spine straightened then relaxed when I caught Tarron’s scent.
“We’re back here.”
I stepped out into the hallway to meet him.
“Hey gorgeous,” he said wrapping his arms around my waist and kissing me right in front of Sapphire.
Sage chose that moment to step out of her room. “Gross. Get a room.”
I wasn’t sure what she had needed, because she turned and walked back into her room.
“How’s it going here?” he asked.
“Great actually. We’re almost done and ready to start loading.”
“Really? That was fast.”
“We decided to only take the necessities,” Sapphire explained.
“That’s good. We may be living in the Lodge for a bit while we search for a house. Patrick is trying to line up an extra room there until we can find a house or have one built.”
“Build a house?” I asked. “Tarron, that can get really expensive. I have money saved, but I don’t know if it’s wise to invest it all so soon.”
He took my hand and led me to the kitchen. We sat at the table. There were so many things we needed to talk about. Basic stuff that needed to be addressed. Would there be work for me and my sisters there? I wanted Sage to go to college and that savings was going to help with that.
“Breathe, babe. Just breathe. I know there’s still a lot we don’t know about each other, but on this topic, I want to assure you that money is no problem. I’ve never really talked about this with any of the guys before. Some probably know just from background checks, and it’s not like I’ve tried to hide it, I’m just not very good at talking about money.”
He was stalling I knew it.
“Okay?” I asked feeling a little confused.
He sighed. “Before coming to the Force I built a multi-billion dollar company specializing in cyber security. It was a hot topic at the time and there was a strong need for it. My hacking skills came in handy and helped me escalate to the top of the industry quickly. I sold the company when I turned twenty-five. I’ve never spent a dime of that money I made off the sale. You don’t have to worry about money, Susan. Not ever.”
My jaw dropped open, but no sounds came out as I tried to process what he’d just confessed to me.
“You’re rich?” I finally blurted out.
He grinned and laughed. “Yeah, you could say that. I don’t need much in life though. Nonna teases that I’m too frugal for my own good and should live a little. Truth is, I love working, at least in doing what I love. I never cared much for the business side of things. I believe in what we’re doing at Westin Force and I’m proud to be a part of it. I could never say that about being a twenty-one-year-old CEO. I hated that life.”
“Wow. You don’t really come across as the type.” That sounded