Page 96 of Nothing to Tell
“You didn’t take it on faith?”Bea asked.
Bastian smiled.“Faith doesn’t have much of a place in business.Trust is precarious enough in personal situations.You play at my level, facts and figures are the only faith we have.Even they can lie sometimes.This deal is eight figures.Peanuts in the bigger picture, but you look after the pennies…”
“This from the guy with nine cars,” Adara said.
How did her sister know that?
“There’s nine at the house,” Bastian said but didn’t add a qualifier.
“Is it true you own a theme park?”Charissa asked.
“Sold it,” he said.“Didn’t fit my portfolio.”
“How many hotels do you own?”
“There are five twenty-five in the chain worldwide,” he said.“Give or take, we offer franchise options if you’re interested.”
“Harper must have told you what we do,” Davis said.
No way she’d let that axe drop.
“We shouldn’t monopolize the meal with business,” Harper said.“You boys can talk shop another time,” or never as far as she was concerned.
“Where did you two meet?”Bea asked.“This is a very unusual situation, isn’t it?”
“Sure is,” Bastian said.“I can’t believe I was so lucky as to meet the most incredible woman in the world.How I got her interest, I’ll never know.Still not sure how I swung that.”
“You can be difficult,” Harper said, following her words with a faux sigh.
Bastian kissed her temple.“I’m a lucky guy.”
“You must have women knocking down your door,” Charissa said.
“It’s double locked,” Bastian replied.“There’s only one girl for me.”
Her date smiled at her and, damn, she believed it.This guy was a helluva salesman.Talk about hyperbole.She shouldn’t laugh.Wouldn’t.He was being sweet again.
Trust Damon to ruin the mood with his scoff.
Bastian’s smile fell in the second he turned to the sound.“Do you have a problem, Twaddle?”
“No,” Davis said.“He has no problem.”
“It’s OTT,” Damon said, him and Bastian locking eyes.“Harper’s not the type of woman guys shoot their load for like that.”
“Damon,” Charissa chastised him.“Your mom is right there.”
Bastian’s next words were cool, measured.“I assure you, Twaddle, mine shoots just fine.For Harper, and only for Harper.”
A laugh busted out of Adara.“Sorry…” Her sister’s eyes watered in their hilarity.“That was a good comeback.Guess some men work a little better than others.Carnell’s healthy as a horse and he has no trouble with me.”Adara wrinkled her nose to patronize Damon, just as he deserved.“Maybe you should go to a doctor.”
The way Damon’s scowl flipped to Charissa led her to believe, huh, there could be something in that.Had the friends been talking?
But, typically, Damon dug his heels in when drawing his eyes off Charissa.“Men like blondes,” he asserted.“Sophisticated and cultured.Not too much work.You’ve got to admit, Harpy, one thing you are is hard work.”
Lovely.Wasn’t that nice.It wouldn’t be a family get-together without a dose of Harper bashing, next time she’d wear a helmet.
“Not all men want the same thing,” Adara said.“Not all women want the same thing either.You want a quiet little trophy wife to trail along behind you and do as she’s told.Maybe Bastian doesn’t want that.There are four couples at the table, do you think if we mixed and matched our qualities that we would be as happy?”
