Page 13 of Earned Husband

“I don’t mean any offense, but that wasn’t very convincing.”

Another sniffle followed and I pressed my lips together in a failed attempt to compose myself. “If you’re not allergic tome, then why do you keep sneezing whenever you’re in my presence?”

“I have terrible allergies,” he said vaguely. “They always act up at this time of year.”

When I started laughing again, unable to help myself, he joined in. It wasn’t even that funny, but neither of us stopped until a voice spoke up from behind. “There you are. I’ve been looking all over.”

We both turned to where Jane stood near the staircase, her hands resting lightly on her hips. “Dinner is being served.”

I pushed away from the railing and glanced at Colin. “I’m sitting next to you.”

He narrowed his eyes at me. “Why does that sound like it might be dangerous?”

“Only if you’re actually allergic to me.”

“Don’t worry,” he said, chuckling as we started toward the stairs. “I have an EpiPen.”

Jane glanced between us with a small, knowing smile on her lips, and as soon as I saw it, it revived the suspicion I’d been carrying around all week. Whatever Alex and Khaled were up to, Jane and Ashanti were in on it.

CHAPTER 7

COLIN

Dinner had been set up at a long table on the upper deck, and when we arrived to discover that Deja had been seated beside me even without our own intervention, I felt like perhaps fate—or my sister—had smiled upon me.

Until I looked up and realized that we were directly across from Alex and Khaled.Yeah, this isn’t a blessing or a gift from Jane. It’s a trap. Likely orchestrated by Alex.

I glanced at Deja, but she appeared completely unconcerned about our nearest table mates. Instead, she was examining the people around us while tucking a loose strand of dark hair behind one ear. My heart did that weird, skip-squeeze thing again, but rather than trying to continue the conversation we’d fallen into downstairs, I focused on Alex.

He looked back at me, smirking when my gaze met his. “Why are you so quiet tonight, Colin? I feel like I’ve barely seen you.”

I smirked right back at him. “That’s because I’ve learned that speaking around you becomes expensive fast.”

Khaled laughed, but Alex knew I was serious and he kept smirking anyway, not even trying to hide the truth. He even confirmed it just a moment later. “Speaking of capital outlays, have you given any more thought to our discussion? If Baselapproves the merger, you’ll be heading up the project, so what do you say? Are you ready to choose a property and start setting up a perfume manufacturing facility?”

“Wait,” Deja said slowly, finally looking up from her menu to bring those mind-boggling eyes to mine. “You’rethe contact?”

“No, I’m not,” I said quickly, glancing at Jane, who was seated on Alex’s other side. “You’re our CEO. Help me.”

“No.” She waved me away, not sparing me more than a glance. “You’re the money guy. I trust you.”

She turned back to the conversation she was having with Ashanti and Kate, leaving me trapped with her husband and his apparent new sidekick. Alex tipped his head toward her. “See? She agrees with me. This is your baby.”

I considered throwing a bread roll at him, but unfortunately, I was surrounded. Khaled took my comments in stride, explaining more about what they would need in a processing facility instead of expecting an immediate answer.

The more he spoke, the more I started realizing that this was actually completely doable. There would definitely be significant costs involved, but it wasn’t nearly as much of a nightmare as I’d initially thought. Even so, I was barely considering it until Deja entered the conversation.

Until that moment, I hadn’t given any thought whatsoever to the kind of interest she might have in this, but as soon as she started speaking, everything changed. “We’ve been desperately searching for an American partner for years. It simply makes sense to manufacture and process locally if we’re going to be using regional botanicals in addition to our traditional ingredients. It’ll also save us a ton of money in shipping and logistics.”

I frowned. “We? Us?”

Her eyebrows inched up just a bit, a smile ghosting across her mouth. “You didn’t know? I’m essentially responsible for White Water Lily.”

I just stared at her for a long beat. I honestly hadn’t realizedshewastheperson, the one driving their actual brand.

Suddenly, the conversation and the prospect of this merger became much more interesting, but I had to be sure. “I thought your mother was the CEO?”

A shadow passed behind her eyes, but she blinked it away before I was even sure it’d ever been there at all. “She is, but I do all our sourcing and design. I create the scent combinations and I find the people we get them from.”