Give a Little (20 page)

Nick laughed. “Right.
Easy
is precisely the word I’d use to describe any of the Summerhill women.”

“Some are easier than others,” Luca pointed out.

He didn’t miss the look the other men gave each other, nor did he miss the mischievous light in Sebastian’s eyes when he lifted his glass and said, “To the Summerhills, all lovely, if not easy.”

Merrick grinned as he lifted his drink. “Impossible not to drink to that.”

“To the Summerhills,” they echoed, clinking their glasses together.

“What are you doing?”

Rowdy didn’t bother to get up from where he was lying prone on the floor, nor did he remove the pillow covering his face. It was only Ian, after all. “Thinking.”

“It looks like someone tried to smother you,” Ian replied.

“Ha!” Stab him in the heart was more like it. He took the pillow off his face and glared at his buddy. “Mac, I’ve been used by a woman.”

“This is a switch.” Ian sat on the couch next to him, looking way too amused. “Usually you like being used by women.”

“Not this one. This one was different.” He’d thought Jasmine was more.

Stupid. Shaking his head, he covered it with the pillow again.

Only to have it snatched off his face.

“Hey.” He squinted at his friend. “I’m moping here. Have some respect.”

“I never thought I’d see Rowdy Stimson pout. Isn’t this where I tell you to get your head out of your arse and get on with life?”

Rowdy frowned, remembering the tough love he’d given Ian when he’d had his leg wrecked in a car accident. It was helping Ian rehab that gave him the idea for the rehab facility.

Who knew when it’d happen now, though? He sighed.

Ian leaned forward. “You’re really concerning me, Rowdy. I’ve never seen you like this.”

“Because I’ve never had my heart broken before.” He rubbed his chest. “This
sucks
.”

“I don’t believe you. You had to have had your heart broken before now. How old are you? Fifty-five?”

He glared at the former soccer hero. “Careful, dude. Don’t mess with a spurned lover.”

Ian grinned, but he sobered as he said, “Is the woman who spurned you the one you had over the other week?”

“Yeah.” He pursed his lips and stared at the ceiling. “Maybe I should have been more aggressive and jumped her bones. No, I was being respectful, and she liked it. Except she was playing me all along, so maybe if I’d tried to have sex with her, I’d have found out sooner.”

“You lost me. How do you reckon that?”

“Well, if she wasn’t truly interested in me, she would’ve tried to avoid sex.” He sat up, crossing his legs. “Right?”

Ian shook his head. “You’re trying to rationalize a woman’s thought process. Science hasn’t managed to explain that yet.”

“I—” His cell phone vibrated on the floor and he glanced down. He made a face.

“The woman?” Ian asked sympathetically.

“No. Dad.”

His friend raised his brow. “Aren’t you going to answer it?”

“I don’t think so.”

Stretching, Ian picked up the phone and swiped to answer the call.

“Hey,” Rowdy said as Ian said, “Hank, it’s Ian MacNiven. How are you?”

Crossing his arms, Rowdy scowled at his friend. He did
not
want to talk to his dad right now.

“Yes, Rowdy’s right here”—Ian glanced at him—“but he’s out of sorts. I don’t think he’s up to coming to the phone … Okay, I’ll tell him … It’s good talking to you, too. You should come visit … Same here. Give Libby a kiss for me.”

Ian hung up and handed the phone back. “That was your dad. He wants you to call him.”

“No kidding.” That was the last thing he needed, because if his dad found out that he was letting a woman stand in the way of collecting Pop’s inheritance, there’d be hell to pay.

The front door buzzed.

“I got it,” Ian said, getting up. He lifted the receiver for the intercom and then smiled as he faced Rowdy again. “Chloe’s coming up.”

“Chloe I can deal with.” He laid back down on the floor.

Which was where he was a couple minutes later when the teenager entered the flat. She came to stand over him, leaning down. “What are you doing?”

“He’s thinking,” Ian said as he sat down again.

“About what? Suicide?” She took her layers off and dumped them on a chair before sitting next to Ian. “Where’s Aunt Titania?”

“Out taking pictures.”

“And so you guys are”—she glanced at Rowdy—“hanging out?”

“Not really.” Ian stretched his arms across the back of the couch. “Rowdy’s pouting, and I’m trying to cheer him up.”

Chloe peered down at him. “It doesn’t look like it’s working.

“He’s in a mood,” Ian replied.

Rowdy crossed his arms. “He’s going to kick your asses if you don’t shut up.”

“Trouble with Jasmine?” Chloe asked, still bent over him.

“There’s no trouble,” he lied, glaring at Ian. He didn’t need to involve her in this. Jasmine was her stepdad’s best friend. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

The kid nodded. “Did you finish the bucket list? When is the equipment supposed to be delivered?”

“Why are you two determined to plague me?” He needed whiskey, or some green juice.

Or Jasmine.

He frowned.

“Uh-oh.” Chloe leaned forward to stare at him. “You didn’t get the money. Why didn’t you get the money? You had one more task.”

“It’s on hold,” he said through gritted teeth.

“Isn’t it to dance?” she asked, not taking the hint that he didn’t want to talk about it.

“Yeah.”

“Weren’t you supposed to dance with Jasmine?” She glanced at Ian.

Who said, “There’s trouble in paradise.”

Frowning, Chloe faced him again. “So then dance with me or a homeless person. Or Ian. But you need to finish it to get your money.”

“Don’t you think I know that?” The thing was he didn’t want to dance with anyone except Jasmine.

The kid leaned down and took him by the collar. “You can’t just let the inheritance slip away from you. You need it to get off the ground. Otherwise you’ll lose the money you put down on the equipment and won’t be able to open your center.
This is important
.”

“No kidding.” He brushed her hands away. “I just need some space to get my head right.”

“You don’t have the time.” Chloe shook her head. “What would your Pop say?”

Rowdy immediately heard Pop’s voice in his head:
Carpe diem, boy!

Only it was hard to seize a day that looked bleak, because the person he’d envisioned in it wouldn’t be there.

“What have you done to yourself, Bea?” Brian asked as he probed the muscles around her neck. “I don’t think I’ve ever felt you this tight.”

She winced as he found a particularly sore knot. “I slept in a strange bed.”

“What’s his name?” her masseur asked jokingly.

“Gone,” she muttered, moaning a little as his fingers began working her back.

“If he were gone, you wouldn’t have tension like this.”

She frowned. “My muscles are often taut.”

“Not like this, darling. How many years have I been working on you?”

“Too long.”

He laughed. “Tell me about it. But I know your body, Bea, and your body isn’t happy.”

God save her from men who thought they knew her. “Is that what my body is saying?”

“Do you feel this?” He stuck a finger into a spot mid-back.

Electric pain shot down to the fingers. “Yes, damn it, I feel it.”

He eased up. “That’s from hunching. Since when do you hunch? You never hunch, not even when you have all the weight of the world on your shoulders. Do you know what this is from?”

“Tell me, great oracle,” she said, rolling her eyes.

“A man.”

She shut her eyes against the image of Luca that popped into her head. “What empirical evidence are you basing this on?”

“Remember that guy who wanted to marry you?”

“Which one?” She’d had any number of proposals since she became of age.

“That one who lived in Dubai. Remember?”

“Ralph. I haven’t thought of him in a long time.” When she’d started seeing Ralph, she still went out with other men. It wasn’t until he asked her to give their relationship a go that she’d stopped seeing other people.

From the first time she’d kissed Luca, she hadn’t even thought of any other man. It was because he was so much trouble.

“Remember how tied up you were when he was trying to convince you to marry him?” Brian asked, rubbing more oil up and down her back.

“I didn’t want to marry him.” But for a moment she’d thought she should.

“Do you want to marry the current one?”

“No.” She frowned. “I haven’t thought about it.”

Brian stopped massaging her. “You sound like you
could
think about it, though.”

“That’s ridiculous.” Mostly. Although she imagined a lifetime of soaking in baths with Luca and something in her heart loosened.

There was a commotion outside the door. She heard Inga’s voice raise a moment before the door burst open.

She and Brian both looked up as Fraser rushed into the room.

“You can’t be in here,” Brian said, going to intercept the man.

“That’s what I told him,” a furious Inga said, glaring at Fraser’s back like she was plotting where to stick a knife.

Fraser only had eyes for her. “What did you do, Summerhill?”

Bea propped herself on her elbows. “What are you talking about?”

Brian stepped in front of her, obviously guarding her virtue. “Maybe you can discuss this after we finish.”

“It’s okay,” Bea said, keeping an eye on Fraser. “Want to explain what couldn’t wait?”

“You know why I’m here,” he said, voice low with anger. He pointed a finger at her. “What did you say to them?”

“Who?” she asked, genuinely confused.

“Stallon-E. They’ve turned down my offer for investment. They said they’ve decided to go with you.”

“That can’t be true.” Gathering the sheet around her, she sat up. “I backed out.”

“I’m telling you what Toland said to me. You can’t tell me you didn’t influence them in any way?” His gaze narrowed, suspicious. “This is low, even for you, Summerhill.”

She glanced at Inga, who shrugged.

Fraser stepped up to her. “What did you do? Have sex with him?”

This again. She arched her brow. “Why is it every time a man feels like I bested him, he accuses me of sleeping my way to the top? Maybe I’m just better.”

“I bet you’re better.” He stared at her cloth-covered body in a way that was meant to be insulting.

It didn’t affect her the way it would have if Luca had given her the same look.

Because Luca mattered.

Luca wouldn’t have looked at her in a derogatory way, either. In fact, if Luca were here, he’d have cut Fraser’s tongue out. She clutched the sheet to her chest, swallowing the rise of panic that maybe she’d made a mistake with him.

Crossing his arms, Brian stepped between them, giving Fraser a cold stare, obviously thinking Fraser had offended her. “I think it’s time for you to leave.”

She cleared her throat. “Brian’s not kidding. Get out, Fraser.”

He glared at her and then stormed out.

“I couldn’t stop him,” Inga said as an apology.

“It’s not your fault.” Bea climbed back onto the table. “Make sure security bans him from the building.”

“Right away.” Inga discreetly backed out.

Brian took a deep breath. “Well, that was exciting.”

“I’m sorry about that.”

“I’m not. That was more exciting than anything that’s happened in this room in a long time.” He gave her a hopeful sidelong look. “Unless your stranger shows up, too.”

“He won’t.” She knew without a doubt that Luca would never come back for her. She settled face down, and when a tear escaped from her eye, Brian didn’t see it drop onto the floor.

Crying was supposed to make a person feel better, so Bea gave in and let the tears loose.

In the shower, of course, where no one would witness them. The last time she’d cried was after her father had berated her for winning the hunt at Suncrest Park.

It hadn’t helped then, and it didn’t help now. It just made her eyes gritty and her mascara run.

In her office dressing room, she made herself flawless again before returning to work. Not sure what else to do with herself, she immersed herself in things she’d neglected the past couple weeks. Mostly, she couldn’t bear to go home. It’d be too lonely there.

Finally, when she ran out of excuses, she called Nigel and had him take her home.

On the commute, her mobile rang. She was going to ignore it until she saw it was the number for Stallon-E.

Her breath caught, and before she could analyze anything she answered. Exhaling, she said as calmly as she could, “This is Beatrice Summerhill.”

“Beatrice, this is Jeff Toland of Stallon-E.”

Disappointment stabbed in her chest, but she was a master at covering her emotions. “Jeff, this is a surprise. What can I do for you?”

“I’m sorry that our last meeting was cut short. I would have liked to get your perspective on the factory.”

The last thing she wanted to think about was that day. She pressed her fingers to the bridge of her nose. “Sometimes things aren’t meant to be,” she said with blitheness she didn’t feel.

“Yes, but I have a feeling our partnership would be a match made in heaven.”

“I don’t know that Luca Fiorelli would agree.”

Toland cleared his throat. “That’s why I’m calling. Luca’s agreed to withdraw from the company if you’ll become an investor and sit on the board in his stead.”

She sat bolt upright, stunned. “Why on earth would he do that? The company is his. He
is
the company.”

“I wondered the same thing. He said it’s what’s best for everyone. He sings your praises, Beatrice, and he said that you want this with more passion than anyone, so you should be involved.”

He said she should have it, because she wants it? He’d said he’d do anything to make her happy, but this was unbelievable. She put a hand over her heart, fairly certain Luca had managed to stab her with his actions. “As simple as that?” she murmured.

“For Luca, most things are simple,” Toland said. “I’ll let you think about it, but I’d be honored to have your input and guidance with the company. I hope you decide to take Luca up on his offer.”