Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 87513 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 438(@200wpm)___ 350(@250wpm)___ 292(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87513 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 438(@200wpm)___ 350(@250wpm)___ 292(@300wpm)
Yet she felt his magnetism wrap around her in the car. More than attraction, her feelings were sensual. He smelled spicy and sweet, his aura reaching out to envelop her.
She’d told herself it was foolish to become more involved with him, but now that sounded more like truculence. Or fear. If she said no to finding him a boat, it would basically be admitting she couldn’t handle being with him.
Which meant there was no other option. “I can help with that. Tell me what you’re looking for.”
If she’d been hoping that would make him back off, it didn’t. Smoothly, he said, “I want a big yacht. Minimum one hundred feet, but honestly, I’d like it to be closer to one-fifty.”
Of course he’d want a big yacht, and she felt herself tumble back to earth. During dinner, he’d been such a great listener that she’d found herself telling him far more than she would normally tell anyone. She wasn’t falling for him, even against her will, but she’d loved how he talked about his siblings, how close-knit they were, how like the Mavericks, whose qualities her mom had admired after listening to Susan Spencer.
But they were all billionaires. And she couldn’t fall for a billionaire. She’d actually had to explain to him that she’d gone to Stanford on a scholarship. They were from two very different worlds, even if his parents had racked up debts. He was an Olympic gold medalist three times over and owned a billion-dollar sports empire, though he’d tried to downplay the word empire. He counted the Mavericks among his greatest friends and hung out with hotel moguls like Walter Braedon and movie stars like Smith Sullivan. And while she’d bought a townhouse in Los Gatos for herself and her mother, he’d bought a mansion in the Los Gatos hills. Something like that was a pipe dream for her. She made a good living, and her mother would never have to work again, but her annual earnings were nowhere near what Troy Harrington probably deposited into his bank account every day.
No, they weren’t in the same league at all.
But brokering a yacht sale? That would be extremely good for her bottom line. “Do you want a sailing yacht or an engine-powered one?”
He didn’t hesitate. “Engine-powered.”
“All right, I’ll start looking around for you.”
That was all she would do. There could be no more intimate dinners where they talked the night away.
Troy watched Michaela get into her car in the BART parking lot, waiting until she started the engine, tapped her brakes to flash her taillights, backed up, and sped out of the lot.
He’d made sure she was safe, but that was as far as she’d let him go.
He had to admit that his parents’ love affair hadn’t been a stellar example. They had too many kids they didn’t have time to pay enough attention to. Their lives had been all about skiing and having fun, and definitely not money management. But Troy had never cared about all that. He’d been so deeply entrenched in his Olympic dreams that his parents and their availability, or lack thereof, hadn’t had much of an effect on him.
But watching Dane, at least in the relationship department, had made Troy realize his parents’ lives definitely had an effect on his siblings. For God’s sake, it had taken Dane twelve years to finally admit he was in love with Cammie. Ava and Ransom Yates had an affair years ago that the family had known nothing about. And when it ended, she’d let fifteen years’ worth of grass grow under her feet. One could barely see her head over all that grass—and Ava was a tall woman—before she’d found her way back to the man who was the love of her life. The thing between Clay and Saskia had turned sketchy there for a while after Clay found out she had a little secret. All right, a big secret. But they’d muddled through. And here they were, all solid as rocks in a rock garden.
But Troy had never thought much about his parents’ relationship. He liked being single, because he enjoyed the freedom to do what he wished when he wished. That meant practicing his form and technique until his limbs felt like they’d fall off. That meant working on a business plan into the early hours of the morning until his eyes wouldn’t stay open a moment longer. Then he’d fall asleep with his head on his desk and wake up to the rich aroma of the coffee his administrative aide brought in. Although he had to admit, the older he got, the more often he woke with a crick in his neck.
All that attested to the fact that he didn’t care about relationships. Sure, he liked women. He’d even asked Cammie out—big mistake—before he’d realized how Dane felt about her, even if his brother wouldn’t admit it at the time.