by KB Winters
“A job interview? For what?” I steeled myself for the answer. Holly was a little on the impulsive side of things. I knew business hadn’t been coming together as she’d originally planned but I hoped she hadn’t gone off and applied to work the produce section at the local market in an effort to get some money back into our somewhat depleted bank account.
“I was at Carly’s and this guy, Noah Scoville, came up to her to ask about catering some business meeting he was having. Anyway, we all three got to talking and it turns out he’s in the market for an accountant. He’s new in town but a pretty big player. Have you heard of Scoville Properties?”
I shook my head. “I don’t think so. That’s his company, I’m assuming?”
“Yeah.” A timer went off and Holly moved away to tend to the sauce and pasta. She flicked off the burners and rearranged the plates she’d pulled down. “They are the ones who bought the O’Keefe land. He’s going to develop commercial sites with condos above. It sounds very impressive.”
She poured the sauce over the raviolis on each of our plates.
“Wow. That must have cost a mint.”
Holly laughed. “Ya think?”
“So you’re thinking of taking him on as a client?” I asked, wanting to get back to the part about the interview.
“Well, it would be a little different,” she started. “He’s looking for someone in-house. If I took the position, I would be on his payroll.”
“But that’s not what you wanted,” I said.
Holly sighed and finished preparing the plates. When she finished, she set aside the empty pots and brushed her hands together. “It’s not what I was looking for, no. But it would be stability and long-term. Plus, he said he wouldn’t mind if I kept my existing clients so it’s not like I would be completely walking away from my own business. It would just take a back seat for a little while.”
“For how long?”
“I don’t know.” Holly’s eyes flashed. “Jack, this is a good thing. Why are you so snarky?”
“I’m not snarky,” I replied, keeping my tone smooth. “But I’m not sure I understand why you’re even considering this as an option.”
“Because I need to do something. I can’t rattle around this house all day with nothing to do. Back when we met, my business was my whole life. Now, I don’t want to be consumed like that again, but at the same time, it felt good. You know? It was a purpose and the money was incredible. Our time in Germany was amazing but this is reality, Jack. And in this reality, we have a mortgage—a big one, at that—and a wedding to pay for. Not to mention planning for the future. I mean, shit, if we ever have kids—which I doubt—we need some kind of savings and we don’t have any!”
“Why don’t you let me worry about that?” No longer able to keep a tight leash on my tone, the words came out sharper than I’d wanted.
Holly’s eyebrows arched high on her forehead. This was it. Another fight I wanted to avoid. “Newsflash, Boomer, this isn’t Leave it to fuckin’ Beaver. Okay? You don’t get to tell me to be the cute little housewife who plans dinner and spends all day at the beauty salon or whatever the hell it is you think I should be doing. Our financial future is just as important to me as it is to you, which means I get a say in it too.”
I raked my hands through my short-cropped hair. “That’s not what I meant and you know it, Holly! You know I support your business. Hell, that was one of the things that made me fall for you in the first place. I thought it was sexy as hell that you were a powerful business woman with big ambitions and a solid plan to back them up. I still do!”
She fixed me with a heated stare. “Then why are you shitting on this new opportunity before we even have all the info?”
“Because I want you to be happy,” I replied, the tension leaving my voice like a deflated balloon. “That’s all I ever want, baby. I just want you to be happy.”
Holly softened slightly. “Well, maybe this will make me happy. But how will I know if I don’t even try?”
I dragged in a breath. “Okay.”
“All I want is for you to be happy for me. Proud of me.”
I crossed the kitchen and took her hand. “I am, baby. I swear.”
A shadow lingered behind her eyes but she nodded and then dropped my hand so she could serve up the dinner plates. I followed her into the dining room and while we did our best to leave behind the conversation in the kitchen, it was lodged in the back of my mind all through dinner and late into the night as Holly slept beside me.
Chapter Four
Holly
A week flew by and before I knew it, I was standing outside the glittering three story office building on the outskirts of Holiday Cove. The sign in the parking lot showed there were a few other business there, but as soon as I entered and looked at the map near the elevator bank, I realized Scoville Properties used up three quarters of the building. I rode up the elevator to the third floor and found my way to the main office and checked in with a receptionist at the front desk. The entire office was frosted glass, modern lines, and contemporary design touches with splashes of tranquil blues and greens. Fitting, considering the windows all held a perfect ocean view.
“Mr. Scoville will be with you shortly,” the receptionist said softly after she set down the phone. “Please, feel free to take a seat.”
“Thank you.” I went to the floor-to-ceiling windows and stared out at the ocean. There wasn’t a soul in sight and I smiled to myself, thinking how much fun Princess and Hunter would have tearing up the sand. Over the past week, Jack and I had been like two passing ships in the night. He’d been putting in even more hours than before the argument. I wasn’t sure if it was to avoid me or if he was trying to show me I didn’t need to take some corporate job to make enough money for us to keep our new house. Either way, I missed him being around to do things together, like taking the dogs down to the beach for the afternoon.
“Ms. Parker?”
I turned at the smooth voice and found Noah Scoville standing to the right of his receptionist’s desk. I also caught the way the young woman’s eyes roved freely over her man-candy-in-a-suit boss while he wasn’t looking. “Thank you for seeing me,” I said, stepping forward to greet him with a warm handshake.
He flashed his dazzling smile and ushered me in the direction of the open doorway he’d obviously come from. “Thank you for coming in,” he countered. “Can Sharice get you anything? Water, coffee, tea?”
“Oh,” I paused and turned back toward the woman. “Water would be fine.”
She nodded. “Sparkling or flat?”
I smiled at Noah. “Fancy.”
He chuckled. “I try.”
Noted. “Sparkling would be lovely.”
Sharice gave me a polite nod and then scurried off in the opposite direction. Noah took long strides to his office and I followed. The large office was wall to wall windows and flooded with natural light. All of the furniture matched the decor in the lobby. Clean, contemporary, and nearly invisible. It appeared that the designer had realized the real star of the show was the ocean beyond and left the furniture as minimal as possible to highlight the view.
“I don’t know how you get any work done here,” I said with a smile as I took in the sweeping landscape.
Noah laughed. “I get that a lot. I try to keep my surfing excursions for the weekends but I’ll admit to ducking out early on more than one occasion to go chase a few especially tempting waves.”
“You surf?”
He nodded. “I didn’t see the ocean until I was a teenager. But as soon as I did, I was hooked. Now I try to soak up as much of it as I can.”
“I’ve never tried. I like to stay on the sand. Less sharks.”
Noah chuckled and unbuttoned his suit jacket before waving at the seat opposite his desk. I took my seat and Sharice appeared with a bottle of water and a glass filled with ice. I thanked her and she left, closing the door behind her. The office suddenly felt smaller now that it was just me and Noah. His eyes
mirrored the color of the ocean beyond his broad shoulders and I nearly fumbled the bottle of water as I moved to set it on the table between my chair and the one beside it.
“Well, let’s get started,” he said, clasping his hands together in front of him. “I did a little digging and I must say, I’m impressed, Holly.”
My cheeks pinked. “Thank you.”
“You mentioned that you’d been overseas,” he prompted.
“That’s right. I was with my fiancé. He is—was—a Naval Officer. Reserves now. He took a post in Germany and I went with him.”
“Fiancé?” Noah’s eyes darted to my left hand.
“Yes,” I replied, suddenly feeling too warm. “Jack McGuire.”
Noah leaned back in his seat. “Sounds like quite the adventure. Were you still working for your regular clients while you were there?”
“Some of my clients stayed with me,” I said, not wanting to offer too much information. Between the time difference and our constant travel, most of my clients decided they needed to go another route and opted to move their business to a local firm. I’d tried to drum up new business while abroad but nothing had panned out. After several months of bashing my head against a wall, Jack told me not to worry about it and that I could get reestablished once we were back home. And with all the new places to explore and experiences to have, I’d been more than fine with letting my business slip to the back burner for a while.
“However, at this point, my client roster is very manageable, and I don’t see any reason I wouldn’t be able to take on a new client. Even one with full-time needs.”
Noah nodded and his smile returned. “Very good. Well, let me tell you a little bit about what we’re doing here and then I’ll take you for a tour.”
“Sounds perfect.”
“I started this company when I was twenty. My grandfather helped me invest some money as a teenager. It wasn’t supposed to be anything big. Just a little experiment and he figured if I got anything out of it, it would go to help pay for college. We had a bit of a winning streak and when I walked away, I ended up with a quarter of a million dollars.”
“Whoa.” I blinked, unable to imagine having access to that kind of cash as a teenager. I wasn’t sure I would have been so prudent with it. Looking around the office, he’d obviously made wise choices. He looked to be in his early thirties and obviously had millions—if not billions—of dollars at his disposal if he’d been able to afford the O’Keefe properties.
“Anyway, to make a long story short, I invested in real estate. I bought a house, flipped it, and then bought another. After a while, I started doing income properties and even bought an entire apartment building before I hit twenty-five.” Everything he said was so matter-of-fact. Like, he wasn’t bragging or trying to impress me, he was just stating fact. “I’ve been very fortunate and now I’m looking into the development here in Holiday Cove. It’s going to be the biggest undertaking of my career and I need to make sure I have a rock-solid team behind me. I think you could be a part of that team.”
He went on, covering the details of his company and the expectations of what I would do if I were brought on staff. I’d be the head CPA but he assured me there was room in the budget if I needed an assistant. My head started spinning after ten minutes and I hoped my glossed over expression didn’t give me away. Working for a man like Noah Scoville was way over my head and experience but somewhere between the polished exterior of the office and the cool, comfortable elegance of the office space, I’d decided it was exactly where I wanted to be. Wrapped in the security of a beautiful office, wearing fabulous designer clothes, and going out to posh corporate lunches. Instead of working at the dining room table with my hair piled in a messy bun and fuzzy socks on my feet.
The best part about the job description was the amount of freedom Noah was willing to let me have. The entire reason I’d started my own business was to escape the suffocating rules and red tape of working for large companies that had more policies and procedures than people skills. Even after our short meeting, I knew he wasn’t like that and he didn’t run his company that way either.
The conversation wound down and he finally asked the all-important question, “Well, what do you think? Could you see yourself here?”
I set down the frosty glass of sparkling water. “Well, I have to say the view is swaying me,” I said with a smile. It took me a second before I realized how my statement might have come across like I was staring at him instead of out the window. “I meant the—”
Noah laughed softly and held up a hand. “I get it.”
My cheeks warmed and I knew there was no way in hell my full face of makeup was hiding my furious blushing. “I should mention that most of my experience is with smaller scale companies but I’m confident I’d be able to adapt.”
Noah grinned. “It’s always more fun playing with bigger numbers.”
I wasn’t sure that was entirely true but I nodded and smiled along.
He hopped up from his seat with the grace of a panther and buttoned his jacket. “Come on. I’ll show you around.”
I followed behind him until we reached the door. He stood back and ushered me forward. “Thank you,” I murmured, passing him by. Damn, he smelled good. He took the lead again as he showed me around the third floor where there were two other conference rooms that he explained were mainly used for builder meetings. The second floor was home to the support staff: real estate agents, assistants, tech team, and an in-house graphic designer. The employee lounge was nicer than some of the restaurants in Holiday Cove—and that was saying something—complete with everything anyone would ever need or hope for. Sand colored leather couches, a glass coffee table, and fire and ice gas fireplace with cobalt shards of glass embedded among the flames.
“Just one more stop,” Noah said, flashing a smile at me as he led the way out of the lounge. He stopped at the office next door which was just as polished and beautiful as the rest of the offices we’d seen. “This one would be yours.”
Immediately, I could picture myself at the desk, crunching numbers and untangling spreadsheets with the settling comfort of the tide washing in and out on the shore below.
“What do you think?”
“It’s perfect,” I breathed, still lost in my imagination. A flicker of anticipation curled up in my stomach. I wanted the job. I wanted to have purpose and meaning and be a part of something big. I wanted a fancy office and everything that came with it.
Noah chuckled softly. “I’m glad you like it.”
Somehow I managed to peel myself away from the doorway and let him lead me back to the elevator bank. He pressed the down button and we waited for the surprisingly soft ding of the elevator. “It was a pleasure, Holly,” he said, extending a hand.
I took it and met his cool eyes. “Likewise.”
“I have to be honest and say I have one other interview pending. But I’ll be making a decision very soon and will give you a call within the week.”
My heart sputtered. Another interview? Everything he’d said had me thinking the meeting was a formality and that the position was already mine. After all, there weren’t exactly a lot of local choices. Unless he wanted Merle. A sudden realization struck and I wanted to slap myself in the face. A man like Noah, with a company like Scoville Properties, would grab a lot of attention. People from all over the country would be clamoring for a job like this. Who wouldn’t want to move to Central California and work for a billion-dollar company mere steps from the sand? It was the perfect job. How had I been so naive to think it was a sure thing?
The elevator dinged and jarred me. I plastered a serene smile on my face and headed for the doors as they slid open. “Thank you, Mr. Scoville.”
“Noah, please.”
I nodded and boarded the elevator. I turned around and smiled at him as the doors started to slide shut. “Thank you, Noah.”
He gave a quick wave and then disappeared from view. Only once the doors were shut tight did I
release the pent-up sigh I’d been holding onto. “Talk about putting the cart before the horse, Holls,” I scolded myself.
The ride to the first floor was short and within minutes I was back in my SUV and barreling up the highway toward home. All I could do now was wait.
Chapter Five
Jack
“Boomer, you out there?”
“By the Tomcat,” I hollered back in response to Aaron’s question. At the sound of his boots on the cement floor of the shop, I pushed up from where I’d been inspecting a hydraulic hose. Aaron rounded the nose of the plane with two coffee cups in hand. I recognized them instantly as cups from Carly’s coffee shop. “Thank God. I was starting to go bleary-eyed back there. I swear I’ve been staring at this damned thing for half an hour and it still doesn’t make sense.”
Aaron passed over my cup and I took a drink. “You know it’s already seven o’clock, don’t you?” he asked, one eyebrow raised.
I glanced around the shop. It had been empty for a while. Aaron had been in his office, doing some wheeling and dealing over the phone while Nick and I worked on the Tomcat. “Yeah, Nick left a little while ago. He had some shit to go do.”
Aaron chuckled. “It’s called having a life, Boomer. You should try it sometime.”
I eyed him. “I don’t think you have room to comment there, Rosen. You practically live here.”
“Newsflash man, I actually do live here.”
I groaned and turned back to my project. “You know what I mean.” I set the cup of coffee on the ground beside me and crouched back into position beside the plane to get a close-up view.
Aaron sighed. “You gonna tell me what the fuck’s going on? You’ve been a fuckin’ grizzly bear for a month now.”
I looked up at him. That was the problem with best friends. You eventually reached a certain point where there were no secrets. At any other job, I could keep my head down and coast but Aaron wouldn’t let me get away with that shit. No, he’d pick and poke and pry until he got to the bottom of it.