Wasted Love Boxed Set: Second Chance Romance Parts 1-3

by Charles, Colleen

  Quinn started to argue but Albertson put up a hand. “Just give us a moment, please.”

  Dismissed.

  A smug smile tugged at the corners of my mouth. I blinked rapidly, not really expecting such a firm response from Mr. Albertson but grateful to the older man for leaving the correct players in the game and taking out the second string. I forced a smile as they left the room, waiting for Mr. Albertson to continue.

  Once the door closed, Mr. Albertson clasped his hands together. “I will agree to close this transaction on one condition.”

  My heart fell into my stomach. What more could he possibly want? For me to stay away from Quinn so his daughter could remain in his bed? Immediately I pushed that thought from my head – that was ludicrous. His daughter was drop-dead gorgeous; she could have any man she wanted and didn’t need Daddy to run interference. Besides, if she wanted Quinn she could damn well have him and probably already did. My mind raced. Whatever it took to the get the deal signed so I could move on and get the hell out of this hellhole of tropical humidity.

  “What is it?” I asked, ready to give up a kidney to get out of Destin.

  “Once I deed the land over to your company I won’t have any control over development. The county, however, still has to approve it. I have many friends on the board. I can see to it that your plans are pushed all the way through. Given the green light. I know Henri well enough to understand the implications.”

  Okay, I knew that Albertson was a powerful man in Destin. This bit of news didn’t surprise me at all.

  “Of course, that can go the other way too,” he continued. “Henri still needs me.”

  “Of course,” I agreed. This wasn’t a revelation. It had all been discussed during the cost benefit analysis phase.

  “I just want one thing in exchange,” he said, eyes searching mine.

  “Name it,” I said, confident in my professional prowess and ability to deliver.

  “I want you to come work for me,” he said with grace and purpose. As if he’d just asked to have lunch instead of moving states away from my home and giving up everything to live and work beside a man who’d played me and shattered my heart.

  Twice.

  My mouth fell open in a perfect oval shape and I couldn’t spit any words from my parched throat. I grabbed a bottle of water from Cassie’s tray, twisted the cap and took a gulp. The cool liquid slid down to my stomach where a thousand butterflies had congregated, doing a fluttering dance on my innards. I was floored. I didn’t think I’d heard him correctly.

  “I’m not going to be around much longer,” he continued on a long-suffering sigh. “I’m tired and I should have retired five years ago. My daughter has no interest in real estate, despite her little barb earlier. She’s just here to get a paycheck until she settles down. I want someone I can trust to manage the Albertson Family Holdings. There is a lot of valuable real estate involved. Billions.”

  “But…but you have Quinn,” I managed to squeak out. My mind raced and wouldn’t land in one place.

  “And he’s a fine attorney,” Mr. Albertson rushed to defend Quinn. “He’ll stay on with the company in a legal capacity. But I need someone to oversee the real estate holdings. Buying and selling. I’m really impressed with what I’ve seen from you this week and your reputation precedes you. Henri can’t stop singing your praises like some kind of afflicted canary. You are a talented negotiator. You have a good handle on the real estate and property management business. Obviously, Henri wouldn’t have sent you to Destin alone to close such a big deal if he didn’t believe in you. He would have come himself. I need someone like that. Someone I can believe in to get the job done.”

  My mouth was so dry I could barely get the words out so I downed half my bottle of water. “You asked Henri if you could hire me? What did he say?”

  Mr. Albertson chuckled. “Heavens no, Ms. Jansen. That’s up to you.”

  “So if I don’t agree to come work for you, the deal is toast?”

  “Burnt toast,” he chuckled. “As if Cassie had learned how to operate the broiler. Done.”

  I leaned back in my chair and hissed out a breath between my clenched teeth. “I don’t think I can agree to that.”

  Mr. Albertson didn’t seem fazed as at all. “You haven’t even asked how much,” he responded.

  “How much?” I shot back without thinking. “My reluctance to work here has nothing to do with money. Atlanta is my home. I’ve built a career there. A life”

  Shit, I thought to myself, I’m playing right into his hands. I didn’t want to just uproot from my hometown and start a new life just for some extra money.

  “I’ll double your current salary. And that’s not including yearly bonuses, which I’m sure you’ll work hard to earn.”

  On second thought, Atlanta was only a six-hour drive away. I could go home once a month or two to see my parents. That’s pretty much how often I saw them now. But … Quinn lived here. Worked here. And I didn’t want to see his smug face ever again. Even for the position of my lifetime. I heard someone else’s voice speak.

  “Double my salary. Yearly bonuses. Plus ten percent of the property management fees,” I responded, surprising Albertson almost as much as myself. The negotiator in me had quicker reflexes than I thought, even on autopilot. I hadn’t even considered my next move, the words had ticker taped across my brain on reflex.

  Damn. I was good.

  Albertson guffawed, but recovered quickly. The man was no slouch in the negotiating department, either. “Three percent of the management fees.”

  “Five and you have a deal.”

  Albertson stuck out his hand without another word.

  I kept my hand on the table. “Before we shake on it, I have a couple of stipulations,” I said. I couldn’t make the deal before I was sure I had total control over the outcome. Henri taught me that.

  “Shoot,” he said with a grin, showing straight white teeth, stark against his tanned skin. His eyes twinkled with youth and vitality. Mr. Albertson was still a looker even at his age. It was as if he anticipated my request.

  “I can’t start work for another forty-five days. I have some things in Atlanta percolating that I won’t abandon and my brother’s wedding is next week. That will give me time to plan.”

  “And?” he asked.

  My heart skipped a beat. “You can’t tell Quinn or anyone else until after I sign my contract and start. I think we can both agree it’s the best course of action, lest we complicate matters. And I want my office as far away from his as possible. Tell him to stay out of my hair. I’ll consult with him on contracts when it’s necessary to the integrity of a deal.”

  “I can live with that,” Mr. Albertson conceded and held out his hand again.

  I clasped his warm one within my own. “Okay. Then we have a deal.”

  With a nod and a firm handshake, my life was set on course for drastic changes. Albertson patted my shoulder and winked, and quietly left to retrieve Quinn so we could make the hotel deal official.

  I was still trying to wrap my head around what’d just happened. In less than two months I would be an official employee of Albertson Developments. I would live in a relaxing paradise and still whet my appetite for adrenaline negotiating real estate deals…with the guy who took my virginity and crushed my heart not once, but twice.

  What in the hell had I just done with my rash words?

  Quinn came back in the room trailing Albertson. Cassie was nowhere to be found and I welcomed her absence. Quinn raised his eyebrow at me as he sat next to Albertson again. “I hear we have a deal.”

  “We do,” I said. Saying nothing more. Not willing to appease his curiosity in any way. Not willing to concede anything to him. Quinn Andrews was no longer my problem.

  Albertson took the sheaf of papers from me. In the pile were two sales contracts: one for the existing hotel, the other for the vacant land.

  “You’re sure I don’t need to look over the paperwork again since they’
re contracts? Binding legal documents?” Quinn asked Albertson. “There weren’t any changes?”

  Albertson slapped Quinn on the back. “It’s all good, Quinn. I already told you. I wanted to have a little chat with Miss Jansen about a couple of things. Nothing that concerns the deal. Or you.”

  Quinn slowly shook his head at the polite admonishment while giving me the stink eye. It was a look as if to say, I don’t know what you are up to Ashton Jansen, but I don’t like it.

  All I could do was sit there and smile. Good. Let him wonder what his boss had up his sleeve. I knew it bothered the crap out of him because I could see those wheels spinning in his little pea brain so fast steam started to escape his ears. He was probably trying to figure out how he was going to extort information out of Albertson. Well, I had news for him. Not gonna happen.

  Sunny days, warm beaches, and turquoise blue waters … here I come. Working with Quinn would be a minor annoyance but I’d make it through. Because the boon of working here would be worth his irritating presence in the end. The pros far outweighed the cons in my mind. My analytical brain had made the decision for me the moment it had heard the terms of Alberton’s Godfather offer.

  I drummed my fingers on the table while Albertson signed. Each time he signed at the bottom of the page he would hand it to Quinn. Quinn would scan the page with scorn in his eyes, as if he were a detective looking for blood spatter. Thirty minutes later, we were done. Quinn couldn’t find anything out of place. Our arrangement completed, I breathed a hefty sigh of relief.

  “I’ll just make the copies and we can call it a day.” Quinn stood to leave. But Albertson jumped up to stay him.

  “You stay here with Miss Jansen. I’ll have Cassie make copies.” Albertson turned his attention to me and winked as he held out his hand for another firm shake. “Thank you again, Miss Jansen. It was a pleasure working with you. Until we meet again”

  Quinn waited a beat until Albertson left the room. “What the hell was that all about?”

  I picked at a hangnail and shrugged.

  None of your damn business. Maybe you should call Cassie in here and ask her to talk to her father.

  “Okay, you’re obviously not going to tell me,” he sighed and ran a hand through that thick head of black hair. “Let’s talk about this morning. Where did you go?”

  “Back to my hotel.”

  “No note?” he asked, irritation lacing his tone.

  “I thought your whore spoke English.”

  His eyebrows furrowed. “Who?”

  “Cassie Albertson, your personal chef,” I spat. “She seemed very concerned about the lack of healthy fare in your refrigerator.”

  “Why would she care?” he asked. “Ashton, you’re not making sense here.” His confused tone almost sounded sincere.

  “She was at your house,” I said, matter-of-factly. “Bright and early. Dressed to the nines in a designer maxi, full face of make-up and enough food to feed ten people. By the way, what she has on now isn’t what she had on when I met her this morning.” I leaned back and crossed my arms over my heaving chest.

  Let’s now pause to enjoy your bullshit answer to that, dipshit.

  “Back it up,” he said, frustrated. “What exactly happened? Facts not rhetoric.”

  “I woke up and found your note,” I explained, although I really wanted to get the hell out of there. “While you were gone, Miss Thang showed up with breakfast. She insinuated you were in a relationship. Just like she did when she whispered it in my ear mere minutes ago in this very conference room. I don’t like being fooled or treated like your sleazy harlot. As you know, that couldn’t be further from the truth. I’m not easy, Quinn Andrews.”

  Quinn clenched his jaw. “Are you kidding me … she said that?”

  I wasn’t falling for his play-stupid routine. “She certainly implied it. Then and now.”

  Quinn reached out and brushed my arm, placating me as if I were some puppy that had just pissed on his favorite rug. “I promise you, Ashton. I had no idea she was coming over. Cassie lives down the street and she pops in all the time to check on Nanna. We’re friends. That’s all. I would never date someone I worked with, much less the daughter of my boss. Are you serious? That’s career suicide,” he replied.

  “Why would she imply that, then?”

  “She’s always had a bit of a crush on me,” he said. Too easily. “She’s made overtures and I’ve rejected her. It’s probably stung her pride and she’s lashing out at you because she senses our connection. But I’ve made it very clear to Cassie that we would never be anything more than strictly coworkers.”

  “Does Albertson know this very important fact?” I asked. “He seems to be the type of man who spoils his only daughter.”

  Quinn laughed. “Yes, as a matter of fact, he does. I’ve told him that I don’t have feelings for her. We are just friends. Besides, he knows now that I like you. A lot. We talked about it yesterday. That’s why he went AWOL for dinner. Albertson thought we needed some alone time.”

  Now I felt like a big heel. A big fat, foot complete with corns too swollen to fit into my favorite pair of Jimmy Choo’s.

  “How did you get home, anyway?” he asked.

  “Oh, I took your bike back,” I explained with a cheeky grin. “But I think a homeless woman stole it. I’ll be happy to replace it.”

  Quinn slouched his shoulders and looked down for a moment. Like he wanted to cry.

  Shit, he’d really liked that old bike. Pride goeth before the fall.

  “I’m sorry. I’ll buy you another,” I offered again.

  “It’s okay. No one’s ridden it in long time. It was my Nanna’s bike. She used to ride it around the neighborhood and ring the bell every time she saw someone she knew. Sometimes, when I walk by, I ring it for old-time’s sake.”

  “Oh,” I squeaked. Now I really felt like the worst kind of loser. For someone so crisp and quick-witted in the boardroom, it was incredible how much I let the machinations of my own mind get in the way of my personal life.

  “Well, now that the deal is done, what do you want to do for the rest of the day?” He almost whispered, voice laced with emotion. Almost.

  “I thought I would head back to the hotel and pack,” I said. “I’m going to try and change my flight so I can get out on the red-eye home.”

  “You weren’t supposed to leave until Monday,” he commented through pursed lips. “I’d hoped we’d have the whole weekend. I’d love to show you around. Do the touristy thing.”

  I stared at him. Searching his face for any hint of insincerity. “I guess I could be persuaded to stay for a bit.”

  Quinn’s eyes lit up and he asked cheerfully, “How about we go surfing? Have you ever tried it?”

  “Surfing?” It was good to see him return to his normal self, but I wasn’t expecting him to come back with surfing.

  “Our waves may not be that big, but they are perfect for beginners,” he said in a rush of childlike joy. “I’ll teach you!”

  “I…okay. I’ll have to go back to the hotel and grab my suit,” I relented. “I only brought a bikini because I’d planned on bathing my Casper skin in some rays. Will it be okay or do I need to hit up the hotel gift shop for a one piece?”

  “You’ll be fine,” he assured. “We won’t do anything too strenuous right out of the gate. The worst thing that could happen is your top will fly off and you’ll flash the whole beach. Meet me back at my house in an hour. Remember how to get there?”

  I gasped. “Maybe I don’t want to surf.”

  He speared me with a heated gaze. “I was just teasing you, Ashton. I’d never let that happen. Unless we were alone.”

  Cassie chose that exact moment when the sexual tension was ripe between Quinn and me to flit into the room to hand me a stack of papers. She glanced back and forth between us, expression neutral. “This should be everything Ms. Jansen. Would you like me to change your flight?”

  “What?” I asked as I took the papers from
her.

  “Since clearly we’re done here?” she added with a bit of spice, chomping at the bit to get rid of me. Literally evacuate my person from the entire state of Florida.

  “Actually,” I said, giving her the biggest smile I could muster, “I’m going to stay a little while longer. I’ll return as expected.”

  Now, I just needed to decide when I should tell Quinn about my new job.

  Game on.

  Chapter 3

  Quinn

  I brought Ashton to a calm area of the beach that was practically deserted to put her at ease. Even though she’d been athletic back in high school, a flyer on the cheerleading squad, I didn’t know how brave or fit she was today and I didn’t want to push her into something that could cause an injury.

  As soon as my feet sank into the soft, sugary-white sand, I smiled. Emerald waters greeted us as we carried our cooler and beach bag down to the water line. The short waves were lazily rolling through in clear, clean lines, which made this a perfect day to teach Ashton to surf.

  We were met by Grady, a dread-locked beefcake who was the local surf instructor and also one of my best friends. He was what the local girls called Man Candy behind their perfectly bronzed hands. They’d all twitter on about his tall, muscular build, his long, bleach-blonde hair twisted in dreads, and his bronzed skin kissed by the Florida sun. Then, they’d max out their credit cards buying surf lessons so they could throw themselves at him. Grady had the life.

  What really hooked them, though, was his Australian accent. It annoyed the shit out of me, but the girls – local and tourists, alike – absolutely loved it. Yep, my best buddy was from Down Under. It was like he’d fallen straight out of a Hollywood cliché about surfers, right onto the sugary beaches of Florida.

  Despite his allure with all things female, the guy was a complete gentleman, and an even better friend. He’d jumped at the chance to drop everything and meet Ashton and me for a couple hours of surfing. Something about my lovesick ramblings about her during a forlorn bender a few years back. I’d spilled my regrets and sorrows over a wealth of Jim Beam. So, Grady was the best person to show her the ropes. Or the waves.