by Eliza Boyd
If only for business, she was Maxwell’s. A man who hadn’t wanted to go to the beach but had anyway and enjoyed it. A man who stood up for her when she needed it. A man who hadn’t let her fall. Into the water, that is.
It was yet to be seen if he’d let her fall into other things.
8
After helping Alexis move all of her belongings to his suite, Maxwell let her get settled in Ana’s room. The separation was good for him. He could have given her even more space by going for a run down by the ocean too. He needed time to clear his head after what had gone down.
Not so much the scene with her and Gabe. But the scene with her on the beach.
How they’d had fun together, even though he hadn’t wanted to get out of the car.
And then some of the scene with her and Gabe. Like the part when, after he’d told Gabe to let Alexis decide for herself, she’d snatched her bags up and marched out the door.
She’d chosen, all right. She’d chosen to go with him.
Something about that had made his heart squeeze. His chest had puffed up as he’d eyed Gabe on the way out the honeymoon suite. The one she was supposed to be sharing with that guy, apparently.
Now, she was sharing his. And he liked that. A little too much.
Phillip didn’t seem to share his excitement though. “Are you sure about this, sir? She could be…drama,” he said. The word sounded funny coming from him.
In fact, Maxwell almost let a laugh loose. “I’ll be sure to keep an eye on her.”
With one eyebrow up, Phillip said something like, “I’m sure you will.” But when Maxwell asked him to repeat it, he said, “Nothing, sir. I hope it all works out for the best.” Then he retreated to the study upstairs to make phone calls about the Hartford deal.
Maxwell had confidence that it’d go through smoothly. He’d been working on it for a year, hoping the CEO would be open to selling the ski resort before the quarter was over. For as long as he could remember, he’d wanted a piece of the vacation industry. He’d been an investor since he was a teen, but it wasn’t until he hit thirty that he became a billionaire. Now, he had enough money to buy practically anything he wanted. But a resort was definitely on that list.
The Hartford deal would be the start of it this year. First, the ski resort in Vermont for the winter. Then he wanted to add this Hawaiian paradise to the list so his income would be set for both halves of the year. It was the perfect plan.
“Are we still going to dinner?” Alexis said as she descended the stairs, wearing a fresh outfit—but still no makeup.
He didn’t answer her right away. It took him a moment to find his thoughts and speak again. He appreciated the way she was back to business, but he also appreciated the way she looked and handled herself in the aftermath. It was inspiring to him.
Clearing his throat, he took his phone from his pocket. “I took the liberty of ordering room service. It’ll be here in a few minutes. This way, we can avoid eating at the restaurant tonight.”
“But that was on the schedule.” Her eyebrows dipped as she jogged down the last few steps. “I don’t want to do anything to mess that up.”
“You haven’t,” he said, setting his phone on the foyer table. He made his way to the couch in the living space and took a seat. “We can still taste the food now. The restaurant experience can come later.”
Twisting her fingers in front of her body, she said, “If you’re sure. I really hate that he showed up like that and ruined my trip. But I don’t want him to ruin this for you.”
“He won’t,” he assured her. “Sit.” He pointed to the loveseat across from him.
Slowly, she did. She looked nervous, and that’s the part he hated. He wasn’t sure what this Gabe had done to her, but he didn’t like how he made her feel now. No woman should feel that way because of a man.
“Don’t let him ruin this trip for you, Alexis,” he insisted, leaning forward. His elbows went to his knees, and he clasped his hands. “I know I have you on a tight schedule, but there’s free time in there. And this may not be the Big Island, but there’s plenty of space to stay away from him. You’re welcome here for as long as you want to stay. Even if it’s after I leave to go back home.”
She gave him a tight smile. “Where’s home?”
The question made him chuckle inwardly. He dipped his head, and when he lifted it, he couldn’t help the small smirk on his lips. “Montana, actually.”
In disbelief, her eyes went wide and her mouth fell open. After a sharp laugh, she said, “Oh my goodness. And I accused you of never going there because you are rich enough to have your own plane,” shock tinging her voice.
He smiled a little wider. “In fairness, I haven’t been there since before I bought the plane.” But memories flooded in and made his expression fall.
Which wasn’t lost on Alexis. “Seems like it’s for a good reason,” she softly told him.
Sitting back, he put his hands on his lap. “Yeah. It is.” Then he shrugged. “My parents are gone now. I have nothing left to go back there for.”
“I’m so sorry.” Her throat bobbed as she swallowed thickly. Then, thankfully, she changed the subject. “So, where’s home now?”
“Malibu,” he answered automatically.
Smirking, she rolled her eyes. “Of course it is.”
“And Vail,” he added. When she quirked an eyebrow at him, he lifted one shoulder as if it were no big deal.
“Of course you have more than one home. What millionaire doesn’t?”
He wanted to correct her. It was billionaire. He hadn’t been a simple millionaire in years. Instead, he added, “And hopefully Stowe, Vermont.”
“What’s in Vermont?” she asked, looking genuinely curious.
Maxwell released a deep breath and said, “Another resort I’ve been trying to purchase for the better part of a year and a half. It’s a skiing resort in this old, picturesque village. It’d be the perfect destination to add to my portfolio of businesses.”
Questions shone in Alexis’s eyes, but a knock on the door derailed the conversation. She didn’t let them get sidetracked though. As soon as their food had been served and the hotel staff had left, she got back on track.
“What else is in your portfolio?” she asked, staring at her expertly designed plate of…
He wasn’t sure what the food was, exactly. And the look on her face said she didn’t either.
Three small piles of different-colored and artfully placed blobs stared back at them. The colors didn’t give him any clues, and neither did the shapes. But they both gave different piles a try and made pleasantly surprised expressions when the food hit their tongues.
“I need to write this down in our notes.” She scooped another bite onto her fork, her eyes almost crossing as she examined it. “I have no idea what this is, but it tastes good. So there’s that.”
He couldn’t help but laugh at that. It was so true that the chuckle flew right out of his mouth. It felt good to laugh at something. To have an experience that wasn’t full of suits and ties and stuffy boardrooms. And it felt even better when she joined in on the laughter. Her face lit up as her eyes crinkled. Soon, she bent forward, unable to control her giggles, her hair wildly falling around her shoulders from the ponytail near the top of her head.
It was a beautiful sight. He couldn’t deny that. She was gorgeous when she laughed. Even when she didn’t. Especially when she was in his arms.
He wanted to ask her about what had happened earlier on the beach, but it didn’t feel like the time or the place. With her ex-fiancé in town, he thought he should leave it alone. Plus, he had enough on his plate already. He really didn’t need to bring a relationship into the picture. Not when he was so close to getting everything he’d wanted for his business.
When they finally settled down, she prodded him again about his portfolio. So he explained in a quick summary what he did: investment. That’s what it boiled down to. He gave people money to grow their businesses an
d they paid him back more than they’d borrowed. It was a win-win for everyone. He had the capital while they had the experience and knowledge. It worked. And it’d made him filthy rich.
But he was ready to move on. He wanted more of a challenge. It’d been easy to give people some of his money for more of it in return. Now, he wanted something more from his life. And that would come in the form of owning a resort property he could do anything he wanted with.
By the time Maxwell was done explaining, he couldn’t tell if Alexis approved. And if he couldn’t tell, it probably meant she didn’t. Though, just the day before, she might have said as much. With her ex back in the picture, she seemed a little more demure than before. But because he was supposed to be focusing on business, he kept that to himself. If she didn’t like him throwing money at things to fix them, he wasn’t sure what to do.
“Thanks for dinner,” she said when their blobs were all gone. “It was oddly and unexpectedly delicious.” She rose with the plate in her hand. “Where should I—”
“I’ll take it.” He stood too, taking the dish from her.
“Thanks.” She twisted her mouth. He supposed it was a fidget, something to keep her from feeling awkward, but he liked the attention it brought to her bare lips. That red hadn’t been the right color for her. “I’ll just go up to my room for the night now. Unless you have anything you need me to do.”
He shook his head. “Just your notes on your dinner thoughts. That’s all I need.” He passed by her on his way to the tray the staff had left for their food. When he set the plates down, he turned back around, but she was already on her way up the stairs. That was for the best, he guessed. They had no other work to do that night, and she was likely exhausted from the scene Gabe had caused.
Speaking of…
“Phillip?” Maxwell called up the stairs. He hoped the man wanted dinner now. But he also had questions for him. When his personal assistant arrived at the top of the stairs, Maxwell motioned for him to come down. “Did you find any of the information I requested?”
At the bottom of the steps, Phillip nodded. “I did, sir. And I’m not sure it paints a very good picture of your new business assistant.”
Maxwell’s eyes briefly closed. Then he stuffed his hands into his pockets as he ambled into the kitchen. There, he snagged a glass from the cabinet and poured two fingers of whiskey. “What did you find out?”
Wasting no time, Phillip dove right in. “Gabe Williams owns a chain of farm supply stores back in Montana. They seem to make quite a bit of money, so one might assume he’s wealthy. Not like you, sir, but from the things I learned about his taste, I imagine he has enough money. I’m still looking into that.”
“And they’re no longer together?” Maxwell asked, understanding a little more about Alexis’s aversion to wealth now.
“No, sir. That much is apparent. But I did find a wedding registry and photos of her bridal shower on the internet. So they were definitely going to get married, but they’ve since split—and not in an amicable way, it seems.”
“No,” he agreed. “Definitely not.” He remembered how angry Gabe had been, but he also recalled what Alexis had said to him before she’d let him in their suite.
“This is over. You made sure of that.”
Had he broken up with her? Did it have something to do with his money? Though Alexis didn’t seem to like men with money, it could have been a ploy. He’d certainly been tricked into believing that before. And that—his only attempt at a relationship—hadn’t ended well.
Perhaps Phillip was right. Maybe this whole thing with Alexis wasn’t a good idea. Maybe he needed to work on gathering information about this resort on his own. If it would be good for his heart, it would be worth the extra work.
“Sorry, sir. I know that wasn’t what you wanted to hear,” Phillip told him.
Maxwell took a deep breath. “Thanks,” he said before the man went back up the stairs.
Instead of downing the whiskey, he went to the bathroom, thinking a little cold water on his face would help him think more clearly. He wasn’t sure if telling Alexis that their deal was off was a good idea. That’d throw her back to the wolves—well, one wolf in particular. She clearly didn’t want to be around him, but if she’d only been after him for his money, did Maxwell really care?
As he patted his face dry, he couldn’t decide. Something was drawing him to her. Something unlike anything he’d ever experienced, even with his only ex-girlfriend. Now just wasn’t the time.
When he set the towel down on the sink, something in the wastebasket caught his eye. The silver glinted off the lights over the mirror, and he bent to see what it was: her tube of lipstick.
He didn’t think she’d been in there since breakfast, so she must have thrown it away then. Was this her way of moving on from a bad breakup? Or was it the action of a scorned woman who wanted to purge everything that made her think of the man who’d dumped her?
Maxwell wasn’t sure, and he couldn’t tell if he wanted the answer just yet.
9
“Alexis? Are you awake?”
Alexis popped up in bed, the covers falling around her. As she wiped her eyes with her fists, she couldn’t remember what day it was. Or where she was. Or whose voice that was. After a few blinks, though, it all came back to her.
With sunlight streaming in through the blinds in Maxwell’s suite at the resort in Hawaii, she remembered what she was doing there. And that Gabe had come to bother her for the last five days she’d be there.
“Yeah,” she called, her voice raspy with sleep.
“We’re leaving in fifteen minutes to go parasailing. That’s on the schedule today,” Maxwell called through the door. “And do you have those notes ready from last night’s dinner? I’d like to add a few things.”
She wrenched the blankets—softer ones than even Gabe had—off her body and slipped out of bed. Fifteen minutes was longer than the ten minutes she’d had the day before, but she was still glad she’d showered and washed her hair before bed. Unfortunately, she’d fallen asleep with it wet and it was now dry and kinked all over the place. No mirror needed to tell her that; feeling around her head gave her a clear enough picture.
With a sigh, she retrieved the black binder and then straightened out her pajamas. This was just Maxwell. It didn’t matter if she had bedhead or morning breath. This was a working relationship. He wouldn’t care.
She did though, but she tried to push that down as she swung the door open with gusto. It was her way to show him that it didn’t matter to her, either, if she had bedhead or morning breath. If he wanted to go straight to business first thing in the morning, then she would too, no matter what she looked like.
His rapid blinking made her wonder if her hair was worse than she’d imagined, but she stood resolute, holding the binder out to him through the doorway. Suddenly, he snapped out of his weird trance and plucked the binder from her fingers. “Thanks. We’re leaving in fifteen minutes to go parasailing.”
“You already said that,” she replied, crossing her arms over her chest. She hoped that’d keep him from noticing that she was sweating under his intense, chocolate gaze.
“Oh, right.” He took a step back. “Sorry. I’ll let you get ready, then. See you downstairs?” His voice rose at the end.
“Sure.” She nodded and sent him a tight smile.
The one he gave her back made her pause. Even though he’d been doing that a lot around her, she could tell he was out of practice. Like it wasn’t something he did often. In fact, that first one he’d let loose in her presence had felt like warm gold. She liked that about him.
Too soon, he was gone, shutting the door behind him. But it alerted her to get a move on. After brushing her hair out and smoothing it into a braid that went down the middle of her back, she put her bathing suit on, then some clothes on, and ignored her makeup altogether. It’d annoyed Gabe—that was one reason. But she thought Maxwell liked that she wasn’t wearing it. Still, it didn’t
matter. The freedom felt best.
She was ready in eight minutes. With the seven minutes she had left, she inhaled some fruit and a muffin. Then she was all set for parasailing. With Maxwell. That should be a good time.
Except he silently gestured for her to follow him when it was time to leave. And he didn’t speak at all in the elevator. Or on the walk over to the pier to catch the boat. Or when they got on the boat.
Not even when she stripped to her bathing suit and he tried to pretend like he wasn’t checking her out. She only knew because it took one to know one—she’d done the same when he’d taken his shirt off. And she certainly wasn’t disappointed with what she saw.
It wasn’t until they were buckled up and strapped into their harnesses, the parachute inflating behind them on the boat, that he said anything. And that was because she’d spoken to him first.
“Have you ever done anything like this before?” she asked him to get conversation going.
At first, he only nodded—no explanation. But she dipped her head and widened her eyes to urge him on.
“Yes,” he said over the noise of the boat’s motor and the wind. “Once. A long time ago. Have you?”
Shaking her head, she said, “Mm mm,” in a loud but mousy voice. She darted her gaze around, bouncing it from him to the water and back to the island. A chill skated down her spine as she imagined flying in the air, high above the water and far from the resort.
He narrowed his eyes at her. “Are you scared?”
Licking her lips, she peered up at him. “A little.”
With his hand, he covered hers while they sat on the back of the boat, waiting for the captain to release them for their ride. “It’s supposed to be fun. You can relax. You’re safe.”
She pursed her lips on the right side of her face and stared straight ahead.