Chapter Fourteen

Even with his face a stoic mask of indifference, Vincent Ferguson stood in the back of his boardroom, throwing one hell of a party in his head.

Everything was unfolding exactly as planned. He’d hired rock stars, and his chief financial officer played a fucking concerto to the mock audience. They’d invited business leaders across the industries to attend the mock IPO presentation, and their opinion was important. Impressing the community’s top dogs mattered, because technology didn’t stay put in one field. It weaved its way into everything, entwining into agriculture, oceanography, medical, and beyond. If his CFO performed this well when the real team stepped into the conference room next month, the IPO win was in the bag. August and then September for the first day of trading.

God, he loved his life! And he’d never grow tired of the taste of success. Little wins that amounted to significant gains. Fucking right, he did it. He went after everything they said he couldn’t have, and he wolfed it down with a cherry on top. And what a delicious proverbial cherry.

Of course, in the past month, Reece had been keeping him pretty busy with her added sexual fantasies, not that he was complaining. But the Full Moon Party had him ready to sit Reece down and ask her to go steady with him like a damn teenager. The woman had several added ideas once they’d crossed the balcony off her list, and after the third shower and second bottle of champagne… He barely even liked champagne before the Full Moon Party, and now he had an unquenchable craving for another bottle. His cock thumped at the image that landed in his mind. He’d never look at another chocolate-covered strawberry and not think about Reece.

Hell, he hadn’t even looked at another woman since he and Reece first hooked up.

And he still had a river and an orange grove to plan. How the heck the woman decided on an orange grove baffled him, but he wasn’t going to question her requests, just honor them.

Simon elbowed him. “Nice touch.”

“What?” Fuck. He should’ve been paying attention. His sharpest chief counsel had stepped up to add his magic closing touch.

“The bit about focusing on local underdeveloped talent.”

Right. His chief counsel’s brainchild. “Man is brilliant.”

He’d reiterated FH’s objective to continue to foster regional relationships with area schools, promote technological growth close to home, and not forget for one moment that South Beach, known primarily for the water and weather, could still be a powerhouse on the New York Stock Exchange. That had been in response to NeoQuantics’s concern over their headquarters location.

The chief counsel finished his closing remarks, and the room exploded with applause. As the mock attendees stood with impressed smiles on their faces, Vin accepted their handshakes and compliments. His assistant directed the attendees to the adjoining room with refreshments and swag items, and Vin focused on the undisputed shark still standing in the room.

Landon Rowe.

Having Landon here, instead of someone sent in his place, proved how significant this IPO could be. Had Rowe’s CEO liked the preliminary road show enough to seek an IPO allocation?

Vin stretched out his hand. “Landon, thank you for taking the time.”

Landon’s gaze flicked down to Vin’s hand and then back to his face. When the man crossed his arms and rocked back on his heels, Vin let his arm drop. “I consider it my business to know what my family is involved in.”

His family? Meaning Reece?

Shit.

So this was how he wanted to play it. Vin’s brain whirled over a thousand reasons why Reese’s brother would confront him now. And with a veiled threat.

The man uncrossed his arms and shoved his hands into his pockets, pinning him with a glare that meant he expected answers. “So why don’t you tell me what the hell you’re doing with my sister?”

That was the million-dollar question. Vin knew when he’d asked Reece to attend some events this confrontation might happen. But when two months passed, and he hadn’t been questioned by any of the Rowes, he’d assumed that they not necessarily approved, but that they left Reece’s private life alone. Apparently, he’d been wrong.

He kept the polite smile on his face. “Your sister is a remarkable woman.”

“She is. And you may be a CEO to an almost publicly traded company, but she’s still eons out of your league.”

Landon’s words slapped Vin across the face with the force of a thousand pounds of gravity.

He wasn’t good enough to date Reece. Beautiful, smart Reece Rowe. The woman who literally made Vin forget about his past and begged him to take her on sexy adventures. He wore a #justlivelife band on his wrist, but she was the one who’d made the past two months of his life worth living.

He blew out a breath. “Look, Landon, I know we don’t know each other that well.”

“Damn right we don’t.”

“It’s not like we planned to date.”

Landon narrowed his eyes. “You’re telling me you didn’t cherry-pick her to clean up your reputation?”

Vin swallowed. No matter what direction this conversation took, Reece would hear about it. “Yes.”

That shocked her brother. “Yes?”

“We have an agreement.” God, he hoped he could get to Reece before Landon, so he could explain what the hell just happened. “I asked her to attend several events with me. She understands I’m not the marrying kind of guy.”

The expression on Landon’s face betrayed the man’s bewilderment. “Why would she agree to date you?”
The insults just kept coming. Was it really so unreasonable to Landon to picture his sister with Vin? He was a CEO of an almost publicly traded company. Just what kind of man did Landon envision for his sister? A billionaire? Yeah, probably. Vin shook his head. “I’m not going to share that with you.”

“She’s too good for you. But I know she has a soft heart. What does she get out of this deal?”

As if he could tell Reece’s older brother how she’d initiated their entire encounter. “You may have given me my start, and for that I’ll always be grateful, but that doesn’t give you the right to come into my building and demand answers about my personal life. If you want to know about your sister’s motivation for dating me, I suggest you speak with her.”

The other man stood there, his chest rising and falling in rapid bursts, the most emotion Vin had ever seen Landon display. Clearly, he cared for his sister. Hell, didn’t Vin have the same brotherly protection for Tonia? But he didn’t appreciate Landon’s animosity aimed at him.

Landon stood there, absolutely silent, but Vin could sense the other man’s brain whirling through countless ways to respond. Finally, he gave a brisk nod. “My father may have given you your start, but I can end you. Let that sink in.”

The man strode out of the conference room without waiting for a response, which was good, because Vin didn’t have one. Landon couldn’t have made himself clearer—break up with Reece or lose everything he’d worked to achieve. It was as black and white as when his buddy in grad school had taken ten thousand dollars not to date the daughter of a senator, only this time, Landon was willing to sink an entire corporation to protect his sister from Vin. In Landon’s mind, Reece was hundreds of millions of dollars out of Vin’s league.

Business-wise, Vin should be swamped with IPO allocation requests. The media attention alone would drive up the demand for IPO shares. Everything about this IPO made savvy business sense. Unless Landon tanked his deal. Massive amounts of people would lose out on vital technological products and economic opportunities.

Vin always trusted his gut, but right now—with his gut twisted in knots—he didn’t even trust his head, which said he couldn’t give up Reece.

It shouldn’t be about the money, but for a poor kid like him, that was all it was about. If he kept up his agreement with Reece, he’d lose out on the biggest business deal of his life.

And with his entire company and all the families counting on him to keep up the momentum, that was a risk he wasn’t willing to take.

…

Reece couldn’t keep pretending.

Two months was two months too long for just fun.

She was falling in love with Vin.

He was supposed to be her fun, and fun couldn’t last. She couldn’t be a wild child and a mature woman, and she’d only started this to prove she could date for fun, not forever. To prove that she could date without an endgame or an agenda. Casual sex. That had been what this whole thing had been about. Not falling in love. But damn it. He was just so…lovable. For her, it had turned into more than just sex. Those obligatory events had been made more enjoyable with Vin by her side. She actually looked forward to their conversations. Not just the sex.

So now what? She’d turned into one of those girls whose every thought revolved around her man. Which was a colossal problem.

She needed something to take her mind off Vin, and she knew exactly what that something would be.

“You and Mom win. I’m ready to head the Foundation.” Reece stood in the doorway of Landon’s office, and no sooner had the words left her mouth than Landon jumped out his chair and rubbed his hands together like some kind of villain with a plan.

“Finally.” He strode toward her, hooked a hand at her elbow, and led her down the hall to the next corner office. “This is yours. It’s empty. I’ll get you a secretary.”

With a small nudge, he pushed her into the spacious room and leaned against the doorframe. Reece looked around the room, making a slow circle. She knew this office. Had played in it as a girl. Before her father had slept with the chief development officer and ruined her whole life.

She wrinkled her nose. “Ew. No. I wouldn’t be able to do any work in this office.”

“How do you remember shit like that?” He shrugged. “Never mind. We planned to make it a conference room anyway. Come on. Candace never worked here, so she didn’t have an office.” He checked his watch. “I have a meeting, but once it’s finished, we’ll look over the building plans and find you somewhere better.”

Currently, the Foundation ran under Candace from the comforts of her home office. Sometimes she collaborated with an advisory board and the financial department of Rowe International, along with legal, but other than the quarterly briefings, she pretty much did whatever she wanted from wherever she was. Not a bad setup, but not what Reece had in mind.

As they walked back down the hall, she said, “You said if I agree to take over The Rowe Foundation, it would be entirely mine.”

“I did. I’ll need to get you an updated org chart of your team.”

Right. The people counting on her to lead them in the right direction. The Foundation employed people who would seek guidance from Reece. She would have to give performance reviews. Hire and fire staff. With a deep breath, she trudged forward with her thoughts. “Well, then, I plan to make the second floor the foundation headquarters, and there will be a massive organization change. Will I need your approval?”

He turned and studied her for a long moment. “The Foundation is separate from Rowe International, so whatever you decide is your decision. I’ll have a press release drafted about your appointment as new executive director. I’m sure Dad and Candace will be thrilled you’re taking it off her plate. Is there anything else?”

She bit her lip and debated doing that thing she always did—ask her brother his opinion on a guy. But damn it, she really, really liked Vin. Loved him, probably. And even if he didn’t love her, she wanted to introduce him to her family. To bring him into her world. And their Fourth of July dinner at the Rowe penthouse would be the perfect opportunity. Usually reserved for executives and their families, it would be the perfect venue for Vin to meet the Rowe family in a casual business setting.

She drew in her breath and asked, “What do you think about Vincent Ferguson?”

Her brother frowned. “He tell you about our conversation?”

“What? No.” What conversation?

He crossed his arms. “I saw his mock presentation for the IPO.”

That had nothing to do with her. She hadn’t known her brother was even interested in Vin’s company. The most she knew about his IPO was that his board asked him to clean up his act before they went live. “And?”

“And I told him to stop dating you or I’d tank his proposal.”

Why did that not surprise her? Her oldest brother had done similar crap with her other dates her whole life, until she’d gone away to college. Hadn’t that contributed to why she’d only ever dated a guy until she found out that her family wouldn’t approve? She’d grown up looking at every guy as a potential boyfriend, and when they didn’t live up to her family’s expectations, she’d walked away.

But then, why hadn’t Vin broken up with her yet?

His pre-IPO meeting happened on Monday. It was Wednesday. Tomorrow was the Fourth of July. If she invited him to the executive dinner at the Rowe penthouse, would he wait until after the meal to end their arrangement? Or…

A tiny seed of hope sparked in her chest. Maybe he didn’t care about Landon’s threat. Maybe he wasn’t planning on choosing Landon over her at all.

Maybe Landon would take back his ridiculous ultimatum if she told him the truth about Vin and her.

Oblivious to her inner turmoil, Landon continued, “You’re too good for him. You deserve better than some guy with that kind of reputation.”

“He hasn’t had a reputation in two months.”

“And Tami Martin said she ran into you at some Full Moon Festival.”

“She did.” Reece shuddered, recalling the terrible mess of a spilled drink.

“I’d stay clear of her, too. Her father has tried to threaten his way through the agricultural boards. I wouldn’t be surprised if she uses your dating Vin to her advantage.” He held up a hand. “And before you get all pissy, know I gave the same lecture to Christopher when I found out Tami had wormed her way onto one of his boards. Just be smart. Keep your distance.”

Landon was right, of course. The mention of Tami Martin did it. That, and the idea she’d left Waterford flutes in Vincent Ferguson’s office. Vin hadn’t denied it.

There was so much of Vin’s life she knew nothing about, and if they really weren’t dating, that should be fine. But she’d come to think of them as an exclusive couple. She hadn’t thought about him getting any on the side. What if he had been? It shouldn’t matter. Still, her brother deserved to know the truth.

She cleared her throat. “Landon, we’re not really dating. We have an agreement.”

Landon nodded. “He said as much, but I still don’t like it.”

She shrugged. “It’s just business. Until the IPO goes through.”

“I’ll tell you what I told him. Break up, and I’ll leave him alone.” He stopped outside the executive conference room. “This meeting shouldn’t be more than an hour. If you need anything at all, just ask my assistant. Oh, and I have another stack of scholarship applications on my desk.”

Reece yanked on her brother’s arm. “If we do break up, would you support his IPO?”

Her brother gave one of his curt nods. “I would. It was a solid presentation.”

“So why threaten to tank him?”

He blew out an aggravated breath. “As for the IPO”—he shrugged and opened the conference room door—“I don’t have an opinion either way. His team never reached out to me, either because technology isn’t our wheelhouse, or they were hoping we’d jump on board after the mock session. It’s not a bad investment, but you deserve better than him, and this will prove it.”

“Promise you’ll seek an allocation if we break up.”

He scowled but said, “Fine. Whatever.”

That settled it. She wouldn’t invite Vin to the Fourth of July penthouse dinner. She wouldn’t give him a chance to choose Landon over her. They’d break up, of course. Self-preservation had her deciding to break up with him before he could break her heart.

She circled back to the office area, planning what she’d say to Vin. As she waved at Landon’s assistant and waited for the elevator, an odd numbness settled over her.

Vin no longer needed her to help his reputation if he had her brother on board. This changed everything.

Forget falling in love with the man. He’d never love her back. She could do this for him. She could give him what he wanted, and all she had to do was pretend like her heart wasn’t breaking.