14. ALEX
14
ALEX
T he week was better than I’d thought it would be, but it was still pretty shit. I had a plan, but putting that plan into motion was something else.
I’d reached out to three companies to partner with. The first, GreenWave Yachts, had seen right through my plan, and I was on the phone with Miriam Anderson, the CEO.
Gabe was in my office. We’d been talking when the call had come in.
“I’m just looking for a way to work together,” I said. “Surely, you can see the merit in us teaming up.”
“You’ve never wanted to play nice before,” Anderson said. “You’ve always been serious about being the only kid in the playground.”
I groaned inwardly. “Climates change, Miriam. It’s all in the name of business. When our values align, we should consider it and when—”
“You’re being called out on national television, you’re looking for a way to make the sting go away.”
“It wasn’t ideal,” I admitted. “But this can benefit us both. I don’t need to tell you how you can benefit from having someone like Chris Blackwood involved in your design process.”
“Our design process has been doing just fine, thank you, Alexander. I understand what you’re trying to do and in the same shoes, I might have done the same thing. But I don’t think our values align , as you say, and I’m going to pass up on the opportunity this time around.”
“Thank you for your time,” I said politely, although I wanted to scowl and curse and tell her she was missing the point.
We ended the call, and I cursed out loud, letting it out.
“So, that went well,” Gabe said, sitting back in my armchair.
“Fuck,” I said again. “I have no idea how to deal with this.”
“You’re going to be fine. It’s not a big deal.”
I glanced at him, cocking an eyebrow. It was easy for him to say that it was going to be fine. He wasn’t involved in any of this—he had a stable IT job that didn’t step on anyone’s toes. He made a lot of money, he didn’t have to explain anything to anyone, and his life was simple.
It was fine for him.
“It’s just a lot to deal with,” I said.
“Sure, but you’ve always bounced back. I mean, you’re a Blackwood, for crying out loud. Everything always goes your way.” He grinned, but I didn’t return it.
I was so tired of everyone thinking that just because I was a Blackwood, shit was easy. I worked my ass off. I had a lot of people I had to answer to. It was a nightmare sometimes keeping our name high with all the fingers pointing in our direction.
Case in point with this nasty business with Charlotte and the campaign.
I wanted to say something about it, but since the night I’d met her, I didn’t want to mention her to Gabe at all—I didn’t want him to know I knew her. I was scared that I’d say something that tipped him off, and then shit would come at me from a whole different angle.
Gabe’s phone rang, and he groaned when he looked at the screen.
“Work,” he said. “On a Friday night.” He shook his head. “Fucking system implementation and they can’t get it right. We’re going to have to postpone.”
I nodded. “I get it. Work comes first.”
“Yeah,” he grumbled. “Next week, though, we’re painting the town red. Better wear your drinking shoes.”
I chuckled. “I’ll be ready.”
Gabe got up and left my office to take care of his implementation emergency. I sat back in my chair.
We would have gone drinking, and I’d looked forward to just letting loose. I could find someone else to drink with, though. Maybe my brothers. Ben or Chris, or both? Daniel was still out of town; I’d have to catch up with him later.
I opened my laptop and saw Miriam Anderson’s reply, sent before I’d picked up the phone to talk to her in person. She’d turned me down, telling me I wasn’t going to be able to work with her.
She wasn’t missing the point, of course. I was pissed off that it hadn’t worked out the way I’d wanted it to, and I was pissed that she’d seen right through me. Because that was exactly what I was trying to do—get involved with the right people and ride on their positive image instead of going through the steps to make our image positive.
I sat back in my chair and swiveled it to the window, looking out over the ocean. The sky was incredibly blue, and it was hard to tell where the sky stopped and the ocean started. Days like this, I wanted to be out on a yacht with the sea spray on my face and the tang of salt in the air, not stuck in stuffy suits in an office, trying to prove to the world I was worth my salt.
“Is everything okay?” Marina asked, coming into my office.
I turned to face my secretary. It was apt that she was called Marina since we were in the yacht business. I hadn’t ever told her that to her face, though. Ever the professional.
“We can only hope that eventually, it will be,” I said with a sigh. “What do you need?”
“I’m finishing up for the day. I just wanted to check you don’t need me to do anything else before the weekend.”
I shook my head and glanced at the time. I hadn’t kept track; I’d meant to let Marina go earlier. “No, go ahead. Have a good weekend. We’ll tackle this again on Monday.”
“Thank you, sir,” she said with a smile. “Try to have a good weekend, too.”
I nodded, and she left the office.
A moment later, I heard voices—another woman—and frowned.
Marina poked her head around my door.
“A visitor for you, sir. I told her you’re busy, but she’s insistent. A Miss Charlotte Reynolds?”
I stilled. “Here?” She’d just missed Gabe. Had she run into him on her way up?
She nodded. “Shall I ask her to leave?”
“No,” I said quickly and then cleared my throat. “No, you can send her in.”
Marina frowned slightly. “Okay… do you need me to—”
“No, I’ve got this. You can go, don’t worry.”
Marina hesitated, but then she nodded and pushed the door open a little wider.
Charlotte walked in. Marina shut the door behind her, and we were closed in my office, alone.
Shit.
Maybe I should have told Marina to send her away.
Because she looked like a vision, wearing a bronze gypsy top that shimmered a little in the last rays of the sun that fell through the window, and her hair was loose, falling over her shoulders in honey waves. Her eyes were warm, and I could drown in them.
“What are you doing here?” I sounded hostile. I hadn’t meant to, but I was flustered that she was here. What the hell was she doing in my office, looking like… that ?
“I wanted to talk to you.”
I gestured toward one of the chairs, and she stepped forward and sat down. She looked around.
“This is a very nice office. Incredible view.”
I nodded. It really was incredible. I’d gotten used to it, but seeing it through the eyes of a stranger, it was breathtaking.
“It’s good to be reminded why we started all this,” I said.
Charlotte frowned at me, her perfectly manicured brows pulling together, and I looked away. She had no business looking this good in my office.
“Why is that?”
I looked toward the ocean again. “There is a whole world out there just waiting to be explored. There is so much beauty to see, and that’s what we’re trying to do. To give people a way to see it in the lap of luxury.”
“It seems very elitist.”
I raised my eyebrows.
“I mean, the fact you’re focusing on luxury,” Charlotte said quickly. “It eliminates a lot of people because of the price tag.”
I shrugged. “We cater to a certain market. It’s business.”
Charlotte nodded slowly. She curled her hands around her handbag on her lap. Her nails weren’t painted, but they were neatly trimmed, and her fingers were long and slender.
Everything about her was natural and beautiful—nothing like the high-maintenance girls who always fawned over me, who vied for my attention.
It was what had drawn me to Charlotte since the first moment I’d seen her.
“What is it you wanted to talk about?” Why the hell was she here, making it hard for me to think straight?
“Well… I might have been wrong.”
I blinked at her. “About what?”
“What you’re doing,” she said. “I mean, I know what the yacht manufacturing business is about… sort of. But I don’t know the details, and you keep telling me you’re not the enemy, we’re on the same side. You kept saying I don’t know what you’re doing.”
I nodded slowly.
“Well, that’s what I’m here for. To find out.”
I frowned, confused. “Find out what?”
“How your company practices sustainability in a way that eliminates you as a threat to the campaign and to the ocean life out there.”
My ears started ringing. That wasn’t exactly how things worked around here. Yeah, we did focus on a few things that were more eco-friendly than before, but we weren’t nearly as good at it as we could be.
That was what I’d wanted to team up with other companies for.
“If you want a tour of our facilities, I’m afraid you’ve come at a bad time. Everything is closing up for the weekend.”
“Monday, then? Maybe you can show me the factory or something. I could talk to your yacht designer. Chris?”
I shook my head. “I’ll have to see if we can fit you into our schedule. This isn’t a show-and-tell, it’s a business.”
I was getting more and more flustered that she wanted to see things I wasn’t ready to show her. What would my investors say if I just brought one of the activists to have a look behind the scenes?
She narrowed her eyes at me. “If I didn’t know any better, I would have thought you were trying to get rid of me.”
I stood, walking around the table. “It would be better if you make an appointment.”
“So that you can prepare for my visit, find things to show me that will hide what’s really going on behind the scenes?”
“I don’t have anything to hide,” I said hotly.
Charlotte stood, facing me, but she didn’t walk to my office door, which was where I wanted her to go. I needed her to leave. Her visit was out of the blue, and I hadn’t had time to prepare. I had nothing I could show her, and I wasn’t ready for this onslaught on my senses. Because she smelled fantastic, she was a vision to look at, and even the sound of her voice was soothing.
“Look, I realize that I might have been too harsh in my judgement at first,” she said. “I thought things were a certain way and I learned that I don’t know what I’m talking about, so I’m trying to find out. That’s all. I’m not here to try to make you look bad or to tell you you’re wrong. I’m just trying to learn.”
Why did she have to be so reasonable?
“I don’t have anything to show you,” I said tightly.
She frowned. “So, you’re just going to kick me out?”
“I’m not kicking you out.”
“You don’t want me here.” She tilted her head a little. “This isn’t about you trying to be better, is it? You just want to get rid of me.”
She wasn’t wrong, but not for the reasons she thought.
“I don’t have time to fight about petty things like your view of ocean life,” I snapped. “I have a company to run, money to make.”
She laughed bitterly. “Right, because that’s what it’s all about, isn’t it? The money. No one gives a damn about the environment as long as they can make a buck.” She shook her head. “I should have known you were like the rest of them, driving around in that fancy car of yours—”
“You told me that there are bigger fish to fry,” I clapped back.
“Yeah, like the yachts you make.”
She had me there.
“You know, Charlotte,” I said in a clipped voice, “not everyone with money is the enemy. Some of us work hard, trying to make a difference in our own way.”
“In your own way? You mean by helping people experience the world in the lap of luxury ? Do you hear yourself?”
I shook my head, frustrated. “You were the one who came here to tell me you got it wrong, you’re willing to keep an open mind. Where did that go?”
“I came here with an open mind, and you’re showing me that what I thought was true.” She glared at me, and the anger made her features that much more attractive. Her eyes were dark, her lips parted, and God, she was fucking beautiful.
“What’s that?” I challenged.
“Your money doesn’t make up for everything,” she said, leaning forward a little. “You can’t just buy your way out of responsibility.”
“You don’t get to paint me as the villain just because I’ve been successful,” I said, my voice hard.
“I’m not painting you as anything! I’m holding you accountable for what your industry is doing to our oceans.”
“What do you know about the industry, Charlotte?”
“I would know more if you were willing to show me! I’ve spent time trying to find common ground. That’s why I’m here, but now all I’m seeing is a stubborn refusal to change. You walk in there with your fancy suits and your chiseled jaw and your smooth words and everyone falls at your feet in worship. Well, I’m not like that. I see what’s under that handsome facade—”
She snapped her mouth shut when she realized what she was saying, that she’d just called me handsome.
“I should go.”
She turned away from me, but I touched my hand to her arm. I didn’t want her to leave. I was flustered with her being here, but the thought of her being gone made me ache in a way I wanted to prevent.
“Charlotte.”
She froze, not looking at me. I took a step closer and slid my arm around her waist. I couldn’t stop myself. She turned to face me, her face twisted in a mask of rage, but her lips were parted, and she slid her eyes to my mouth.
I held onto her, and with my free hand, I hooked her hair behind her ear. I traced my finger down her jaw, and her breath caught in her throat. I rested my eyes on her mouth and brushed my thumb over her lower lip.
“Charlotte,” I said again, not knowing exactly what I was asking.
She closed the distance between us and kissed me.