Chapter 31 Guard His Every Action
GUARD HIS EVERY ACTION
“This is where the donuts are going,” Ethan said on July Fourth as they walked past the shops in the casino. They’d taken the first ferry over to Amore Island after he’d bought two dozen donuts for his family. A dozen each for his brothers. His parents said they’d take a pass.
“There is a lot of work done already,” she said. “What if things get held up?”
“That is always a possibility, but the owners are pushing for a fast close. They are struggling and, right now, as you know, I’m keeping them afloat.”
Money that was coming off the purchase.
“If they’ve mismanaged it now, how comfortable do you feel letting them continue to run things once you buy it?”
“They aren’t going to be running the business.
They are making the products and overseeing them at the other three shops for quality control more than anything else.
I’m going to be meeting with other staff to see if maybe there is someone better equipped for another role, but I’ll hire a regional manager to oversee operations. Those things will be separated.”
“Do you need someone with food experience?” she asked. They moved behind the boarded-up wall to see the counter taking shape with the cases that would be lined with donuts, then racks behind them with more as they are baked.
“That will be a must. It’s going to work out, just might take time. I expect them to do a great business on the island. As I said before, people who live on the island or just work here and take the ferry, they come into the casino for these shops.”
They left the area since there wasn’t much more to see. He watched as she looked around the section of the casino that had grown from more than a salon and spa with one restaurant in the beginning.
“It’s like a tiny mall. Even just a food court.”
There was McDonald’s and Taco Bell, then a specialty coffee shop that served up fancy coffees and teas. The donuts would be a nice addition, even for those guests in the casino.
Lots of times people wanted something fast and quick at night or in the mornings rather than a sit-down meal. He’d had his doubts when Eli wanted to do this, but he’d been proven wrong.
“It is. It’s going to work well. Might even be the best branch seller once it’s done. Finding employees is going to be the hardest part.”
“I find it funny you’ve got to pay rent to your brother when he is going to own ten percent and you own a few percent of the casino.”
“It’s all about business,” he said, putting his arm around her. She skirted out from under it and he held his sigh in. She was still skittish about people seeing them and it was killing him to keep pretending as if he didn’t love the woman next to him.
He wanted to touch her.
Hold her.
Kiss her.
Even flirt some.
Do those things when he wanted and not always guard his every action.
Her dinner with her father went well and he had to remind himself that was the start.
It’d been just over two months at this point, not two years.
The fact he was meeting her mother tomorrow and staying the night in Canada was a plus. He was lucky to be able to get one of Egan’s helicopters to take them there and pick them back up the next day. Crossing the border wasn’t as easy as flying from state to state.
“Do you think your parents are ready for us? I mean it’s really early.”
“We’ve stopped over earlier,” he said. “And you’re okay staying the night there? We can get a room here if you’d rather.”
“I’ll be fine. It’s not as if it’s the first they are finding out. And the house is so big and we are upstairs at the other end. Remember, we are just sleeping. Sorry, but I just can’t do, you know... with other people around.”
He laughed at the flush on her face. “I can wait until the hotel tomorrow. I have some restraint.”
She was still only staying on the weekends and he wasn’t sure how to get that to change.
Last night they’d stayed at his place and watched a small fireworks show. The bigger one would be tonight in Boston, but they wouldn’t be there to see it.
Eli was putting on one for the island. The second year. It’d been a massive hit last year and with the holiday falling on a Saturday, he knew damn well it’d be that way tonight.
He might not even be able to get a room in the casino because it could be booked. Though Griffin’s old place on the penthouse floor was open.
There was no reason to bring that up if she was content at his parents’ house.
“Let me text Eli to see if he’s around to get his donuts since we are here. We can deliver the other box to Egan if you don’t mind, then go see my parents.”
“That’d be nice,” she said.
He sent a message to his brother, then got a reply to come up.
“We are going to the penthouse.”
“He lives here?” she asked.
“Yep. He always has. I wasn’t sure if they’d stay once they had kids though the place is massive with a stunning view.”
They moved to the elevator, he pulled his phone out and held it to the screen, then hit the top floor.
“Is this like your place? No one can get up without a keycard?”
“It’s not just a keycard. Only a select few staff are allowed up here. That would be Griffin or one cleaning person. This elevator will go right to their suite and open up there. The other elevator goes to a hallway up there that needs access for another space.”
“I think that would make me nervous that people could walk right into my house.”
He laughed when the doors closed and pulled her tight. They were alone and it wouldn’t stop on any other floor until they were dropped off.
“The security here is tighter than you’ve ever seen. This is a straight shot up. No stops for anyone right now without this access. Just owners have it besides Griffin, and one cleaner.”
The doors opened, and there was Adrienne standing with her arms out.
“Donuts. Daddy said you’ve got donuts.”
“Wow,” Ethan said. “That’s what the greeting is for?”
Bella laughed and came around the corner. “I told her to wait, but she said no. She wanted the strawberry cream one and you better have gotten it.”
He opened the top of the box he’d been carrying around. “I got everything requested. Two strawberry creams. I thought you liked the peanut butter and jelly one.”
“I like them both.” Adrienne looked in the box, then turned to her mother.
“You can grab it, then we’ll sit at the table. That’s massive and messy,” Bella said.
“She’ll be all sugared up for her grandparents,” Nora said.
“So will I,” Eli said, coming in and snagging the one with candied bacon on top. “I haven’t eaten yet knowing these were coming. Did you check out the space?”
“I did. Looks good. Hope the closing will be in a month, but you won’t be ready here, will you?”
“Should be close. Need to get staffing, then train them. That’s on you, bro. You’re running this show, but I’d like a timeframe. I know you’ll do promotions, but we have our own in house too.”
“No work talk today,” Bella said. “Save that for another day.”
He heard some cries, then walked into the living room to see Ollie sitting in a playpen rubbing his eyes.
“It’s like he knew I was here,” Ethan said, reaching for his nephew still in his footed jammies. “Look at that smile.”
“You look good with a kid in your hands,” Eli said, taking a bite of his donut while Bella got Adrienne seated for hers.
“Don’t look at me,” Nora said.
“We’ve got to get her to where she’s not embarrassed to be seen out with me first,” he said, smirking.
And there went the smile from her face.
“Dude, you’re in trouble,” Eli said, his voice almost singing.
“So it seems.” He handed his nephew to Bella. “We’ll see you later at Mom’s. Going to drop off the other box to Egan.”
The ride down to the parking lot was quiet. Thick with tension and the faint sting of annoyance.
What had started as a joke was about to come back and bite him in the ass.
He gripped the steering wheel tighter in the car, his jaw ticking. She hadn’t said a word, as if she was waiting for him to.
He couldn’t shake the irritation simmering beneath the surface. Not at her, exactly, but at the fact that she was the one driving this whole secrecy thing.
She was calling the shots, setting the rules, while he, the man who was going to take over running an empire and made decisions that shaped futures, was left following along.
Not a role he wore easily.
Nor one he ever wanted.
What had his mother always told him? Learn to be humble.
Yeah, well… humble pie fucking sucked.
“Listen, Nora—”
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“We have to. I meant it as a joke.”
“One in poor taste.”
“Agreed. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said it.”
“But you feel it, or you wouldn’t have said it.
” He opened his mouth, ready to argue, but she didn’t give him the chance.
“Don’t lie, Ethan. I’ve been in that headspace before.
The one where you swallow the words because you think saying them will only make things worse.
I’ve lived there. Too many times I’ve let myself be silenced, told myself it wasn’t worth it, or that I was overreacting.
” Her voice cracked, quiet but fierce. “I’m not doing that again. Not with you.”
His shoulders sagged, the fight draining out of him as fast as it had come. Deep down he was happy she was taking a stand even if it was against him.
He hated seeing the fire in her eyes dimmed by something he caused. Even if he felt what he’d said.
“You’re right,” he said quietly. “You shouldn’t have to hold back with me. Ever.”
Her arms were crossed, chin tipped slightly up, like she was bracing for him to argue again.
But he didn’t. He couldn’t.
“It’s difficult. I’m balancing this as much as you.”
“I screwed up,” he admitted. “I was frustrated. Not at you. Just… at this. The hiding. The pretending. You call the shots, I follow them, but sometimes I feel like I’m losing pieces of what we could be because of it.”
Her gaze softened a fraction from what he could see in the car as they sat there. He hadn’t driven away. He just wasn’t ready to move from this spot even if it meant swallowing his pride.
“You think I don’t feel that too?”
“I know you do.” He exhaled slowly, reaching for her hand but stopping just short. “I just want to make sure that in trying to protect us we don’t destroy what we already have.”
For a long moment, neither spoke. The tension didn’t vanish, but it shifted to something less sharp and more fragile.
Then she sighed, her shoulders relaxing the tiniest bit. “You make it really hard to stay mad when you talk like that.”
“Good,” he murmured. “Because I’m a lot better at making things right than making them worse.”
Or so he kept trying to convince himself.