39. Poppy
Poppy
“ T hat is not happening,” I deadpan, folding my arms and taking a step forward. Toe to toe with Hayden, I narrow my eyes up at the amused look on his face.
“Maybe we should take a vote,” he suggests.
“I have a feeling it’s going to be a draw.”
He reaches out and twirls a strand of my hair around his finger. With a lazy grin, he says, “You’re the one who wanted to be equal partners. If you agreed to my forty-nine percent offer, you could shoot me down right now.”
“Consider it a moment of weakness.” I smile back at him and reach out to curl a hand around his bicep. “But I have a feeling I can convince you to see things my way.” Rising up on my toes, I brush a kiss along his jaw. I take my time, letting my lips linger near his ear.
“My love, you can’t do this every single time,” he sighs, catching me around the waist. “It’s not fair.”
I wasn’t sure what would happen when we set our standing business meetings at the bakehouse. At the time, I had worried they would be formal and awkward. Instead, I’m finding our moment hidden away in the kitchen very enjoyable.
“I’ve agreed to the business account we both have access to. That’s normal practice. But what’s not normal is linking it to your personal accounts. You’ll just keep funneling me money whenever you see fit.”
“Whenever we see fit,” he amends.
“That’s not very good business sense.” I turn towards the counter behind us and grab the updated business plan I created last week. Holding it up, I point to the finance page. “This was what we agreed upon. Remember?”
“You showed this to me in bed before I set our no business in the bedroom rule,” he points out.
“But you still signed.”
“You were naked. This should be inadmissible.”
I bat my eyes innocently as Hayden furrows his brow. “It’s not my fault you’re easily distracted. And what’s done is done. So, call the bank and open a stand-alone business account,” I say, sitting down on the stool beside my prep table and picking up one of the fresh blueberry almond bars.
We have been official business partners with a signed and notarized contract for exactly one week.
Each step along the way, I expect to regret my decision.
To have a moment of panic or feel like things are no longer in my control.
But it hasn’t happened. Just like taking on Small Town Table together, this past week has been fun .
Working together, planning together, bickering together, it feels like everything is more meaningful having him at my side. My twin flame. This feels like what Nana described as meant to be, the way she described her relationship with my grandfather. It feels right.
“I’m not allowed to link it to my account, but I’m allowed to use my status with the bank to cut corners and simply make a call?” he challenges, plucking the treat from my hand and taking a bite before I can.
“That is correct.”
With a kiss to my forehead, he withdraws his phone and pulls up the number.
Every so often, he turns and asks me the necessary information such as my social security number and the business address, but that’s it.
This feels too easy, opening an account and transferring the tens of thousands of dollars he paid me for his shares, all over the phone.
But I can hear the bank manager singing his praise, and I have a feeling that Hayden would have easily commanded a board room if he had decided to take an active role in his father’s business. He’s as confident on this call as he is in uniform, and it’s indecently alluring.
Setting down his phone, he turns to me and smiles. “We officially have joint banking.”
“You mean a joint business account, right?”
“Yes. For now,” he says, in a low, enticing voice. Heat runs through my core at the way he whispers the words in my ear, his lips skimming along the outer edge of it. He takes my jaw in his hand and kisses my temple.
I let him lift my chin upward, my eyes skimming over his handsome features. “You sound sure that it’s only a matter of time.”
“I am,” he replies simply. Pulling my face to his, he kisses me slowly. His mouth moves with that same confidence, causing a moan to escape me as I melt in his embrace.
“Any regrets?” he asks against my lips.
“With this business partnership? Not at all.”
“Do you have regrets with our relationship?” He leans back; his brow pinched in concern.
“Yes. I regret how long it took me to realize that I’m hopelessly in love with you.”
A slow smile fills his face, reaching his sparkling blue eyes. Trailing his thumb across my cheek, he says, “That’s okay. I’ve always known for the both of us. You’re the person I’m meant to be with forever.”
My mind flashes back to trivia night at the brewery, after we shot that first episode. Do you believe in lobsters, Poppy ? The look in his eyes when he asked that said it all, even before the first time we kissed, and I didn’t see it for what it was.
“Forever,” I agree to my God of the Sea. Because only something as deep as the sea could sway a stubborn heart.