Chapter 6 #2
"But that's not true, is it? You're still angry, and you hate me." He lifted a hand, dropping it when she took a step back. "It was never my intention to hurt you." His voice was husky with remorse. "I would have preferred to cut off my right hand than to do you any harm."
"But you did." She shook her head and turned away. "I really don't want to discuss this anymore, and if you keep bringing it up, I'm going to walk out of here."
"No." Reining in his thoughts and the words he wanted to say, he gestured to the chair. "Please sit. We have a lot to discuss."
After a few minutes of awkwardness, they settled into the discussion. Kady had to admit that she had her doubts about his knowledge of the airline industry, but he had done his homework and was very thorough. She also had to admit to herself that he was smart and very good at his job.
She argued with him for form's sake when he made some suggestions.
A few more new planes, a more suitable logo, different routes to make the flying time more efficient and time-saving.
He had grand plans that were going to cost an arm and a leg, possibly two, but he had the resources, and he confessed that he wanted this project to get underway as soon as possible.
Even though she tried to remain aloof and uninvolved, she could not stop the excitement from shining through.
Most of the plans were the very ones she had tried to get them to implement over the years.
If it weren't for the fact that he had broken her heart and left her high and dry, she would have broken out the glasses of orange juice and toasted him.
But she was determined to be aloof. His kisses, the touch of his hands had proven to her that she was still steeped in the past, that she was still as deep into him as she was before, or even more so.
"What about your father and the board?"
"What about them?" He looked up and over at her as he stacked the sheaf of papers he had taken from his suitcase.
"Won't they want to be involved?"
"I suppose they will want a monthly report.
" He snapped the clasp on his briefcase and leaned back in the chair.
His eyes took in the hair that she had given up on tidying.
He wondered if she knew how sexy or how appealing she looked with it down, or how young she looked.
Wanting her was making holes inside him.
"This is going to cost a lot of money."
His lips tilted up slightly. "To say the least."
"Your company takes over ailing corporations and revives them, then sells them for a profit." Her eyes met his levelly. "Is that what's going to happen to the airline?"
He sat back and stretched his legs out. He was still overwhelmed by their passion and was trying his best to keep it under wraps. But he was so acutely aware of her that it was almost painful.
"Not this time."
"Why?" she demanded. "That's what Crenshaw's Enterprise is famous for. Yes, I've been doing my own research."
His smile came slowly. "I suspect you would be.
" He inclined his head. "Over the last decade or so, even while we were located in Europe, our main goal was to 'rescue' companies, ones that show the potential of being high earners.
It's a business, you see, and we're in it to make a profit.
When we sink millions into a project, it's on the condition that we recover the sum of money spent and make something as well. "
"Has there ever been a case where that has not happened?"
"No." He shook his head. "Before we decide to take on something, we do our research, a deep dive so to speak.
Our R even though she was trying to deny it, she wanted him.
He would work with that, but in time, and in the right place.
"The owners were drug lords and very aggressive about keeping what they considered to be theirs."
She studied the neutral expression on his face. She had also read that he had been the one who had gone to Mexico to do the negotiations. "How bad was it?" she asked quietly.
"Bad enough," he said briefly, not willing to go into details. He certainly could not tell her that he had gone there with a contingent of guards in case there was trouble from the past. And there had been. Along with the Mexican cartel's brand of problems.