Chapter 21
NOTHING brEAKS LIKE A HEART
Marlon.
I ain’t seen her in a week.
And that wasn’t by accident.
I kept it that way by staying in my office, moving differently through the property and making sure our paths didn’t cross. It was easy like that because Rory didn’t leave her building at all, not even for lunch.
She left this place… empty.
So when the conference room door opened, I already knew it was her by the sound of heels and her intoxicating scent.
Didn’t even have to look up at first. But when I did—
Yeah.
I missed my Bunny-rabbit.
Aurora walked in with her hair pulled back into a neat ponytail, clean and out the way. Her button-up was tucked into some fitted pants that sat right on her hips. Full work mode and she looked good in it.
I leaned back in my chair a little, watching her longer than I should’ve. Behind her came TaskRabbit Hartland and then the friend from New York.
So she really did build her own little team. Just as expected.
Aurora ain’t never been the patient type. She took her seat without even glancing my way, opened her tablet, and got ready like any other meeting. Like we ain’t been…
I looked away first.
The meeting started with the same old routine of numbers and updates.
I gave my input when I had to, kept it short and tight. But I felt her in the room—fuck, I couldn’t not feel her.
When it was her turn, she ain’t ease into nothing.
“I’ve started building out the marketing department,” she said, sliding a folder across the table for us to pass around.
Folks started paying attention for real.
“As of now, it consists of three people. Myself, Orim as marketing manager, and Hartland will be managing the shed operations tied to the experience and expenses. Any questions?”
“Aurora,” Dillon’s voice came through the screen quick. “You can’t hire your friends without clearing it with me or Marlon.”
Aurora didn’t even blink. “Yes I can. Since you and Mr. Sinclair decided it was best I be moved to marketing, I built my team as I was asked.”
She stood and continued. “Hartland has been helping me from day one with this. He knows the products inside and out but he has taken an extra step in development by training with Patch. I believe that his expertise on Sucré coupled with his knowledge of bookkeeping makes him an asset.”
She winked at him and he returned it with a blushing ‘thank you’.
Then she gestured to the friend, “Orim on the other hand knows anyone and everyone. Without her, we wouldn’t have had this level of success with our showcases.
Just letting everyone know that she does live in New York full time so most of her work will be remote, but we agreed to have her come in once or twice a month. ”
Mumbles broke out around the table.
“As far as selling the product once guests are here, Patch has agreed to serve on an as needed basis. His job on the vineyard comes first still so I’m trying not to rely too heavily on him. I know the circumstances aren’t ideal but we will work with what we got until we fully launch.”
I felt a couple heads turn, waiting to see what I was gonna say.
She kept going though.
“But don’t worry. I cover their salaries. And once the launch happens, their pay will be covered by the revenue from the shed.”
I leaned back, crossing my arms, watching her now.
She came prepared as usual.
“Dillon and I will discuss—” I started.
“I wasn’t asking.” She cut me clean. “As agreed, the wine tasting experience is my project. I handle whatever goes on with it.”
There it was. That mouth. That attitude.
I met her eyes then. “It’s on my land.”
“Are you going to charge me rent, Marlon?”
Dillon stepped in before it got messy. “Enough. Let’s get back to the discussion. Where are we with the launch party?”
She broke eye contact like it wasn’t nothing and moved right on.
“We’re on track,” she said, flipping her page.
“Vendors are confirmed, staffing is in place, and marketing rollout has already started. We’ve secured influencers and local partnerships to build anticipation leading up to the event.
Also of note, I signed on a cleaning crew for the weekdays.
This place gets dusty rather quickly and we will have a lot of foot traffic soon.
They start in a few days so please advise all staff to stay out of their way where possible. Again, I will cover their salary.”
She sounded… solid. I sat there watching her talk, answer questions and handle pushback from her father without losing her footing.
That did something to me I ain’t like.
“How are you handling all this workload anyway?” I asked.
She rolled her eyes at me. “Well, Mr. Sinclair, after you kicked me out of my office with no equipment, I went ahead and handled renovations for the space so the team could function properly.”
I frowned immediately then cleared it up. “What renovations?”
Her eyes slid to me.
“I redid the entire third building.”
A few heads turned again in whispers but she just shrugged.
“Updated equipment, new workstations, software, layout. The space wasn’t usable before. Now it is.” She tapped her screen, pulling up something to show the table. “It’s going well so far. Staff is responding to it, and a few people have already shown interest in transferring over.”
A pause, then she looked at me.
“Including Lavender.”
I straightened a little. “Why didn’t you tell me you were doing this?”
She didn’t even blink.
“Per our agreement,” she tilted her head slightly, “you said I was the head of the project and could run it as I see fit. So I didn’t think I needed your approval.”
A couple people shifted again. I leaned forward, resting my forearms on the table.
“I also said some things require board approval. You can’t just go spending company funds on renovations without addressing the board, Aurora.”
“I didn’t. I paid for everything out of pocket.”
That stopped me for half a second. I opened my mouth to respond—
“If you want to discuss it further,” she added, eyes still on me, “my door is always open. I won’t take up anymore of the board’s time. Thank you everyone.”
She held my gaze for a second longer than necessary then looked away first, back to her tablet and back to business. But everybody in that room felt it.
She just checked me in front of everyone.
She changed. That was the only thing that stayed with me after the meeting ended. The Aurora that first walked onto this property was loud, curious and reckless. Always pushing, always testing, always looking for something to react to.
But this version was calculated. Now she wasn’t pushing. She just… went around me.
The rest of the day, I couldn’t focus.
Every time I looked down at something, I saw her standing at that table telling me she paid for everything out of pocket as if it wasn’t a big deal or like asking me wasn’t worth the trouble. Did she think I’d say no if she asked? Would she even have asked?
My jaw tightened just thinking about it. Not because she was wrong but because she wasn’t. I had pushed her to this point and that’s what made it worse.
By midday, I gave up pretending I was getting anything done. I stood up, grabbed my keys, then went to her.
The third building didn’t look the same from the outside. It had life now. People moving in and out, doors actually being used. I stepped inside and paused.
Woah.
She really did something with this place. Desks were set up and equipment was in place.
Hartland spotted me first.
“Sinclair,” he greeted. I gave him a look that made him clear his throat. “Mr. Sinclair.” Better. “You finally came to see what Ms. Rodriguez has built?”
“I been busy,” I muttered, glancing around again.
He nodded, not really believing me.
“Her office is down there. You can just go in,” he added, tilting his head toward the office down the hall. “She got an open door policy now. It’s cute.”
I didn’t respond to that, I just walked past him. As I passed her friend, I was hit with a stank eye out this world. She was not a fan of mine but I swallowed it.
Rory’s door was open so I stepped inside without knocking.
Aurora sat behind her desk, phone pressed to her ear, typing something out with her free hand like she had a million things going at once. She looked up when I walked in but didn’t pause the call. She just lifted her hand slightly and pointed toward the chair across from her desk.
I sat. And waited.
She kept talking.
“Yes, that works,” she said into the phone. “No, I don’t need a full team yet. Just send me two people for now. I’ll train them myself.”
Pause.
“Mm-hmm. And make sure they actually know how to use the cleaning equipment. I don’t have time to babysit.”
Another pause.
Her tone stayed calm, but there was authority in it now.
“Perfect. Send me the details by the end of the day.”
She ended the call, set the phone down, then leaned back in her chair, finally looking at me fully.
“How can I help you, Mr. Sinclair?”
“Mr. Sinclair, huh?”
“That is your name, right?”
My eye twitched.
“I had a question,” I said, biting back my smart ass remark. “You said if I had any questions about the renovation, we could talk. So here I am.”
She nodded once.
“Okay, what’s the question?”
“How much did it cost you?”
She narrowed her eyes on me. “Just under seventy-five thousand.”
Then she gestured around the room. “But that included all this. I had a lot of personalization and custom things done. And with it being so last minute, I ended up paying rush fees.”
I looked around again then back at her.
“I want to reimburse you.”
She didn’t react. “There’s no need.”
“Yes, there is,” I said, leaning forward slightly. “It’s my company. I should reimburse you for any out-of-pocket expenses. Especially since the team looks like they love it so much.”
“I said it’s fine. You don’t need to,” she said finally. “Anything else?”
I sighed. “Yeah, I’m sorry about running out on you like that, I feel like we should talk a little bit about what to do.”
Her expression didn’t change much.