Chapter 48
ALEX
Afew weeks later, I was walking too fast down Michigan Avenue with a paper bag digging into my fingers and my phone wedged between my shoulder and ear, the Chicago wind doing its level best to flatten me.
“Repeat that,” I said as I turned the corner. “Just talk slower. I could’ve sworn I just heard you say the words three hundred million in one sentence.”
Trent laughed on the other end of the line, the sound warm and relaxed. The air on the ranch tended to do that to him, but when he was here, I rarely heard it. “I already invested the twenty-five. That part you know.”
“Yep. I’ll never forget the choking sound my sister made when I told her.”
“She still brings it up,” Trent said with a laugh. “We’re still not sure whether you were trying to give her a heart attack or if the palpitations were just a coincidence, but anyway, Dad wants in too.”
I stopped short, narrowly avoiding plowing into a man with a briefcase and, evidently, a death wish. “Your dad wants in?”
“Well, look at that. You heard me just fine this time,” he said. “He’s looking at just shy of three hundred million.”
I stared down at the street and the snow starting to dust the edges of the sidewalks like powdered sugar. “You’re kidding.”
“Nope. He says that if Thayer is expanding manufacturing the way you explained it, he wants a seat at the table too. Dad wants more oil and the rigs, ahem,” Trent dropped his voice into a terrible imitation of his father’s. “Those damn things don’t make themselves.”
I snorted. “Jesus.”
“He’s already had his people start running projections,” Trent said. “Other companies are sniffing around too, but we told them to get in line. The ink is barely dry on my paperwork.”
“That’s an understatement,” I muttered, picking up my brisk pace again. “You realize you’ve just turned my wife’s company into the belle of the ball.”
“As it should be,” he said easily. “Are you okay with that?”
I didn’t even have to think about my response. “Yeah. I am.”
There was a beat of silence, and he chuckled. “You did well, Alex. With that acquisition and the woman you married.”
I swallowed past the unexpected tightness in my throat. “Don’t get sentimental on me now. It ruins your mystique.”
He laughed again. “Well, tell Jane congrats and that my dad is excited to work with her. He’s mighty impressed with everything he’s seen so far. Your girl is really shaking up the industry and she’s only been in the big chair for a few weeks. Who knew things would start happening so fast?”
“I did, but they’re also grinding to a halt for now. Fucking red tape and all,” I said. “I’ll tell her, though. But Trent?”
“Yeah?”
“Thanks for jumping without a net.”
“That’s what family does,” he said simply. “Besides, this was a no-brainer. The company is rock solid and it’s always had a good name. Its recent leadership was letting it down. That’s all. And that won’t be problem with you and Jane in charge.”
“Sure, but it was still a risk.”
“What can I say? I like living on the edge,” he joked. “We’ll talk soon, okay? Lunch is ready and Charlotte will skin me alive if I’m late again.”
I smiled. “Tell her I’m proud of her for giving you hell.”
“I love you too, bro,” he shot back, chuckling.
We ended the call just as I reached Thayer headquarters, the steel-and-glass facade so much more familiar now.
I pushed through the revolving doors, nodding at security, and immediately started scanning for her out of habit.
She wasn’t in the lobby or in the hallway outside the temporary offices she’d been using.
“She moved upstairs,” someone said helpfully as I passed, like this was the most normal thing in the world, me bringing her lunch in the middle of the week.
The elevator ride felt longer than necessary. Anticipation buzzed under my skin. When the doors finally slid open, I followed the corridor toward the corner office, noticing light pouring in through the walls of windows.
I found her standing near the glass, one hand gesturing animatedly as she spoke on the phone. Snow was falling outside, soft and steady, and she was smiling that smile that still knocked the air out of my lungs.
Jane Thayer-Westwood. CEO.
She turned when she sensed me there, her face lighting up in a way that made every dollar, every sleepless night, and every protective instinct worth it. As soon as her gaze met mine, she begged off and hung up.
“You brought food,” she said, inhaling a deep breath. “That smells good.”
“I figured you might’ve forgotten to eat again,” I said. “I’ll steal some if you’ll let me, but this is for you.”
She laughed, crossing the room to give me a quick kiss, like she couldn’t help herself but didn’t want to be caught making out with her husband on her first day in the big office. “Thank you. I missed you, so I’ll let you have some of my lunch.”
I grinned against her lips, fighting every urge to have her for lunch instead and breaking away to set the bag down on her sleek new desk. “Come sit with me.”
We unpacked lunch together, nothing fancy, just sandwiches and soup, but she acted like I’d brought gourmet cuisine. Then we sat side by side at the small table near the windows.
“I talked to Trent,” I said casually.
Her eyebrows lifted. “Oh?”
“Troy is putting in close to three hundred to expand Thayer’s manufacturing capabilities.”
Her mouth fell open. “Alex.”
“Yep?”
She laughed. Her eyes were suddenly bright with excitement. “I can’t believe this is real.”
“You’re a very hot commodity.”
She reached over and squeezed my hand. “And you’re enjoying this.”
“I am,” I admitted. “Watching you run the world? I’m a big fan.”
She glanced around the office, the view and the city unfolding beneath her, and she let out a soft sigh before her gaze skipped back to mine. “I used to dream about this office. I just never thought I’d actually be here.”
I leaned in to press a kiss to her temple. “You belong here, Jane. The reason for all the renewed interest in Thayer is you.”
Outside, the snow kept falling while my wife glowed in the light of everything she’d fought for in here, her brand new office. Meanwhile, for the first time since she and I had started, nothing was actively on fire.
There were endless contracts, sure. Lawyers were crawling out of whatever caves they lived in, arguments were had over commas and contingencies, and I’d learned more about regulatory timelines than any human being should ever have to know.
But in every way that mattered, it was quiet. There had been no emergencies in the last few weeks, no surprise emails that made my pulse spike, and no Jane showing up on my doorstep in tears.
We had a few more weeks left before the sale would be finalized. At least the feds hadn’t gotten involved with the buyout, or it would’ve been years of Jane puttering around our house with nothing to do—and she was a woman who needed something to do.
So far though, we’d eaten dinner at a reasonable hour every night and she woke up in the morning without panic already written all over her face. After everything she’d been through, she still deserved a break, though.
She was humming quietly as she ate, some absentminded tune, when the thought of her needing a break reminded me that we’d never actually gone on a honeymoon. All we’d had was that weekend in Lake Forrest, and she deserved more than that.
“Hey,” I said, glancing up after I’d swallowed a bite of the sandwich we were sharing. “Would you go on a real honeymoon with me?”
Her fingers paused with a spoonful of soup halfway to her mouth. “A real honeymoon?”
“Yeah,” I said. “An actual vacation that people take after they get married. We’re overdue.”
She slowly lowered the spoon back to her bowl and cocked her head at me. “When?”
“Soon,” I said. “Somewhere warm with no snow, no boardrooms, and no lawyers.”
“We can’t, Alex.” She chuckled. “I mean, sure. Eventually, I would love to, but soon? That doesn’t seem like a good idea.”
“Why not?” I said. “We’ve done this whole thing backwards. We got married, survived an implosion, bought a company, and now we’re just onto the domestic bliss stage without having had the perk of a newlywed vacation.”
She smiled. “We are at the domestic bliss stage. What’s wrong with that?”
“Nothing,” I agreed. “Except that I hate the cold, and domesticity will be waiting for us when we get back.”
She studied me for a moment. “You hate cold?”
“I loathe it.”
“But you’re allergic to downtime.”
“I’m learning to love it,” I said. “With you. Come on? Please. Let’s go away together.”
“Where would we even go?” she asked, still not sounding like she thought this was a serious possibility.
I thought about it for exactly half a second before my brain supplied an image of her stretched out in the sun with her hair loose, her skin warm, and a glass of champagne sweating in her hand. The idea alone had me reaching for my phone.
“I do technically own a yacht,” I said casually.
Her eyebrows shot up. “Of course, you do. Why wouldn’t you?”
I shrugged. “I bought it a few years ago, but it turns out that the whole ‘models on a boat’ thing is highly overrated. If it’s your boat, you spend way too much time dealing with vomit and the Italian naval police tend to get really grumpy.”
She blinked hard. “You’re joking.”
“I wish,” I said. “Anyway, the yacht has just been collecting dust, but we’ve got some time and the idea of you on it—”
“Alex,” she said, laughingly cutting me off before I could spiral fully into fantasy. “We can’t go now.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t know,” she said, giving me a pointed look. “Maybe because this office is my life right now and I don’t even own a swimsuit.”
“That’s a solvable problem.”
“I haven’t worn one in years.”
I shrugged. “I’ll take you shopping when we get there.”
Her mouth curved into a smile that said she definitely wasn’t taking me seriously. “You cannot just drag me to another country and make me buy swimwear.”
“I absolutely can,” I said. “I’m very persuasive.”
She shook her head, but she was smiling wider now, warmth blooming across her cheeks. “We have responsibilities.”
“We do,” I agreed. “Soon, we’ll have a lot more responsibilities, which is why we’ll leave tonight, spend a week in the sun celebrating our marriage like normal people, then we’ll come back, conquer the world, and make a truly irresponsible amount of money this year.”
She laughed outright then, pushing off the couch and climbing into my lap, her arms sliding around my neck. “You make it sound so simple.”
I wrapped my fingers around her hips. “It kind of is. I own the jet and the yacht. Both came with people licensed to operate them and I’ve got their numbers. We’ve done all we can here. The only thing we’re doing now is waiting to actually be able to start.”
“With Thayer, yes, but you run a whole different company, remember?”
“Yeah, and I’ve got more brothers and cousins than sense,” I countered immediately. “One of them can step up for a change. It’s only a week.”
Finally, after staring at me for a few more seconds, her expression softened and her eyes started sparkling with what I hoped was excitement. “Okay. One week.”
“Just a week,” I echoed.
She leaned in to kiss me like there was nowhere else she needed to be and nothing else she’d rather be doing. When she finally pulled back, she rested her forehead against mine. “You know this means you’re going shopping.”
“I’m prepared to suffer,” I said solemnly. “For you, I’ll endure all the shopping necessary.”
She laughed against my lips, and as soon as she was off my lap, I booked the jet. Finally, our lives together no longer felt like one battle plan after another, and I couldn’t wait for us to have a week where the only thing we would be planning together was our future.