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‘Where are you taking me this week?’ he asked when she finally stirred as the dawn sun pierced the gap in the curtains. ‘You haven’t sent an email appointment for my calendar.’
She sighed. ‘I don’t think I’m going to take you anywhere this week.’
‘No?’ He shifted and rolled her onto her back so he could see her face. ‘You don’t want me to meet some logistics operators? Some assistants on the shop floor at the grocery store?’
She shook her head a little glumly. ‘I don’t think there’s much point.’
‘You...’ He was actually lost for words. She’d given up on trying to convince him to resuscitate Helberg? That meant he’d won. It didn’t feel like it. Because he didn’t want her to lose her fight.
Her mouth twisted. ‘You’re going to do whatever you’re going to do. What I say isn’t going to make a shred of difference.’
That was true, but it wasn’t enough. He wanted to prove to her that his plans made good business sense. He wanted her to agree, to admit he wasright—
His whole body went cold. ‘What does this mean for our deal?’
If there was nothing in this for her any more, she might end it early.
She laughed bitterly. ‘Nothing matters more than the bet.’
No, that wasn’t it. He wanted the time with her. It couldn’t be over yet. They had too much fuel still to burn through.
‘I should leave you, so you lose the bet,’ she said. ‘But it seems I’ve caught some of your selfishness. My balance is off. You’ve pointed that out to me.’ She looked right into his eyes. ‘I still want to further my education with you.’
Immense relief hit. ‘That isn’t selfish. That’s smart.’
Now her lashes lowered. ‘I don’t think I’ve been all that smart.’
‘What? How so?’
‘I’ve somehow sleepwalked into a life that I didn’t plan.’ She bowed her head. ‘Dad died so unexpectedly.’
Zane swallowed. He didn’t much like her father but he got that Skylar had adored him. ‘What happened?’
‘I was here but I went home most weekends. Worked on the bus both ways so I could hang out with him. I was saving for a new place. I wanted him to have an actual house, you know? His own little bit of land. He wanted that too. Was still working three jobs. And one day, his heart...’
‘I’m sorry, Skylar.’
‘You know what it’s like to lose your dad.’
He shook his head. ‘I never had him to begin with.’
The man hadn’t wanted to be tied down with the burden of an overactive kid. He’d left when Zane was three. His mother had struggled financially until she could get him into school.
‘I think I was lost after he died...he’d been so...’
Authoritarian?Zane bit back his judgment of the man Skylar had loved. And obeyed to the letter.
‘I didn’t go home again after he’d gone. I couldn’t. I buried my grief by being busy at work. I guess I transferred all that loyalty to Helberg...not Reed, the company. I needed to feel indispensable. But I think I also needed the structure it gave me. The familiar discipline and purpose. Rules, you know? Rules to keep you safe. Praise for performing. Doing an excellent job for everyone but myself.’ She bowed her head. ‘I’m really tragic.’
Zane didn’t know what to say. The old man had been crazy protective and she was sweet and kind and obedient—but spirited beneath. She had a lot of spirit. She’d been stuck up on that balcony like some damned Rapunzel. And Zane hadn’t been good enough to be anywhere near her.
Don’t you dare...
She was loyal to her father. That was admirable, right?
‘You’re not tragic.’ Zane sighed. ‘Maybe he was afraid of losing you. Maybe that’s why he held the reins he had on you so tightly. He’d lost his wife and he didn’t want to lose you too.’
‘He never would have lost me.’