Page 39 of Charm

That doesn’t mean I won’t try to persuade her to give the offer more consideration. I’ll do that in person because I want to see her again as soon as possible.

“I fucked up.”Jameson slaps the back of his phone against his palm as he enters my office.

It’s been almost thirty minutes since Greer ran for the hills with Krista and Jameson chasing after her. That’s not exactly how it happened, but I was able to get a clear view of them heading toward the elevator since I stepped out of the conference room mere moments after they did.

I watched my brother sprint after the two of them.

I know he was clinging to the slim hope that he’d pocket a deal with them today to purchase Sweet Indulgence, but he wasn’t seeing any of it through the same lens I was.

Greer may not want to sell her company to us, but I don’t believe that’s what sent her bolting out of the room.

It was seeing me again.

“How so?” I motion for my brother to come into my office so he can take a seat in one of the guest chairs that face my desk.

“How so?” he parrots as he drops into the chair. “Um, Holden, were you asleep in that meeting? One of the partners in the business didn’t want to be here. I think Greer would have rather had a wisdom tooth pulled than entertain the idea of selling to us.”

I can tell he has more to say by the way his knee is bouncing up and down. I know my brother. Nervous anxiety has its grip on him.

“Krista mentioned that Greer had minor reservations about selling, but what we witnessed wasn’t minor.” He closes his eyes briefly. “That’s on me. I should have had a sit-down with her before today to get a better sense of where she was in terms of selling. She obviously wants nothing to do with us.”

I could allow this to continue until he thoroughly chews himself apart for not connecting with Greer before today, but I can’t let that happen.

Being upfront and honest with my brother is important to me. I owe him that because since we put our issues behind us, he’s only been truthful with me.

“Greer wants nothing to do with me,” I correct him. “What happened in the conference room today was about me.”

“You?” Confusion knits his brow. “How?”

“We know each other,” I start, but stop to rethink where I want to go with this. “Or she knew me as Joe Campbell before she saw me today.”

“You fucked her?” he asks, jumping to the logical conclusion since he knows the alias I’ve used to hook up with women in the past.

I see no reason not to own up to that, so I nod. “We spent time together in East Hampton.”

“Wait!” He darts to his feet. “Are we talking a long-ago hook up or is this a more recent thing?”

“It’s a six week ago thing.”

Scrubbing his hands over his face, his head falls back. “Jesus, Holden. She’s the woman who stayed at Mrs. Frye’s place the weekend you went there to secure the deal with Tim. It’s her, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” I acknowledge with a brisk nod. “I met Greer then.”

He drops back into the chair. “No wonder she wanted nothing to do with us. You gave her a fake name, took her to bed, and then dropped out of sight.”

I tap a finger on the top of my glass desk. “It wasn’t quite like that, James. She didn’t give me her real name either, and she made it very clear that what happened in East Hampton that weekend stayed there.”

“Talk about a coincidence.” He takes a deep breath. “So, where does that leave us now? Krista is desperate to sell, and you fucked Greer over, so…”

“I didn’t fuck her over,” I spit out each word slowly.

“I want that company, Holden,” he repeats what he’s been telling me for weeks now. “They offer something unique. We need Sweet Indulgence to be under the Carden umbrella.”

A mental image of Greer with the umbrella firmly in her grasp when she caught me in the pool pops into my mind. I can’t help but chuckle.

Jameson’s eyes narrow. “What the hell is so funny?”

I ignore the question and get back on the track I know he wants me to focus on. “I’ll speak to Greer.”