Page 11 of Rebellious Hearts

“Thanks for the drinks,” I said when he walked me to the door.

“It’s my pleasure.”

I turned to him, and he brushed my dark hair out of my face. His brown eyes had something in them that made me hesitate. I always walked away after I did the dirty with someone, but with Ben, something about the way he looked at me made me want to stay.

What the fuck is wrong with you?

“Goodnight, Sofia,” Ben said with a gentle smile.

“Goodnight, Ben.”

I turned and walked to the elevator and pressed the button.

“My car is outside to take you wherever you need to go,” he said.

I looked over my shoulder. “You didn’t have to do that.”

He shrugged. “What kind of a gentleman lets a girl get her own cab?” He cocked a grin. “Sweet dreams.”

He closed the front door just as the elevator doors opened, and I stepped in.

God, what a night. What a man.

And after what he’d done to my body, how he’d made me feel… my dreams were going to be sweet indeed.

3

BEN

“Hey, bro,” I said when I walked into Alex’s office.

“Hey,” Alex said, looking up from where he sat behind his enormous desk.

“Ready for action,” I said, dropping myself into the seat in front of him. “What’s happening with the Georgia deal?” I rubbed my hands together.

“I’m sending you all the plans to show the investor,” Alex said. “And I had Marina put together a file for you, too, so you have a hard copy.”

“Nice,” I said and took the file, flipping through it. “I have a tablet I can use, you know.”

“Nothing wrong with good old ink and paper, though.”

“Let’s not let the old times die,” I said sarcastically. “For someone so invested in going green these days, this is very out of character.”

Alex snorted, but he knew what I meant.

His wife was an environmental activist and sales boomed because of the new eco-line of yachts Alex had suggested. Now,business was booming enough that we were opening a second factory.

“This looks good,” I said when I flipped through the plans for the factory, job creation, and fixing up parts of the town that were in a pretty shit condition. The little town of Harborview was just a short distance from Savannah, but it had gone backward over the years and now it was shrouded in poverty and the people of the town didn’t have the resources to turn it around.

Cue the Blackwood brothers and their factories that would fix everything.

“I’m ready for action. Send me in.”

“You’re in a good mood,” Alex said, leaning back in his leather chair without acknowledging the file and my reaction to it. His icy eyes studied me. He had dark stubble on his chin, and his top button was undone, his tie loosened a little.

Since he’d met his wife, Charlotte, he’d changed a lot. He didn’t have a stick up his ass anymore. He was more relaxed and he had a much more approachable demeanor. His attitude toward his staff had also changed.

She really brought out the best in him, and now that he was a dad, he seemed to look at the world differently.