Page 31 of Tender Offer (Chance at Love #3)

Preston

“ O ut! A fucking skid mark, you are.”

William glances at the office door where I’m pointing and doubles over in laughter. Strands of sandy blond hair tip over his brow, and he swipes them away with his palm.

Is he crying?

He’s been giving me shit since he found the bags of jumpers I bought while shopping with Madison this afternoon.

I should’ve let Jesse drive it to my house, but I was in a rush to get back to the office.

The hours I spent with Madison guarantee extra time spent behind my desk tonight, but it’s worth it.

Having her this close again is a breath I can finally release. We’re slowly falling back into old habits, and it feels fucking good. If spending time with her means stocking up on shirts I’ll never wear, so be it.

“My sister-in-law’s got you bonkers. You haven’t heard a thing I’ve said, have you?”

“Done yet?” My patience is thinner than the fifteen minutes I have between meetings today. One more joke, and I’ll toss him and his giggling ass out of my office.

William coughs to catch his breath. “I’m not used to seeing you infatuated with a woman.”

“You were still away at university when we were together,” I say.

I didn’t hide Madison, per se, but I wanted her to myself.

As the eldest Donnelley, my path was already mapped out.

Finish my degrees. Learn the business from my father.

Take over. What little freedoms I did have came with a fight, or at the expense of something that was just for me.

With Madison, I got to be Preston. I hid my legacy from her to revel in the normalcy we created in my Paris penthouse.

Away from any obligations outside of each other.

“You look good like this.” William kicks his feet up on my desk but thinks twice after I toss my stapler at him. “A sap in love,” he chuckles. “Can’t wait to meet her.”

“That makes two of us.”

My father’s voice cuts through the air like nails on a chalkboard. Stephanie scurries to close my office door behind him. She bows her head to avoid eye contact with the man who will no doubt fuck up my afternoon.

Unannounced visits are rare and never out of the kindness of my father’s heart.

“What a woman she must be to keep you so distracted.” He unbuttons his charcoal suit coat beneath an open peacoat and takes the seat across from William, whom he doesn’t acknowledge.

Typical. “Clothes shopping in the middle of the day,” he chides.

“I taught you better than to let pussy cloud your judgment.”

“My judgment is clear, as are our profits,” I counter and lean back in my chair. “The only pussy clouding my judgment is the general manager in New York. I need to fire him for incompetencies you excused for decades.”

Watching Simon squirm during a recent video conference was worth having to count the droplets of sweat beading across his forehead. Resentment hardened the leathery skin around his eyes until fear creeped in when he realized my father won’t be saving him from yet another fuckup.

The same panic cracks my father’s confidence on the other side of my desk. Victor Donnelley’s legacy and the allies he relied on to uphold it are becoming relics, left to perish by the son he tried to mold into his image.

“What you failed to teach me is a lesson you never learned,” I say.

“The love of someone you trust and cherish propels you to do better. To be better. All of this”—I motion to the office now bare of his influence—“will fade. I won’t be a shell of a man once I step away, chasing after fleeting fucks and the ghost of the good ol’ days.

My greatest accomplishment will be the life I build with my lady and our home, one I won’t avoid.

How lonely it must be to not be able to afford what money could never buy. ”

At one point, my father was my idol. But I learned the true cost of what it takes to be him. It’s a price I refuse to pay, which is why I’m holding onto Madison with my life. I lived a lifetime without her in an eternity of surface-level encounters.

My father clamps his jaw shut. His blue eyes lower with his voice.

“Very well.” He stands. “A word of advice: The love you put on a pedestal makes you weak. While you’re chasing fairy tales, we’re losing opportunities to expand.

You still answer to the board.” His gaze shifts to William for the first time since he stepped into my office. “Call your mother.”

“You alright?” I ask once my father leaves.

Where my father pushes me to be his protégé, he ignores my brother. William gave up trying to please him years ago. It’s one thing for a parent to raise you with high expectations. It’s another to act like you doesn’t exist.

“You don’t need to protect me.” His attempt at a laugh is shaky at best.

“Doesn’t mean I don’t care.”

William is many things—an ass, a goof, and a flirt—but he’s my brother. “You’re better than him.” The bass in my voice forces him to look up. “Always will be.”

The corner of his mouth tips up. It’s faint, but it’s there. “Thanks.” He stretches before hopping to his feet. “Let me get ready for my flight. See you soon.”