They finally pulled up to his parents’ house and into the garage. She jumped out before he could get her door and stormed toward the garage entry in those crazy-high heels.
Luke jogged after her and intercepted her before she could grab the door handle and enter the house. “Mar.” He put a hand on her arm and tried to make his voice understanding and humble. “I’m sorry. Whatever I did wrong, please tell me so I can fix it. Please.”
She glared up at him, her mouth tight and her eyes shooting daggers. “You really don’t know?”
He shook his head. “Truly, Mar. I’m sorry.”
She pushed out a huffy breath. “For being a brilliant businessman, you are acting really stupid, Luke.”
He lifted his hands with his palms up, tamping down the flash of anger. “Tell me what I’ve done that’s so stupid.”
“Selena Sapphire. You just made plans to buy aperfumebusiness. That doesn’t feel wrong to you in light of who you’re dating and who your new sister-in-law is?”
Luke blinked down at her. “You’re mad because I’m buying a perfume business?” he clarified.
“Yes!”
“Because it’s your competition?”
“Finally, he gets it.” Her dark eyes were flashing daggers at him. “Cosette and I have spent our adult lives on our perfume business. She invented all the scents, and I have worked and scrimped and begged and done everything but sell myself to get our perfume and cologne lines in every box store you can imagine. Now we’re getting the respect we deserve and finally landing on the shelves and websites of some high-end stores as well. And you would just buy our competition—who, by the way, simply sailed into the business with a couple of lame scents because she’s famous—because it’s a good business deal and the numbers are right?”
Luke had the impression that if he looked at her in the right lighting, he would see steam coming out of her ears. “You’re passionate about your work. I can understand that. You’re absolutely right. I didn’t think about it being your competition.”
“Really? Is that the truth now, or have you been hiding it from me so you could chat me up for all the information about my business and then undermine me by swooping into the industry with all your money, Selena’s name, and my insider info?”
Luke’s neck got hot. “Wait a minute. In one breath you’re ticked because I didn’t realize how committed you are to your work and that you’d think of Selena as your competition, but in the other breath you’re claiming I hid this from you, that I’d lie to you?”
Mar’s brows dipped together. “Either way, you’re a complete jerk. I’m ‘committed’ to my work? I ‘think’ Selena is my competition? I built that business with Cosette with nothing but her gifted mind, my work ethic, and a small loan from her father that we repaid within a year. You buy businesses and discard them like day-old bread.” Her voice was rising to a frenzied pitch. “You don’t care about Selena’s perfume. You don’t care about me or Cosette. All you care about is more money and more accomplishments. The fact that you can’t see how hurtful this is makes me realize that I was completely wrong to fall for you.”
With that, she yanked open the door and stormed into the house.
Luke didn’t follow her. He didn’t move for several minutes as his mind spun with her accusations and her hurt. Maybe there was some truth to what she’d said. He was indeed driven by money and making himself busy and piling up businesses and accomplishments. He hadn’t felt like he’d trampled people or been unethical to be successful. He also didn’t get emotionally invested in any business, as Mar obviously was in hers. If Mar was hurt that he’d bought a competitor’s business, then this deal definitely wasn’t worth it.