There was something about a man with his sleeves rolled up that made my stomach do a flip-flop. It was probably why so many models wore their shirts that way. As Van finished the sleeves, I licked my dry lips. A smile bloomed on my face as our eyes met. “I talked to my father today.”
Van went to the counter and retrieved the bottle of wine we hadn’t finished last night. As he brought two glasses down from the holder over the lighted counter, he sighed. “Wade is having problems. I wasn’t sure how to tell you.”
“You weren’t sure how to tell me that my family’s entire destiny will be sold or dissolved if something doesn’t happen?”
He turned, handing me one of the glasses now containing the red wine. “It’s better you heard it from your father.”
I swirled the red liquid around the globe of the glass. “Why is that better?”
“Because you know what can turn this all around. If I were the one who told you about the plummet of Wade Pharmaceutical’s value, you’d think I planned it to get you to change your answer.”
My answer to marry Van.
I hadn’t thought of that. “Did you?”
“No, Julia. My plan was to stop Marlin Butler from selling Wade out from under you and your father. I didn’t plan on the devaluation. In hindsight, that was wrong of me. I should have seen it coming.” His green orbs came to mine. “I suppose for once I was less focused on the business futures and more on a beautiful distraction.”
“Is that what I am, Mr. Sherman, a distraction?”
He nodded. “Yes. I was distracted all damn day, thinking about the way you come, the way your body trembles just before your legs stiffen. Thinking about the sweet taste of you and the mark I left on your breast.”
I reached out and swatted his arm. “You did that on purpose?”
“I did.”
“You’re too old for things like that.”
A hearty laugh filled the kitchen. “Is there anything about sex with me that makes you think I’m too old?”
“No, but...shouldn’t you, I don’t know, think hickeys are juvenile?”
Van set his glass on the counter and placing his hands on my waist, effortlessly lifted me to the edge of the granite. Caging me in with his arms, Van leaned forward. “No. It wasn’t juvenile.” His forehead came down to mine as his words slowed and his tenor deepened. “It was primitive, primal, and animalistic. It was me leaving my mark on you and telling the whole damn world that you’re mine.”
I lifted my lips to his for a chaste kiss. “I wasn’t upset when I saw it.”
“Good. Because you are mine, Julia. I found you.”
My hands went to his wide shoulders. “My dad is worried, Van. Maybe if he knew it was you who bought the stock, if you told the world it was you, maybe that would stop some of the panic by the bank and other investors.”
His head shook. “It wouldn’t.”
“Why? You have capital. You could…I don’t know…restore Wade, make the balloon payment, or give it financial backing so that it isn’t vulnerable.”
He took a step back and lifted his glass, bringing the rim to his lips. I watched as he swallowed and the way his Adam’s apple bobbed where he’d unbuttoned his shirt. Once he was done, he began, “If the media caught wind that I was the buyer, Wade would be lucky to get pennies on the dollar in an offer from any of the bigger pharmaceutical corporations. I told you what I do.”
“You buy and sell.”
“I do. I also destroy.”
Julia
My gaze narrowed. “What do you mean, you destroy?”
“I buy companies and sell them off for parts or force them to falter.”
“I don’t understand,” I said honestly. “You would lose money.”
“Sometimes and when I do, I use it to my advantage.”