It took every ounce of Karly’s self-control not to slam shut her laptop after Hudson hung up on her. Of all the arrogant, overconfident, cocky jerks … Who the hell did he think he was, acting like it was a foregone conclusion he’d buy out Pop’s agency?
She needed to talk to Pop ASAP, but first she had to cool off. They never opened the agency until ten on a weekend—she’d fibbed to Hudson about that because she suspected his eight a.m. stipulation had been some kind of test—so her Saturday morning routine usually involved a leisurely jog along the beach to Serenity Cove, then a tropical smoothie from the Vegan Vault—Nev’s café—before a quick shower. Today she must’ve had an inkling the online meeting with Hudson wouldn’t go well because she’d worn her jogging crop top under a professional white silk blouse and practically popped every button of the latter in her haste to rip it off.
After sliding her smartphone into the band circling her bicep, she locked up and started walking, warming up her muscles before she pounded the pavement. The sleepy town had woken while she’d been battling Horrible Hudson: shops along Main Street were opening while parents hustled kids to get to Saturday morning sport. As she broke into a gentle jog, her calves gave the slightest protest, but she inhaled deeply, letting the familiar briny tang of the ocean calm her.
Screw Hudson Grenville and his plans to take over the agency that had been Pop’s pride and joy for as long as she could remember. She may not have known her parents, who’d taken off when she was a toddler after dumping her on Pop before dying a few months later in a car accident, but Pop had been the one constant in her topsy-turvy life and no way in hell she’d let some know-it-all hotshot from the city tear down his legacy.
She picked up the pace, her hamstrings and quads twanging, but in a good way. Her stride lengthened into an easy lope that comforted her as it had forever, since Darren Roper had broken her heart in year eleven and Summer had been in boarding school in Melbourne so she didn’t have her best friend to confide in. She’d always been close to Nevaeh too, but Nev floated through life wearing rose-coloured glasses and Karly had thought she wouldn’t understand how utterly devastated she’d been when yet another person deemed her unworthy.
It had been a wrong assumption, because Nev had been there for her over the years and when Summer returned to Acacia Haven the three of them had consolidated a friendship that had stood the test of time. A friendship she had a feeling she’d need to depend on shortly if Hudson Grenville made good on his threat and came to town.
As the pounding of her runners against the pavement lulled her into a comforting rhythm, her mind drifted back to their last face-to-face encounter, at the conference after his keynote speech on proptech. She knew property technology was all the rage and she’d been suitably impressed by his presentation. However, she’d been less than impressed to learn the guy she’d offloaded to at the bar had been the presenter she’d disparaged.
He should’ve said something at the bar. Instead, he’d let her rave on like an idiot. Then had proceeded to seek her out after his talk and ram the point home. She’d been mid-flight, heading for the entrance of the hotel, when he’d bailed her up.
‘So how did I do? Did this slick trust-fund hotshot who’s been given everything rather than having to work hard for it expound the secrets of my success enough for you?’
Embarrassed heat flushed Karly’s cheeks while she simultaneously admired his memory for being able to recite her quote back to her almost verbatim. ‘Your presentation was enlightening.’
‘Really?’ An eyebrow arced in silent challenge. ‘What was most illuminating?’
She could play nice with this guy because she admired his proptech skills but he represented everything she despised about this industry. Big-city agents thinking they knew it all and cocky enough to flaunt it. So she took the low road. ‘Hmm … let’s see. Probably the most illuminating for me is how some agents would do anything to drum up business, including present at a conference.’
His other eyebrow joined the first at her snark. ‘You think that’s what I was doing?’
‘Weren’t you?’
As his brows lowered, a groove appeared between them. ‘I like to share knowledge and give insight into why I’m successful. Maybe you’re not ready to hear it. Perhaps you’d prefer your agency to not move into the twenty-first century?’
Damn him for hitting a nerve. That’s one of the things she’d wanted to do for ages, ramp up the proptech side of things, but Pop was old-school and didn’t believe in it. Not that she’d let Mr Cocky know.
‘Acacia Haven Agency is doing just fine, thanks very much,’ she said, realising her mistake a moment too late when interest sparked in his eyes. She never should’ve mentioned the name of her agency, not when one of the things he’d waxed lyrical about in his presentation was the expansion of his conglomerate by acquiring smaller agencies around Victoria.
‘Is that right? Maybe I should check it out.’
And maybe he should take a running jump off St Kilda pier, but thankfully this time she thought before she spoke. ‘There’s nothing for you in Acacia Haven, so don’t bother.’
‘Is that a challenge?’
‘It’s a fact.’
Appalled she’d made such a massive gaffe in putting her agency on his radar, she turned away and stepped onto the escalator, grateful when he didn’t follow her, her heart sinking as his taunting chuckles followed her all the way down.
Karly’s steps slowed as she neared Serenity Cove, her heart thumping loudly in her ears but not drowning out her unwelcome thoughts.
She’d done this, put the agency in jeopardy, which meant she’d have to do everything in her power to keep it out of Hudson Grenville’s clutches.
CHAPTER
3
As Heidi clutched her date’s hand and they descended the stairs into the bowels of a trendy cocktail bar in inner-city Melbourne, she wondered if she should’ve accepted her best friend’s offer to stay in tonight and watch eighties rom coms.
She’d been thrilled when Rayne had invited her to spend the weekend in Melbourne and they’d had a ball traversing the vintage stores in Brunswick earlier that day, but the thought of spending the evening with her best friend and her boyfriend, Leo, had left her feeling like a third wheel, so she’d opened up the Happy dating app she’d been using for the last six months and arranged to meet Ayce, a twenty-eight-year-old skate park operator who’d been handsy since they first met ninety minutes ago. Not that she minded. She enjoyed dating younger men. It made her feel alive in a way she never had in her lacklustre marriage to Bert, who’d died eighteen months earlier.
But as they entered the bar with its mirrored walls, fuchsia velvet semi-circular sofas and peacock-blue lighting, and some kind of bass-thumping techno music blared from hidden speakers, she felt the twenty-two-year age difference between them acutely.
‘Drink?’ Ayce mimed and she nodded. Perhaps alcohol could perk her spirits?