Billionaires, Bad Boys, and Alpha Males (105 page)

“I could buy two or three now, if I
wanted to.”

“Still?”

Red looked at the older man.
 
“Still.”

“Certainly,” Kane agreed.
 
“The billionaire mogul Red Jameson is
never at a loss for words or for funds.”
 
The wind blew Kane Wright’s light brown hair, ruffling it as he stood
and opined on the deck of his massive boat.
 
He was wearing an open collared, blue
and white striped Polo shirt, white pants, and immaculate white shoes.
 
He looked vibrant and muscular,
betraying the fact that even for a man nearing senior citizenship, he was obviously
in tremendous shape.

Red looked back to the canal, as they
drifted near a large double-decker boat with tourists on board.
 
Red waved and some of the tourists
returned his wave.
 
Many of them
were peering through binoculars.
 
“So where does this canal lead, anyway?” he asked.

“Eventually, the Baltic Sea or the
Rhine,” Kane said.
 
“We can go to
Poland if you’d like.”

Red turned and grinned at him.
 
“Maybe next time.”

Kane smiled in return.
 
“As you wish.”
 
The he turned to Nicole, fixing her with
his sharp gaze.
 
“And you?
 
Where would you like to travel today?”

She simply shrugged.
  

“Is she always so quiet?” Kane said to
Red.

“No, she’s not,” Red told him.
 
“Maybe she just doesn’t like you.”

 
Kane put a hand over his heart.
 
“Ouch.”

“So, let’s talk business,” Red said,
finally.
 
“This boat is beautiful
and so is the scenery, but we’re not here for a cruise.
 
We’re here to figure out if we can make
a deal.”

“Fine, let’s go inside, talking into this
wind will make us hoarse.”

They went back inside the boat, and into
a large living area where there were several large couches, chairs, a coffee
table and TV.
 
Everything was white,
with blue trim, even the couches.
 
Nicole
had to stifle a smile when she realized that Kane’s outfit actually matched the
interior design of his boat.

Nicole and Red took a seat on one of the
couches.
 

Kane asked if they’d care for a drink,
and Nicole declined.
 
Red and Kane
had a glass of scotch.

As Kane sat down, he handed Red his
drink, but the older man’s eyes were focused only on Nicole.

She couldn’t help but notice, once again,
the intensity and hunger there.
 
So
much like Red, she thought.
 
And
then she wondered what else he would do like Red, which made her angry with
herself.

Nicole couldn’t deny that Kane Wright was
a powerful, charismatic man.
 
But
she didn’t want to even have a passing thought about him in that way, because
she was in love with Red and it felt like a betrayal to even think such things.
 

Kane settled into his chair opposite
them.
 
“So, here we are, at last,”
he said.
 

“I’m open to hearing your offer,” Red
told him, crossing his legs and taking a small sip of scotch.

“My offer is so simple,” Kane
replied.
 
“I will purchase your
company from you, leaving you with perhaps ten percent of your stock.
 
I will own a controlling interest in
Jameson International and all its subsidiaries.
 
However, I will largely allow you to
continue to run it as you’ve been doing these past ten years.”

“Why would you do that when I’ve run it
into the ground recently?”

Kane glanced to Nicole.
 
If Red noticed, he didn’t react.
 

Suddenly Nicole got a gut feeling that
something was wrong here.
 
Why was
it that just now occurred to her that Kane’s entire reason for bringing them to
this yacht was for her benefit?
 

Nicole felt panic starting to rise in
her, and wondered if it were really possible or if this was just her ego going
totally out of control.

It was crazy enough for one billionaire
businessman to be interested in her, let alone two.
 
Still, she couldn’t shake the sense that
Kane Wright was far more interested in her than he was in Red—like the
only reason he’d taken this meeting was so that he could spend time with
Nicole.

Which was ridiculous, she told
herself.
 
And yet, she couldn’t
shake her suspicions.

“You didn’t run your business into the
ground,” Kane said to Red, oblivious to Nicole’s rising discomfort.
 
“I ran your business into the ground.”

Red smiled.
 
“I didn’t realize you were the cause of
the Euro taking a nosedive.”

“I may not have caused the Euro to drop,”
Kane said.
 
“But when it dropped, I
knew how heavily exposed your company was—I was aware that you’d invested
heavily in the EU markets.
 
I kept
my eye on your next move, and when I saw you take the risk on acquiring
Aufrührerische Kreativität for nearly a hundred million, I knew I had my
chance.”

“How kind of you to share your tactics
with me,” Red said.

“I’m willing to put all my cards on the
table,” Kane told him, glancing once more at Nicole.

“You say that a lot, but somehow I don’t
believe you,” Red replied.

“That’s unfortunate, because I am doing
my best to reassure you that my intentions are good.”
 
Kane stood up.
 
The boat was swaying a little now,
giving Nicole a strange feeling in her stomach.
 
The boat was pitching one way and then
the other, and she didn’t much like it.

 
Red leaned forward.
 
“What guarantee would I have that you’d
allow me to have full autonomy in running Jameson International?”

The older man put his hands in his pants
pockets and went to the window.
 
“Looks like there’s a storm moving in,” he said.

The boat pitched and yawed as if agreeing
with his assessment.

“Answer my question, please,” Red said.

“I never claimed I’d give you complete
autonomy.
 
Of course I’ll provide
some guidance, because I’m older and wiser and I have knowledge to pass on to
you.”

“And what if I disagree with your
advice?
 
Would you force me to make
strategic decisions that I didn’t agree with?”

“Perhaps,” Kane responded.

This time they rode a wave that felt like
a rollercoaster.
 
Nicole realized
she was getting nauseous.
 
Her mouth
was filling with saliva and she closed her eyes.

“Baby, are you okay?” Red asked.

She nodded.
 
“I’m fine.
 
I’m fine.
 
Don’t worry about me.”

“You sure?
 
What’s wrong.”

“Just…feeling a tiny bit seasick.”
 
She opened her eyes and saw that the sky
outside the windows had turned dark and was spitting rain.
 

“We won’t be able to dock again for about
an hour,” Kane said to them, “but I’ll tell my captain to head back.”

“Thank you,” Red said, as Kane left the
room.

Nicole closed her eyes again.
 
“I’m so sorry, I ruined your meeting.”

“It’s not your fault.”

“I think I’m going to be sick.”

“Come on,” Red said, grabbing her hand
and lifting her to her feet.
 
He
took her back outside to the deck, where she stood at the railing.
 
They’d passed into a larger waterway and
the sky had opened up its floodgates.
 
Thunder and lightning too.

“It came out of nowhere, didn’t it?” she
asked him.

“Yes, I never saw any storm clouds
gathering,” he said, rubbing her back.
 
“Don’t be embarrassed if you need to be sick.”

“God, I hate throwing up,” she
cried.
 
It was true.
 
Ever since she was little, Nicole had
always fought not to get sick to her stomach.
 
She hated the loss of control, the way
her stomach would clench and twist, the burning of the bile up her throat and
in her nose.

As she thought about it, everything came
up in a rush and she was sick over the side of the yacht.
 

When she finished heaving, she felt
better.
 
Her hair and clothes were
soaked.
 

Kane came outside and saw them.
 
“Come on, we can get her to a room to
rest.”

“No, I’m fine,” she said.

“You’re not fine,” Red replied.
 
“Do you have anything for her
seasickness?”

“Yes,” Kane said.
   

“I don’t need it, I swear.”
 
She let them help her back inside and
then into a small room with a double bed and one circular porthole looking out
on the water.
 
Nicole lay down,
closed her eyes, and tried to focus on not being sick again.

 
“If you want something for the nausea,”
Kane told her, “just let me know.”

“I’m okay for now,” she said, not opening
her eyes.

She felt Red’s weight pushing down on the
bed and then his hand lightly stroking the hair on her forehead.
 
He leaned down and kissed her
cheek.
 
“Are you all right by yourself?”

“Yes, go talk.
 
Please, I’ll be fine.”

He squeezed her hand and then left her in
bed, where she drifted into an uneasy sleep.

When she woke up, the ship was docking
and Red was standing over her, smiling.
 
“Better?” he said, holding out his hand.

“Yes,” she nodded, sitting up.
 
Her stomach still felt strange, as though
someone had put it in the washing machine on spin cycle.
 
But she knew they’d be off the yacht
soon enough.

Kane was on deck when they were ready to
climb off the boat.
 
He and Red
shook hands and said they were glad to have spoken.
 
Nicole sensed that things between them
had progressed in a generally good direction, but wasn’t sure how she felt
about that right now.

When the older man looked at her, his
eyes were intense and made her nervous.
 
“I’m so sorry the outing upset your stomach,” he said.
 
“But it happens to all of us one time or
another.”

“Thanks for letting me use your bed,” she
replied, instantly regretting her choice of words.

“Anytime,” he said.

***

Red had just spent the better part of ten
minutes explaining to Nicole that he thought he wanted to take Kane Wright up
on his offer.
 
And Nicole had spent
the last part of that ten minutes wondering how she could explain to him that
she no longer thought it was a good idea.

So finally, she just interrupted him
mid-sentence and said he shouldn’t do it.

“What do you mean you don’t want me to do
the deal?” Red said, as the car service drove them away from the harbor and
toward their hotel.
 

Nicole was still recovering from her bout
of seasickness, and she was certain that the car was slightly swaying as they
drove, somehow.
 
“Kane Wright gives
me the creeps,” she told him.

“Why?”

“He looks at me funny.”

“He’s a funny looking guy,” Red said.

“You know what I mean.”
 
She stared out the window, thinking that
she owed it to Red to explain the entire story.
 
But she was getting scared of what his
reaction might be.
 

“Actually I don’t know what you
mean.
 
Did he do something to you?”

Nicole didn’t answer.

He moved closer to her in the car.
 
“Nicole, look at me.”

She turned and met his gaze.
 
“He called the hotel room yesterday
while you were gone.”

“He did what?”
 
Red’s eyes flashed and she could have
sworn, if Kane Wright were there at that exact moment, Red would have torn the
man limb from limb.

“He called the room and I answered
because I thought it could be the concierge or something.
 
But it was Kane Wright, and he wanted to
talk to me about the deal.”