“You wanted to see me?” Samson asked, poking his head into my office.

I nodded and motioned for him to come inside. This was a rare occurrence. It wasn’t often that I had to summon my brother. He almost always spent his days working right beside me, but today, he’d been busy putting together the formal offer for Tanner Bikes.

“What’s up?” Samson asked, falling into his usual chair.

My stomach turned over as I looked at his hopeful face. Ever since we talked about Tanner Bikes that night in my driveway, he’d been moving full steam ahead. I’d never seen him work so hard for something in his life.

“I talked to Alex this morning,” I said.

Samson’s eyes widened. He sat up in the chair and leaned forward, a smile already spreading across his face. He thought it was good news.

“Don’t get excited,” I said quickly. “It didn’t go well. She shot me down.”

“What?” Samson blinked. “I don’t understand. We haven’t even issued the offer yet.”

“I know.”

“Then, why did you go talk to her?”

“Because I ran into her last night,” I said. “She’s been working at The Diner down on the beach. Waitressing.”

Understanding passed through Samson’s eyes. He sighed and shook his head. The emotions of business had always hit him harder than me, but this time, I felt the exact same way he did.

“God, that sucks,” Samson said. “She’s trying so hard to keep the shop.”

“But she can’t.” I shook my head. “The bank is days away from seizing the property.”

“I know,” Samson said. “I just talked to Barry about an hour ago. They gave her until Friday.”

“Friday?” That was sooner than I realized. “Jesus. Three days is nothing.”

“What did you offer her?” Samson asked. “Why didn’t you let me go with you?”

“Because I thought we could work something out,” I said. “Alex and I, we’ve run into each other a few times lately, and I don’t know, man. I just thought she’d listen to me.”

“How much?” Samson asked.

“How much what?”

“Money,” he said. “How much money did you offer? We decided on about -”

“I didn’t,” I said. “We never even made it that far.”

“Then what was the offer?”

“I offered to buy the property and keep it a repair shop,” I said. “I told her we don’t want to renovate and sell, and we want to own it as it is.”

“Let me guess, she hated that idea even more,” Samson said.

“I don’t think so,” I said. “She thanked me for the offer, especially after I told her we’d keep her on as a manager.”

“She thanked you?” Samson’s eyebrows shot up. “That doesn’t sound like the woman who attacked us in this very office.”

“She didn’t attack us,” I said defensively. “She was just upset. Her entire livelihood is being threatened. Trust me, you’d be upset too.”

“I don’t blame her,” Samson said. “I can’t picture her being gracious, though.”

“Well, she was,” I said.

“But that didn’t stop her from saying no,” Samson said.

“No.” I leaned back in my chair. “It didn’t.”

Samson nodded and stood up. He paced slowly around my office. With every step he took, his disappointment became more obvious. I didn’t realize how hard it would be for me to see him this way.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I know how much you wanted this.”

He shrugged and kept pacing. I watched him for a few minutes and then looked away. He wasn’t the only one feeling defeated. I never wanted to own a repair shop, especially not one tucked away behind an old abandoned warehouse. What I wanted, though, was to be in Alex’s life.

“You okay?” I asked, shaking my thoughts of Alex away.

“Yeah.” Samson shrugged again. “It’ll be fine. There are a thousand other properties out there, right?”

“Exactly.” I tried to smile, but it was pointless. No amount of optimism was going to make either of us feel better about the failure.

“You think there’s a chance she might change her mind?” Samson asked.

“I don’t know.”

It seemed like an impossibility. Alex was stubborn, more stubborn than anyone I’d ever met. When she made her mind up about something, that was it. I’d seen her on and off for weeks and she never once wavered in her resolve. I couldn’t imagine she would start now.

“We can always buy it at auction,” Samson said. “That was the backup plan anyway, right?”

“Right.”

Samson seemed to take comfort in that fact. Within seconds, he’d bucked up to his usual self. His step became lighter, and his eyes regained their youthful exuberance.

“I’m gonna get back to work,” he said. “We should start preparing for auction now, so we’re a leg up when it happens.”

“Sure.”

Samson grinned and hurried through the door. I watched him go with a pit in my stomach. He was so excited at the prospect of owning Tanner Bikes, and despite Alex’s refusal, there was still a good chance he would get his wish.

But me, the idea of snaking the property at an auction felt dirty. Wrong. Like I was betraying Alex in a deeply hurtful way.

It didn’t make sense. I couldn’t count the number of properties I’d bought through an auction. There had been so many over the years that it was just business, just something we did. This was different, though. This wasn’t just a property. It was Alex’s property, the property she’d already told me I couldn’t have.

How could I go behind her back and buy it anyway? How could I wait until she’d lost it, until she was miserable and defeated, until her heart was broken, to pounce?

It felt like taking advantage, and in a way, it was. No matter how many times I told myself it was just business, that I would do this to anyone, it still felt wrong. When Samson came back with his outlined plan, I fought the urge to rip it to shreds.

* * *

I’d barely sat down at my desk the next morning when my door opened a crack. My secretary poked her head inside with a nervous smile.

“There’s someone here to see you,” she said.

“Who?” I frowned and glanced at the clock on my desk. It wasn’t even eight o’clock.

“Alex Tanner.”

What the hell? I cleared my throat and jumped to my feet. I nodded once and watched as the door opened farther, and Alex stepped inside.

She smiled at me, her cheeks flushed pink. She was wearing nicer clothes than I’d ever seen on her. Her jeans weren’t grease-stained, and they didn’t have a single hole. They were painted on her body, leading down to a pair of ballet flats that looked weirdly delicate on her feet. Her blouse was green and flowed down over her jeans effortlessly. It brought out her eyes so much that I had to look away to stop myself from staring.

“Alex,” I said. “Please, sit down.”

“Thanks.” She smiled again and sat on the edge of a chair. She glanced around the room, clearly uncomfortable.

“What are you doing here?” I asked. “I mean, sorry. I’m surprised to see you.”

“I’m a little surprised to be here.” She laughed. “I wasn’t sure I was going to come.”

“Why did you?” I asked.

“Because I’ve been thinking a lot about your offer,” she said slowly.

“Oh?” I sat down in my chair and leaned forward over my desk.

“I haven’t changed my mind,” she said quickly. “Don’t get too excited over there.”

“I’ll do my best.” I smiled.

She smiled back and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. I swallowed hard and tried to keep my mind focused on our conversation. Was it possible that a miracle had happened?

“I’m not prepared to let you buy the shop,” Alex said. “Not when I know your motivation is to help me.”

“What?” I blinked. That wasn’t at all what I’d been expecting.

“I know why you offered that deal,” Alex said. “You want to help, and while that’s nice, it’s too much. I don’t like charity, and I hate pity.”

“Alex,” I said with a soft laugh. “It’s not charity. This is a great business opportunity.”

“That may be,” Alex said. “But can you honestly tell me you would have offered this deal to anyone else?”

I looked down at my hands. The truth was, Samson was prepared to offer this exact deal weeks ago. The first time he stepped foot in that garage, he was ready to do whatever it took to buy the shop. But that wasn’t Alex’s question.

She didn’t ask what Samson would have done. She asked about me.

“No,” I said. “If it were my decision, I wouldn’t have offered to keep you on as a manager.”

“Then, why did you?” she asked.

“I wanted to help,” I admitted with a sigh.

“Exactly,” she said. “And I can’t let you do that.”

“I understand,” I said. “But that brings me back to my first question. Why are you here?”

“Because I thought of a solution,” she said. “A different deal.”

That caught my interest. It wasn’t often that someone came back with a counter deal. I’d grown accustomed to getting what I wanted in the business world.

“Go ahead,” I said.

“I want to work for you,” she said. “Here. At your company. I’ll do whatever you need done. Secretarial work. Location scouting. Any and everything short of sex.”

“Sex?” I laughed. “Really? Is that what you think of me?”

“I just had to put it out there,” she said. “So you knew that was off the table.”

“Message received.”

I tried not to laugh again. Alex’s expression was beyond serious. She stared at me with her green eyes wider than I’d ever seen them. In that moment, I let the thought of sex enter my mind for the first time. The idea of being with her, in that way.

“So?” she asked. “What do you think? Do we have a deal?”

“Well, let me make sure I understand,” I said. “You want me to give you the money for the shop, but only if I also let you work for me here?”

“Exactly,” she said. “And, I’d like the shop to stay in my name. Stay mine. Basically, you’d give me the money and I’d work it off.”

“Like a loan?” I frowned.

“Kind of, I guess.” Alex nodded.

“And you’re sure about this?” I asked. “Because, you don’t have to work for me, Alex. That’s not what I -”

“If I don’t, it’s too easy,” she said. “I need the money. We both know that, but I won’t let you dig me out of this hole without earning it first. And I can’t stand the idea of losing my stake in the shop. If you just buy it, then I lose that.”

I nodded and stood up slowly. I walked around the desk and extended my hand for her to shake. She smiled and took it.

“I’ll come by the shop tomorrow,” I said. “I know the bank only gave you until Friday.”

“Thank you.”

Alex stood up and stepped forward. Before I knew what was happening, her arms were around my waist. I froze for a split second. My body took over while my brain spun out of control. I hugged her back, leaning into her and letting the smell of her hair overwhelm me.

I don’t know how long we stood there. I lost track of the time as the feel of Alex in my arms overtook everything else. My arms tightened around her, and her hands rested gently against my back. It had been years since a woman hugged me like that.

When she finally pulled away, she tucked her hair behind her ears and looked at the floor. She was embarrassed, but I barely noticed. I fought the urge to hug her again, to pull her back into my arms and not let her go.

“Um,” she said. “Thank you again.”

“Of course.”

She smiled that same nervous smile from before, her eyes flickering between my face and the floor. I watched her leave with my head still spinning from the smell of her hair.