Page 108 of Beautiful Disaster

“Dammit, Jinx. I didn’t ask you to save me.”

“You didn’t have to. I refuse to be a part of your fucking crossroads or whatever. I’m not your parents, and I’m not your Jude.”

I scoff at him. While I’m angry, I love him even more, if that were possible. “My crossroads are mine to bear.”

“Not when they involve me, they’re not.”

“It’s my turn to give you a bit of hard truth, Jinx Tyler Grigore.” His bottom lip trembles, and he tries to look away, but I won’t let him. “After all our long talks and being honest with each other, I thought we’d never be here right now. But I can clearly see you still need to work on your communication skills. Instead of coming to me and talking it out so we can fix things together, you ran and made decisions for me without asking first. Wrong!”

“But—”

“I’m not fucking done.” I sigh and breathe to calm my heart and to think clearly. The longer I’m here, facing my stubborn pet, the angrier I’m getting. “Precious… I know you did this out of love. I’m very mindful of that. But your love is misplaced. You shouldn’t have to sacrifice your happiness for someone else, even me. Besides, I’ve already chosen you over my business.”

He growls and fights me again, so I let him go to pace and rant. “That’s exactly what I was afraid of! I don’t deserve it! Fuck! Don’t you get it? Why would I let you give up everything just for me?”

“There’s a difference between losing everything and coming up with a plan.”

He stops his pacing and wipes his face. “What do you mean?”

“When I talk about sacrifices, I’m talking about making them together, as a couple. This plan will involve both of us giving up something that we love to start something new.” He waves his hand impatiently at me—damn brat. I can’t wait to get him in bed and punish him. “Sit down, and I’ll tell you my idea.”

Jinx sits as far away from me on the leather sofa as he can. He’s really fighting me. I knew he was stubborn, but this is my first glimpse into how much.

“I’ve had a corporation reach out to me. They wanted to make an offer to buy my restaurants and franchise them across the country.”

“Eew…”

I chuckle because I said the same thing when they first called. But their email had a doc and their offer. I just can’t ignore it any longer. “At first, I agreed with that sentiment. There’s no way I’d turn my restaurants into a franchise, but now I’m rethinking that. Their offer is very generous.”

“God, but why? They’re going to ruin it.”

“Not necessarily. I can offer stipulations, especially with protecting staff, which is important to me.”

“No way. Forget it. Won’t let you.”

“It’s my business and my decision. Not yours. But I’d appreciate it if you’d stop huffing and puffing at me for five minutes so I can finish telling you my plan.”

“Fine, but I’m not changing my mind.”

I think he will, but if I tell him that, it will only add fuel to the current inferno named Jinx.

“You told everyone online that we’re not together. While I appreciate what you’ve done, and your message has allowed my chef and manager to return to work, we now have to live in secret. I won’t stand for that. I want a long life with you, Precious, not hiding and sneaking around.” He starts to interrupt, but I raise my hand. I know he’s about to tell me he’ll accept that, but I won’t. “It will destroy our relationship down the road. Trust me on this. It’s not sustainable to live like that. So, I’m going to sell my restaurants, and with the money, I’d like us to buy that property we visited in Siena and live there.”

His eyes explode, and he gapes at me. “What?”

“That’s what I mean about sacrifice. If you want to be with me, I’m asking you to give up your home and family. It’s a huge ask. I know. I’ll be giving up my home as well. That doesn’t mean we’ll never see them. We’ll fly them out as often as we can, and we’ll visit all the time. I’ll transport Waffle and Black Beauty to Italy, so you’ll always have your girl to ride. Hell, you can bring Orange Crush, too.”

I scoot next to him and take his hand, playing with his fingers. “It’s a massive change for us. And living in Italy would mean we couldn’t get married there, as you know, at least on paper. But I can easily become a citizen there because my parents were born in Naples. Then we can get you citizenship through residency. And you might have to rethink your career once you graduate, but I also have some thoughts on that, which we can talk about later.”

Jinx’s hand is clammy, and he doesn’t look at me, processing. “It’s huge, for sure,” he says quietly. Too quietly. I’m bracing for his rejection.

I lift his hand and kiss the top of it. “Think about it. Take your time, and—”

“I can really bring Waffle?”

“Yes.”

“What about the filly coming to you?”