Page 32 of In the Heir (Westerly Billionaire 1)
He turned toward her slowly, and one of his eyebrows arched. “I am not condescending.”
She gave him a moment to internally review what had come out of his mouth a moment before. Then she said, “You owe me an apology.”
His jaw tightened, then relaxed. “I respect your job. I shouldn’t have used it to make my point.” She held his eyes during a standoff that lasted a few long minutes. Finally, he sighed. “I’m sorry. I can see you’re right about how I talk to Spencer, but I didn’t see it until you challenged me that first day. When I heard my own words come out of my father’s mouth, I didn’t like the way they sounded.”
She reached across and put her hand on his thigh. “I can understand that.”
His hand covered hers, and the connection turned intimate. “I don’t want to be the man you thought I was that first day.”
“Then don’t be.” She said the words with conviction. Maybe she was nothing more to him than a win over his brother, but he seemed to genuinely want to be a better person. Like her, maybe he was on a journey of self-awareness and improvement.
Or maybe that’s what I want to believe.
He chuckled. “You are not the least bit intimidated by me, are you?”
“Should I be?” Her breathing became shallow, and her body began to warm. She struggled to focus on the topic of their conversation, yet there was his nearness and the way he was looking at her.
He leaned over, brushed his lips across her cheek, and whispered, “I need someone like that in my life.”
He needs someone like me? She shuddered with pleasure on more than one level. Do I dare let myself believe that for even a moment?
As if he sensed her inner conflict, he raised his head and said, “The machine won’t let me put less than five dollars back on, but let’s finish the game.”
She nodded, still flushed and dazed from the nearness of him. The outcome of the game was the last thing on her mind.
He punched in a code that added five dollars in credit back to his machine, then brought her hand up to his mouth and kissed her knuckles. “For luck,” he said.
They both hit the “Bet” button at the same time. She won two dollars. He won $800. She pulled her hand free and framed her face in amused outrage. “That is not right.”
He turned toward her, leaned over, and gave her a brief, gentle kiss on the lips. “I’d say it is. With you, even when I lose, I win.”
See, that’s where we’re different. If I play, I could lose everything.
His words echoed through her, and the feel of his lips lingered on hers. Had they been alone, she might have launched herself into his arms.
I don’t want this to end.
But where do we go from here?
As he and Alisha strolled the deck after dinner, Brett marveled at how quickly the day had flown by. The sun was setting on the ocean horizon, and it saddened him to think they’d only have one more day together before they reached Grand Turk and he flew home.
Unless I stay.
When they stopped to lean on a railing and watch the sunset, his eyes were drawn to Alisha’s smiling face instead. He put an arm around her as if to brace her from the wind, but he didn’t try to hide the truth from himself. He enjoyed holding her. Being with her felt good. So damn good.
She rested her head on his shoulder and let out a contented sigh. He gladly would have stood there indefinitely.
A day of Ping-Pong, shuffleboard, and mai tais would normally have left him feeling restless, but it hadn’t. Even when he traveled, he worked. Between his cell phone and his computer, he was usually able to keep up with everything at the company almost as well as if he were in his office.
He hadn’t checked his e-mails all day, and he hadn’t felt tempted to. His stomach churned—either at that thought or due to the variety of foods he’d ingested at dinner. When he’d told the chef he wanted the meal to be special, he hadn’t anticipated hours of endless courses.
She glanced at Brett’s face. “You look a little green. Are you seasick?”
“No, just too full. I should have paced myself.”
She chuckled. “Everything was amazing. The chef obviously wanted to impress you. How many times did he say, ‘It is my honor, Mr. Westerly’?”
He shrugged. “I get that a lot.”
She hip-checked him. “Watch the ego, you’re already bloated enough.”
“Bloated?” He looked down at his still-flat abs. “I would offer to prove I’m not, but I’ll let my stomach settle first.”
Alisha laughed. “Charming. Is that a line you use with all the ladies?”
He thought about it and answered honestly, “No, but I don’t need to impress you.” When he saw confusion enter Alisha’s eyes, he realized how what he’d said might be taken. He hadn’t meant that he didn’t care enough to try to impress her, he meant that she was the first woman he felt comfortable enough around to just be himself. With her, he wasn’t Brett Westerly, wealthy businessman. He was just a man spending time with a woman he couldn’t get enough of. He was about to attempt to rephrase his comment when a crew member approached them.
“Mr. Westerly?”
“Yes,” he answered.
“I have a message for Miss Coventry.”
“That’s me,” Alisha said. “Is something wrong?”
“No, no,” he hastened to assure her. “Your name was drawn out of a raffle in our jewelry store. You may pick up your prize at your convenience.”
“I didn’t enter a raffle,” Alisha said, then turned to Brett. “Did you?”
He shrugged. Enter one? No. Had one created? I may be guilty of that. On and off that day he’d thought about why she’d refused the bracelet. She wanted it, but accepting it from him made her feel like she was doing something wrong. The solution had come to him out of the blue and had been easy enough to arrange via his suite’s butler. If all went the way he’d planned, she’d never know. “It’s probably a promotion to bring you back.”
“Like a coupon.” She turned to the man who had given her the news. “Is the prize thirty percent off something that costs several hundred dollars? If so, I’m not interested.”
The man deftly dodged her question by saying, “I’m sorry. I don’t work in the sales department. I was simply asked to pass the message along to you.” With that, he excused himself and walked away.
Alisha looked cautiously optimistic. “I guess it doesn’t matter if it turns out to be a coupon. The prize doesn’t matter. I won something. Do you want to come with me to see what it is?”
He agreed to. He couldn’t wait to see her expression when she found out what the prize actually was.
Chapter Nineteen
Alisha’s enthusiasm grew as she and Brett entered the ship’s jewelry store a few moments later. The woman who had shown her the bracelet earlier smiled and waved them over when she saw them.
“Miss Coventry. How exciting. We don’t have too many raffles this big, but when we do, it’s a reason to celebrate, yes?”
“I guess so,” Alisha said with caution. She glanced at Brett, but his expression remained neutral. She turned back to the salesperson and tried to silence the pessimistic thoughts in her head. Was the celebration the catch to winning the prize? She’d get something, then have to star in a cruise commercial or promotional equivalent? She might normally have thought that was a fun possibility, but all she really wanted to do was enjoy her time with Brett.
“Would you like a glass of champagne?”
Before Alisha had a chance to accept or decline it, the glass was handed to her. Some of the other customers in the store stared. “Thank you,” she said politely and took a nervous gulp. “I can’t believe I won. I didn’t even enter a raffle.”
Without missing a beat, the salesperson answered, “Then you truly are lucky.”
Alisha was about to ask if her name had been drawn from a list of all the ship’s passengers when the woman took out a piece of paper and waved for them to follow her to one
of the display cases.
The same display case that held the bracelet Brett had wanted to buy for her.
He wouldn’t have . . .
He couldn’t have . . .
No.
He was a man who played by his own rules, but arranging for her to win something she wouldn’t let him buy her? Just how much do I think this man actually likes me? Enough to spend the day with me? Yes. Enough to want to cheer me up with gifts when he knows I’m sad? Okay. Yes. But to arrange a whole raffle? Just for me? Now who has the bloated ego?
The salesperson opened the back of the display and said, “You won a five-thousand-dollar voucher that is redeemable only in this store. Of course, you can have your pick of whatever you would like, but if I remember correctly, there is something here that you liked.”
“Five thousand dollars?” Alisha’s mouth dropped open. “What do I have to do to get it?”
“Nothing besides claiming it when you return to the United States.”
“Just like that? I seriously won?”
“Yes,” the woman said with a smile.
