Seduction on the Sand (The Billionaires of Barefoot Bay #2)(25)
Author: Roxanne St. Claire

He shook his head. “I just met her,” he said, and even that level of denial felt wrong. “I mean, she’s special, but…”

“Trust me,” Zeke said. “When it happens, it happens fast.”

“Are you and Mandy, uh…” Elliott tapped his left ring finger, unable to even say the word.

Zeke finally smiled. “Shopping for the rock this afternoon, buddy.”

Nate let his forehead thud onto upturned palms. “What the hell is wrong with you two?”

“What’s wrong with finding someone to spend your life with?” Zeke demanded.

“What’s right with it?” Nate fired back, then he turned his disgust on Elliott. “She’s a goatherd, for God’s sake.”

“Hey, Mandy was a maid,” Zeke said, clearly coming over to Elliott’s side in the conversation. “Look, why don’t we look into other options before the deal that Becker set up goes through? Maybe we can do something with that other land.”

He could tell Nate wanted to explode as he shook his head and no words came out. “Wait, wait,” he sputtered. “Did you tell him about Will Palmer?”

“Who’s that?” Elliott asked.

“He’s a local,” Zeke answered. “He’s really involved with this resort, and his wife runs the spa. They’re friends of Mandy’s.”

“What about him?” Elliott asked.

“Will Palmer.” Nate dragged out the name like Elliott was an idiot for not recognizing it. “Former minor-league player, well connected, coaches, recruits, and absolutely loves the idea of baseball on Mimosa Key. He’s already got some major names lined up to come to the announcement when we go public. He’s going to bring in players from Miami and Tampa for an exhibition game right here at this resort, against the Niners, maybe in the next few weeks.”

The announcement? An exhibition game with pros? In the next few weeks?

He could practically feel Frankie slipping through his fingertips.

“Whoa, whoa.” He made a slow-down gesture with both hands. “Nate, we don’t have that land deal yet. We can’t announce anything.”

Nate thunked his elbows on the table and stared at Elliott. “You want me in on the announcement?”

“Of course.” They all knew that Nate added the glitz factor and that his family’s name meant huge coverage for them.

“Well, my time is limited.”

Elliott almost choked. His time? Time was all this trust-fund billionaire bad boy had. “Might have to reschedule a trip on your party barge to Greece this spring?” Elliott shot back.

Nate’s jaw tensed as he gritted his teeth. “You’re a riot, Elliott. We sent you down here to do a job. Do it or we can find someone else to take your place.”

For a long, crazy minute, he thought about the offer. Really thought about Frankie and her farm and the goats and—

Zeke reached in to referee the argument. “We don’t want to do this without Becker,” he said to Nate. Then he turned to Elliott. “But I also don’t want you to hurt someone you care about.”

Elliott looked from one to the other. “She doesn’t want to sell,” he finally said. “The land has sentimental value to her.”

“Sentimental value?” Nate’s voice rose in shock. “Surely you offered enough money to crush any sentiment.”

“It’s family land, Nate. You understand family.”

“I understand that I’d like to shoot mine.” He curled his lip. “Did I say that?”

“Yeah.” Elliott tilted his head toward the next table and lowered his voice. “And you better shut up or that’ll be online in about three minutes.”

“Listen to me.” Nate pointed at Zeke, his voice low and soft. “You’re thinking with your heart. And you”—he shifted the finger to Elliott—“are thinking with your dick. I guess that leaves me to use a brain.”

“I am not,” Elliott denied. If he had been thinking with his dick, he’d have had her in bed already instead of waiting to clean up this mess that he made first.

“Your tongue is hanging out to the floor,” Zeke agreed.

Nate just shook his head, disgusted, as an older woman slowly approached their table, tentatively holding out a pen and paper. “Excuse me, but are you Nathaniel Ivory?”

He pushed his sunglasses back on, as if that could hide the truth.

“Could you…” She offered the pen to him.

Nate scratched his signature, but gruffly refused a picture. When she walked away, he threw back the rest of his champagne and pushed up. “Now it’ll be all over Twitter that I’m an asshole who won’t let my picture be taken. I’m out of here. If you need me, I’ll be on my forty-million-dollar yacht. Or, as some call it”—he gave a lazy grin, softening his famous Ivory family jawline—“the party barge.”

He walked away, sunglasses in place, body language set to bother me and you die.

“What’s the bug up his ass?” Elliott asked Zeke when they were alone.

Zeke shrugged. “He’s been acting strange. Lying even lower than usual. Maybe another Ivory family scandal on the horizon?”

“What day isn’t there an Ivory family scandal on the horizon?”

Zeke looked around, frowning as he zeroed in on someone on the other side of the restaurant. “Hey, isn’t that your goat girl?”

Elliott turned to see two women chatting under an awning, his gaze drawn to the familiar one. The beautiful one. The one he wanted more than his next freaking breath.  How had that even happened to him? “She said she had a meeting here with—”

“Jocelyn Palmer,” Zeke supplied.

“How’d you know that?”

“She’s the one we were just talking about. Will Palmer’s wife.” Zeke frowned and gave Elliott’s arm a warning tap. “Will knows about the baseball stadium, so it’s a safe bet his wife does, too. And Will knew where we were going to put it, so…”

“So, shit.” Elliott pushed up. “I should find an excuse to get those two apart.”

Zeke pulled out his phone. “Good, you’re leaving. I’ll call Mandy.” His voice was totally without sarcasm, just…happiness.

“It’s good, isn’t it?” Elliott asked.

Zeke beamed. “Like nothing I’ve ever known.”

That hollow feeling that had gotten so familiar in the last few days deepened in his chest. “Do me a favor and look into that other land. I’ll cover the clearing costs, no matter how astronomical they are. I’m getting out of the first deal I made.”