Free Once and Again by Elisabeth Barrett Page B

feeding him when she could barely afford to feed herself.
    He followed her down the hall, forcing his gaze away from her ass.
    She was doing this to save her own hide. She had to be. What else would account for the generosity, the consideration she was showing him? She needed the money from this job, so she was kissing up to him. And this was something he didn’t need. Not from her or anyone else.
    “Carolyn,” he barked.
    She turned, silky hair settling around her neck, her eyes wide. “Yes, Jake?” She was a pinup with a brain, everything he’d ever wanted.
    And he couldn’t touch her.
    “I gotta go.”
    “No coffee?”
    “No.”
    He didn’t have to spell it out for her. Slowly, she nodded. “Let me know if you have any questions about the presentation, okay?”
    “Yeah, I’ll do that,” he said, even though both of them knew it was a lie. He didn’t need to ask her anything to know the event was going to go off without a hitch. All he needed to do was to get out of her way, let her do her job, and keep far, far away from her—not for her sanity, but for his own.

Chapter 7
    “Ah, it’s good to be back,” Preston North said, walking up the front steps of the Briarwood clubhouse on a fine Wednesday morning. “And it’s good to see you, too, you cheeky bastard.”
    Used to Press’s ways, Jake just raised an eyebrow and shook his friend’s hand. Preston’s hazel eyes twinkled, as they always did when he found something amusing. “What’s so funny?”
    “You. This.”
    Jake knew exactly what Press meant. Jake was wearing jeans and a black T-shirt again, whereas everyone around him—Preston included—was wearing pastel shirts. Press even sported a blazer. He fit in perfectly.
    “You’re the same as always,” Preston said with a grin. “Come on. I want to see your new place, for real this time. Not under the guise of the bidding.”
    “Happy to give you a tour after lunch.”
    “Fine with me,” Press said. “I’m starving.”
    After they’d been seated at the best table—the quietest one in the corner looking out over the meadow—and the server had taken their order, Preston turned to him. “How are things going?”
    “All right.”
    “The Board was as pissed off as you thought they’d be, hmm?”
    “Yeah. You wouldn’t believe the shit I’ve had to deal with.”
    “I can imagine.” Preston leaned back in his seat and took a sip of iced tea. “Maybe I can help.”
    “How?”
    “Let me in.”
    “The deal’s closed. You ran it for me, remember?” And there’s no way he’d give up control. Not when he’d worked so hard for it. Not when he was putting up with so much shit for it.
    “Yes, I know,” Preston said impatiently, “but you can still let me in.”
    “Why?” Jake asked, genuinely curious. “You’ve been out of the loop for a while. Why jump back in now?”
    “Working this deal got me all juiced up again. I’ve been sitting on my ass for way too long. When you called me a month ago to help you set this up, I got, I don’t know…reenergized.”
    “So, what? This would be like a game to you?”
    “No. Farthest thing from it. Just taking this,” he waved his hand around, “and transforming it into something incredible? Come on, you can’t tell me it doesn’t jazz you up.”
    “That’s why I bought it,” Jake gritted out.
    “Look, you fronted a hundred percent of your own capital, and now with costs for Portofino expanding, you have to be stretched thin.”
    Of course Press would know. When he was in the game, he’d sourced all his own deals, and he ran the numbers himself. Still, Jake wasn’t going to give Preston the information he wanted that easily. “So?”
    “So you could use our help.”
    “
Our
help?”
    “Yes.” Preston coughed into his hand. “Marcus wants in, too.”
    “Marcus Colby? That asshole cut me out of the last deal.” He and Marc had also been tight in business school and for the first few years after graduation, but since