Page 40 of Stolen Kisses

He was a cantankerous old bastard, but he was an asset.

I shook my head. “You need to relax from time to time, Cyrus.”

“I do. I play golf every weekend with my buddies from Farley & Gottlieb.”

Another thing about him was that he liked to name-drop. Farley & Gottlieb was an established law firm. He’d tried to get us to work with them in the beginning, but I didn’t like them. They were too stuffy for my taste.

“Good for you.” Golf sounded like a dead bore to me.

After leaving the building, I headed straight home. Once I arrived in the loft, I got a message from the real estate agent in charge of putting in an offer for my parents’ store. She’d been in contact with my assistant until now.

Alicia: I still don’t have an answer.

For fuck’s sake!My patience was running out.

I called the owner—Elijah Casson—directly.

“Mr. Casson, this is Chase Sterling,” I said when he picked up.

He sighed. “I already told the real estate agent that I don’t have an answer.”

"Consider my offer before you say no," I said, pacing up and down my loft.

"Look, Mr. Sterling, I already told your agentandyour assistant that we’ve got a few more offers. I’m considering everything. You need to be patient.”

"My offer is much higher than the asking price," I replied, even though I knew it was a mistake. I was acting emotionally. That was a no-go in business, and this was a business transaction.

"Well, then maybe you'll find out that not everything is about money. You have a good evening."

I knew when to recognize defeat. "And you too.”

He didn't say anything else, simply disconnected the call.

Fucking hell.This was important to me, and it was a window of opportunity I didn’t want to miss, because who knew if I’d get another chance.

I debated calling back, then decided against it. If I pushed too hard, I’d lose him completely. Despite the fact that he'd brushed me off, I could feel in the tone of his voice that he was still considering my offer. There was a lot of money on the table, and it would be life-changing to Elijah.

I couldn't believe I was obsessing over this so much. Usually, I was good at pushing topics to the back of my head, but ever since this listing had come back on the market, my mind was on it half the time.

I’d grown up in my parents' store. It was home to me, almost as much as the house we grew up in. I hated that they had to sell it, and so did they.

I realized there was only one person who would probably understand my point of view: Hannah. The passion she shared for her grandmother's inn rivaled mine for my parents' store.

I glanced out the window. My loft was one block away from the beach, and I had an unobstructed view of the water. The sight of the waves normally calmed me, but not tonight.

Instead of hopping on the treadmill like I did when I needed to clear my head, I poured myself a scotch on the rocks and called Hannah. She answered immediately.

"Chase?" she asked.

"Good evening."

"Hi."

"What are you doing?" I asked her.

"I'm reviewing the contract again. I already went over it with Magda, but it never hurts to read the fine print."

"We'd never take advantage of you," I said.

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