Page 43 of Love to Hate You

“Did I wake you?” Wes asked.

“No, I did this to myself,” Frank said. “I forgot my CPAP machine at home, and my snoring woke Blanche so I’m couch-bound for the rest of the week. What’s your excuse?”

“I got kicked out too, but for being an ass.”

Frank chuckled and pushed back in the recliner. “We’ve all been there, son. At least you’re self-aware enough at your age to admit when you’re in the wrong. It took me forty years to admit that.”

Wes wasn’t admitting he was in the wrong, he was just admitting that there was a better way to handle the situation than poke the bear. But damn she was sexy when they went toe to toe. No one, and he meant no one, ever took him on. His life was full of “yes sir”people, and it was refreshing, and infuriating, to have someone call him on his shit.

“You could go back in and apologize,” Frank suggested. And without blinking he pulled out what appeared to be a doll from his Mary Poppins bag.

“No, we rock-paper-scissored, and I lost.”

“Guess no one warned you that Summer is the row-sham-bow champ of the family. Girl has this intuitive nature about her.”

Wes didn’t have to be told twice. He had already surmised that. “Normally I’m the champ.”

Frank picked up the needles and started weaving in and out like a knitting champion. “Sometimes winning can be really lonely.”

Didn’t he know it. When it came to business, Wes put winning above everything. He didn’t understand the inner workings of relationships, but he knew how to win. So that’s what he did. Put everything on the line for the bottom line.

“In my world, winning is the only acceptable outcome.”

“I used to think that until my need to win hurt the people closest to me.”Just like you’re hurting my daughterhung unspoken in the air.

Wes ran a hand through his hair. “I’m not doing anything to your daughter. I’m just doing what needs to be done to make my dad’s business a success.”

Frank went quiet, as if formulating his response. The longer the silence stretched on, the more anxious Wes became.

Finally, he said, “I know men like your father. They’re very difficult to please.”

Wes snorted. “Difficult is an understatement.”

“Then why are you doing this?”

He was leery of responding and preferred to keep everything close to the vest. But there was something about this guy, like Summer, that made him want to open up. And here Summer was afraid that Randy was a bad influence on her sister. It was Summer who was a bad influence on Wes.

He’d wanted that kiss and he’d gotten it. Only after he’d told her damning things about himself that could be used against him.

“I’m doing it for Randy.”

“Family is a good reason.”

Wes was surprised by how affected he was by the old man’s approval. He’d stopped seeking approval from people a long time ago. But to be handed it without seeking it released a complicated knot of emotions in his gut. Wes didn’t have a lot of experience with father-son relationships, but if he had, he’d imagine this was what a good one would feel like.

“But is it the only reason?” Frank asked.

“Does it matter?”

Wes was the only one in the company who could pull off this opening, who had the skills to do it, and so he did what needed to be done. There was no way he’d admit the real reasons—not to himself or anyone.

“Reasons always matter.”

Summer was right and he didn’t know jack shit about relationships. He was all business, but that clearly wasn’t translating well into his personal connections. But Frank seemed to be able to balance both.

“You appear to be at a crossroads. I’ve been told that I’m a very good listener,” Frank said.

And for the second time that night Wes found himself saying things he shouldn’t be saying. Breaking an NDA to seek advice from a man who probably made less in a year than Wes made in a week.

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