Page 19 of Taboo

She shook her head. “There’s no reason for us to take suites away from your business, especially while you’re operating at half capacity. Besides, we’re only here for one night.”

Panic hit him in the chest leaving him lightheaded. “You’re heading back to England already?”

No. That was unacceptable.

Her gaze took forever to connect with his, but when it did, he felt it down to his soul.

“No, my brother owns a house on Oahu. I’ll spend most of my time there while I’m on the islands.”

He nodded, acting as if it was no big deal. And it was. Maybe. There was no reason he should be having a mental breakdown because she wasn’t going to stay here on property. While he stood there trying to come up with reasons she needed to stay on Maui, everyone was leaving. Dammit. She gathered her things and he wanted to tell her to stay right where she was, but he knew better. His family could be a meddlesome bunch of idiots.

“Julienne, do you have a sec?” his cousin Sammie asked. She was in charge of the new interior design, so it made sense that she wanted to talk to Jules. As she stepped away, he curled his fingers into his fists.

“Alek, with me,” his grandfather ordered. And as if he hadn’t spent over a decade in the military, Alek hesitated. He needed to talk to Jules, but he wouldn’t be able to do that here.

“Of course,Tutu.”

He followed his grandfather out of the room and down the hall to his office. As soon as the door shut and his grandfather had taken his seat behind the desk, and Alek had taken the seat in front of the massive desk that was older than Alek’s father, his grandfather studied him. He had to fight the urge to fidget. Years ago, he would have, but the time away had matured him.

“You have a problem with Julienne Wulf?”

Other than the fact he wanted to fuck her on the conference table, and he didn’t care who saw them?

“No.”

“You seem…odd today.”

He smiled. “You don’t know me as well as you used to.”

“I know the heart of you.”

That heart softened. When Alek left to join the military, he had been so angry. At life, at circumstances. His heart broken by a woman who wanted him for his family’s wealth…he had wanted to be as far away as possible. And that had worked for well over a decade, but when things started going wrong with the family business, he knew it was time to return.

“I have no problem with Ms. Wulf. I’m just surprised that no one else does.”

“Hmm, it’s the family. They might be considered royalty, but they’re not uppity. Real down to earth. And they made sure to hire the Johnson Aloha Catering for Jensen’s wedding.”

Smart business, and that’s one thing the Wulfs were known for. But, was what they were doing here smart business? Why would they sink money into this business that had been failing when they’d came along? They could easily snap it up for their own.

“I see the questions. I had them too. Why would they come all the way over here just to help us? Right?”

He nodded.

“Well, it has something to do with us being a family business. The Wulf family believes in supporting family businesses. We aren’t the first one they’ve done this with.”

“Okay. But if they’re here to save you, what am I doing here?”

For a long moment, his grandfather said nothing. “I’m going to retire in a few years. I want you to take over.”

He blinked. “I haven’t been around for over ten years,Tutu. Michael should take over.” His brother had been distant. They had never been the best of friends, but more and more his brother either ignored his existence or was outright hostile.

“Your brother would not be bad, but the truth of the matter is he isn’t right to lead. At least not yet. And he’s okay with it.”

“Is he? He isn’t here.”

“No, he isn’t. He spends most of his time on Oahu and I’m okay with that. We work better that way for now. He comes over a couple of days a month. He is also better at closing deals for us, which sometimes requires time off the island. He makes a good second-in-command, but he is a little too involved. He wants to do everything himself. It’s best that someone like that isn’t in charge.”

He didn’t agree, but what did Alek know? He had been gone for so long, and he was pretty sure his grandfather wouldn’t do something like that without getting an agreement from his brother.

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