Page 54 of His Sassy Omega
“Ah.” That was all he said, nothing more. His voice had almost sounded bored. What did that mean?
“It’s seven figures,” I added.
“Okay.”
I don’t know what I was expecting, but his one-word responses werenotit.
“So, seven figures for you also?” I finally said.
His thumb came up and he pointed it skyward.
“Eight?” I squeaked.
The thumb moved up again. Is this how most people had “the money” talk in relationships? Using hand signals?
“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” I muttered, and I felt the vibration of his laugh in his limbs that I was laying across.
He reached down and I felt a soft kiss against my temple. It was soft and brief, and justeverything. Butterfly kisses that I’d never imagined I’d want, but made my insides go as gooey as a cookie straight from the oven.
“Billions.” Another one-word answer.
Wait, what? I shot up again, peering at him in the dark, the only light coming from the glow of the TV screen.
“B. Billions. Sinclair billions,” he corrected me, still sounding bored. “Ten figures.”
I gulped air loudly. Well…alrighty then.
“Wow.” Now I was reduced to one-word answers. I’d know the Sinclair’s were rich, there was no other word for it. Everyone in town knew it. I hadn’t known they werethatrich.
He pushed me down once more, and again I didn’t resist, just went where he wanted me. “That’s all of us as a whole. The Sinclairs, I mean,” he clarified. “My brothers and I are each wealthy in our own rights, individually. We also had trust funds, investments, jobs, so we’re not all worth the same amount separately.”
“What are your plans for the money?” he asked as the end credits rolled on the screen.
“Expand the business,” I told him. “Hire more staff. Get a delivery van and driver, and build our delivery service. Invest some of it, so it’s making me more money, hopefully.”
I wasn’t a novice when it came to money and investing, but I did tend to lean towards the conservative side when it came to investing. It drove my risk-taking Dad nuts. I just hated seeing a negative sign on my quarterly statements. My Dad always said you need to go aggressive on some things, and the positives will make up the negatives in the long run. Be patient. My impatient ass didn’t like to wait for the long run. I wanted positive across the board.
“How do you make deliveries now?” Lachlan sounded interested, and not just making small talk.
“Josh has an old van, and we use it. I have magnetic door signs we toss on it, with our logo. But this thing looks like Scooby and the Gang should be rolling out of it, a cloud of questionable smoke in their wake.”
Lachlan snickered. “Sounds like you have a good plan for what you need to do. I’m glad to hear you plan to hire more staff.”
“I’m such a control freak in my kitchen,” I told him honestly. It was going to kill me to hire more bakers and have them underfoot when I was in the kitchen. “It’s going to make me an absolute nutball.”
Josh was different somehow. He’d been my first hire and we’d become close friends, even though we were complete opposites. I stressed and he stayed calm. We balanced each other out somehow. He hadn’t been hired as a baker, but he’d watched and asked questions and started training. He was good and having another pair of hands had been a major help. Especially with the business exploding as it had.
But it wasn’t enough. I knew it wasn’t enough. We were going to be working ourselves into the ground this entire month, and we couldn’t keep that pace up for long. If everything went right, we’d have another baker, maybe two, this time next year.
“You don’t say? I hadn’t noticed,” Lachlan said, with a straight face.
I swatted at his thigh playfully. “I can’t help it! It’s my baby. My recipes. I need them to be done correctly. People expect a certain quality and taste from The Sweet Spot, and not everybody can replicate it.”
“I’m not arguing with you. I agree with you. But you can’t keep up this pace, even if it’s slower during the downtimes. You need a life. You need sleep. Delegate. Teach any new person, until they have your recipes perfected. You may not find the right person at first, so be prepared to go through several, before you find the right fit.”
“Ugh, that’s what I’m afraid of. I’m going to go through a bunch of people to find one good one.”
“That’s business.”
