Read Online High Stakes by Cheryl Douglas - Free Book Online Page A

was ready to take on the
world. Needless to say, I was pretty naïve back then. A piece of paper from an
Ivy League school doesn’t give you the tools you need to succeed in business.
That comes with experience, making mistakes and learning from them.”
    “I’m surprised you didn’t take over your
father’s business.” The food was delicious, and Alisa found herself quickly
digging in with more enthusiasm. “Wouldn’t that have been easier than starting
your own company from the ground up?”
    “I’m not interested in the path of least
resistance. Ever.” He smiled as his gaze drifted over her. “I love a
challenge.”
    She returned his playful smile. “Good to
know.”
    “My brother and I encouraged my mother to
sell the company when my father passed away. The company was struggling, and we
were at risk of a hostile takeover if we didn’t act quickly. Fortunately, she
was able to unload it, and it gave her the financial security to live the rest
of her life comfortably. She deserves that after what she had to endure. Not
that I wouldn’t have been happy to take care of her. I owe her… a lot.”
    Alisa knew there was a story there, but she
wasn’t sure if he felt comfortable sharing it with someone he’d just met. “If
you want to talk about it…”
    He raised his head, as though he seemed to
be considering her offer. “My father was a lying, cheating, moral-less shark
who’d have sold his own mother down the river if it benefited him. I was embarrassed
to share his last name.”
    Alisa knew her sharp intake of breath
betrayed her surprise at his hostility, but he’d caught her off-guard. “I’m
sorry.”
    He sneered. “It was ten years before people
in the business world started to take me seriously, before they realized that I
was nothing like my old man.”
    “That must have been difficult for you,
having to pay for his sins.”
    “It made me stronger, and I’m grateful for
that.” He reached for his wineglass. “People expected me to be a chip off the
old block. Take a different woman to bed every night, treat people like dirt, destroy
businesses and families without a second thought whenever it suited my
purpose.” He downed half a glass of wine before he said, “My father taught me a
hell of a lot about the man I didn’t want to be.”
    “That’s why you don’t sleep around?” It was
becoming clear to Alisa that there was so much more to him than she’d
suspected. She’d judged him because of his accomplishments, instead of
questioning how much it cost him to achieve success, just like people had done
to her.
    “Yes, that and…” He closed his eyes for a
moment before he said, “The incident with Abby’s mother. That’s when I realized
that I could never have a normal relationship. Women stopped viewing me as a
man when I made my first million. Now I’m just a walking ATM.”
    “You’re selling yourself short.” She could
already see this man had more depth than any of the other guys she’d dated, but
she knew she wouldn’t be able to alter his perceptions in just one night. “I’m
confident there’s a woman out there who’ll love you in spite of your wealth,
not because of it.”
    “You don’t know how much I want to believe
that,” he said quietly. He bowed his head, as though he was afraid of revealing
his vulnerability if he looked her in the eye. “I’m getting tired of being
alone, but to tell the truth, I’ve pretty much given up hope of ever finding
anyone.”
    Alisa knew finding your soul mate wasn’t
easy, but she’d just assumed a man like Liam would have his choice of potential
candidates. “You’ve never been with anyone who made you think… maybe she’s the
one?”
    He looked at her a long time before he
said, “If you’d asked me that yesterday, I would have said no. Now… I don’t
know.”
    She could barely breathe when he looked at
her that way, as though she was the only person in the world who mattered. She
didn’t know what