Read Online Saving Gracie by Kristen Ethridge - Free Book Online Page B

where the waves languidly pulled to a stop just inches from their toes. “I won’t lie, Gracie. This condo project has to get done. A lot rides on it. But I came to your school last night with no intention of getting anywhere near your shoes, much less walking in them.”
    “But if you still say the condo project has to get done your way, why do you care about my shoes tonight? Nothing’s changed, Jake.”
    “I don’t know, Gracie. I do know you care about your students. I know they care about you.” He stopped and faced her. “But I run a company whose board of directors will not confirm me as CEO if I can’t pull this deal off. I suppose I just want you to know it’s not personal.”
    She’d never looked squarely into his eyes before. They were a shade of green she hadn’t seen since leaving Mexico’s Yucatán coast as a child. “Maybe it’s not personal to you, but it is to me. You want to demolish my home and my business for a swimming pool. You’re trying to sink my life’s mission.”
    The salt in the air smelled like tears. Even the sky reflected how hopeless Gracie felt about the situation.
    “Surely you can move the business somewhere else, Gracie.”
    “Jake, I can’t. The economy might be tough in other places, but this is a resort town. The price of real estate hasn’t declined. I can’t afford to rent another building and an apartment on top of that. I’m a one-woman show. The connection fees and deposits alone for a new location would wipe out what little savings I have.” Admitting her precarious financial situation cost her a big chunk of pride. “You come from a wealthy family. You’ve never struggled to pay the bills.”
    He gave a short laugh. Gracie felt more pride tear away, like a bandage ripping off delicate skin. She hadn’t expected to hear him dismiss her in return for her honesty. She turned her head toward the surf. If a tear slipped out, she couldn’t let Jake see.
    “Gracie, look here.” He placed a gentle finger on her chin and pressed her to look at him straight on. The touch sent her blood rushing through her veins again.
    “I’m laughing at the irony. You and I have more in common than you realize. I told you the board of directors doesn’t want me in charge of my own family’s company, but I didn’t tell you why. My whole life, my father told anyone who would listen that I wasn’t living up to the family name. I spent the last five years in Austin as an attorney with my own firm. I misjudged a client. I put everything I had into her case. In the end, the only courtroom I saw was personal bankruptcy court, where I confirmed every ugly word my father ever used against me.”
    His hands brushed the top of her arms, reminding her of earlier in the school parking lot when he’d rejected her mentorship idea. “Gracie, I’ve missed paying so many bills, there are judgments against me. And no company wants a bankrupt dreamer as a CEO. I have to prove to the board that there’s more to me than the rumors they’ve heard.”
    Surely the roaring of the waves had distorted Jake’s words. He had to be the spoiled rich kid she’d assumed he was. She couldn’t fathom a member of the Peoples family in a situation as desperate as her own.
    The color in Jake’s eyes deepened. Simultaneously, with a single step, he closed the distance between them.
    As the wind kicked a small gust up around them, Gracie didn’t take a step back. She could feel something inside her being carried like foam rising at the top of a wave.
    One arm rose tentatively on a crest of emotion to gently rest on Jake’s shoulder. Her fingers fluttered through the soft strands of hair covering the upper part of his neck. She knew what shouldn’t happen next but, like the waves behind her, didn’t know how to stop it.
    Jake’s green eyes connected boldly with her own, looking for something. And then he moved his feet back to where they’d stood moments before. Gracie slid her arm away.
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