Oliver switched gears, clearly reading her discomfort. “It’s just an idea, Molly—give it some thought. You have plenty of time before it would actually happen. Buying a company isn’t easy, sometimes negotiations go bad, you never know.”
Molly nodded. “I appreciate your faith in me.”
And as she drank her mimosa and watched his strong jaw chew a piece of honeydew melon, she thought about what it might be like to head up a team and design something different. Rockets and satellites didn’t exactly invite fancy or creativity; they were built for maximum safety and storage. But yachts... She might be able to have some fun with that.
“No faith is involved,” Oliver told her. “You’re a dream employee. Reliable, brilliant and kind. The perfect type of person to head up my team.”
Molly took a deep breath, falling under his spell once again. “I’ll think about it, Oliver,” she told him. “I promise.”
“Good,” he said, a wide grin on his face as he popped a grape into his mouth. “And if there’s anything else I can do, like double your current salary, for instance, you let me know.”
She just shook her head at him. “It would serve you right if I agreed to take the job and then designed all your ships to look like rockets.”
Oliver’s shoulders bounced with laughter and then he was fully laughing, the sound rich and deep, sending shivers up her spine. “I can only imagine the kind of clientele that sort of vessel would attract.”
Molly just shook her head at him, gulping back the rest of her alcohol because she was itching to touch him. The long corded muscles of his neck were straining as he got lost in another bout of chuckling and her eyes closed. She could make it through their time together; she had to.
“We did have that charter of porn stars, if I’m not mistaken,” Molly finally said, sending him into more laughter.
“Oh my God,” Oliver said, a final laugh before he met her eyes. “They were a nightmare, weren’t they?”
Molly nodded and he continued. “But you can design whatever you want, Molly. The world would be yours. I don’t want to offer the same old thing. I want to change it up, make the yacht industry take notice, revive it. Make smaller, more affordable yachts, too, that are more energy-efficient and green. Luxury with a purpose, you know?”
She loved the idea and that he’d already put some of those ideas into play on this boat, too. “I’ll definitely think about it, Oliver.”
He nodded. “I hope so. And are you going to give me a number, too? So I at least have a chance to woo you?”
Wooing her without cash was already basically happening, so she couldn’t imagine what a bump in her salary might do.
So she shook her head. “There’s no way I’m telling you my salary.”
“I don’t want you to,” he reminded. “I want the number that’s double it.”
It was Molly’s turn to laugh at his nonsense. “Thanks for making breakfast. I would say that I’d do the honors tomorrow, but I think we both know that ends with an emergency call instead of a leisurely lounge on the deck.”
“We do, indeed.”
Oliver met her eyes again and there was heat there, carefully controlled, but she felt it anyway and recognized it because she felt the same.
“Now,” he said, folding his pale blue cloth napkin up and setting it by his plate, “are you ready to give this baby a practice run?”
“You know it.”
CHAPTER THREE
OLIVER WASN’T A therapist or anything, but he knew Molly was hiding how sad she was. And while he didn’t want to pry about her breakup, he did want to know why she got that lost look on her face sometimes when they were talking. Mostly he wanted to be a good friend and help her, but if he ever got two minutes with her loser ex, it’d be the worst two minutes of that guy’s life. Oliver didn’t have many friends he trusted and the fact that someone had broken Molly’s heart infuriated him.
They’d taken the boat up the coast from Miami to West Palm Beach and back again, staying close to shore in case something went wrong, but so far it’d been, literally, smooth sailing. But the trip had given Oliver time to think. Seeing how hard she was trying to hide her sadness, he was anxious to know if that relationship was tying her to Colorado more than her job. His new company needed her vision. This venture was the biggest risk of his life and he wanted someone by his side that he could trust completely. And he trusted Molly with basically his life. She was just that kind of person.
Their first relationship had ended sooner than he’d wanted, but even if she hadn’t gotten her job in Colorado he would have had to end it sooner or later. Not because he would have wanted to, but because his parents would have ruined her life like they’d nearly ruined his. They were still trying to if he was honest; he’d just become better at fending them off. Something he’d continue to do if they ever came sniffing around Molly, which was a concern. He was keeping her isolated on his boat for now so his parents wouldn’t know what he was up to or how Molly fit into his new plans, because if they did they’d use her. Either pay her off to not help him, or threaten her own job, her family. He didn’t put it past his family to do whatever it took to make sure he returned to the firm and married the person they’d previously approved.
His main goal had always been to protect Molly, to insulate her from his real life while being able to bask in the fantasy world they’d created together when they were younger. Those were still some of his favorite times and ever since he’d given her up, he’d been
