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It was likely that Maddie would be named her father’s successor. That meant she would go from being the boss’s daughter to being the boss. No matter how alluring he found those long legs, they weren’t worth compromising his job. He’d worked too hard to get to where he was today to risk losing it all.
“Everyone, lunch is ready,” said Barbara. The crowd around her and Kenneth thinned. “Please help yourselves. We have pulled pork, barbecued brisket, and chicken. I hope you brought your appetites. Because there’s plenty of food and I don’t want any leftovers.”
Schuyler and Carlo were the first ones to approach the buffet. Zach and Maddie continued to hang back and let the other guests and Fortunado siblings go first. No matter how many family functions or Sunday lunches like this one that he’d attended, he always tried to err on the side of politeness. He was thirty-two years old and had been in the business since he was eighteen, but at times like this, he still felt out of place. If he thought about it too hard, the fifteen-year-old boy who was on the outside looking in beckoned him farther back into the periphery, where he would feel more comfortable watching than diving into the middle of everything. He’d outgrown his insecurities, of course. He’d like to think he’d gotten as strong as he was to spite them. Because confidence had been a must to succeed in the real estate business. In fact, in this industry, confidence was everything. But being in the Fortunado home like this, he preferred to stand back and watch the family dynamics. Watch and learn. The natural family rhythm fascinated him. Especially families like this that were so different from what he was used to.
“The food doesn’t get any warmer,” said Maddie. “You better get it while it’s hot. Or at least before my cousin Dale goes through the line.”
Maddie nodded toward a tall skinny guy who was still talking to Kenneth.
“He didn’t earn the name the closer because he’s good at sales,” Maddie said. “He eats a lot.”
“The closer, huh?” Zach said. “That sounds formidable.”
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
Maddie motioned for him to join her as she approached the buffet line. He followed. She picked up two plates and offered him one. Her hand brushed his as he accepted it.
“Are you happy at Fortunado, Zach?” she asked.
The non sequitur made him do a mental double take. “Happy?” he repeated. “Of course I’m happy.”
“Good to know.” Her gaze searched his eyes. There was something in them he didn’t understand. Especially when they dipped to his lips for the briefest of seconds. She bit her bottom lip, a hint of color blossoming in her cheeks, before lifting her eyes to hold his gaze again.
There was something understatedly sexy about her and the realization caught him off guard. He could test these mixed signals she was sending—these cracks in her buttoned-up, businesslike armor that kept him guessing, making him wonder if he was reading her right. And he was usually very good at reading people. He prided himself on it.
But these flirty looks of Maddie’s sometimes morphed into stare-downs that became games of chicken to see who would look away first. The accidental brush of hands, and now asking him if he was happy at Fortunado? What was that all about?
“Why?” he asked. “If I was, say, restless, would you be willing to make it worth my while to stay?”
“And how would you propose I make it worth your while?”
She watched him, waiting for his answer as she held out the white china plate for the server to dish up a piece of chicken and a portion of brisket.
He arched a brow, and his gut clenched at the thoughts swirling around his head. He felt as if he were contemplating taking something that didn’t belong to him. Like finding a twenty-dollar bill on the sidewalk—you could stuff it in your pocket and walk away...or you could do the right thing and try to find the owner.
She must’ve read it in his expression.
“You’re full of yourself, McCarter.” He watched her walk to an empty table off to the side, rather than joining her sisters and Carlo at the one in the middle of the patio.
Zach took his plate of barbecue and followed her, claiming the seat next to her. “Full of myself? That wasn’t a very nice thing to say.”
Her eyes widened. “You’re so sensitive.”
“That’s me. I’m just a sensitive kind of guy. Isn’t that what the ladies want? A sensitive guy?”
She cut a piece of chicken off the bone. Raising the fork to her lips, she stopped short of putting the bite into her mouth, a mischievous smile tipping up the corners of her lips.
“Is that what you tell all the ladies?” Maddie asked. “That you’re a sensitive kind of guy?”
Zach flashed his best smile. “Whatever works.”
“Whatever works,” she repeated. “Is that your philosophy?”
“Nope. Sensitivity is my philosophy. How could you forget?” He made a stabbing gesture in the center of his chest. “I thought we’d finally found something in common. You know, you liking sensitive men and me being sensitive.”
She laughed and her cheeks colored. He liked the thought of rattling calm, cool, collected, perfect Madeleine Fortunado. He wanted to get under her skin. Because it was the closest he’d come to ever getting under anything of hers.
* * *
Maddie took a sip of her margarita, willing herself to calm down. She was grateful when Schuyler and Carlo moved from their original spot and joined them.
“What’s wrong?” Schuyler asked Maddie when they sat down. “What did I miss?”
Zach snared Maddie’s gaze and he raised his eyebrow, issuing a challenge for her to explain the conversation.
“Zach will explain.” She turned to him and smiled.
“Whatever works.” He winked at her and her cheeks colored again.
He cleared his throat. “I was just asking Maddie what she did for fun. You know, I’m starting to get the feeling that all she does is work. She doesn’t always work, does she?”
“Pretty much,” Schuyler said.
“There has to be something else,” he said. “I’m curious about what she likes to do for fun.”
Schuyler looked as if she wasn’t buying it. “Oh, really? I know my sister works a lot, but you two get together every Friday night at the Thirsty Ox, don’t you?”
“Of course we do,” Maddie said.
“But that’s still work-related,” Zach qualified.
“And Zach usually brings a date,” Maddie added. “Or he stops by and rushes out to meet a date.”
“I didn’t realize you noticed,” Zach said.
Carlo and Schuyler watched them banter back and forth as if they were the lunchtime entertainment, and Maddie wanted to bolt.
“Even so,” he said. “How is it that I don’t know much about you? What are your interests outside of the office? When you’re not thinking about real estate, what do you think about?”
Maddie felt herself blanch. “That’s a little personal, don’t you think?”
“No, it’s not,” Zach said. “Is it? I don’t mean to make you uncomfortable. I just want to know you better. I was hoping you would tell me one thing I didn’t know.” He held up his hands. “But if you’d rather not, it’s okay.”
Before Maddie could reply, he turned his attention to Carlo and Schuyler.
“Where will you live after you’re married?” he asked.
“I’m helping them find a house in Austin,” Maddie cut in before her sister could answer. “And I have a dog.”
“What?” Zach looked puzzled.
“You asked me to tell you one thing about myself that you didn’t know. I have a dog. So, there you go. That’s one thing.”
Zach nodded. “I didn’t know that. Thank you for sharing it with me. What kind of dog?”
Maddie shook her head. “Nope. You said one thing. Now it’s your turn. One thing. Start talking, McCarter.”
He blinked. “Fair enough. I lived in San Antonio for five years and before that I traveled around a lot.”
“I know that about you,” Maddie said. “Tell me something I don’t know.”
“Really?” He wrinkled his brow. “How do you know that?”
Maddie bit the insides of her cheeks. She had to be careful not to tip her hand. A lot of her Zach information had come from perusing his social media accounts, which were usually pretty generic and real estate–oriented, but occasionally a friend of his would post a personal morsel and Maddie would gobble it up like cake. Of course, she’d be mortified if he ever found out that she stalked him on Facebook and Instagram. But, hey, it was a free country, and his social media pages were open to the public. It wasn’t as if she’d hacked in or was doing anything devious. It was all completely aboveboard.
Sort of.
Social media was a secret crush resource. It was fair game.
Even so, she would be mortified if he found out.
“I’m sure you mentioned it before,” she said nonchalantly. “How else would I know?”
“Is that a tactic to get me to divulge two things about myself to your one?” He looked smug, as if he’d uncovered her diabolical plan.
“Okay. Whatever.” Maddie shrugged him off, wanting to quit while she was ahead. “It’s not that important.”
She immediately regretted how cold her words sounded. If she was good at flirting, she could’ve gotten some mileage out of their banter. But the truth was, flirting sort of freaked her out. She could do it up to a point, but when he got too close, she choked. When she choked, her defense mechanisms kicked in and she came across as prickly. Because it was so much easier to pretend like she didn’t care. It was just as well, she supposed. Because she shouldn’t care.
But then Zach was sitting there pretending to look wounded and her stomach flipped.
“Ouch!” he said. “I have been put in my place.”
No! That’s not what I meant. I didn’t know what else to say.
Then he smiled and those dimples winked at her. If her mind had been spinning before, she was at a total loss for words now.
She was glad when his phone rang.
He took it out of his pocket and glanced at the screen. “Sorry, I need to take this call. Excuse me, please?”
She watched him unfold his long body from his place at the table. He answered the call while he was still close enough for Maddie to hear him say, “Hey, how are you?” His voice sounded low and sexy, qualities that suggested he wasn’t talking to a client. Her heart fluttered and then sank. She’d heard him on the phone with clients before. This was definitely a girlfriend. Zach had a lot of girlfriends because he was a flirt. He had an easy appeal, especially with women. He flirted with any woman who would flirt back... Not so unlike the way he was flirting with her.
You’re not special. He flirts with everyone.
That thought was like a cold glass of water, a reality check to remind herself that she really should stop this nonsense before she embarrassed herself. She was already way out of her element carrying on like she had been.
He was good at what he did. And because he was good at what he did, Maddie needed him on her team at Fortunado Real Estate when she took over for her father.
Priorities. Do not muddy the waters. Remember what’s important.
“Speaking of house hunting,” Maddie said, looking at her sister.
Schuyler looked puzzled. “We weren’t.”
“I mentioned it a few minutes ago,” Maddie said. “I have a house to show you. It’s not even on the market yet. One of my clients gave me the heads-up. It’s a dream house so it’ll go fast. When can we go look?”
Schuyler clapped her hands. “Let’s go this week. As soon as you can come to Austin.” She turned and looked at her husband-to-be. “Carlo, can you take some time off next week?”
“Anything for you, my love.” Carlo leaned in and planted a kiss on Schuyler’s cheek.
“Okay, then,” Maddie said. “I’ll call my client and check her availability.”
She started to excuse herself from the table, but Zach was already making his way back.
On second thought, maybe the call to the client could wait until after lunch.
Zach caught her eye as he walked back to the table. His long stride was loose and comfortable. Her mind raced, searching for something witty to say after he sat down. She thought about quipping about the call being personal, maybe teasing him about showing his sensitive side. But they’d worn out that joke. Instead, she resorted to the traditional and polite.
“Is everything okay?”
“Sure,” he said. “But I do need to go.”
Maddie’s heart sank.
“But before I go, I want to thank your parents and congratulate them on your father’s big decision. But first, Ping-Pong.”
Maddie was sure she’d heard him wrong. “Did you say Ping-Pong?”
He flashed that grin and those dimples made Maddie’s toes curl in her sandals.
“It was my favorite pastime when I was nine,” he said. “I’m sure you didn’t know that.”
She laughed. Ping-Pong.
“No, I didn’t know that.”
“Do you play?”
“As a matter of fact, I was pretty darn good at it, back in the day.”
“We should play sometime,” he said.
Maddie drew in a sharp breath and nearly choked. She didn’t understand her reaction. He wasn’t asking her on a date.
“You two should totally play,” Schuyler urged. “In fact, I think we still have a Ping-Pong table somewhere around here. Mom never gets rid of anything. She just learns new techniques to masterfully store everything. But I digress. We should have a Ping-Pong date night. It would be so much fun. Totally retro. My money would be on Mads, though. She was pretty good at it. Or at least she was the most competitive out of all of us. She’s always hated to lose. She still does.”
Maddie impaled her sister with a look, to which Schuyler seemed oblivious.
Not true! Okay, maybe it’s a little true.
Even so, she wished Schuyler hadn’t said it.
“It’s a date, then,” Zach said. “The loser will buy the winner’s beer one Friday at the Thirsty Ox.” He turned and started walking away, but stopped and turned back. “And the loser has to tell the other winner five personal things.”
Chapter Two
The next morning, Maddie glanced up from her computer and saw her sister Valene standing in the doorway of her office.
“Do you have a moment?” Val asked. “I have some questions about the McKinney listing on West Pine.”
Maddie’s eyes flitted to the time at the bottom of her computer screen. When she’d gotten to her desk at 7:30 this morning, her father’s executive assistant, Rae Rowley, had phoned and asked her to clear her schedule at 11:00. Maddie had been a jumble of nerves for more than three hours this morning, doing everything she could to distract herself. Why hadn’t Val come to her sooner?
The 11:00 meeting was the meeting. The one she’d been waiting for since she’d joined the firm. Probably longer than that—since she was born.
She’d been reading an email about a career day event sponsored by the local school system. She’d volunteered to share everything she knew and loved about the real estate business with elementary schoolkids, but today she was reading the material to distract herself more so than to prepare for the annual event, which was next month.
The diversion had worked because now it was 10:55.
“I’m supposed to meet with Dad in five minutes.” She smiled a knowing smile and her younger sister’s mouth fell open as realization dawned in her eyes.
“Is this about...?” Val made circles with her hands, as if she were indicating something that was too big to put into words.
“I think so,” Maddie said. “I hope so. I guess I’ll find out in about—” She glanced at the time again. “Four minutes.”
Maddie stood and gathered her leather folio and her lucky Montblanc fountain pen. It had been a gift from her father when he’d promoted her to vice president.
“I’m sorry I can’t talk right now. Unless it’s super quick and you want to walk and talk. Or we could meet later?”
“Oh, my gosh, don’t you worry one bit.” Val reached out and gave Maddie’s arm a little squeeze. “My questions can wait. This is much more important. This...” She made the all-encompassing hand circles again. “This is our future. Fortunado Real Estate’s future. And I am thrilled that I know about your promotion before anyone else.”
Maddie shrugged. “It isn’t official just yet.”
“We all know it’s coming.” Valene pulled Maddie into a hug. “Okay, chief. Go in there and show him who’s boss.”
Val let go and grimaced, shaking her head as if trying to erase the words. “Well, you probably don’t need to show Dad you’re the boss. He already knows. Oh, you know what I mean.”
Sweet Val. She was young and a little naive, but her heart was in the right place and she had such good instincts. It would be a great morale booster for her if Maddie could find some way to reward her—maybe a token promotion—after things settled down. Maddie filed that thought away to revisit soon. Right now, she had a meeting to attend.
She and Val chatted as they walked down the office’s main hall toward the formidable double doors at the end of the passageway.
“The long and short of it is the McKinneys and I are wrangling on the listing price for their house,” Val said. “They think we should ask $200,000 more than what I’m recommending for the property.”
“Did you base the price on comps in the area?” Maddie asked.
Valene shrugged. “Really, there’s nothing quite like it in the neighborhood. That’s why I need your advice. They say their home is special—”
“Everyone thinks their home is special,” Maddie said. “And I’m sure it is, to them. But at that price, we’re edging close to $185 per square foot. It would be a record for that neighborhood.”
By that time, they’d reached their dad’s office and his assistant spoke before Val could. “Your father is expecting you, Ms. Fortunado. Please go in when you’re ready.”
“Thank you, Rae,” Maddie said and turned her attention back to Val. “I’m sure they don’t want to price themselves out of the market. I’ll stop by your desk after I’m finished and we can figure it out. But I need to go. I don’t want to be late.”
She hated to leave Valene hanging, but of all people, Val knew it wasn’t a good idea to keep their father waiting. Especially not today. Besides, this was a good exercise for Val. If she was going to succeed, and Maddie had all the confidence in the world that she would, her sister needed to learn how to steer the client toward a reasonable listing price. It took practice, but she’d get the hang of it.
“No, you certainly don’t want to keep him waiting.” Val said the words with a lilting songlike quality. “Not today. Not for this meeting. Good luck.”
Maddie breathed through a hitch of anticipation that had become almost Pavlovian since her father had allowed himself to introduce the R word into his vocabulary.
Retirement.
He’d committed to it yesterday when he’d made the big announcement. Now he was about to seal the deal by putting the rest of the plan in place.
Lately, her parents had been talking about spending more time together. They wanted to travel; her father had been promising he would cut his hours. But even after the barbecue, when he hadn’t named Maddie as his successor, she wondered if he’d really go through with it. Something felt a little off. One step at a time, she’d reminded herself last night as she’d tossed and turned while reliving the announcement.
She’d never seen her mother as serious as she’d been when she’d said the cruise around the world would sail with or without him. Barbara didn’t draw lines in the sand very often, but when she did, she didn’t play. That boat was leaving on June 4, and she would be on it with or without him.
Barbara Fortunado was possibly the only thing Kenneth loved more than Fortunado Real Estate. Sure, he loved his kids, but he’d go insane if his wife was away for four months. Still, he was an all-or-nothing man. There would be no semiretirement for him. There was no way he could stay away from the office that long without making a clean break.
Even if he had sealed the deal on his retirement yesterday, this meeting made the slim chance that he might change his mind seem less likely.
“Are you free for lunch?” Val asked. “We could talk about it then.”
Maddie glanced at her watch. It was edging on 11:00. Even if Rae hadn’t specifically mentioned lunch when she’d called about the meeting, she’d said clear your schedule.
“I’m not sure, Val. You know how Dad is. He may just want to meet, but he may want to go to lunch afterward.”
To celebrate.
Her stomach did a triple gainer at the thought.
Finally.
She would insist they get a bottle of champagne. The very best vintage in the cellar. And when he reminded her it was the middle of the day, that they had work to do, she would put her hand on his arm and tell him that he had earned this champagne. It was as much to celebrate his life-changing decision as to celebrate her promotion.
She’d pick up the tab. It would be symbolic of his passing the mantle.
“I don’t have anything scheduled this afternoon,” Val said. “Let me know when you’re free. I’d really like to get back to the McKinneys before the end of the day.”
“Of course. Of course.” Maddie smiled her most benevolent smile. “I’ll see you as soon as I’m free.”
After all, Val was Maddie’s protégé. Just as their father had trained her, it was up to her to pay it forward and teach Valene everything she knew about the Houston real estate market. Since they were so close in age, it was unlikely that Val would ever head up Fortunado. After all, the company only had room for one president. But Maddie would make sure that Val’s hard work was rewarded.
Once Val got more experience, maybe Maddie could make her a vice president? Or CFO?
Val nodded. “Sounds good. Thanks, Maddie. Good luck.” She mouthed the words and congratulations.
As Maddie turned, she smiled at Rae and walked toward her father’s office. All the hard work she’d poured into her job was about to pay off. All the long days and weekends dedicated to business rather than dating and having fun. No, scratch that. Work was fun. It was a sure thing, a solid investment. The harder she worked, the more she proved herself.
She didn’t mind chasing after a business deal. In fact, she was in her glory when she was hunting down a deal. She’d latch onto it and stay the fight until she won. But she never chased men. Men were untrustworthy. They were too unpredictable. Giving her all to business was the closest thing to a sure thing she’d ever find.
Work was a solid investment of her time. Unlike the uncertainty of the dating world. Would she like to get married and have a family? Sure. Someday. But right now, Fortunado Real Estate claimed her full attention. The more she proved herself, the more comfortable her father seemed to be about retiring and turning Fortunado Real Estate over to her.
The sound of male voices coming from her father’s office snapped her out of her reverie before she gave a staccato rap on his office door.
“Enter,” Kenneth said.
When she opened the door, she smiled askance when she saw Zach McCarter sitting in one of the two cordovan leather club chairs across from her father’s mahogany desk.
Her father and Zach stood up when they saw her.
“I’m sorry.” Maddie glanced at her watch to make sure she had the time right. It was 11:01. “I didn’t mean to interrupt. Rae said you were ready to meet with me. I can wait outside while you two finish up.”
“No,” her father said. “Come in. Come in. Zach is part of this meeting, too. Now that we’re all here we can begin.”
Maddie’s stomach dropped as the men lowered themselves into their seats. Why was Zach part of this meeting? This meeting had nothing to do with Zach.
“Sit down, Maddie.” Kenneth Fortunado gestured to the matching leather chair next to Zach.