“Oh, I don’t. So don’t worry about it.” She shook her head. She had to escape this line of conversation. She’d learned enough frustrating details for one day. Aiden was everything she’d first thought—the guy who does not commit. “Can we please talk about my business? I need you to hold up your end of the deal. I’m at the point where Kama could either take off or crash and burn.”
“Kama? Is that what it’s called?”
“Yes. It’s the Hindu god of desire. Our fabrics all come from India, so I thought it was fitting.”
He nodded and jutted out his lower lip. “I like it. Simple. Elegant. Plus, it makes me think of the Kama Sutra and you know what that makes me think of.”
You walked right into that one. “Will you please take this seriously? The next six months are crucial and I don’t know what I’m supposed to do. I’m terrified it will fail.” That was an understatement. She couldn’t imagine a future without Kama. She’d be left to start all over again, doing what, she had no idea.
“It really is important to you, isn’t it? Your little business of making nightgowns.”
“Don’t be so dismissive. It’s my livelihood. My career.”
“And like I said last night, if it means that much to you you have to own it. You were hiding it from me last night. That’s troublesome.”
I was hiding me from you last night. Not the same thing.
“And whatever you say, you still have nannying,” he continued. “There will always be children to care for and you’re so good at it. Not everyone is an entrepreneur.”
“I don’t know how many times I need to tell you. I am not a nanny.”
“Now who’s living a contradictory life? I watch you with Oliver and you clearly adore him. So you love kids, but refuse to earn a living that way?”
“I want the challenge of making this work.”
“That’s it?”
“That’s it.” That’s all I’m going to tell you.
“Okay, then. Walk me through the whole thing.”
“Let me show you.” She pulled up some photos on her phone. She’d taken them to show the bank when things started to take off and she’d tried to get a loan for expansion. “Flip through these. You’ll see some of what I’m up against.”
He swiped at the screen. “It’s tiny. How can you get anything done in this space?”
“Honestly? I have no idea, other than I have some incredible employees who are willing to put up with a lot. I have six people doing assembly. If I were going to keep up with demand, I could easily have two dozen, but I’d have nowhere to put them. Moving means a huge lease, more equipment, health insurance and finding qualified people. It’s a lot. I barely sleep as it is.”
“So outsource. Let someone else do your manufacturing.”
“I can’t fire these people. They’ve been with me since the beginning, and they all do exceptional work. They have families to support.”
“You’re destroying your margins.”
“Not if I’m in with the right retailers and can demand a better price point. Plus, our margins will improve once we’ve streamlined our manufacturing.”
“Okay, then. Why don’t I become an investor? I’ll write a check and we can be done.”
Here was Aiden’s propensity for clean and simple, in sharp focus. It wasn’t merely his attitude toward romance—he did this with everything that could get messy. No matter what, he was not going to become her investor. She needed to see out this ten days and get out of Dodge before his eyes made her do something she would regret.
“I need guidance. I need someone to give me advice and help me make the right connections, not throw money at me and hope I’ll go away. That’s your role in our arrangement and now you’re trying to get out of it.” She didn’t want to speak to him in this manner, but she hated being blown off. It felt too much like Jason discounting everything about her—her dreams, her desires, and most important, the feelings she’d thought were between them, the ones he’d said were a figment of her overactive imagination.
Aiden handed her back her phone, appraising her. It was as if she could see the gears turning in his head, and she was more than a little nervous to hear what he was going to say. “You’re right. I said I’d help you and I will. Not having looked at your financials, I’m thinking we need to find you an exclusive partnership. Become a subsidiary of a larger fashion corporation to scale your production, help with facility and warehousing issues, and most importantly, take over distribution so you can focus on what you’re good at.”