Turn Over:A Secret Baby Sports Romance(72)

"She must have been. Look at you."

He chuckled. "No, she was much better than me. She had a soft spot in her heart. I don't think I came built with one of those."

I turned, planting my feet on the floor. "Are you kidding? You do nice things for people all the time."

"Purely by accident."

"There is a story on your counter about your good deeds. And what about  last night? Were the wine, bubble bath, backrub all an accident?"

"Not the same thing. You're in an entirely different category, Syd." His eyes drifted across the railing.

I was afraid to ask, but the question was still there. I wanted to know  how he felt. I couldn't help it. I prodded. "And what category is that?"

"I think you know." He finished off the beer.

My heart sank. He wasn't going to offer more than he had. I should be satisfied with where things were.

"Should we get dinner?" I suggested, hearing my stomach growl. Wine wasn't enough to sustain me for long.

"Head over to Pete's? We can watch the sunset from there."

I stood to join him. "Take me now. I'm so hungry I could eat that  notepad. I think with everything that happened today I forgot to eat  lunch."

"You got it, girl. Come on."

His hand fit over mine warm and firm. It was hard to believe twelve  hours ago I was imagining what it would be like to pack and leave South  Padre. Leave Mason. Leave what we had started. I looked at him as we  crossed the street to Pete's. I'd rather lie down on this beach road and  be run over, than let go of the hold he had on me. God, I had fallen so  far and fast for him.

"Everything ok?" he asked, holding the door for me.

"Mmhmm." And it was. As long as he didn't let go.





21





Mason





I took a seat near the window. Today was overcast. The ocean looked gloomy as if a storm was about to descend on the island.         

     



 

He was late again. I waved off the waitress when she appeared for the third time.

"Mason, hope you didn't wait long." Carlos heaved himself into a chair.

"Not too long. Slightly curious about your phone call, Carlos."

We ordered from the menus. Carlos stirred a packet of sugar into his  tea. His mustache twitched on the ends. I had a pretty good idea that he  was going to ask for campaign funds. Only, I had thought that request  would come from his staff.

"Mason, I've got some bad news."

"What's that?"

"We can't approve the new campsite permits." He sat back to adjust his belt.

I smiled. "What are you talking about? It's ten trailer hookups. I'm not building a nuclear site."

His spoon rattled against the bottom of the glass. The sugar had formed  clumps under the ice. "I had to negotiate with Janet Rodriguez."

"What does she have to do with the sound site?"

"She has found an endangered insect at Beach Combers Cove."

I stared at him. "An insect? You're fucking kidding me right now,  Carlos. I have a contractor ready to plow it under next week. I have ten  residents moving to the new campsite in a few days. Millions are on the  line. Including at least eighty-five jobs for the first phase. You  really want to pit me against an insect? I had my team look over  everything. We did our due diligence. There was never an insect issue."

He shook his head. "I know you're mad. That's why I talked to Janet first." He held up his hands. "I negotiated a deal."

"You negotiated a deal. Please tell me what in the hell you came up  with." I could feel the vein on the side of my neck starting to throb. I  didn't like it when someone else negotiated for me.

"I told her you would be willing to convert the sound side property into  a natural protected habitat where we could relocate the endangered  insects in exchange for the resort permits."

I clenched my fists and kept my voice low. "That doesn't work for Lachlan Corporation."

"It's going to have to, Mason. If Janet goes public with the endangered  insects you'll have environmentalists showing up faster than you drive.  She'll shut the resort down. You'll still have the sound property but  what are you going to do with that? Nothing. It doesn't do us any good."

"There has to be something else she wants. What did you take to the table?"

He shook his head. "She wants more natural areas on the island. And you  and I both know that piece of land you bought is the only one available.  Set it up as a natural habitat. We get the bugs transported and you can  build the resort."

"But I have nowhere for the residents to go. Ten families need a place  to live. Including that Arnie Cratchett. He's caused a lot of problems."  I knew he was the one who got Janet involved in the first place. "He's  crazy, but people listen to crazy."

The waitress returned with our plates. I shoved mine out of the way.

The commissioner didn't seem to have lost his appetite like I had. He bit into his steak sandwich.

"I'll have someone in my office send over the requirements for the  habitat. You're going to want to get that started right away. You know,  as a good faith gesture to Janet."

I slammed my hand on the table. "I didn't buy that tract of land to create a bug zoo. It's for the Cove residents."

"Not any more, it's not."

I stood, tossing my napkin on the table.

"I will find a way around this, Carlos."

"If you try, you're going to end up without a resort. I'm telling you. It's your only option."

I leaned against the table. "It's my only option because you didn't  include me in the negotiations." I stood back, my knuckles white.

"What matters is I saved the jobs." He was so wrapped up in his campaign promises he was clueless to what he had done.

I stormed out of the restaurant. I didn't care I had left the  commissioner with my bill or an uneaten plate of food. The man had just  become an enemy. He would find out what that meant.         

     



 



The condo had never felt smaller. The walls were closing in. I had  talked to everyone on the Lachlan Corporation legal team. We were  screwed. There was no way around the damn insect problem.

I made another circle around the kitchen. If I didn't sign the contract  for the bulldozer, I would lose another two weeks of time. They were on a  tight schedule to rent the equipment. If I signed it, I was about to  displace everyone in the Cove with nowhere for them to go.

I picked up the phone to call Mark.

"Good afternoon, sir. How's the beach?" He answered on the first ring.

"Mark, I need you to check every real estate tax record on Padre. Find some place I can put a campground."

"Sir, we did that last week, remember?"

"Do it again. Find something."

"All right. I had a call from Hattman and Jones. They need your final  approval on their schedule. Once you sign the contract, everything will  get rolling at the site."

I sighed. I was stalling. I had to trust that we could find a solution  before the equipment rolled into town. I had the best team. I had to  trust they could do it.

"All right. I'll sign it today and have it over-nighted. But, Mark, find  a piece of land I can convert. Call before the end of the day."

"Yes, sir."

He was hanging on the line, but I cut the call short. I pulled open the manila envelope and stared at the contract.

I knew what this meant. It wasn't only bad for Lachlan Corporation to go  back on the deal, it was going to be bad for me. But the alternative  was losing millions. I could afford to do a lot of things, but that  wasn't one of them. With my new venture in the gas and oil market and  three properties waiting to be sold, I couldn't leave Beach Combers Cove  undeveloped. I was in a corner.

This could go one of two ways. Knowing the kind of man I was, I knew  which option I would choose. The one I always chose. Decisions like this  one came to me naturally. At least they used to. They should. I wasn't  the type to get bogged down in ethics-or consequences. Not the emotional  kind anyway. I analyzed the black and the red of a deal. Nothing else  mattered.

I prided myself on the size of my bank account, not the number of  friends I had. I could spot a liar a mile away. A swindler even farther.  Call it natural instincts. Call it growing up with a liar as a father.

Some people say I'm calculated or cold. Some say I'm heartless and  ruthless for what I do. I shrugged it off. Other people's opinions never  meant anything to me.

I'm the one who weighed the outcomes. I'm the one who saved the deal.  Everything else is only collateral damage as far as I'm concerned. At  the end of the day, there can only be one winner. And that winner,  better be me.

The contract sat on the table. I reached for the pen. She wouldn't  forgive me, but she knew what she was getting into when we started this.

There was only one way this was going to go from the beginning.





22





Sydney





Mason had decided the drive to Dallas was going to be too long. I didn't  argue. Eight hours one-way in the car wasn't how I wanted to spend the  day with him. Although, I was on his payroll now. He decided how I  worked. We boarded a plane in Brownsville for a quick flight to Dallas  Thursday morning.