7. Jack

7

JACK

I'm already burnt out. This is our third walkthrough. Two yesterday. One today. One more after this. I want to go back to the house and take a nap. No, scratch that, I want to ditch the house and get a hotel room and take a nap there.

I've barely slept the past two nights. It's not the quality of the mattress and it's not even the fact that my mother is playing her usual exhausting games with me, the ones where she acts like she loves me unconditionally and then reminds me how my father treated her all those years ago as if that is somehow my fault.

No, it was lying beside Camilla that kept me awake all night with half an erection I was too scared to touch for fear she might feel the bed creaking beside her. Not to mention, it's so fucking inappropriate to be stroking off to my business partner when she's right beside me.

Being around her is starting to make me feral. The pretend touches and looks don't feel that way to my body even though my mind is perfectly clear on the boundaries that exist and have been drawn.

Still, though, Camilla is intoxicating, like the smell of coffee, how you take one breath and need to take another, inhale deeper because you can never get enough. The longer I'm around her, the more I can't get enough of her.

Which is not helped by the fact she's doing a great job of keeping her distance from me.

I've let her take the lead on this tour because the last one, I was bumbling over every question I asked to the point I almost cut the tour short before we even saw the processing facilities because I was so antsy from lack of sleep.

Camilla kept me on course, thank god. Which is why she's the one probing about soil fertility today.

"And have you done testing on the uncultivated land?" Camilla nods in the direction of a plot of land beyond the coffee plants that is overgrown with natural flora and fauna. The owner of this plantation has been trying to pawn it off on us as an addition to our purchase.

He takes off his baseball cap and scratches the back of his head. "I'm afraid I don't have that information at hand."

"Mmm…" Camilla purses her lips and scribbles something down in her portfolio.

If I were on the receiving end of her note taking, I'd be terrified. Her expression is totally unreadable whenever she looks down at her paper and her handwriting is in a brilliant cursive that I'm sure only she can read.

She looks at the man again. "We would need that testing done before we'd consider the addition of the land. Unless you were willing to negotiate the price down."

The owner, a man named Kevin, narrows his eyes at her. "It's already a bargain. I mean, I'd be practically giving it away at the price I've asked."

"Practically being the operative word, considering you would not be giving it away but selling it to us," Camilla says.

Kevin's eyes flick to me. He's clearly intimidated by my presence. If Camilla had come alone, I'm sure he'd be trying to shake her a lot harder. Which is even more reason why she was right to have me come down here with her.

She looks down at her notes before closing the notebook. "If you have the testing done and the land proves stable for expanding the farm–"

"Yeah, we'll get it done," Kevin grumbles.

Camilla smiles. "Thank you. That means a lot."

I hold back a chuckle.

She straddles the line between hard-assed and pleasant so well. Knows when to apply each skill to get what she wants. I'm very impressed by her.

Still, though, I wish Seth had sent anyone else. Anyone at all.

I should have specified I wanted to work with a man. Then again, who ever thought he would send me temptation in the form of a woman? Because truth be told, I've never met anyone who has made me feel the way Camilla does. At an instant .

Daddy…

Camilla's voice interjects into my thoughts. "Jack?"

I shake off my daydreaming and focus on her. She and Kevin are already ten feet ahead of me, walking out from amongst the bounteous coffee plants and onto the next stop.

"Coming?" she asks.

Fuck. I should not feel the blood rush to my cock just by this woman uttering the word coming. "Yeah. Of course."

I follow behind Kevin and Camilla, as she continues to ask question after question, staring at her curls bouncing in order to distract me from her ass swaying in her linen pants.

Fuck. Me.

We walk up some steps built into the hillside above the plantation to a cottage that overlooks the entire farm. We're high enough that we have a view of the ocean, water twinkling in the distance. It's beautiful. Calms my senses. Lord knows I'm in desperate need of that.

"You two sit, and I'll make you some coffee." Kevin walks us out onto a wooden patio where there's a small table and two chairs. "Give you a taste of the possibilities that come from the beans."

"Thank you," Camilla says with a steady smile.

Kevin disappears back into the cottage.

I sit and Camilla follows suit with a very obvious sigh of relief, her portfolio plopped onto the table in front of her. "Okay, what are you thinking?"

About what I would like to do to you if you allowed me to take care of you. Daddy would be so good to you.

Fuck. Stop that. "You first."

Camilla blows a curl out of her face and opens the portfolio up. "Well, so far, I'm pleased with the condition of the plants and the land itself. Equipment needs serious updating."

"Well, you know that won't be a problem."

"Right. I forgot, Mr. Moneybags," she says with a smile.

I laugh, though it's a bit embarrassing. Having money to an almost limitless degree is nice, but it does put up a wall between me and other people sometimes. When they realize how well off I am, they put me in that untouchable billionaire category, and it's much more nuanced than that.

"I'm a little unsure how I feel about him , though," she says, looking through the screen door and into the cottage, her voice lowering.

"What do you mean?"

"He was so cagey about the untended land, I wonder what else he's trying to veil." She cocks her eyebrow. "You know?"

I'm not a dumb person, not by any stretch of the imagination. However, I've been playing in the stock market for years, not working out business plans or even dealing with people's feelings. It's been data and charts and trends. Facts. For the most part. "Good point. I wouldn't have thought of that."

"You're too trusting, Jack," she says.

"Well, I'm a man. That helps."

The corner of her lip tilts up. "Wow."

"I know, right?"

Camilla stares at me for a few moments. "You're tired."

"I am." I nod.

She looks out at the view. "Me too."

I'm surprised. She's had it together since we met up to go to the airport. In fact, she seems untouched by exhaustion. "Really?"

Camilla's eyes flick to me. "I haven't been sleeping well."

My breath catches. "Do I snore?"

She giggles. "No, it's not that."

I wait for her to say what it is with bated breath.

"You know, time change. Not my bed. It's just different."

"Right, of course." So, not an inability to think of anything but the person beside her in bed? That makes one of us.

Kevin comes out with two cups of hot coffee which, if we weren't in the shade, I might refuse. However, there's no way to get to know a good hot coffee when it's iced. We're going to roast beans specifically for that. It's already on my creative to do list.

"Thank you, Kevin," Camilla says. "Do you mind giving us some time to discuss?"

He shakes his head. "Not at all." There's an edge in his voice, but he retreats back into the cottage.

Camilla watches him go. "He hates me."

"No, he doesn't."

She shakes her head and picks up her mug of steaming coffee. "Not all men are as thoughtful as you, Jack."

There's a fluttering in my chest. "Really? I'm thoughtful? Even after I've asked you to lie to my family that we're dating?"

"Well, when you put it like that…"

We both laugh, but when we realize we're both sinking into a familiarity, we turn our attentions to the coffee. I lift my mug and blow off the steam, inhaling the scent of it.

It's nice. Nothing special. I won't be using their roasting techniques, though, so that doesn't worry me. Good beans, though, that matters.

I sip the coffee and let it cool on my tongue before swishing it around and swallowing.

Camilla's staring at me.

"What?"

She shrugs. "Just trying to see how the master does it."

I roll my eyes.

"What do you think?"

I shrug. "I like it just fine."

"Doesn't sound like you're sold."

"Let me take a few more sips before I make my final verdict."

Camilla takes a sip, a tiny one, and places her cup down. "So, I wanted to talk to you about something."

All the possibilities of what she could want to talk to me about, and my mind is going one place.

Come on, little one. Tell me you want my body just as desperately as I want yours.

"You need to come up with a name. For your coffee company," she says with a charming smile.

It's like a bucket of cold water poured right over my head. "Oh. That."

"Don't sound so bummed about it." Camilla crosses her arms over her chest. "That's supposed to be the fun part."

I gulp down the coffee. "Is that what people say?"

"I'd think if you wanted to start a company you'd have some ideas for names."

I shake my head. "I've never really thought about it."

How could I? I haven't really thought about the shop as a realistic endeavor until Seth cornered me in my father's kitchen.

She pretends to be exasperated as she shakes her head, but the hint of a smile is there. "My god, what would you do without me, Jack?"

I let out a sigh of annoyance. With myself. Because the jab still hits home. "You're right. I'm sorry."

"No, that's not–"

"No, listen. You've been keeping this all together since…well, since the beginning. If you hadn't held my feet to the fire, we probably wouldn't have even made it this far." I place my coffee down and look out at the lush Hawaiian landscape. I have not spent as much time here as I'd like to in my life, but I do feel connected to the land. It's in my blood.

I breathe. An inhale. An exhale.

I wouldn't have come here if Camilla hadn't been Camilla.

"Thank you," I say, clear and unfettered, for the first time in a long time not trying to hide my voice.

Our eyes meet over the cups of coffee.

Camilla smiles. The tiredness clear on her face. It's as if she's lifting the mask she's had on since we landed here. Since she walked into my apartment. I'm seeing her.

And she's more beautiful than ever. However, I think that every single day I see her.

"You're welcome, Jack." As she lifts her cup to her mouth, she adds, "But also thank you for being dumb enough to let an assistant graduate to business partner in under a week."

I laugh. "Don't make me regret it."

She smacks her lips, tasting the coffee. "You will."

My insides tighten.

Her eyes flash in mine.

Who gets to see that bratty side of her? The one that feels free to tease and joke? The one that doesn't put up a front all the time. Who gets to see that version of her? Other than me?

Because if I'm not the only one, I'm going to need to fix that as fast as possible.

"When do you let go, Camilla?"

Her eyebrows jump, and I realize what a fucking weird question that is.

"You know, like –" Save it, make this not weird. "Do you like to work out or do you crochet or…" Do you let guys who aren't me fuck your brains out and if you do, can I have an opportunity to be the best at it? Would you let me take good care of your needs?

Testosterone is running my life these days. I've never felt like this about anyone. Ever. And I've fucked and had my fun. It's never been such a potent feeling.

Never been such a need.

"I don't," Camilla says in such a simple way it breaks my heart.

And just like that, I'm not thinking about just fucking her. I'm thinking about taking care of her. Letting her unwind into my arms when the eyes of the world are not around her. Waiting on her hand and foot, making sure her needs are attended to so that she can wake up every day ready to tackle the world she's bent on dominating.

I am filled with a sense of purpose at the idea of taking care of her.

Daddy .

The word flashes into my head. Not in the way I imagine a child saying it to me someday when I have my own family.

Daddy .

I hear it in Camilla's voice. A yearning voice. A longing voice. A needing voice.

We need each other. I'm sure of it.

But I…I don't do things like that. Don't cross drawn lines like that. Not like my brother, not like my father, not like Seth.

"Is it just me or is the coffee kind of watery?" Camilla's mouth contorts.

A laugh bursts from me. "You're learning."

Her eyes widen from over the rim of her cup as she drinks. So playful and sweet.

Camilla might be a grown woman, but she deserves to be taken care of and protected the same way I hope she was when she was little.

And I want to be the one that makes her see she deserves that.

I want to take care of her.

I want to be her Daddy .

Something slots into place, a puzzle piece, a key into a lock.

I place my hand on her portfolio and slide it closer to me so I can look it over. I'll decipher her handwriting, I'll look through the notes, I'll wake the fuck up and be the man I'm supposed to be. For myself. For my business. For her.

I take the pen tucked into its holder beside the notepad and write one word across the top. Keiki.

Camilla tilts her head to the side.

"That's the name. Keiki Coffee Company." I add the other two words to the title.

A moment. A pause. "That's what your mother calls you."

Warmth spreads through my ribcage. "Yes."

"That's beautiful, Jack." Camilla lifts her coffee cup. "To Keiki Coffee Company."

I lift my mug and clink it with hers. "To us."

Her smile dips in surprise, but only for a moment.

"Partners," I clarify.

"Partners," she echoes.

We drink without looking away from each other.