Mason looked puzzled. “Go on.”
“I’ve given this a lot of thought, and I think it’s in my best interest if I let the Palm go.”
“Grey, you can’t!” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
“Eden, you were right about the lawsuit.” He looked Mason straight in the eye. “But I have conditions.”
“I’m listening.” Mason had lost his usual cavalier attitude.
“You agree to drop the current lawsuit, and I’ll sell you the Palm for half price.”
“Half price?” Mason asked.
My jaw dropped. What in the hell kind of deal was this?
“I was going to sell it for 2.5 million. Why should I cut a deal on it?”
“Because, we could be in court for years and you might not win. This way, it’s a sure thing. You’re guaranteed to make a profit.” Grey had a determined look in his eye.
Mason looked skeptical. “But why would you give up the potential to make more than twice as much?”
Grey ignored my protests. “I’ve never been in this to make money. I think we all know that. But it is my only employment and Eden’s too. I think we’re owed something for it. So drop the suit, pay me a million dollars, and you can have it.”
Mason rocked back on his heels, a move I had seen Grey make a hundred times. He rubbed his jaw then took a sip of champagne. Taylor didn’t budge.
“You have a deal.” He extended his hand to Grey. For the first time since they met, they shook hands. “I’ll have my attorney draw up the paperwork and deliver it to you on Monday.” I wondered if this is how Mason handled all of his business deals. He seemed like a natural.
Grey nodded. “Sounds good. Now if you’ll excuse us, we’re going to find our table.” He placed his palm on the lower part of my back and eased me into the ballroom.
I wanted to grind my silver heels into his toe and demand he tell me what he had just done, but I smiled and nodded at the wedding guests until we were seated at our table. Our table’s theme was the honeymoon table. There were pictures of palm trees under a sheet of glass and shells scattered on top.
“Grey, you can’t be serious.” I glared at him. “You can’t do this.”
“Darlin’, I just did it.”
My hands balled into a fist. I was tempted to slug some sense into him. He had just given away the only thing he had left from Pops. His childhood memories. Our memories.
“Without even telling me?” Maybe that was the part that hurt the most.
“I didn’t know for sure I was going to do it until today.”
“What made you change your mind?” I was trying to keep my voice down, but my heart was about to pound out of my chest.
“You.”
“Me? But I love the Palm. I never meant for you to sell it. That’s not what I meant. I was worried about the lawsuit, and what could happen to all your money. I would never push you to give up something so important to you.”
He placed a finger against my lips. “Eden, you are the reason I want to sell it.”
I searched his face for some logical explanation, a translation that would make sense.
He continued. “I do love that place, no matter what a pain in the ass it is, but there’s something I love more, and that’s you. And if you’re in my life, I don’t want my time eaten up with lawyers and court dates and all our money going down the drain because I’m fighting with Uncle What’s-his-name. I want you. I want to be happy with you, and that means no more Palm.”
I didn’t know how something that made me so sad could give me butterflies and set my heart on fire.
“I don’t know what to say. I’ll support whatever you want to do with the motel. Just tell me you don’t think I’m forcing you to do it.”
He smiled. “You are not forcing me to do anything. It’s my decision, and after today, I think it’s a pretty damn good one. Plus, aren’t you the one who said I should go back into my engineering program?”
“Did I?” I started to think I was getting bossy.
“I can always enroll next spring and pick up where I left off. They are still moving forward with the grant on Padre for wind power. I’d like to be a part of that. Who knows, maybe we can be graduate nerds together.” He winked.
“Me? You think I should go to grad school?”
“Baby, you can do whatever makes you happy as long as that means you don’t want to leave Texas.” Grey had no idea he would be scoring all kinds of points with my father. The idea of me going back to get my MBA fueled almost all of our conversations lately.
“I don’t want to leave Texas,” I whispered before leaning across the space that divided us and finally giving him the champagne kiss that I had been holding for him.