Neal (Golden Streak Series) by Kathi S. Barton

won’t have to haul it
back. Not to mention he said he’d give you a thirty percent discount if you
were to pay net thirty.”
    “I don’t have that sort of money, Neal.
Do you have any idea how much all this cost me already? If it wasn’t for net
ninety, I couldn’t make this work at all right now.” He took her hand as she
continued. “I only wanted to do this to be able to live. Those sorts of terms,
net thirty and buying merchandise that I can’t afford, will make it so I
can’t.”
    “I was going to talk to you about this later,
but now seems to be a great time. You need a partner, one with money to spend
and a great deal of personal interest in your business.” She looked at him. “As
much as I would like to say it’s me, I can’t do that. We’re going to be a
couple and I don’t want money to be an issue with us over a business deal. I
was talking about Golden Enterprises. I would be a part of it, but not as close
as I would normally.”
    “I don’t want a partner.” She moved her hand
through the dirt, and he watched the plants she’d put in it seem to grow as he
watched them. “I would love to make this business bigger than it is, but taking
on a partner like your brother would make me have to do things I don’t want to
do.”
    “Like what, love? You can pretty much
write your own ticket here as you’re going to be the one doing most of the work
while all he does is rake in the profits with you.” She snorted, and he leaned
back in the chair and pulled the last two pots toward them as she moved the one
she’d been working on out of the way.
    “I can’t do this from a prison cell, and
I’m sure that’s where I’d be if he were to try and boss me around.” Neal
lowered his head and tried hard to hide the smile. “Not to mention your
sister-in-law is bossy. I don’t need another mother.”
    “Good thing, too, since I don’t want to
be your flipping mother. And you should also know that as your partner, I’d
expect a big discount too.” Bronwyn moved in the room and sat down. “Hello,
Rayne. I heard you had a good day. Wanna do it again Monday?”
    ~~~
    It was nearly seven o’clock before they
all moved out to their cars. They were going to the diner to eat and her mom
was nervous and excited to have them there. Rayne was so tired that she just
wanted to sit down and eat anything that was put in front of her.
    She’d placed another order, too, while
Neal and his brothers cleaned up. Her mom and Mrs. Golden watered what little
was left in the show room as well as the trees. Ally helped her count out the
deposit as well as double checked that all the orders had been fulfilled and
gave her a list of what needed to be done and where it had to go. Ally was very
organized.
    “I could do this. I could help you get
your orders in line and do the paperwork for you. I’m driving our cook insane
being at home all the time. I worked for Alistair for a little while, but that
didn’t work for us.” Rayne asked if they fought a lot, and Ally grinned. “No,
we were constantly having sex on the desk, in the break room, anywhere we could.
We weren’t getting a damned thing done working together.”
    Rayne blushed. She thought about this
morning and how hard it had been to get out of the house. Every time he touched
her, she wanted to throw Neal down and have her way with him. Ally laughed as
if she could read her mind.
    “Wait until he changes you. Christ, sex
as a tiger is amazingly wonderful.” Her skin tightened over her body, and she
looked up to see Neal coming toward them. Ally laughed and left the room,
telling her that she would love to come in and work for her starting Monday.
    He sat down next to her in the
restaurant just as their dinner was being served. She looked down at her plate
and wondered what she’d ordered when he kissed her neck. She looked up at him,
dazed.
    “I think we can assume that you’re more
tired than you’ve ever been, but you need to eat.” She had