The Winner Takes It All (A Something New Novel) by Jennifer Dawson Page A

same room together. She clenched the edge of the sink. “You know, you’re way richer than I am.”
    He placed his hands on either side of her and she was once again trapped.
    “I know.” His voice low and seductive. “But I didn’t grow up privileged.”
    “Does it matter?” Trying to remember to breathe.
    “Yes. You have a different way of looking at things.”
    Needing something to do, she touched the faucet and it changed streams, then she touched it again and it went off. Do not lean back. “Another mark against me.”
    “That just shows what you know.” He leaned in close, his breath warm on the shell of her ear. “Did you come for me last night?”
    She started like she’d been jolted with electric shocks.
    He did not know. He did not know. He did not know. In her best haughty tone, she said, “Don’t be so arrogant.”
    He laughed, and to her extreme disappointment moved away.
    A clatter of dishes sounded behind her. She opened the dishwasher and flicked on the faucet, rinsing away the sticky syrup before she put the plates in the machine.
    The best thing for her to do was stay silent. Clean the kitchen then go on about her day. But she couldn’t, she was too curious about him. Since he had no problem butting into her business she decided that turnabout was fair play. “How’d you do it? Build your company from scratch?”
    The noise of the dishes went silent for a moment before the clanging resumed. “I didn’t have a choice in the matter. Isn’t it all in that file of mine you have?”
    She didn’t bother denying the file or the extent of the research she’d done. They’d already confirmed that yesterday. “It has the mechanics, but not the how. I know what you did. How you started working for your uncle, then went out on your own before branching out into the commercial side of the business. But I don’t know how.”
    He put the dishes down, turned, and propped his back against the counter so he faced her. “Why do you want to know?”
    That was the million-dollar question, now wasn’t it? If she wanted to keep him at arm’s length, asking him to tell her his story wouldn’t accomplish that. But the truth was, she had wondered about it for months, had thought about it late at night. She’d like to believe she needed to understand because it might help her with her own battle.
    But really, she wanted to understand him. How he’d overcome such impossible odds.
    Their gazes locked, and she found herself giving him the truth instead of an evasion. “I’m curious about you. It’s remarkable. What you’ve accomplished—that kind of drive and perseverance—it boggles my mind.”
    He crossed his arms over his wide chest. “You probably have more drive and perseverance than I do.”
    She thought about her own overachiever tendencies. The constant drive for perfection that had run through her veins for as long as she had memories. But her drive had never been about her. It had been about her need for approval. She had plenty of accomplishments but wasn’t accomplished. She’d always worked hard to be the best, but only at the things in which her father wanted her to excel. Her own desires had never factored into the equation.
    It struck her then like a slap in the face.
    For the first time she was trying to do something for herself. To accomplish a lifelong goal and she was failing . Worse, she couldn’t even force herself to get started.
    What was wrong with her?
    Once again she thought of her abandoned laptop and all the research she could be doing to transform into the perfect political candidate. She was so good at it. It was one of her talents. She’d even helped her father’s colleagues on more than one occasion.
    So what was she so reluctant about?
    Maybe she was still recovering from knowledge of what she had to do to accomplish her dream. And that there was no way around it. She’d been perfectly fine with her decision, and whom she needed to climb into bed with, until