Teresa Southwick - An Unexpected Partnership

That was as good an explanation as any because she wasn’t his type. She was pretty enough, but not the kind of woman who gave men whiplash turning to stare. But there was something fresh and appealing about her brown hair and eyes, something friendly and inviting. For everyone but him. Until that night he’d never made a move on her. Why waste time on a woman who showed no sign of ever warming up when an abundance of ladies lined up to be photographed on his arm?

Except she did warm up to him that night. She could pretend it never happened, but he had the scorch marks to prove her wrong.

Time to get his head on straight and talk business. He tried the door and found it was unlocked. Tess looked up but her expression didn’t signal that she was happy to see him.

“Hey,” he said, closing the door behind him.

“Leo.” She stopped wiping the bar and watched him walk over and sit on one of the stools in front of her.

He could almost feel the tension radiating from her. Maybe he could put her at ease. “I want you to know that I respect what you said that night—”

She held up a hand to stop him. “Don’t.”

“Understood.” He met her gaze. “So, why did you ask me to come over and talk?”

“It’s about The Pub—” Her lips trembled for a moment as grief slid into her eyes. She blew out a breath and continued, “I’m aware that Granddad came to you with a proposition to invest.”

“That’s right. I talked with him a lot when I suddenly couldn’t play hockey anymore. About what I was going to do.” That had been a personal low. He was dealing with an injury that forced him to retire prematurely from the sport that defined him at the same time his wife admitted she’d been cheating with a former lover. She announced she was leaving and taking their child with her. Leo had spent a lot of time at The Pub, drinking and spilling his guts to Patrick. “Your grandfather told me I needed an act two and I had a good head for business. He was right about both.”

“He told me you bought the local ice rink and it was finally turning a profit.”

“Yes. Among other ventures.” All of them had been going down when he took over. Now every one of them was prospering.

“Before I make my pitch, you should know that The Pub was doing fine until Granddad got sick. The medical bills after he was diagnosed were substantial. Even then things were okay. But recently—”

“So you’re letting me know you’re a good manager.”

“Yes. And the good news is that there’s been an uptick in business.”

“Yet you’re approaching me, I assume for help, even though you fought Pat tooth and nail when he suggested I put up money and lend my name to improve declining revenue.” At her surprised look he added, “Yeah, he told me you weren’t in favor of partnering with me. So why now, Tess?”

“I had to let a full-time employee go and cut hours for others. That’s enough to keep the doors open but not to grow.” She didn’t exactly answer the question of what had changed.

“Okay.”

“This place has been my home since I was six and came to live with Granddad. I grew up here. Did my homework in the office in the back. Swept floors because I wanted to help. Did inventory. But there’s a lot of debt from his cancer treatment and medical bills. I want his legacy to go on. I just don’t want to see it turned into a sports freak show.”

He winced at the dig to his former profession but sympathized with the sentiment. Or maybe the sheen of unshed tears in her eyes and the fierce pride on her face made him go soft.

“So, tell me what you’re proposing.”

She outlined the high points: an infusion of capital to update the place, a percentage of the business and a few other things. She finished up with, “If that’s acceptable, I’ll take you on as a silent partner.”

What she outlined was agreeable to him and at this point in the negotiations it was probably best not to tell her “silent partner” was never going to happen. The thing was he really wanted to buy in. The place was conveniently located and had a lot of potential. Leo also wanted to preserve Pat’s life’s work.

“Do you have any objection to using my lawyer to draw up a contract?” he asked.

“No.”

“Okay, then. I’ll get in touch with her first thing in the morning.”

“Figures your attorney would be a her.”

“I didn’t hire Annabel because of her gender. She’s a damn good lawyer.” And beautiful, too. But it was strictly business and a line he wouldn’t cross even if there was an attraction between them.

“If you say so.”

Tess was starting to get under his skin, and not in a good way. “Clearly you have a low opinion of me. Why is that?”

“The parade of women through your life for one thing. That speaks to being shallow, self-centered and commitment resistant.”

Any guy would run in the face of commitment if he’d been through what Leo had. A guy would have to be an idiot to go through that again. Hockey had given him highs and lows—sanctuary from a lousy home situation, a college education and more than one Stanley Cup championship. The game was physically aggressive and injuries left marks. But they were nothing compared to what losing his career and family at the same time had done to him.

It was best to change the subject and get back to business. “You said The Pub was doing all right until recently. What changed?”

She suddenly looked nervous. “I probably should have led with this, but I wanted to get business details wrapped up first. Although if you have a problem with the fact that I didn’t tell you this up front, feel free to change your mind about investing. You don’t have to help if you don’t want to.”

He’d promised Pat he would look after Tess whether she wanted him to or not. There was no way to know what was going through Pat’s mind when he made Leo swear, but a vow was a vow. If she was trying to scare him away, it wasn’t going to work. “You’re not making any sense.”

“I know. I just want to make it clear that I’ll figure out some other way. I could have worked eighteen hours a day with little pay before and it would have been all right. But things have changed. Now I have to—”

“Tess.” That stopped her babbling but not the tension and nerves still making her twist her fingers together. “What’s going on?”

She blew out a breath and stood a little straighter, as if bracing herself. “You know that thing we’re not talking about that never happened?”

“For the record you can pretend we didn’t have sex on that table over there. You can semantics the hell out of it, but that won’t change anything. The fact is that we did it. You can bury your head in the sand but that leaves your backside exposed.”

“You’re not wrong about that.” She looked everywhere but at him.

This was really starting to get on his nerves. “What’s going on, Tess? Just spit it out.”

“I’m pregnant.”

He blinked at her and couldn’t wrap his mind around the words. “I’m sorry. What?”

“I’m going to have a baby.”

Bingo. That was the scariest thing she could have said to him. He couldn’t believe it. No way this was happening to him. Not again. He wasn’t getting sucked in for a second time by a woman who was lying about having his baby. Leo stood up and walked out of the bar.

Chapter Two

The door closed behind Leo, and Tess could almost feel the sting of a slap on her face. She couldn’t decide if she was more shocked or angry that he’d walked out on her. And his child. This was the man her grandfather had wanted as a partner? She’d had her reasons for pushing back on that but none of them were about him not taking responsibility for his actions.