“Good, because that means you’re not going to argue with me when I tell you you’re not finding another place to live, any clothes you buy are going in our closet, and you’re getting a new car. The Blue Beast is history.”
I narrowed my eyes. “If you think you’re just going to lay down the law and I’m going to roll with it, we’re going to have problems.”
“This is the law of Lucas Titan, and if you don’t like it, then fight me, Yve. Challenge me, push me, keep me on my toes. God knows you’re the only woman who could—and it just makes me want you more.”
“You want me to . . . what?”
“Be you. Only you. The sassy, beautiful spitfire who would never back down from me.”
I smiled. “Now that, I can absolutely do. But if you touch my car, we’re going to have problems.”
Lucas grinned as he lowered his lips to mine. “Then I guess I’m already in trouble.”
A FEW MONTHS LATER, I waited in the courtyard of Brennan’s, a favorite restaurant of ours in the Quarter, wondering if she’d show. Wondering if she’d kill me once she got here. Wondering if the engagement ring and wedding band in my pocket would go unused tonight.
I crushed the thought almost as soon as it entered my brain. Yve was the best part of my life, and I needed that part to be permanent. I hadn’t been lying when I told her I played for keeps.
Most people didn’t do surprise weddings, especially when they weren’t even engaged. But Yve was a special case. If I gave her too much time to think, I was afraid she’d see nothing but the pitfalls from her first marriage. If I were a different kind of man, I might have taken a different route. But I wasn’t. And yet she still loved me.
Only a few guests were present, most notably Con, Vanessa, Elle, Lord, Simon, Charlie, Jerome, Levi, Hennessy, JP, Valentina Noble, Geneviève Haines, and Harriet.
Con wandered over from the bar and handed me a drink. If someone had told me a few months ago the man I’d once considered my enemy would be at my wedding—at my invitation—I would have told that person he was fucking crazy. I guess it was more proof that life took us on a crazy-as-hell journey, and all we could do was hold on and enjoy the ride. Although, from the way Hennessy’s eyes were following Valentina around the room, it looked like he was hoping to take a whole different kind of ride tonight.
“Got you a Sazarac. Fancy enough for you?” Con asked.
I accepted it and sipped. “Not poisoned, I’m assuming.”
“Nah, Yve would kill me if I killed you, and then Vanessa would be pissed. I do my best to avoid pissing her off. Have you even thought about how much you’re risking pissing Yve off with this little stunt?”
From beside me, Levi chuckled and sipped his own drink. “He wouldn’t listen. Trust me, I tried.”
When Levi had returned from New Zealand, he’d been surprised to find Yve still staying at the house, but had given his wholehearted approval. According to my little brother, she was the only woman he’d ever met who he thought could stand up to me.
I glared at them both. “It’s time, and she won’t be pissed. For long,” I added as an afterthought.
Con didn’t look convinced, but he left it alone, moving on to another subject. “So I hear congratulations are in order on the business side too. The feds passed some regulation that makes Titan Industries’ technology the be-all-end-all solution to compliance?”
I nodded. After Johnson Haines and several other Louisiana state senators had been recalled due to suspicions of accepting bribes for sponsoring legislation, the lobbyist firm I’d originally worked with had switched focus to the federal government and been successful. As a business owner, I wasn’t generally in favor of more regulation, but when we were talking about something that helped more than it harmed, even I could get in line. And my technology that exponentially increased the efficiency of alternative energy used in industrial applications was certainly a good thing.
Con lifted his glass. “Then cheers. I heard about that open-source shit. That’s pretty cool, and makes me think you’re marginally less of a prick than I’d originally thought.”
“I’m surprised you’d heard about that.”
“When a billionaire decides to offer up a game-changing piece of technology for free by posting the hows and whys on the Internet, even a guy like me hears about it.”
I shifted, still a little uncomfortable with this image of being some do-gooder. “I didn’t give it all away, don’t worry. Businesses that aren’t savvy enough to implement it themselves will still come to Titan Industries for consulting and troubleshooting because we know it better than anyone.” I thought even my father would have approved of that solution.
“Yeah, I’m sure. No one’s going to mistake you for being a selfless bastard anytime soon.”
Even without Johnson Haines and the bill I’d been trying to push through the Louisiana legislature, I’d been able to see my dream come true—but on a bigger scale. The lobbyist firm that had dropped the ball had called in favors at the federal level as a move to get Titan Industries’ business back. It had been the next step in my game plan, but I’d been working on the state level first. This just accelerated everything.
But when it came down to it, my conscience couldn’t allow the feds to drop a ton of regulations on small factories and plants nationwide that could run people out of business if they couldn’t pay the price we’d put on it. So I’d made a decision. We’d put all of the information about the technology I’d spent over a decade developing on the Internet—for free—so anyone could create their own solutions with it. What I’d said to Con was true. We’d still make money, but not as much, and in a different way. I felt good about the decision, one Yve had helped me make.