Irresistible Bachelors: Books 1-5 by Landish, Lauren (bts books to read TXT) 📕

up. “What’s that?” I ask, nodding at the folder in her arms. “I hope I’m not being sent somewhere already.”

“Nope. This,” she says, coming over and setting the folder on my desk, “is what they plan on doing with the property.”

I open the folder, my stomach sinking somewhere down to about the second floor as Myra outlines the plan the board has for Wesley’s property. Their plans are so misguided and totally against everything that I was first told and what I put in my letter to Wesley. “Myra . . .”

“The latest figures show that Aurora can clear the main compound, reconstruct, and still come in at budget and turn a profit in less than two years,” Myra says as my fingers tremble with horror looking at the artist’s renditions. The bamboo buildings, the fruit tree groves, everything . . . they’re completely sanitizing its personality, turning it into a spa resort just like hundreds of other ones across the world. Nothing special, nothing with tradition and honoring the history of the island.

“Once we clear the locals out, we’ll be able to move on with phase two,” Myra says, and I look up at Cassie, who looks as horrified as I do. She’s talking as if the whole area is in horrible condition and it's not. Everyone knew there was going to be demolition and construction, but this is on another level. There’s going to be nothing left, not even the village. It's horrible. They're going to ruin all the best things, bastardizing Wes's legacy.

“Myra, we can’t do that!” I cry out when she finishes.

“Why not? Once the contract’s signed on both ends and the money’s transferred, it’s ours to do what we want. Which, by the way, you’re both going to be getting a sizable bonus. I can’t give you numbers yet, but as soon as everyone signs on the dotted line, I can,” Myra replies. “Projections have that it’s going to make the company millions a year in profit. So why not follow this plan?”

Oh, my God, what have I done?

“Because it’s a beautiful place,” Cassie says. “And those fucking profiteering assholes are going to completely destroy it.”

Myra is taken aback by the venom in Cassie’s voice. “Excuse me?”

“Myra, I know you sent us there to do this job,” I say, desperate to keep her rage off Cassie, “but after seeing the beauty there . . .” I can't in good conscience let this go without speaking my mind. I tell her everything about the property, Wesley, even my love for Tony. I pour it all out, the total story, not just the lines I fed the board yesterday.

Myra is white-faced as she listens. “I don’t know what to say,” she says. “You turned over the letter of intent to the company. They’re in final negotiations with Wesley. Once he signs off on the deal, it’s over. There’s no going back.”

“Tell them that this deal can't happen with this plan,” I plead with her.

She backs away. “You know I can't do that. Our jobs are at stake.”

“Myra, please!” I beg. “They’re going to ruin one of the last truly beautiful places on Earth. It’s like . . . their plan’s like someone replacing the Mona Lisa with some paint by numbers Jesus on velvet!”

“It’s done, Hannah, and you’re just going to have to accept it!” Myra says with finality. She stomps back to her office and slams the door, silence falling like a curtain between me and Cassie.

“What the hell are we gonna do?” she says after a moment. “We can’t let those bastards do this!”

In some karmic way that lets me know the cosmos is jacking with me, at that moment, my computer dings with an email from Wesley Mobber.

Dear Hannah,

How has your return to the mainland been? I hope that the jet lag has worn off. I had a long phone call from the legal department at Aurora Holdings, and while they certainly talked my ear off, it also left questions running around in my head.

You probably wonder what it was that convinced me to choose you. Let me say, it wasn’t just your words. I could read between the lines, and I knew that half of what you said about Aurora’s plans were corporate bullshit. Oh, you believed it, but it’s still corporate bullshit.

You’re smart, Hannah, but naïve and maybe not quite as jaded as I am after so many years in the corporate rat race. I thought this would be another lesson worth learning first-hand. Do not be the tool they use to further their cause, know what your purpose is and how to best utilize your own strengths. You are in charge of your destiny.

Beyond your letter and Aurora’s proposal, there’s something else you need to see, and dare I say, learn from? I think it’s more important than anything else that’s happened since I first laid eyes on you.

There’s an attachment, a PDF file. I open it. It’s the letter Tony wrote Wesley. I see the handwriting, and I read it over twice, letting it soak in.

“Dear Wes, this might not be what you thought, but I don’t want to win your competition anymore. When I arrived in Hawaii, I was so different. I was ready to kick ass and take names. Even arriving, my only thoughts were of getting your property, then relaxing with some fine island honey.

Then I met Hannah again. You see, I met her a little over a year ago, at the wedding of a family friend. And oh, man, did I want to lay the pipe on her that night. It was thinking like that, of course, that got a glass of punch thrown on my tux. All of this you know. We’ve sort of talked about it since my arrival. What you probably saw with your own eyes, though, was that as soon as I saw her again, I wanted her just as much. That first night, after she slipped the Horny Goat Weed into