Barrick cleared his throat. “So I offered to bring her over to you,” he slapped Ryan’s back and walked away. “Don’t say I never gave you anything.”
Ryan turned to the man who’d been walking with him and called him over.
“Kell, this is Parker Nolan, my mate. Parker, this is Kell. He’s one of my enforcers. He’s been trying to handle the unruly kids in our pride.” He pointed at Kell’s bald head. “As you can see, he’s lost his hair from the stress.”
They all laughed.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Miss Nolan. I hope your ideas can help us get these kids under control.” He shook her hand. “I’m running out of things to do with them.”
She smiled and turned to Ryan. “Actually, I sent you my proposal earlier, but I guess you haven’t had a chance to look at it. I’d be happy to make my first suggestion now.”
“Okay,” Ryan said. “What do you have in mind?”
“What exactly is this place?” She laughed. “Hang on. That was a stupid question. It’s obviously an inn. But who profits from this business?”
“The entire pride.”
She raised her brows. “Really? So you mean to tell me everyone gets paid from the profits?”
He nodded. “We have employees. They make a salary. Then we have our profits. Everyone who works or has worked at the inn is a shareholder.”
“And do you have many young people here? Working?”
“Not really. We’ve tried to get them to join in the workforce, but they’re not interested.”
She tapped her chin. She might have an idea for that. But first, community re-engagement. “I think the first thing you should do is assign an elder to each of your youth and have the kids teach the older ones how to use a computer. How to check social media and how to send an email.”
Ryan stared at her for a moment. “That’s fantastic. It’ll force them to engage with each other.”
She nodded. “And they’ll all be doing something they enjoy. Do you have a library or a big conference center with computers? We can have an all-day session where we can have elders come in and get paired up with one of the younger tigers and get a crash course on computers or smartphones.”
“We have the big ball room,” Kell said. “We can even have the kids themselves set everything up and then take it down when we’re done.”
“Perfect,” she said.
“Ila!” Kell called to the lobby and a young woman came over. “Ila, this is Miss Nolan.”
“Hi, Ila, call me Parker.”
Ila smiled, her short blonde hair swaying over her shoulder as she glanced from one person to the other. “Hi, Parker.”
“Ila, Parker is going to help with community re-engagement and she’s going to need your help. Do you mind giving up some time to help her out?”
Ila’s smile widened. “I’m happy to help.”
“I’m going to need you to make some flyers. Something fun and attention-grabbing with big letters for anyone with sight issues,” Parker said. She turned to Kell. “Can you give her details of what to put on it and this way we can get that going right away?”
“Absolutely.”
She watched them walk away, discussing the flyer and then turned to Ryan. “Can I take you for lunch?”
The way his eyes popped open made her giggle. “You’re asking me out on a date?”
She laughed hard and kissed his cheek. “Yes, yes I am. So, what do you say, Mr. Wade? Can I bribe you with some food?”
He glanced at his watch. “It’s kind of late for lunch, but I’ll take any time with you.” He grabbed her by the hand and an electric zing travelled through her. “Come on. I have the perfect spot for us to go.”
He stopped at the kitchen and grabbed a picnic basket. Then he glanced down at her shoes. “You’re going to break your neck if you go down to the ridge with those on.”
She shrugged. “What do you suggest we do? I don’t have another pair with me.”
He grinned and handed her the basket. “Hold this.”
Then he picked her up in his arms and she squealed. “Are you insane? I weigh a ton.”
“On what planet? You barely weigh anything.” He chuckled and started walking into the woods. “There’s a meadow past those trees,” he said. “We’re going to sit there and have a picnic and look down at the city.”
He set her down after walking for several minutes and she glanced over the ridge. “Wow. That’s gorgeous.”
They put the blanket under a large tree with shade and sat, looking over the ridge.
“I have something to confess,” she said with a sigh.
He stared at her and pulled food out of the basket. “What’s wrong?”
“I was having lunch with my mother and she said some stuff that bothered me. That’s why I went looking for you.” She slipped her wedges off and curled her feet under her. “I needed to be with someone who believed in me,” she said. “You kept telling me how you felt I was so perfect for this job, I just needed to hear something positive like that.”
He scooted over next to her and pulled her in his arms. “I don’t know what happened with your mom or why you two had a falling out, but I do believe in you.” He cupped her chin and looked deep into her eyes. “I know you’re great at what you do. My instinct tells me so.”
“Thanks. Seriously. I don’t know how to thank you for those words.”
“Want to tell me what’s going on with your mom?”
She gave a dry laugh. “What isn’t? My parents want me to marry someone who will make me a baby-making machine and that’s going to be the extent of my life. They don’t think any of the work I’ve been doing for the foundation for over a decade means anything.
“My father wants to pass the reins of the foundation and the company to my future husband. They just want me to be my mom. Hosting dinners. Having babies that a nanny raises. And get a ton of Botox. That’s the life they envision for me.”
He winced. “That doesn’t sound very fun.”
“It’s why I don’t like being here. I can never last more than a few months before I’m gone again. I know running from my problems isn’t the answer, but I can’t handle having them for parents. They just don’t care. It’s really sad to realize that.”
“But you’ve made a change already,” he said to her, gripping her hands in his. “You took on this job. You’re out there. Outside of their control and doing things for you.”
She nodded. “I just hate to leave my grandfather’s foundation. He even named it after me. The fact they’re so set on trying to get me to do what they want that they’d take the only thing I have left of my grandfather is just so…fucked up.”
He pulled her into his arms and kissed her hair. “I’m sorry, Parker. That is fucked up. I wish there was something we could do.”
She sighed and let the warmth of his embrace soothe her. Her life was never going to be the same now. She had to quit the foundation. There was no way she could stay there and allow her parents to dictate what she did. She was done. It was time to start a new chapter. She glanced at Ryan and kissed his chin. Time for something fresh.