Was he giving up his best friend? God, he hoped not.

“You know if you showed them our projections, you might not have to do this,” Quaid said softly. “You could likely still keep your seat and the house and court Sylvie properly.”

“I can’t. The deal isn’t done yet, and you know we’ve got a leak.” It was precisely why he was using Quaid instead of one of the corporate attorneys they employed. “We were outbid by pennies twice last month. Someone is trying hard to make me look incompetent.”

“Charles.”

“It’s got to be someone close to me. Charles couldn’t have gotten those bids on his own,” Rene replied with a weariness he’d been feeling a lot lately. He hated the fact that he couldn’t trust his own staff or the majority of his family.

He needed Sylvie in so many ways.

“I’ll revise the prenup,” Quaid promised. “Did you tell her about the stock she’s about to come into?”

He didn’t see why he should go into it. “She doesn’t get that until we’ve been married for at least three years.”

“Yes, but you might mention she’ll be a full voting member of the board if she stays on, and that stock is going to be worth millions,” Quaid pointed out. “You know it’s in the contract.”

“She won’t read it. She’s doing this to help a friend. She doesn’t care about the money or the stock.”

“But that stock ties her to you forever. She can’t sell it unless you choose to buy it back from her.”

“That’s a problem for another time.” He didn’t see that it would be an issue. It wouldn’t take them three years to figure out if they were staying in the marriage. The only reason he hadn’t told her about that clause was he expected pushback. She didn’t want to take a ring from him, much less a good portion of his company.

“You’re saying that a lot lately, brother. I hope it doesn’t come back to bite you in the ass.” Quaid started for his SUV. “And call Dre before he finds out on his own.”

That was a problem for . . . Yes, he was doing that a lot lately. He was shoving things off and hoping for the best, because if he dealt with all his fires right now, he would go up in flames.

Quaid drove off and Rene was left with a quiet yard, the sounds of the bayou around him, but that hum had been the soundtrack of his life. He found it soothing.

What he hadn’t found soothing was that kiss. That kiss had been life-affirming. He’d worried he’d made too much of that night all those years before, but that kiss had shown him he’d forgotten at least half of what that woman could make him feel.

Wanted. Needy. Weak.

Like he was at least ten feet tall.

He supposed the thing that was most surprising was that she made him feel at all.