While she tapped on the keyboard, presumably accessing my financial info, I finished my glass of wine and helped myself to another. I didn’t know exactly how much seed money Holden and Kemp needed, but the investor who’d fallen through most recently had been throwing around two hundred fifty K. I had it and then some. Between my money insecurity from growing up dirt poor, my generous—and well-deserved—salary, and my wiz of a financial manager who had a knack for making my money work hard for me, my net worth would likely shock anyone who’d known me growing up. It was seven figures, closing in on eight. It was how I slept at night.

I didn’t spend a lot of money, probably to an extreme. It’d taken me a few years to be able to buy expensive clothing. I didn’t have multiple closets full, only one, but the pieces I did have were high-quality designer pieces. My rent wasn’t cheap, but this also wasn’t a luxury building. My main indulgence was my Lexus, but even that was on the practical end of luxury. I also treated my parents to anything I could get them to let me buy them, but I had to be creative about it because they didn’t want handouts.

Mostly, I saved and invested my paychecks. I’d never taken a cent out to invest in a business before. It could be risky, I knew, and my financial risk tolerance was normally middle-of-the-road.

But I did have the money. The question was, how much I could get my hands on? And was I willing to take that risk to make an engagement worth Holden’s while?

By the time Presley had answers for me, I’d made my decision.

Chapter 6

Holden

Saturday night at Henry’s turned out to be a madhouse.

It was Kona Powers’s sixtieth birthday, and Abraham, her husband, had invited half the town for her birthday dinner. We had that rambunctious group in the dining area closest to the kitchen, farthest from the bar, the most out of the way, and we’d dedicated two servers entirely to their needs. Alcohol was flowing, so while I oversaw the entire front of house, I also pitched in and delivered cocktails to the birthday party as needed. Dakota Dawson was working the bar tonight and doing her usual efficient job of mixing drinks and meeting demands, and the servers were keeping more than busy. It’d be a good tip night for our employees.