Determined Kisses (Love in Sandy Beach Book 4) by Jessica Gray Page B

didn’t particularly want to live in a metropolitan area any longer, he knew there were many entrepreneurs who did .
    “Mr. Paxton? Mr. Shaw will see you now…”
     
                                                                                                                    ***
     
    The meeting yesterday with Peter had gone better than Ethan could have hoped for. Today they were having lunch with two of Peter’s longtime employees, and two of his external investors. Peter firmly believed that if one cared for their employees and their investors as they did for their own family and finances, everyone would be working toward the goal of making the other successful. Ethan liked that thinking; it was so different from the usual “eat or be eaten” he’d experienced in London.
    As their lunch meeting ended, Peter invited Ethan to join him and his family for dinner later that evening.
    “I’d like for you to meet Rachel, my wife. She is part of the reason I continue to be so successful. Without her intervention I might even have lost the company when I was going through a bad time.”
    “She works for you?” Ethan asked.
    “Not exactly.” Peter grinned. “She doesn’t like to take orders from me. Since the arrival of Aileen, she’s cut down on work and is now responsible for one of our key clients and his contracts.”
    Ethan nodded his head. “I look forward to meeting her and your children.”
    They parted for the remainder of the afternoon, and Ethan did a little window-shopping before picking up a bottle of wine to take to dinner, and some toys for the children.
    He arrived at the Shaw residence and was surprised to see familiar faces there as well. Dean and Melissa had just arrived with their two kids, and Ethan grinned and joined Dean in the driveway.
    “Man, it’s good to see you,” Ethan told him.
    “You too. What are doing on this side of the country?”
    “I had a meeting with Peter. Thanks for recommending him; he definitely is the right guy for my investment portal.”
    “Yes, our university has contracted him once or twice and we were always super satisfied with his work. By the way, I’m actually glad I ran into you. I’ve been meaning to call you, because…”
    He couldn’t finish his sentence, because Melissa walked up to him with Happy and Emerson tagging along. Ethan greeted them and then Peter stepped out onto the front porch and waved them inside.
    “I see you and Dean are already catching up. Dean told me you two know each other from high school,” Peter said.
    “Yeah,” Both said in unison.
    “Well, come on in,” Peter offered.
    The men followed him inside, where Rachel was waiting for them. She hugged Melissa, Dean, and the kids, and then came up to Ethan to shake his hand. “Welcome, Ethan. Peter has already told me about your project with the angel investing portal. I would have loved to oversee your contract, but with Aileen and soon another one, ” she pointed, laughing, to her huge belly, “it was impossible.”
    The kids took off to play, while the adults found themselves sitting in a den, drinking beer and talking about this and that. When Rachel and Peter left to dish up dinner, Dean mentioned to Ethan, “One of my cousins is thinking about opening up a new resort in the Sandy Beach area.”
    “Really? Haven’t heard about it yet. Who’s doing their financing?”
    “Not really sure, but I know he wasn’t happy with the terms, and their slow decision process makes Preston crazy. You know him.” Dean rolled his eyes.
    “I’d be happy to meet with him face-to-face, the next time he’s in town.”
    “Sounds good. I’ll let him now.”
    Dinner was served, and the conversation flowed freely around the table, but Ethan couldn’t enjoy himself. The two happy couples, and their even happier children, evoked in him an unfamiliar longing for a family of his