Enchanted (The Accidental Billionaires #4)(10)

His eyes had gone from cold to blank, and I wasn’t sure that was exactly an improvement.

“It wasn’t intended to go to waste. This was a gift, Noah. Use it. Your entire family will be crushed if you don’t.”

“Who, exactly, is going to tell them?” he drawled.

I swallowed hard. “Me. Owen is my friend. I’m not going to lie to him and tell him you had a relaxing vacay when you didn’t.”

I watched him as he digested the corresponding events that would take place when I told Owen the truth.

Everybody in the family would know after that, even his sisters.

“Stretch the truth, then, to keep them all happy,” he said in a deep, guttural voice that was meant to be threatening.

Maybe that had worked to keep his siblings in line, but it wasn’t working on me.

“No.”

“Yes,” he answered in a surly tone. “I don’t want my sisters hurt because they think I didn’t have a good time.”

My spirits lifted. The Noah I once knew wasn’t completely gone. Some of the old Noah was stuck inside that smoking-hot body of his. He’d always been sensitive to how his twin sisters felt. Seemingly, that hadn’t changed. He was still a sucker when it came to his little sisters.

“Then I propose we compromise,” I suggested. “If you relax, I’ll tell them that you had a good time. They’ll be happy. They’re worried right now. Everyone is. It’s not healthy to do nothing but work.”

He let out an exasperated breath. “What the hell else is there? Work is what I know. It’s what I do.”

My heart clenched inside my chest, making it hard for me to breathe.

Didn’t the man know what it was like to just spend time with the people he loved for no real reason at all?

Didn’t he know how to have a little fun?

Didn’t he know how to pursue his other interests, or did he not have any other pursuits?

Quietly, I answered him as my heart continued to ache over his conflicted expression. “There’s more. There’s life, Noah. Your family. Watching you continue to work this way is worrying them. Have you even been outside the country before?”

“No.”

“Outside of California at all?”

“Negative.”

I let out a long sigh. “Have you noticed that you have a healthy bank balance and can afford to do whatever you want now? I get that you’ve always had to work hard for your family, but that isn’t necessary anymore.”

It sounded like Noah was . . . stuck. Like he truly had no idea how to do anything except work his ass off because it was all he knew.

And maybe it was all he lived to do. That, and cater to his siblings’ physical and emotional needs.

After all, he’d been doing it since he’d turned eighteen, and possibly way before his mother even passed away.

The guy had been programmed from a very young age to live to take care of his family.

Now that they were all grown and happy, maybe he didn’t know what else to do. So he just carried on with business as usual.

Part of me wanted to weep for all of the things he’d lost, and for what he’d never had, but the bigger portion of me was determined to teach him that he was now capable of being a little bit selfish.

Finally, he answered, “I don’t really look at my bank balance. My half brother, Evan, put most of the money into investments for me.”

Ah. So for him, it isn’t exactly real because he never really spends much of it. He doesn’t manage it. He doesn’t own it.

“I’ll help you understand your portfolio.” Noah needed to see his change in circumstances. Work with it. Make it his reality, and understand that it was very substantial, not just for him, but for all of his siblings. “I’ve been managing my own for years now. Do you want to hear about our itinerary for the trip?”

I’d dig deep if I had to in order to find a little bit of enthusiasm from him.

And we would go through his portfolio. Not that I’d make any changes. Evan Sinclair had a lot more investment knowledge than I did, but I was determined to make Noah’s circumstances real for him.

Granted, Noah had a lot more zeros behind his numbers, but I had no doubt I could help him make the fortune substantive. He just needed to look.

“Not particularly,” he grunted. “I don’t plan on wasting time playing tourist. I have too much to get done.”

His gaze was wary and intense now, but I met his stare with the stubbornness that Owen had always said was one of my best and worst assets. “You have nothing that can’t wait. How can you have a deadline when you’ve never signed a contract? You haven’t, right?”

“I have self-imposed deadlines,” he said stoically.

That figures! Noah had always expected a lot more of himself than anybody else did.

“Change them,” I insisted. “Wouldn’t you rather see your sisters happy than rake in more money that you really don’t need?”

I saw a quick glimmer of what looked like confusion on his face, and then it was gone. “It’s not the money. It’s security for my family.”

“They already have security, and so do you. Now, let’s make them happy. Lessen their worry.” If I couldn’t get him to be selfish at the moment, I’d use his love for his family if I had to do that to make him take a break.