The Millionaire's Intriguing Offer

Unexpected Obstacles

"It was the damndest thing. I don't know what came over her." Jonathon glanced over at his partner Sam who was on the treadmill next to him in their office gym.

Dedicating this area in their office to a workout room was, in Jonathon's opinion, one the best decisions they'd made when they outfitted their firm. Yes, the space in the downtown Miami high-rise office building came at a premium, but the convenience of getting a workout in at the office at the end of a long day was well worth the cost per square foot.

Although the staff was welcome to use the room as well, no one other then Tito had ever taken advantage of that on a regular basis. And since he left recently to start his nonprofit, it was mostly just used by Jonathon, Sam and Ritchie.

Some of their most serious conversations took place there.

Sam shook his head without breaking his stride.

"Don't forget, I've met your mother. If I was dating you I wouldn't be looking forward to the trip either."

"You have a point," Jonathon said, "but since Bailey hasn't met my mother, there's no reason why she should have reacted the way she did."

"Get serious. All it would take is a quick Google search to realize the kind of wealth you come from. And if she didn't do that, you can bet Mitsy would have filled her in on your background. After all, you've dated almost all of Mitsy's friends before you got around to Bailey."

"I didn't 'get around' to Bailey. I never met her before the bachelor auction."

Sam smirked. "Little touchy, aren't you?"

"I know I've dated my share of women-" Jonathon started, and Sam snorted.

"But I'll bet you never took any of them home to meet mom before."

Referring to his mother as 'mom' was so incongruous Jonathon had to laugh.

"Sorry. The idea of anyone calling Catherine Randolph Berrington "Mom" is about as likely as anyone calling her Cathy." Jonathon shook his head. "Mother would not be amused."

"So why are you trying to drag Bailey along for your weekend in hell?"

"I do care about my grandfather. It's his 85th birthday. I'd like her to meet him. And it's not like it's at the mausoleum in Connecticut. It's at the summer place in Sag Harbor."

"As long as you've got your head on straight about why you're doing this."

"What do you mean?"

Sam shut off his treadmill and gave Jonathon a considering look.

"Look, Bailey has a great education and a mother who's apparently an artist with some success, but basically she's a middle class girl from the Midwest. No way your family is going to think she's good enough to date Jonathon Berrington III."

Jonathon slammed the stop button on his treadmill and turned to face Sam.

"What the hell, Sam. I never took you for a snob."

"You know damn well I don't think like that. But your parents do. Your mother does. You think I don't know why you jumped at the chance to leave all that behind and open a personal injury practice with me here in Miami - about as far away from them as you could get and still be on the east coast?"

"What's your point, then?" Jonathon asked through gritted teeth.

"My point is, you never took any of those Miami debutants you were screwing around with up to the family enclave. So why Bailey? Ask yourself if at least part of the reason is you can't resist walking in there with a woman you know damn well they'll think is completely unsuitable, and shoving her in their faces."