Hold Me

Chapter 2

Owen

Owen Blackbourne could not believe they lost the deal with the Argentinian ship yard. Silas had been there all summer to make negotiations. And how dare they refuse his deal? It was a fair business transaction, and both sides would have profited.

Ever since he inherited Blackbourne Holdings Inc. when he was twenty two, it became Owen's goal to make his company the best at everything. With his brothers at his side, managing every branch and major department, Owen was confident that they had everything they needed to remain on top.

He was a very busy man, with no time for nonsense. Until he was twenty, he had no idea that he was the sole heir to Blackbourne Holdings Inc., a large company started by his grandfather forty years ago. He had grown up in Charleston with the rest of his Academy brothers, and other they became each others families when their blood families failed them. After learning about his lineage, Owen changed his last name from his father's to his maternal grandfather's. Owen Young became Owen Blackbourne. And this Owen had to be tough to prove that he deserved to inherit the company in the wake of his grandfather's death. Unlike other billionaires who were bred from birth on how to run a company, Owen was a humble self-taught stock broker from Charleston. Of course he was good at it and made more than enough for he and his brothers to be more than comfortable, but he wasn't born with a silver shovel in his mouth. In fact, it was quite the opposite.

To compete, Owen perfected what the Academy called, the "stoic face". Owen made it the "stoic mask". The Academy taught him how to coax the truth from someone with a single look. Owen learned to force his enemies to spill all their secrets with his piercing glare. With these weapons, he was able to admit seven of his brothers to Harvard University's School of Business and have Dr. Green finish his medical training. Now, with all their hard work, the entire Blackbourne team were on Forbes 30 Under 30 list, and Blackbourne Holdings Inc. was an international power.

So, when the Argentinian shipyard refused to sell itself to Blackbourne Holdings, Owen was angry. 

Owen was so upset that he even allowed his brother, North, to take him out to eat at some atrocious Manhattan diner.

He and North had just entered the diner, and Owen had just enough time to get a bearing on his surroundings before his chest was assaulted by a little girl with blonde hair. She fell to the ground. Then, she looked up at him, eyes out of focus.

Owen couldn't understand why his heart stopped. And then it went into overdrive. He couldn't even hear her stumble out an apology over the sound of his pounding heart. It was as if the last few years he was just existing, but one look at this girl made him feel like he was living again. Her large green eyes laced with innocence stared at him, piercing his soul.

What was he thinking? This little waitress with frumpy clothes that looked like belonged to someones dead great-aunt? What was he thinking? He could have any woman in the world! Not that he did. He just didn't have time or interest women. Sean was constantly ribbing him for being out of commission for the past two years since he became the president of Blackbourne Holdings, but Owen didn't care. He only cared about his eight brothers. Everyone else could go die. Except her. He might be a little disappointed if she did. Just a little. 

What? Get your head out of your ass, Owen! There is nothing special about a waitress who probably whores herself out at night!

"Is it customary here to literally run into customers here, miss?" he asked her. 

What? Why did he sound like such a dick? 

Why did he care?

"No, sir," she responded with her head bowed. Dammit! Her voice was so sweet, so feminine it made his blood surge. He wanted her to look up at him with her green eyes!