“The client is requesting that you fly to Miami tomorrow,” my assistant said as I held the phone up to my ear, looking out the backseat window of my SUV.
Miami.
I felt movement in my chest as I took a breath, and I knew it wasn’t just from the air that was filling it. “Tomorrow, Val?” I inquired. “Is it possible to accommodate that request?”
“Well, you’re booked solid for the next ten days with barely even an opening for lunch. I suppose I could move things around, like I’ve done in the past, but it won’t be pretty.”
Miami didn’t hold the same significance as it had the last several months.
That was because she wasn’t there.
She was here.
And I still hadn’t fucking seen her.
All I’d seen were pictures.
One of what I assumed to be the balcony outside her apartment, a high-rise I was quite familiar with—I’d helped my client build it.
Another one on the beach in Malibu.
A dinner at Nobu.
She was leaving breadcrumbs, and I was gobbling up every goddamn one.
“Fit them in when you can, but don’t move anything around,” I told her and hung up, keeping the phone in my hand to check the emails that had recently come in.
I felt the SUV come to a stop just as my driver said, “We’re here, Mr. Dalton. I’ll be parked along the side of the building until you’re ready to leave.”
I glanced out the opposite window, the twenty-story corporate office for Spade Hotels directly outside. “Thank you, Steven.” He went to get out to open my door, and I added, “There’s too much traffic today. I’ve got it.”
I climbed out, holding my briefcase, and walked into the lobby. “Jenner Dalton here to see Walter Spade,” I told the receptionist.
“Good to see you, Mr. Dalton,” she replied. “You can head on up.”
I went to the bank of elevators, waiting for one of the four to arrive. Once one did, I walked inside and hit the button for the top floor.
The door was almost closed when I heard, “Can you hold the elevator, please?”
I stuck my hand in the doorway, stopping it from shutting, and just as it began to slide open, my jaw practically fucking dropped as Jo stepped through the entrance.
“Thanks for holding it,” she said, her breath hitching the moment our eyes connected and she realized it was me inside.
My dick instantly hardened. My hands were grasping air, so I didn’t reach for her.
She halted a few steps in, almost teetering on her sky-high red heels. “Jenner … hi.” Her voice was almost like a gasp.
I shouldn’t have been surprised. She worked here now; of course she would be in the building.
But I was.
Maybe it was seeing the business side of her that shocked me so much.
Dressed in a black suit that hugged those lean legs and curvy waist, a skintight red tank underneath her open jacket that showed the dip of those perfect tits. Nipples that were just turning hard, begging to be sucked and bitten.
Fuck, she looked hot.
“Jo …” I replied.
She held a coffee in her hand and moved to the far wall. “This is a coincidence, I promise.” She faced the front, giving me her profile. “I didn’t know you were coming in today.” She hit a different button than the one I’d pressed, a lower floor, where I assumed her office was located.
“I have a meeting with your father.”
She finally glanced at me again, the sensation in my chest pounding even harder now. “I know you’re not here to see me.”
And then she looked away, leaving me with a fucking ache as the elevator began to rise.
The emergency button was only inches from my hand. Pulling it would stop the elevator from moving.
I was so fucking tempted.
To back her up against the wall and punish her with my tongue.
Ravage her.
To show her how much I missed her.
But I didn’t.
I stared at the numbers as we climbed, each floor lighting up as we passed it. And seconds before we reached hers, I couldn’t avoid her any longer. I took in that beautiful profile, feeling my breath leave my body as I exhaled, wishing that air was hitting her skin while my nose grazed across her.
I could almost taste her.
I could certainly smell her, that fall scent wrapping around me in this small space.
Part of me expected for her to be looking at me, for her eyes to be so fixed on mine, pleading, silently negotiating our future.
But they weren’t.
She was focused on the door, and as the chime went off, signaling we’d arrived, she gazed at me over her shoulder, smiling. “Thanks for the ride, Jenner.”
She stepped out and disappeared around the corner.
The minute the door closed, I adjusted my hard-on, the need to have her raging through me.
“Fuck.” I pounded my fist against the wall. “Fuck, fuck, fuck.”
I tried to get my shit together, hiding my throbbing cock as I arrived on the top floor, greeted by Walter’s assistant the moment I stepped out.
“Good morning, Mr. Dalton. Mr. Spade is waiting for you in his office.”
I nodded, turning down the hallway and walking to the very end, where Walter’s massive office was located. I gave the door a quick knock, hearing him call my name before I let myself in.
He waved me over to one of the seats in front of his desk. “Jenner, it’s good to see you.”
“Likewise.” I set my briefcase on the empty chair next to mine and took out Walter’s file. “Are things going well?”
“Well enough. Could always be better.” He stared at me as he lifted his coffee mug. “And you?”
I chuckled. “I couldn’t have said it better.”
His eyes narrowed. “I see that smile is gone. Does that mean the woman in your life is too?”
This was a conversation I needed to avoid.
But my top client was expecting an answer, and skating around one wasn’t the best angle to take.
“You must be a mind reader,” I replied.
“Enough bastards have sat in the same seat as you, and at this age, I can tell them all apart—the ones in love, the ones in lust, and the ones, like me, whose heart only belongs to themself.”
“And I fall into the latter?”
“Not even close.” He continued to stare. “What happened, Jenner?”
I took a deep breath, fingering the papers inside the folder. “Ah, you know, timing just wasn’t in our favor.”
“That’s too bad.”
I turned my attention to the top sheet in the stack. “Yeah … well, some good things, unfortunately, have to end.” My chest agreed, the fucking pounding inside becoming relentless. “I hope you’ve got some good news for me. You ready to negotiate on one of the pieces of land?”
As I looked up, he leaned back in his chair, crossing his fingers over his chest. “It wasn’t an easy decision. The range in price varied so greatly between the three; each made a significant difference to my bottom line.”
“We’ve been here many times before, Walter. We know it’s an arduous process.”
“It has been—there’s no doubt about that. My accountant has worked overtime to spin these numbers in every possible way, coming up with my best option.” He raised a finger in the air. “One second.” Then, he lifted the phone from his desk, pressing several buttons before holding the receiver to his ear. “Joanna, are you free?” He paused. “Good. I’m meeting with Jenner, and we’re discussing the land in Utah. I’d like you to sit in on this meeting.”
My back stiffened.
I had to see that gorgeous face again. That incredible body. The red tank and heels that I couldn’t get out of my mind.
Fuck.
“She’ll be right up,” he said, setting the phone down. “She’s been quickly learning the ropes around here, implementing several impressive strategies so far. And I’ve got to say”—he shook his head—“she’s really doing a hell of a job.”
Walter wasn’t one to give compliments. He was more likely to complain about operations than comment on the positives. So, to hear this was impressive.
“She seems like an excellent fit for your team,” I replied.
“Enthusiastic, hardworking, strong-willed. She’s hungry, and she wants to make a difference around here.” He opened his arms wide, almost glancing around the room. “And that’s important because this is all going to be hers one day.”
“Quite an undertaking.”
He nodded. “She can handle it—she inherited that from me. As for her mother, she got Tricia’s heart.”
“What did I inherit?” Jo asked as she walked in.
The sound of her changed the way I breathed.
I moved my briefcase to the ground, giving her a place to sit, and looked over my shoulder, watching her come closer.
“I was just telling Jenner how Spade Hotels will be yours once I retire—unless you want me to sell it.”
“You’re not selling anything.” She took a seat, her scent wafting over, enveloping me. “I fully intend to fill your shoes. My feet just aren’t as big as yours, and I prefer heels.” She smiled, her face slowly turning toward me. “Jenner, it’s nice to see you again.”
“And you, Joanna.”
Goddamn it, she was sexy.
She certainly had been while she was in Miami, but the LA version of Jo had even more confidence, and it looked so fucking good on her.
“Joanna, why don’t you tell Jenner what we decided?”
Was I surprised he’d discussed his plans with his daughter?
I wasn’t sure.
I wasn’t sure of anything at this moment.
Except how much I wanted to lift her off that chair and carry her to my SUV outside, sending my driver to lunch while I fucked her in the backseat.
“I’d love to.” She turned her whole body toward me, the movement causing her jacket to open more, tits that were pure perfection taunting the hell out of me. “I’m not sure what my father mentioned prior to me coming in, but we had our accountant dissect all the options, weighing every possibility. I have concerns about each piece of land and the amount of credit we’ll be tying up, but there’s only one that truly fits the needs of our brand.”
For the briefest of moments, she chewed the corner of her thick bottom lip, and I wanted to fucking groan.
“We’d like to make an offer on the mountainside parcel,” Jo finished.
I shook myself out of the trance she’d put me in, remembering I was also in a meeting with her father, and replied, “That’s the one I’d pick as well.”
She moved her hair to one side, freeing up the other side of her neck, revealing the smoothness of her skin, the arch of her collarbone.
What the hell are you doing to me?
“My projections are high for this property,” she added. “The additions I’d like to make to the design and amenities will be desirable for both summer and winter travelers, making this a destination that’s unlike a majority of our other properties.”
“And I agree,” Walter said, dragging my attention away from Jo. “Now, it’s time to work your magic, Jenner. I need you to get this land for a record-breaking low price.”
I cleared my throat. “I’ll do my best.”
He leaned his chest against the edge of his desk, his hands folding in front of him. “You’re scheduled to go to Utah in a few days to meet with the realtor?”
I nodded. “Yes.”
“I’m going to fly the architect out there as well. I want you to discuss the details of the build-out with him, so he can start the rendering.”
“No problem.”
“And, Jenner?” Walter stalled, his gaze intensifying. “I’d like Joanna to go with you.”