by Violet Paige
“What is it?” I still clutched the key in my fist. I didn’t want to let it go.
“I was wondering if we could talk about something personal.”
I was surprised.
“Is it about you and Seraphina?” I kept my voice quiet even though we were alone.
The elevator deposited us in the parking garage.
“Yes.” He shoved his hands in his pockets. “Why don’t I drive you? We could talk in the car on the way?”
I hesitated. “All right.” I didn’t know how long the impromptu meeting with Knight was going to last. Talking at the office about his affair with Seraphina could be problematic. “Let me text you the address. We’ll take your car.”
We climbed into Crew’s car and he synced the address with his car’s navigation system.
“Where are we going?” he asked. He turned the air conditioning up high.
I shrugged. “It’s an address from Knight. A surprise,” I admitted.
“I see.” He pulled out of the parking garage and onto the city street.
“Okay. Tell me.” I stared at him through my designer sunglasses.
Crew cleared his throat. “Seraphina called me this morning. She told me that her brother filled you in on the situation. Our situation.”
“Yes. That’s true.”
“I thought you deserved to have a conversation directly from me about it.”
“But only now because I’ve been informed?”
He shook his head, slowing at the stoplight. “One of the things you taught me early on is to keep business and personal lives in separate boxes.”
I felt a small lump when I swallowed. “That can’t apply to everything.”
“There was no good way to tell you I was sleeping with Seraphina.”
“She’s having your baby, Crew. How are you going to survive this exactly? When the Castilles see that baby’s blue eyes—”
“That’s why we want to leave as soon as possible.”
The voice in the speaker system told Crew to take the next two right turns.
“And leave everything here?” I checked the time on my phone. “Think about what that would mean. Don’t you have parents here?”
“My mom,” he answered.
“What would she think about you taking off?”
He pulled into an open parking space. We had arrived at a tall office building. He removed the sunglasses from his eyes and turned to face me.
“I think she’d rather have her son alive than dead.” His words gripped me.
I closed my eyes. “Crew, we’re not going to let that happen.” I tugged on the door handle.
“So, you are going to help?”
I hadn’t made a decision yet. I nodded. “Yes. I’m going to help.”
He started to smile.
“But I don’t know how,” I cautioned him. “Would you wait here while I have this meeting? Maybe we could grab a drink?”
“Yes. I have emails to send. I’ll keep the car running.”
I climbed out of the car and entered the building.
16
Knight
There was a wall of windows along the east side of the top floor. I swore I could see the entire Mississippi River from this view. Other than sunlight streaming through the glass, there wasn’t much other than construction dust and exposed wires and beams. Brick pillars stood every twenty feet. It was a huge open space full of potential.
I could see it. The full picture. A backdrop with our names. An office staffed. Adjoining suites. It was right here in this space. The future of the Corbans and Kennedy Martin was going to happen in this building.
I checked the ice in the champagne bucket.
She’d say yes, I knew she would.
I heard the elevator doors. I looked up just in time to see the most gorgeous long legs walking across the debris-strewn floor.
“You made it.” I grinned.
“Did I have a choice?” She twisted her lips together playfully.
“I see the elevator key worked.”
She spotted the silver champagne stand. “Knight, what’s going on?”
“This is the big surprise.” I stepped back.
“An unfinished building?” She looked at me skeptically. “This place needs a lot of work.”
“It’s not just any unfinished building. It’s going to be our building.”
“What are you talking about?” Her voice climbed an octave.
“I’m talking about this place. This is where we can join Corban and Martin organizations into one company. We’re going to merge into one organization.”
She blinked. “You’re kidding.”
“No. Dead serious.” I reached for the champagne bottle. I remembered her favorite from Marguerite’s. I’d had it delivered for the occasion. “Watch out,” I warned, positioning my thumbs at the base of the cork. It shot across the room. The champagne flowed into the first glass. I handed it to Kennedy.
“I have no idea what you’re up to.”
“Think about it.” I filled the second glass. “We convert this into our joined space. We run our projects together here.”
“Our projects?” She hadn’t even attempted to bring the champagne to her lips. “Since when do we have projects?”
“It doesn’t work when we’re on opposite teams. It never has. Look at the Crescent Towers. The Vieux Carre. The distillery.” I rattled off examples that made us enemies. “If the last two days taught me anything, it’s that we’re so much better together than we are fighting each other. We can run New Orleans together.”
I snaked my arm around her waist and drew her toward me. Her lips were only inches from mine. Her breath floated across my cheek. I was dangerously close to causing her to drop the champagne glass.
“I already run New Orleans.” Her eyes lit with fire.
I smirked. “You can either compete with me, or work with me.”
“I could take my chances,” she whispered. “With what you still owe me, you won’t be a threat for a long, long time.” She raked her teeth over her bottom lip. Our eyes locked on each other.
Our noses practically touched. “I’ve already had the plans drawn up for our suites,” I whispered in her ear. “There’s a hidden room in the middle that only we have access to.” I kissed behind her ear. “Mid-day meetings are essential.”
“You’ve made a lot of assumptions rather quickly.” Her head leaned backward, allowing me access to her throat.
“I know what I want. Why wait?” I dotted her skin with kisses. She grinned.
“Because I haven’t agreed to any of the terms,” she responded slowly. “This is a big merger. We need to think through every detail. Analyze every angle. There’s nothing simple about it.”
I traced my finger over the Carpe Noctem pearl. “You’re wearing it again.”
She nodded, straightening her neck into an upright position. “I’m sorry for the way I left it in the suite.”
“No. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about the tech company.”
I hadn’t released my hold on her waist. It felt too good holding her close. She didn’t wiggle away. We both wanted the proximity. We worked best this way. The merger was perfect in many respects.
“Are we going to drink the champagne?” she asked.
“Are you going to agree that this is our new office space?” I teased.
“I can’t agree to anything like that. You know we have to talk about it. Sort through it. I need to discuss it with Renee. What does Paul say?”
“He works for me. He does what I tell him to do.”
Her lips brushed lightly over mine. “I don’t know if I can work with someone so bossy.”
I chuckled. “One mid-morning meeting and I think you’ll be hooked.”
She moaned slightly, more purr than whimper and our lips collided in a blistering kiss. She wrapped her free hand to my neck, carefully holding the champagne to the side. Our tongues twined. I moved my mouth against hers. Damn. She ha
d already made me forget why we were here. She nipped and sucked at the corners of my mouth.
“Knight,” she whispered.
My hand rounded to her ass, squeezing her curves through the silk dress. “Mmm?”
“Give me the tech, and I’ll agree.”
I froze in mid-squeeze. I had a full palm of delicious Kennedy ass in my grip.
“No.”
She stepped away playfully, turning on her five-inch heels, drinking the champagne. I let go of the silk reluctantly. “I thought you wanted to merge everything?” she toyed. “Combine our assets.” She walked to the wall of windows. “You listed the distillery and the Vieux Carre. Why not add in what you have? I want the tech as part of the deal.”
I strolled next to her. There were a series of barges pushing cargo along the river. From this far above the city we could make out small forms of tourists on the street.
Her green eyes tilted upward toward mine. “What? You don’t want to negotiate now? Too much risk? You don’t like giving up the most valuable asset you have?”
“The tech isn’t on the table, yet.”
“Ahh. I see.” She drank more champagne. “When exactly are you ready to add it to the deal?”
“You have stock in everything my father owned. You have enough.”
“And I want the tech,” she responded. “No tech. No deal.”
I was amazed at how quickly the hot and sexy woman could chill in front of my eyes. How did she do that? It was like she flipped a switch. I had to remember I knew her. I knew the vulnerable Kennedy. This was an act. A good one, but still an act that had worked on many men in this city.
“I know this is off topic, but Crew is with me.”
“He is?”
“Yes. He’s in the car. He drove me over. If you look over the side, you can see where he’s parked. See? Right there.” She pointed to the lone car next to the sidewalk. “He wanted to talk about Seraphina.” She stopped. “I agreed to help them.”
My eyebrows rose. I’d been trying for two days to get her to launch a plan to help my sister. “What changed your mind?” I asked.
“I don’t want anything to happen to him, or your sister. Isn’t that enough?” She posed the question.
“It is. It’s plenty of reason to get them out of the country. I’m just glad we’re on the same page.”
“We are. I’m not sure how we’re going to do it. The Castilles have a tight reign these days. They’ve been grooming your brother-in-law to take over the steak empire.” She rolled her eyes. “It’s not going to be pretty whatever we do.”
“It doesn’t have to be pretty. It only has to work.”
“I agree.” She walked to another corner of the open floor. “Which corner office do you want?”
“I do like the sunsets,” I answered. “How about the west corner? You take the east?”
Kennedy smiled. “And that room in the middle?”
I laughed. “Wait until you see what I have planned for it.”
Her phone dinged. “Hold on. That’s Crew.” She stopped to respond to a message from him.
“Why don’t you have him come up?” I suggested. “Maybe we could call Seraphina. We could at least talk together. I noticed Kimble wasn’t lurking.”
“He doesn’t lurk,” she retorted. “He is a bodyguard. Not a lurker.”
“Same.”
“He’s out. Doing some security work. It’s his job.”
“I thought he just liked to follow you everywhere.” My teasing was beginning to make me sound like a dick. “Sorry.” I walked it back.
“I’m hoping some day you two kiss and make up.” She batted her eyes.
“That is unlikely.”
She texted Crew. “Oh shit. He can’t get up here without the key.” She handed me the glass of champagne. “I’ll ride down and bring him with me.”
“I can go,” I offered.
“No. Let me just talk to him for a second. Okay?” She walked toward the elevator bay. I followed her, pressing the button for her. The doors opened. “I’ll be right back.”
I leaned toward her, sliding both hands around her waist. She tilted her lips upward.
“We’re having dinner at my place tonight,” I explained between kisses.
“Your place? With your mother?” she questioned.
I chuckled. “No. The new place. You’ll see.”
I ran my thumb along her jawline. It was hard to let her walk in the elevator, even if it was only for five minutes. My heart pounded in my chest.
“Knight.” She wiggled away from me. “I’ll be right back.”
I shoved my hands in my pockets. “Okay. I’ll get some of the plans out.”
The doors closed and I heard the engine roar as the elevator carriage descended. I walked over the canisters where the architect plans were rolled together and stored. I unfurled the first set and spread them out on a sheet of plywood balanced by sawhorses. I used my phone to anchor one sign and keep it from curling up. I grabbed a discarded brick and laid it on the opposite corner.
I tried to predict what Kennedy would think of the plans. Would she like the layout? How many changes would she make? Thinking about what she had done at the Vieux Carre, I knew it was going to be extensive. Ridiculously expensive. An over the top budget. Fuck. She might spend more than we made the first quarter just getting the offices the way she wanted.
I laughed. It would be worth it. To see her happy. To see her thrive here. To finally be together. To take control of the city.
I glanced at the elevator. It was quiet. I walked to the doors, leaning my ear closer. I sent her a text. There was no response.
It had been close to ten minutes since she’d ridden the elevator to retrieve Crew. Was the key stuck?
I called her. Her phone never rang. It went immediately to voicemail.
It hit the elevator button repeatedly. My heart hammered in my chest. As soon as the doors opened, I ran inside, pressing the lower level as many times as I could. The doors were in slow motion. Everything felt like fucking slow motion.
As soon as I landed on the first floor, I ran through the lobby and onto the sidewalk. No one was parked by the doors. I didn’t see Crew or his car.
He was gone and so was Kennedy.
Don’t miss the epic conclusion of Knight and Kennedy’s story in Loveless Knight!
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