by Lexy Timms
Because I enjoyed kissing him, that was why.
Because I didn’t want him to stop. That was why.
I buried my face into my knees and wiped my nose on my skin. I felt like everything was caving in on me. All of my plans and all of the assistance I’d provided for my mother, gone. In a flash. I’d have to find an even cheaper place to stay. I’d have to move into one of those extended stay hotels just to afford her nursing home expenses. If I didn’t do anything with the extra money I had, I could pay my mother’s monthly premiums for just shy of a year.
Then, I’d be shit out of luck if Medicaid hadn’t kicked in by then.
I didn’t know what to do. All the options I had at my disposal meant me moving out and finding an even more unsafe place to live. I relaxed into the heat of the bath, reaching my foot out so I could shut off the water. The bubbles popped against my skin, reminding me of the fact that I was still alive.
That I was still kicking despite this terrible day.
I had no idea what I was going to do, but I had to figure it out quickly. I didn't have time to waste and I had to have a fallback plan. If turning this job down had repercussions, there was a chance the company could fire me altogether. If offering me this position was to keep me close so I wouldn’t blab about my night with Jimmy, then I very well could have tanked my career at Big Steps.
I slid deep into the bubbles and held my breath, allowing the water to sweep me under and cleanse me of my thoughts. I was tired. I was aching. And most of all, I was hopeless.
For the first time in years, I felt hopeless.
Chapter 13
Jimmy
I sat in my office chair overlooking the distant ocean of Miami. Minus the view from my penthouse, it was my favorite view of the entire city. It was calming, not being in the hustle and bustle of the city below. Just me, the tops of smaller buildings, and the crashing ocean waves in the distance.
I’d called Miami home for many years now. I grew up on the outskirts of town and only left to get my business degree from the University of California at Berkeley. I loved the ocean views and the vibrant life of the city, but there was something about California that rubbed me the wrong way. The way Silicon Valley did business didn’t agree with me. The tax laws there were ridiculous, along with every other law they had. There wasn’t anything appealing about the place to me other than the grand ocean views I could one day have.
I found myself comparing it to Miami more than anything else.
So after starting my company in the dorm room I had on campus, I had a talk with my roommate at the time. Ross Fowler. The man I would eventually appoint as my COO. I told him about my plans and how none of those plans had California in them, and I told Ross I wanted to take him with me. I didn't expect him to pick up his life and follow me, but I wanted him on retainer.
But a year later, when he graduated, he showed up on my doorstep.
I moved everything back to Miami. I flourished in Miami. Ross and I went from dorm room buddies to business buddies to roommates who were building a luxury business. Our first major score brought in millions of dollars of revenue we needed, and the rest was history. We hired more salespeople who could sell an outdated pen to the highest bidder at an auction house. We took on a lawyer to help us muddle through contracts with our clients. We hired mechanics to help service all of the things we built, and we drove down our up-front cost of goods by being able to purchase more things at once.
And eventually, we built our headquarters in Miami.
The city that helped us blossom.
That was why I enjoyed the view so much. I got to breathe in the city that helped us become what we were. The city that kept catapulting us to greater heights than we could ever imagine.
I had a sense of home looking out over the waters of Miami.
“Enjoying the view?” Ross asked.
“Only when there’s silence,” I said.
“I’d take the hint, but I wanted to see how things went with Ashley.”
“Ashley?”
“Miss Ternbeau. The promotion. Don’t tell me you got wrapped up in work and forgot. I sent her up here at five yesterday when I saw her still sitting at her desk,” he said.
“Of course, I remember,” I said as I turned around. “It just didn’t go as expected.”
“What do you mean? She didn’t take it?”
“No. She turned the promotion down.”
“Jimmy, we need her in that position. That deal we did with that man’s luxury resort, it’s got my phone ringing off the hook.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“He’s an asshole, but he’s a talkative one. I’ve got people from Miami and California calling me. I had a message on my phone from an independent resort owner in Jamaica, Jimmy. They’re all wanting to know what types of services we can offer to hotels. We need to talk, and we’re going to need someone in that position we opened up for Ashley.”
“Back up a second. How many people have called you?” I asked.
“So far? Four. But two of them run chain luxury resorts around the world, Jimmy. This is serious. We need to buckle down and figure out where to go from here. I can’t return these calls because I don’t know what we can fucking offer them.”
“Okay. Brainstorming time.”
“We need to talk about Ashley,” he said.
“You leave Ashley to me. I’ll get her to take the position, okay? We offer luxury helicopters for tours, and we can offer luxury yachts for transportation or dinner cruises. Things like that.”
“We could also offer our luxury town cars for bussing people to and from the airports. Make them really nice on the inside with the hotel’s name and our logo embossed on the car somewhere.”
“That’s tacky, but we’ll figure it out. We’ve talked about branching out into other areas. Now might be the time to do it.”
“We’ve talked about it but never specified anything,” Ross said.
“We’ve gotten this far with the big stuff. But what about the smaller things? They come with a smaller price-point, but we could clear a larger margin with them and possibly drive the price-point down to reach the upper middle class as well. That would increase our reach, and with our payment plans, we could probably entice people in that field to purchase the bottom tier of our bigger times. Long-range sales and all that.”
“Still doesn’t give me things we can offer,” he said.
“Anything that’s considered luxury. That’s what we do. Personal steam saunas and top of the line hot tubs. Bathtubs with jets that have a temperature-control gauge.”
“You’re talking about helping the luxury resorts update and deck themselves out from the inside,” he said.
“Why not? We do luxury. We’ve fit ourselves into the ‘big luxury’ game, and we’ve made a name for ourselves. There’s nothing wrong with pitching those ideas to the people calling and see what they think.”
“And what if they want to place an order for items we don’t sell?”
“Then we’ll find a way to sell them,” I said with a grin.
A silence fell between us, but we didn’t have to speak to know what was happening. We were on the precipice of something great. Something neither of us thought could happen when we were selling top of the line watches and shoes and accessories from vendors overseas. This was nothing like we dreamed when the two of us were in college. This was greater. Bigger. Better than we could’ve ever expected.
“If I can sell this to the people calling me, the investors are going to want projections,” Ross said.
“And they’ll want to know where their money’s going,” I said.
“They’ll also be more willing to invest more money if we can nail even one of these chain hotels.”
“Then we need Ashley,” I said.
“We need Ashley for this. I trust her. You trust her. And I know the investors will trust her.”
“Okay,” I said. “You go make those phone calls and turn on your
best sales pitch. I know you hate it, but you were a hell of a salesman in college. I’m going to gather my thoughts and then go talk to Ashley. I think I have a way to convince her to take the job.”
“Good. I’ll let you know how the phone calls go.”
“If they want to talk to me, don’t hesitate to call. This is big, and I don’t want anything standing in our way,” I said.
“Got it. Anything else?”
“Breathe. We’re still okay if this doesn’t happen. We’re still on top.”
Ross strode out of the room, and I sat back in my chair. I closed my eyes and smiled, allowing myself to envision what it could be like to get into the hotel business. A lot of money up front but a great deal of a return investment if we drafted the contracts accordingly. There was the possibility of branching into the advertising industry as well if we partnered with a hotel chain or two, but I was getting ahead of myself.
The next task was to talk with Ashley.
I grabbed the folder of signed papers and started for her desk. I had a sense of nervousness overcome me as I stepped into the elevator, and it gave me pause. It had been a long time since I’d been nervous, since I’d allowed my mental acuity to falter in the presence of rushing emotions. With every level that ticked down, my hands grew shakier. I tried to swallow it all down, but it was becoming impossible to do so.
Why was I so nervous to simply have a conversation with this woman?
The elevator door opened into Accounting, and everyone turned to look at me. I bid some of them a good morning, but my eyes were locked on the dark red hair in the corner. It was piled high on her head with two of those damn chopsticks shoved between the locks of her hair.
Why wasn’t it down? It looked beautiful down the day before.
“Miss Ternbeau,” I said.
Ashley whipped her head around before her eyes fell to the folder.
“Yes, Mr. Sheldon.”
“I was wondering if you were free for lunch. I’d like to talk with you, if that’s okay.”
I could feel everyone watching us as she looked around the room. She pressed her glasses up her nose and put her pen down, and I took a look at what she was doing. Balance sheets. She was going over fucking balance sheets.
She was wasted here. So very wasted.
“Okay,” Ashley said. “Yeah, I’m ... free for lunch.”
“Wonderful. Why don’t you clock out, and we’ll head out together,” I said.
She looked up at me warily, those big doe eyes searching mine. I stood at her desk, my eyes never wavering as she looked away from me. She typed at her computer, clicked a few buttons, and then scooted away from her desk and grabbed her cardigan.
“Lead the way, Mr. Sheldon.”
“Gladly,” I said with a grin.
Chapter 14
Ashley
Even as we walked to the elevator, I was trying to find the nerve to turn Jimmy down. Why was I required to have lunch with him now? Why was he holding the folder of papers I’d signed? Was he going to hold me to them since I’d already signed them? Was he going to force me to take the job? And why did I think that folder was of the papers I had signed? Maybe they were termination papers or more tax forms for me to go over. The tax season still wasn’t over. Maybe there were other things that had popped up.
But why did that require lunch?
I shouldn’t have agreed to this lunch. We could have talked in his office or at my desk or something. The elevator doors closed on us, and I could feel his body heat beating against mine. I clutched my hands to keep them from shaking, hoping he wouldn’t see how nervous I was. This was stupid. There was no reason for me to feel this way. There was absolutely no reason for us to go out to lunch to have whatever conversation this was going to turn into.
However, before I could work up the nerve to tell him anything I was thinking, the elevator doors opened into the parking garage.
There was a car waiting for us. Running and ready to go. A driver got out and came around and then opened the door for us. I felt Jimmy’s hand on the small of my back as he tried to usher me out of the elevator, but I stood my ground and looked up at him.
His eyes were piercing, but he didn’t try to move me again.
“Is there something wrong?” he asked.
“Yes,” I said. “Why does this conversation require lunch?”
“Because I’m hungry, and I figured you would be too,” he said.
The elevator doors began to close, but he thrust the folder in his hand out. It stopped the doors in their tracks, and they opened again. Then, he clasped his hands in front of his hips.
And his gaze never wavered.
“It’s only a little lunch. In public. There’s a place with nice outdoor seating on the corner, and they have the best salads.”
“Then why don’t we walk?” I asked.
“Because it’s going to be raining soon. I saw it coming in off the ocean this morning.”
“Then why are we sitting outside? Shouldn’t we be inside?” I asked.
He jutted out the folder again to stop the elevator doors. Like a toy on a ticker.
“Then we can eat inside, Miss Ternbeau. Whatever makes you comfortable,” Jimmy said.
I looked up into his eyes and saw the sincerity of his statement. His eyes were comforting. Rolling with unanswered emotions and many, many questions. I drew in a deep breath and shuffled my feet, still fighting between why this was necessary and rushing to hop in the car.
The car with the patient driver waiting for us.
“I wanted to have lunch with you in a public place so you wouldn’t think I would try to kiss you again,” Jimmy said. “I thought my office would be a bad idea, but we couldn’t talk at your desk because of the nature of the conversation. Many people in this company are nosey, at best. Eating in a public place gives you the comfort of knowing I won’t make a move on you, and it gives us the ease to talk as long as we need to about what’s on my mind.”
“So that folder is the folder of the documents I signed last night,” I said.
“I’m not going to make you take the job if that’s what you’re thinking,” he said. “Things won’t get weird. You have my word.”
I sighed, relenting to the truth behind his eyes as I stepped off the elevator.
He ushered me into the car before slipping in beside me. The leather underneath my legs was smooth like butter or whipped cream. It was silent in the car. It hardly made a noise as it drove down the street. I could feel the tension between us growing in the car, but I wasn’t sure what kind of tension it was. I wanted to know what this was all about, but I was enjoying the ride. I was enjoying watching Miami slowly pass us by as we drove ‘to the corner.’
But we weren’t at the corner.
We were twenty minutes away from work.
“Right here is fine,” Jimmy said.
I felt the car come to a halt before the driver got out of the car. I watched him come over to my door and open it up, and then he offered his hand to help me out. I took it gladly, looking around at the expanse of downtown Miami as Jimmy exited the car behind me.
“This is my favorite restaurant,” he said. “Where would you like to sit?”
“You weren’t joking about the rain moving in,” I said. “We better sit inside.”
The sky was darkening, and I could hear the waves crashing furiously against the shoreline. The view from the restaurant windows was breathtaking. The restaurant wasn’t some quaint little place to have lunch. It was a decadent, expensive place that overlooked the ocean. I gawked at the view, watching the fury of the storm rip the currents against the shore.
I couldn’t take my eyes off its beautiful fury.
“I enjoy coming here when it’s storming,” Jimmy said.
“Why’s that?” I asked.
“It’s when you get to see the ocean has fight.”
“Fight?”
“Yes. People underestimate the power of water. They find it to be patien
t and unassuming. Needed for nourishment and its cleansing properties. But no one thinks about its angry power.”
“I’ve never found water to be angry,” I said. “It’s soothing.”
“Most people see it that way. But it’s not. Not always, at least. Water is patient, and that’s what makes it deadly. It sits there, lapping against the shoreline or running against the dirt of a creek. It sits in a lake and saturates the soil around it, and no one sees the destruction it wreaks over time. The mountains it carves and the jagged rocks it smooths down. There isn’t a mountain above it or below it that has ever won a battle against it because water is patient. It knows its course of action, and it knows what works, and as it ebbs and flows and creates the beauty we see on a daily basis, it lays its trap for everything else around it.”
I slowly looked over at Jimmy, listening as his words fell from his lips. There was a profound sense of pride in what he was speaking about, a secretive reverence in the tone of his words. I couldn’t take my eyes off him as he spoke. He pulled me in with his voice and kept me there with his eyes.
His sky blue eyes that had darkened with the storm.
“That’s ... wow,” I said with a snicker. “That’s heavy.”
“It’s one of the many reasons I enjoy Miami. I get to witness its strength and power on a daily basis. I like to think I draw from it.”
“With the way you talk about it, it would be foolish of you not to,” I said.
“Did you grow up in the area?”
“Hmm?”
“Miami. Did you grow up here?”
“I did. Lived here all my life,” I said.
“Do your parents still live in the area?” he asked.
“Not my father, no. My mother does, however.”
“Why doesn’t your father live in the area?”
“He, uh, left a long time ago,” I said. “It’s been my mother and me for quite some time now.”