Justin had been a very late-in-life child to his father and his new wife, Jeanine. Justin’s mother had died of cancer when he was ten. She had been his sole comfort all his life. She was the kind of loving and giving person that all children should have. His father, Peter Yates, was exactly the opposite. Cold-hearted, distant and single-minded, his father lived to work. Once Jeanine was dead, any joy his father had experienced in his life died with her.
Justin’s father was trapped in the past and that included his business practices and the way he thought his hotels should be run.
When Justin graduated from Harvard he begged his father to let him take over the hotels and his father adamantly refused. Not only was Peter not ready to hand over the reins, but Peter thought Justin was irresponsible and far too focused on being a playboy. Peter wanted Justin to settle down and take life and his career seriously, which included getting married. Only then would Peter believe that Justin was responsible enough to take on the heavy task of running the Lux Hotel Chain. Justin thought his father’s demands were lunacy and said so. He had no intention of giving up his single lifestyle just to appease his father.
Their argument had been heated and turned very ugly. It ended when Justin slammed out of the house, promising never to see his father again. Justin struck out on his own. He went to Wall Street and became an investment banker. He worked his tail off and was not shy about using his family name to his advantage. Though he never had his father’s backing, his initial clients didn’t know that. They trusted Justin and it paid off for them and him. In a decade, Justin was close to a billionaire.
That fact and the fact that he had never married had made his father royally angry. His father’s only course of action to elicit proof of Justin’s stability was to create a provision in his Will demanding that Justin marry within a year of his death. Though Peter was dead, he was still holding very tightly onto the reins of Justin’s life.
Unfortunately for Justin, he had long harbored one secret ambition and that was to one day own the nearly century old hotel chain that Justin’s great-grandfather had founded, The Lux Hotel Chain.
Despite all his work on Wall Street and the name he’d made for himself, all Justin had ever wanted was to run the hotels.
The problem was that though Justin was the best there was when it came to balance sheets and investments, he had not spent the last ten years learning the hotel business. His secret dream was the ambition of a lonely child. He didn’t know how to market, advertise or expand the hotel business. He didn’t know if he should or should not shut down food and beverage. He didn’t know how to manage the staff and he didn’t know what other people looked for in a luxury hotel. He only knew what he liked and that didn’t count for much when millions of dollars were at stake.
In the past three weeks since his father’s death, Justin had been going through a crash course in hotel management, and he was being taught by his new Director of Operations, Shana Jackson.
Justin didn’t understand that hotel staff personnel were a nation unto their own, though he’d read this in one of Shana Jackson’s first emails. She had told him that each and every person on staff was essentially a caregiver. It was critical that the staff understood that the patrons walking in the hotel front doors were often sleep-deprived, hungry and irritable from jet-lag or traffic. Good staff understood that they needed to act as quickly as emergency room attendants to their guests. Saving sanity was part of the “mission” of a great hotel.
Justin hadn’t known any of this. He hadn’t met Shana Jackson yet, but she was already becoming indispensable in many ways. Unfortunately, she had submitted initial renovation budgets that called for tens of millions of dollars to be spent to completely overhaul every property in the chain starting with the New York City hotel first. Justin had known updating was necessary, but he was shocked at the kind of expansive changes Shana adamantly believed were necessary to not only compete but to thrive in the future.
When Justin had gone to the credit markets in the United States for a loan, they had turned him down flat. They thought several of the hotels should be demolished and the land sold. The idea that his family’s legacy could wind up as a parking lot not only saddened Justin, but it angered him to no end.
He looked at Trent. “I never thought I would be caught between the proverbial rock and a hard place.”
“You could have put up your own cash for the renovations. Lord knows you’re set for a couple lifetimes,” Trent offered looking down at his shoes. He knew Justin’s response before he closed his mouth.
“With these last figures from Shana, the budget totals well over my portfolio’s worth,” Justin explained.
Trent took a deep breath. “So, buddy. You’ve got this first round of financing secured here in Beijing.”
Justin nodded solemnly and then rubbed his weary blue eyes. “I did. However, I don’t like shelling out a half a point higher interest than anyone else is paying. Still, it was that or walk away empty handed. They should be real damn happy.”
“Hey, half the businessmen I know would love to trade shoes with you, pal. It’s not so bad.”
“Yeah.”
“So, you said Shana’s been giving you solid pointers about the business. And even though you don’t like it, you didn’t turn down her ideas about the renovations. You must believe that her ideas are sound and that they will work.”
Justin sucked in a huge breath. “I do. Frankly, I’ve believed the same thing for a long time. Anyone who looks at the hotels can see how dated they are. It didn’t take a genius to figure that out.”
“So, why are you so angry with her?”
“I’m not…exactly.”
Trent eyed him sharply surveying his friend’s face. “I get it. She’s smarter than you, huh? That’s what’s got your goat.”
Justin smiled impishly and nodded. “Ah, but I was smart enough to hire her. It’s just that she’s knowledgeable about something I should have forced myself to take the time to learn years ago. It’s my own fault and I know better. I should have seen this day coming and prepared for it. I was too angry at my father. I had to prove to myself that I could make it without him.”
“Yeah, that pride thing. Bitter pill. Took many of them myself.”
Trent wasn’t saying anything Justin hadn’t already told himself over the past weeks. Despite all his success, he’d allowed anger and pride to steer his course, when he should have looked further into the future. After all, his father was bound to die sometime. The thing was, Justin, in his youth and inexperience, had imagined that as contentious and bull-headed as Peter was, it would have been just like him to live forever.
Justin swiped his hand over his face, felt his beard stubble and rubbed it thoughtfully. “Have you met her?”
“Who? Shana? Yeah.”
“What’s she like?”
“Pretty, I guess. Very buttoned up. Too much glasses and uptight clipped up hair for me, but she’s razor sharp, man. Brilliant.”
“That’s been my impression. No nonsense. Exact. Her recommendations have been dead-on.”
Trent lifted his head back, opened his mouth and his eyes opened as the dawn came. “I get it. She actually is smarter than you.”
Justin scowled. “Possibly.”
“So, use her. Suck her brains dry, get all her input to make yourself look good.
Justin smiled wanly and nodded. “That thought had crossed my mind.”
Trent rocked back on his heels satisfied. “So, that handled, what are you going to do about the other part of your father’s Will?”
Justin stared at his best friend. “I’ve been trying to ignore that.”
“I get that.” Trent smiled. “Getting married in a year can’t be all that hard. Want me to help?” Trent laughed raucously and then seeing the stern, withering look in Justin’s icy blue eyes, he instantly stopped and planted a serious look on his face.
Justin glared at Trent. “I told you that in confidence.”
> Trent looked around at the terminal filled with native Chinese. “I think your secret’s safe. They don’t parlez Anglaise.”
Justin’s eyes tracked from Trent’s face to the people around him. “I can’t marry just anybody. She has to be intelligent, mannered, caring, sweet, thoughtful, beautiful, sexy would be good.”
“Yeah, that’s my favorite.”
Justin’s gaze wandered past the glass window to where the airliner sat outside and up to the blazingly crystal blue sky and the puffy white clouds they would soon fly above. “The thing is, with all the women I’ve known and dated, I’ve never met the girl of my dreams.”
“That’s because she doesn’t exist.” Trent cleared his throat as he stepped out on that personal limb he seldom ventured onto when it came to Justin. “Look, Justin. You never really got hooked into a woman because you’ve got this ideal person up on a pedestal and none of us find That Girl. We all settle for someone we can have. That’s how it works.”
“Not for me,” Justin ground out his conviction through clenched teeth.
“So then tell me, why work so blasted hard to save this chain when you aren’t going to fulfill the second proviso of the Will anyway?”
“I’ll find a way around it,” Justin replied looking Trent squarely in the eye. “I have lawyers working on it as we speak. They’ll find a loophole. There’s always a loophole.”
“Yeah? Funny. I thought your father hired Bernstein and Goldman because they drew up iron-clad contracts.”
Justin bit the inside of his cheek to keep his frustration in check. “I found a guy who is better. Leon Turnbull.”
Trent saw the fire in Justin’s usually cool eyes. He took a half step back and shrugged his shoulders. “Wow. He’s the best. Glad to hear it. So, that’s not a problem.”
“No.”
Just then they heard the announcement that their section was boarding. Justin rose and gathered his briefcase and carry on.
Trent walked alongside Justin as they handed their boarding passes and passports to the gate attendant. They thanked the man and entered the jet way.
“Justin, I was thinking that if this Shana is giving you all these great pointers about the hotel business, if I were you, I would do everything in my power to make that woman happy so that she never goes to the competition again.”
“Anything?”
“Hell, I’d even marry her,” Trent said taking his seat near the window.
“You’re nuts. I’ve only emailed her and left instructions through my staff for her. I haven’t even talked to her on the phone.”
Justin sat down in the aisle seat, which he preferred because his legs were so long and he could stretch out a bit more.
Trent took out his eye mask and stuck a pillow behind his head. “You’re right. It was a dumb idea. Well, buddy, see you in the US.” Trent pulled the eye mask over his eyes shutting out the world.
Justin stared at Trent wishing he could simply put on a mask and close out the world like that. Instead, he knew that sleep for him would not come for a long time. Not until he figured out a way to a break his father’s Will, secure his hotels, and make his childhood dreams come true.
****
CHAPTER TWO
“You’re naked!” Shana shrieked at the thoroughly ripped, dark haired Adonis, as she stepped through the cloud of steam toward the tiled seat area in the women’s steam room. She was so startled that she didn’t realize she’d inadvertently dropped the luxurious Turkish cotton towel she’d loosely wrapped around her.
The man stared at Shana, drinking in every inch of her luscious curves. She was tall with perfectly formed long legs, a very small waist and quite ample breasts. Her skin was creamy and unmarked by any blemishes except for a sprinkle of freckles across the tops of her softly curving shoulders. Her honey blonde hair was fastened at her nape with a clip but several tendrils had escaped and formed a glistening golden halo around her heart shaped face. Electric green eyes stared back at him in horror.
A bemused but slightly wicked smile parted his full lips. “So are you,” he said in a deep, velvety voice that oozed sexuality.
Even through the clouds of steam, Shana could see his crystal blue eyes searing into her. His surprise was quickly supplanted by appreciation and then she most definitely saw interest.
So stunned by his presence, her mind didn’t register what he was saying to her. She couldn’t take her eyes off the man. In all her life, she’d never seen anyone as gorgeous as the hunk of masculinity sitting only a few feet away from her. He had very broad shoulders, six-pack abs, powerful thighs and calves and biceps so well defined she discerned that he must be an athlete of some type. He reminded her of the Olympians who spent their lifetimes in training. That, or he was a model, she thought. With a strong square jaw line, deep set blue eyes and thick, nearly black hair that fell in a clump over his forehead, he was just too beautiful to be real.
He’s gotta be gay, she thought. There’s no way a woman could be so lucky as to stumble onto a prince like this.
Watching her with pure delight, he unbent from the crouched position he was in with his elbows on his knees and straightened. He leaned his back against the white tiled wall and continued to stare at her.
Shana’s mind was filled with the glorious sight of his well-defined body and with dreamy visions of what it would be like to be held naked against that powerful chest.
“I said, you’re naked,” he chuckled and let his eyes skim down from her breasts, across her flat belly to the triangle between her legs.
Feeling his gaze like a hot laser, Shana finally realized she had dropped her towel. “Oh, my God!” Frantically, she bent and retrieved her towel and held it in front of her. Fidgeting, she tried to wrap it around her, but her fingers had somehow gone numb, pretty much like her mind. She dropped the edge of the towel twice more before finally affixing it so that her torso was once again hidden from his view.
“What a pity,” he said.
“Excuse me?”
“That you’re covered,” he said pointing to the towel and allowing a trifle-too-mischievous chuckle escape his lips. “You’re one of those people who should belong to a nudist colony,” he said. “Perfection.”
“Thank you.” Shana squirmed, but only slightly, feeling his sensual tones tumble into her ears and somehow, incredulously, ignite something in the pit of her stomach that made her want to cross her legs, or scratch an itch. Shana didn’t know exactly what she was experiencing because she’d always been a mind-over-matter person. Always totally and exceedingly in control of every aspect of her life, Shana prided herself on being on-point in every situation. Mr. Gorgeous had flipped on a switch she didn’t allow to be turned on unless she’d consciously and judiciously made the decision to do so. Shana had always told herself and everyone in her life that she didn’t like surprises. Especially bad ones.
She hadn’t decided yet if Mr. Gorgeous was a good surprise or a bad surprise.
Leaning his head against the wall and shooting her with another appreciative look, he said, “You’re very beautiful.”
“Thank you,” she said taking a step closer to him. She had the overwhelming urge to touch him, to make certain he wasn’t a mirage. There was still the chance that she was hallucinating due to the past month of non-stop work and less than three hours of sleep at night and little food. Sleep deprivation. Hypoglycemia attack. That had to be the answer to her lack of motor skills and dexterity at the moment.
“This is the women’s steam room,” she said finally finding her voice. Despite the moisture in the room, her mouth had gone suddenly dry and the words scratched over her tongue as if stuck by Velcro.
“I know. I was told the men’s steam room was under construction.”
“It’s closed, yes.”
“I was told that I could use this room. It’s supposed to be closed as well.”
“It is closed. But I don’t get why you are here?”
Justin was stunned by the r
avishing beauty in front of him. He’d seen his fair share of naked women in his life, but there had never been anything to compare with this woman.
She was looking at him with intense indignation as if he were the trespasser. And he liked her sense of authority. She had a fire about her that he didn’t want to staunch. He also didn’t want to tell her that he owned the hotel, which would undoubtedly set off the expected reaction he always got when the truth was out. For many reasons he didn’t want this woman to wind up being like all the rest and want him for a myriad of things, all of which had nothing to do with Justin, himself.
He wanted the charade to continue.
“Who told you that you could come in here?” she demanded.
Justin kept a steady gaze latched on her scrumptious body. Mischievously, he wanted to see how far he could take things. “His name is Yates.”
“You’re kidding,” Shana exhaled realizing that the gesture did nothing to ease the tension she was feeling in her entire body as she continued to stare at Mr. Gorgeous. He was so easy in his body, leaning against the wall, with only a towel draped across his crotch. He crossed his legs and when he did so, she got a clear shot of his gluteus maximus that flexed and stretched and promised of wicked things to be done should she pursue that course.
“Justin Yates? How do you know him?” she asked with her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth. What she wouldn’t give for an icy cold bottle of water.
“Oh, he and I are very close. Do you know him?” Justin replied.
“No,” Shana replied quickly not wanting to talk about anyone or anything with this man other than themselves. “I’ve never met him.”
“He owns the hotel here,” he said.
“I read that,” she said taking a few steps closer and then sitting on the seat several very safe inches away from him.
Justin noticed that she clung to the knot in her towel just above her left breast as if to lose the hold would be the death of her. He bit back a smile of amusement. “Busy guy, sounds like.”
“Being his friend you probably know him very well,” she said looking down at her knees that were already covered in sweat and steam.
Billionaire's Love Suite Page 2