“Not working? What’s that?” She looked down at her cup. “I’ve got two jobs, and a fashion line I’ve poured my heart and soul into. I don’t remember what free time feels like, let alone what I’d do with it. Sleep, I guess.”
She took another drink, letting a soft moan escape as she swallowed. The whole thing gave me dirty ideas. Ones that definitely weren’t in the friendship zone.
We talked for as many of her fifteen minutes as she’d let me have, and as she left me alone in The Daily Grind again, I couldn’t help but watch her walk away.
4
Cassia
It took forever to get to Wednesday. Between work, trying to keep up with orders, and trying not to think about Christopher Davenport and his stupid, panty-melting grin, I thought the day would never come.
But finally, it arrived. I woke up to a beautiful fall morning, and for once, I didn’t feel like I was late for something. As I parked near The Daily Grind, I half-expected to be stood up. I couldn’t possibly understand what the heck Sofia wanted with me or my clothing line. How did she even find it? My website was on like page 8,862 of the internet.
Surprisingly, Sofia was already sitting at a table, the same table her completely not-charming brother had chosen, waiting with two coffees in front of her.
She smiled and waved when she saw me. “I was afraid I’d come off as a crazy celebrity stalking you.”
“It is a little strange, but I don’t have the police on standby or anything.”
She pushed one of the cups toward me. “To make up for the one you lost the other day. Pumpkin spice, right? Though, I know nothing can replace a caffeine fix.”
“Too true.” I inhaled the sweet and spicy flavors of my coffee and took a sip. A rush of fall filled my mouth and I was instantly happy. “What can I do for you, Miss Davenport?”
“Sofia, please. I love your clothing line. I put in an order, but you have a two-month turnaround time. I couldn’t wait that long.” She sipped from her own cup, looking me over.
I couldn’t help but feel like my personal style was under scrutiny. Thank god I’d worn one of my own designs for the meeting.
“My financial advisor is constantly yelling at me about moving my money around, investing in different things. So, I’ve decided I want to invest in you. We can get you some employees, maybe a proper studio space. I’ve already talked to my connections at a few fashion magazines, and they’re eating out of the palm of my hand, ready to meet the face of CC Designs. Oh, and there’s a fashion show in New York in three weeks. We still have a couple days before we need to get you registered, but I don’t want to wait until the eleventh hour. I know it’s not a lot of time…”
I blinked rapidly and then gaped at her. My heart was racing. I was pretty sure I was having a stroke and hallucinating. “I’m sorry?”
“When I found out you were from here, it was a no brainer. I had to look you up and beg you to go into business with me.”
“You want to invest in CC Designs?”
“Yes, and I want to collaborate with you on a line as well.” She smiled at me. “Drink your coffee and let it roll over you for a few minutes.”
“Good idea.” I took another delightful drink of my latte. If I was having a stroke, I was going to enjoy it and my caffeine treat. None of this made sense. Sofia had ordered from me? I was going to have to check my website the minute I got home. And, more unbelievable, she wanted to invest in me? To get me employees and workspace and put me in fashion shows? I had to be dreaming. Or having a stroke. Either of those things made more sense than anything coming out of Sofia’s mouth.
“I should warn you—my brother was curious about you and he’s never curious about anyone.”
My cheeks heated instantly. “I’m sure it was the shock of wearing a pumpkin spiced latte.”
“Mmhm,” she said taking a drink of her own latte.
“And the fact that we already know each other.”
Her brow furrowed. “You know Chris?”
“Not well. It was a few years ago. I’m sure he hardly remembers me.”
She blinked at me several times. “Oh.” Her hazel eyes drifted over me like she was surveying something.
I cleared my throat. “Why me? There are a hundred designers making plus sized clothing.” I needed to change the subject. Christopher wasn’t a part of my life anymore and I had no intention of letting him sneak in again.
“Because I love your style. It’s a modern rockabilly and 40s with maybe a hint of eighties. It’s great. You don’t hide the figure you’re dressing. You show it off. And you’re not afraid of color.”
“Not everyone appreciates that about my clothing. You have seen all the negative comments, right?”
Sofia waved me off. “I don’t care about that. There’s always going to be haters.”
“What exactly do you want?”
“I want you to keep doing exactly what you’re doing. But with money and help. We’ll get you a place here and find some employees. We’ll hire a publicist and a manager. You’re the designer. We’ll catch up on the orders you have and then we’ll revamp the whole thing. I think entering the fashion show will be a great way to get your name out there.”
She reached across the table. “I don’t want to overwhelm you. And you know nothing about me. And if you know Chris, that might hurt me more than help me. We’ll find you a lawyer, one who has your best interests at heart…”
“I’m not sure I can afford…”
“This is a small town. Do you know any lawyers?”
I did. And she would probably front me a favor if I could pay her later. Allison Redford ran her own law firm and she had recently gotten a puppy, who needed more walks than a full-time lawyer could handle on her own.
She would probably help me out if I asked her.
“I do.”
“I don’t want you getting into this without talking to someone who understand contracts and everything. And as much as I would love to help you out, you should have someone on your side that is neutral from me.”
My brow furrowed. “Contract?”
Sofia pulled out a folder. “It’s all laid out in here. The contract. A business plan. And an outline of how I see the next year going.”
I reached out for the folder. “You’re like…really serious about all of this.”
“I am. You highlight curvy women in a positive light, and you do it without shame or fear. I want to promote that. I want to promote you. And I want you to dress me. It’s all selfish really. And meeting you, I’m more sure than ever.”
I lifted my coffee cup, staring at the red folder like it might bite me. I took a couple more swallows. “Do you have a silver platter in your purse?”
“I’m not offering anything easy, Cassia. This is going to mean a lot of long nights and tons of work.”
“I have two other jobs.”
She blinked at me. “Two other jobs?! How are you still standing on your feet?”
“I was actually just realizing I can’t keep doing it all and I was going to put the clothing line aside.”
Sofia grinned. “Then my timing is perfect.”
“I have bills to pay. I can’t just stop working to do this and pray I make some money.”
“You won’t have to pray. You’re going to make money. And there is discussion about your salary in there as well. If you do this with me, you won’t need your other jobs. And I know you’re going to hit it big. You’ll just be doing what you love.”
“Sofia, this is crazy. You know nothing about me. What if I’m some lazy…”
“You work two jobs and have your own clothing line, little or not, I can only imagine what you do with your free time. I’m picturing lots of zzz’s and a body pillow to curl up with. I’d bet you’re too busy to have a boyfriend. Too busy to be hanging out with your friends even. I’m not worried about your work ethic.”
“I wish I could say you’re wrong, but my friends don’t even bother to ask me out anymor
e and I haven’t even thought about dating. I want my clothing line to be a success, but I’ve just about hit rock bottom with it. I can’t keep up and manage any sort of sanity.”
“Then take that packet. Talk to a lawyer and hang out with me while we put together a line for the fashion show in three weeks. In fact, let’s grab your designs and go back to my family’s estate. We’ll have some cocktails and some fun. You’ll see that I’m a normal spoiled princess but I’m a good one. And I’m just as hard working as you are.”
I shook my head. “You’re crazy.”
“I am. You’ll love that about me too.”
5
Chris
I connected to the conference call for Davenport Investments and propped my feet up on my grandfather’s desk as Nash started the meeting. I immediately tuned everything out.
I wasn’t in the mood for a conference call and check in. I knew he would’ve preferred for a face-to-face conference, where he could berate me in person, but I had no intention of flying back to Chicago any time soon.
I’d been working two jobs for months, and I’d been half-assing the one I did for my father. I had no desire to work for him. But he never wanted to hear what I had to say, and he certainly didn’t trust me to do the job he gave me in the first place.
The only reason he kept me on the Davenport Investments payroll was because I was his last hope.
Theo worked for the company, but he also worked for a bunch of different high-end companies. He was their infrastructure security. He knew computers inside and out. And he didn’t care about stocks, bonds, or any sort of investment opportunities and her certainly didn’t care about buying companies out and restructuring or selling the parts off.
Sofia had been singing since she was a kid. She might’ve had the head for numbers and understood what it took to keep a business afloat, but she wasn’t interested in running the family business either.
And James doubled down as an engineer and an architect because he was an overachiever. His specialty didn’t really have any value to Davenport Investments as James like to build things. There just wasn’t enough hands-on in the investing world.
My father wanted me to follow in his footsteps. Take on the family legacy. But it had no soul, no heart. And I had no interest.
But the venture I did want, no one in my family would understand.
I picked up a pen and a pad of paper and started doodling. As the pen moved across the paper, the curvy hips, voluptuous breasts, and wild dark curls started to take a familiar shape. Before I knew it, the pumpkin spiced latte pinup was staring up at me.
I recognized her instantly that afternoon. Cassia had been one of my few regrets in life. I’d liked her a lot, maybe even…
It didn’t matter. She hated me and had every reason to. I blew it seven years ago. And I knew no amount of apologizing or explanation would make up for what I’d pulled.
Cassia had been the first girl to really like me, not my status or my good looks. Being a Davenport in Jubilee Falls meant I had a lot of doors open to me just because of my name. We were the founding family. On top of that, the Davenports fortune had only grown since Jubilee and Bartholomew Davenport landed in Nebraska. My grandfather was a self-made billionaire. Which only meant that my siblings and I were practically royalty and we were always the most sought-after bachelors and bachelorette when we were in town. But to the town’s dismay, none of us had married.
Cassia didn’t treat me like royalty. In fact, she didn’t even really acknowledge my existence. It wasn’t until we bonded over art that she started to come around. No one had ever seen my work. Not before her. When I showed her my other sketches, for the first time, I came to life. She was excited and nearly breathless over some of them. She talked to me about her own passions and showed me her clothing designs. Fashion was lost on me, but the beauty of her designs wasn’t.
The beauty of Cassia wasn’t either.
I’d never wanted someone so badly. I chased her and she let me catch her at last at the end of that summer.
When I saw her after I’d caused the eruption of coffee, everything spun out of control in my head. I never expected to see her again. I didn’t even think she would be in Jubilee Falls anymore.
“Christopher, are you there?”
My feet fell off the desk and I leaned forward to take the phone off mute. “Yes, I’m here.”
“Have you heard from Cavanaugh yet?” I could hear the annoyance in Nash’s voice.
“No, not yet. But I’m not worried.”
“And why not? Trask Industries is moving in. Do you even know what their offer is yet?”
Trask was moving in on my deal? When the hell had that happened?! And how did Nash know about it before me?
“Chris?” Nash prompted.
I sighed. “I don’t have all those details for you yet.”
“Excuse me, gentlemen, while I sidebar with my son.”
Great. Now he was talking to everyone like he was going to give his toddler son a lecture about behaving while daddy was working.
“Chris, did you read any of the emails I sent to you? Trask is making a serious move. We need to get in there. Call Cavanaugh immediately. You’re making me look like a fool.”
I gritted my teeth. “Cavanaugh is my deal. If it goes south, that’s on me.”
“It’s on me because I put you in charge of it, after you told me you could handle it on your own. I should’ve put Thompson on it.”
“Nash, I can handle fucking Trask. Just let me deal with it. I’ll have an update for you in twenty-four hours.”
“This deal is too important. You’re off it. Take that damned vacation you wanted to take. Go to Bora Bora or whatever and figure out what the hell you’re doing. And stop wasting my time.”
The call went dead.
He’d hung up on me. I should’ve jumped right back on the phone and called Cavanaugh to pull together any shred of proof that I could handle the job. Instead, I headed out of the office and downstairs.
Nash wanted me to take a vacation and I wanted to work on my real passion project, one that was close to bringing me my first multi-million deal. Seemed like perfect timing to me.
Theo was having breakfast with Sofia at the bar counter. I snatched a piece of bacon off his plate.
“Animal,” he scolded.
I chuckled.
“I heard dad yelling at you, is everything okay?” Sofia asked.
I pulled the orange juice out of the fridge. “Were you standing outside the door?”
“Just walking by. I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop. It’s not like I care,” Sofia sneered.
“I’m disappointing him as usual, so it’s not like it’s news.”
Theo rolled his eyes. “You love it when you’re disappointing dad.”
“Nash is easy to disappoint.”
“Not this again,” Sofia whined. “I hate it when you call him Nash.”
“Why don’t you just quit?” Theo asked.
I glanced over at him. “Why don’t you just marry Allison already?”
His eyes narrowed. “Allison and I are just friends.”
“Your best friend left her at the altar essentially, and now Allison is your friend and you haven’t talked to Dean since he dumped her.”
“Turns out Dean doesn’t have any integrity. Allison is a much better friend. Lay off.”
“Then lay off me.”
“Deal.” Theo went back to his eggs and bacon.
I could still feel Sofia’s eyes on me. “You should just quit.”
“And prove Nash right?”
“And do something you care about.”
I grabbed my glass of orange juice and a pancake off the pile fresh from the griddle and headed outside to clear my head.
* * *
I spent the day roaming around town. I took a hike by the falls, around where the summer camp used to be. I couldn’t shake Cassia. By the time I got back to the estate it was dark.
I heade
d in through the front door and up the stairs, intent on avoiding anyone in the family. Music caught my attention, and then I heard a giggle. Sofia’s giggle. I wandered through the house until I found her in our grandmother’s walk-in closet. The room was essentially the size of a bedroom. There were fainting couches and mirrors everywhere. Not to mention the wall of shoes and three more walls of clothes for every occasion and season.
I leaned in the doorway, watching. Sofia was sitting on one of the couches looking gleeful, like a child on Christmas morning. I lifted my gaze past her to find Cassia strutting like a model in nothing but a pair of capris and a crop top that only accented her full breasts and the wide curves of her hips. Cassia wasn’t an hourglass shape, she was more round through the middle, but I loved every curvy inch of her body. My mouth went dry and my cock hardened. She looked gorgeous, especially with her hair down in wild curls.
Cassia spun around and froze when she saw me. Sofia followed her gaze around until she spotted me.
“What are you doing here?” my sister asked.
I shrugged. “Bored. Thought I would see what everyone was up to tonight.”
“Theo is out with Allison, surprise, surprise. James is brooding somewhere. I’m just hanging out with Cassia. You remember Cassia?” She asked with a smirk, because she knew I knew her. I could see it all over her face. And I wondered if she put together that Cassia was the girl from camp.
Cassia waved, her hands slid over her middle, like she was considering covering up. But then she dropped her arms to her side and rolled her shoulders back, causing her chest to stick out a little more. My eyes dropped to her cleavage. I wished I could run my hands along the ample swells of her breasts. Or my tongue.
“Cassia, it’s a pleasure to see you.” I grinned. It was a grin I knew inspired lust in plenty of women.
Her cheeks grew red. It was good to know she wasn’t immune to me.
Sofia’s phone blared a song I didn’t recognize. “Oh. I need to take this. I’ll be right back.” She slipped past me into the hallway.
Billionaire Barista: Love Demands a Holiday Page 3