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“Yeah, just want to run something past you.”
“Shoot.”
“In order to tell you my plan, I need to start from the beginning.”
“I’m listening,” he says, and by the tone of his voice, I know he’s concentrating on nothing but our conversation.
“Jase sent me here to look over the place and look at the numbers. As you know, the first week I was here, they were dragging their feet, and all I had to do was experience the hotel, and watch things like capacity, cleanliness stuff like that.”
“I’m with you,” he tells me. “I’m surprised that you didn’t come on home and have them send the numbers to you,” he adds.
I’m getting there, brother. “During that time, I’ve had dinner each night in the hotel restaurant.” I pause, not really sure how to say this next part. “I met someone,” I say, just tossing the words out there. “She’s a waitress,” I’m quick to add. “I barely know her, except from what I’ve observed and what she’s told me, but I can’t stop thinking about her. Hell, it just about tore me to pieces inside to say goodbye to her last night knowing she was staying in her shitty apartment in her even shittier neighborhood.”
There’s a long pause, and I’m about to keep rambling when Royce finally asks, “What do you need from me?”
His acceptance of my feelings for Layla sends relief washing over me. “I know it’s crazy, but I had an idea. She’s had a rough life. No family except for a man and a woman who run the restaurant at the hotel who kind of adopted her into theirs. I want better for her.”
“It’s more than that,” Royce calls me out.
I nod even though he can’t see me. “It is. I’m not ready to let her go yet.” The words come out in a rush as if I’m releasing a secret out into the world.
“I felt like that once.”
I swallow hard. “I know.”
“Tell me what I can do, Owen.”
“I want to give her a job. She’s not had any experience, but she’s smart, and I know she can learn. I was thinking that maybe she can be a back-up for Sawyer. I know you hate that she works so much now that she’s taken on more duties from each of us, not just you. I thought maybe they could job share or something? Or maybe she can be Sawyer’s assistant? Fuck, Royce, I don’t really know. What I do know is that I’ve never had this kind of reaction to a woman, and the thought of leaving her here when I come home is tearing me up inside.”
“Done. It helps you keep your girl, and it gives mine some breathing room. I want kids, and the way she’s been working, she’ll never agree. This works in both of our favors. You think that you can convince her to come with you?”
“I don’t know.”
“Do what you have to do. I’ll fill Sawyer and the guys in, and you bring her home. We’ll make it happen.”
“Thanks,” I say, choking up. “I don’t know if I can convince her to stay with me, so I’m going to have to maybe find her a place to stay.”
“Done. She can stay at Sawyer’s apartment. Her lease isn’t up for another three months. You can renew, or maybe she’ll move in with you by then.”
“You sure?”
“Yes. It’s just sitting there. I know Sawyer isn’t going to care. Hell, she’s going to love having another woman around.”
“I’ve got my work cut out for me convincing her.”
“Offer her a generous salary, one she can’t refuse. You’re the numbers guy. You know we can afford to do it. Besides, it sounds like she might be a Riggins soon anyway.”
“Whoa, no one is talking marriage here.”
“Not yet.” He chuckles. “I’ve been in your shoes recently, and I know that fighting it is useless. Bring her home. I want to meet her. She has a job here as long as she needs it.”
“Thanks, Royce.”
“It’s your company too. This is our legacy, Owen. I know you wouldn’t do anything to harm that. You trust her. She’s in. That’s it.”
“You trusted Jennifer.”
“Yeah, and I fucked up. I’d like to think that you and those other three loons we call brothers learned something from my mistake. However, if it turns out that this girl— What’s her name?”
“Layla.” Her name rolls off my tongue like a caress.
“—if Layla turns out to be a mistake like my ex-wife, we’ll handle it together. You’re not in this alone.”
“You make it sound like I’m going to war.”
“You are, but the battlefield is your heart. Keep me posted, and I’ll get things set up on my end. I think we’ll put Sawyer in the small conference room. Turn it into an office. If I thought I could get away with moving her into mine, I would. But we both know my fiancée isn’t going to go for that. Anyway, we’ll convert the small conference room that we never use into an office and put Layla at the front desk.”
