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CHAPTER18
Chase
“Oh, sorry,” I murmured as I ran into Brooke in the office hallway. We did the awkward dance of trying to get around each other, Brooke smiling, before we slipped by each other.
Her perfume was like a drug. I wanted to turn around and follow her to get another hit, but I stuck to where I was going.
I made it back to my desk with my coffee and sat down with a heavy sigh. Today was a slow day, a rarity, so I didn’t have as much to fill my head. But owning a casino and having a lot of other assets meant my to-do list never ended.
I forced myself to focus, getting through emails and reports at a steady clip. At some point, Brooke came in, her notepad in hand. She was wearing a dress today instead of a blouse and skirt. Something about it gave her sexy librarian vibes, my ultimate weakness. Maybe it was the prim collar or the fact that she was wearing her glasses today. But it was a lot right now, especially when I was trying harder than ever to resist her.
“Can I check in with you?” she asked. “I have a few reports to go over.”
“Of course. Come in.” I gestured for her to sit.
Thankfully, she left the door open. She sat down, a furrow in her brows, and handed me some papers. Or tried to. Our fingers brushed, and she got startled, fumbling with the papers. I managed to catch them before they went everywhere.
“Sorry! I’m such a klutz today,” she said, her cheeks taking on a pink tinge.
“It’s fine.” Had she been rattled by that little point of contact? I wondered how’d she react if I touched her somewhere else. Her shoulder? Her hip?
She gave me updates on a few key metrics we were tracking, namely our inflow of customers. Ever since the incident where the criminals were caught, everything took an abrupt shift. We had fewer people coming in, and on top of that, the demographic skewed much older all of a sudden. It was worrying, to say the least. We didn’t expect this level of change, either.
“I have a business plan that I am putting together to provide you guys with some of my ideas to attract more guests. I also have to take notes on a call that Hunter is on,” Brooke said after we finished going through the metrics. “But I can help you more after.”
“It’s fine. You shouldn’t have to stay late every single night,” I said.
“I don’t mind.” She stood and smiled, making my cock twitch. “I like to think of it as making future Brooke’s life easier, y’know?”
“That’s a good way of thinking about it.” I smiled, too.
“See you soon.” Brooke nearly tripped over the chair as she left.
Once she was gone, the light in the room felt dimmer. I ran my hand down my face and over my beard. How was I going to continue to resist her if even the simplest action related to her job made me feel like my heart was going to take flight in my chest while my cock hardened to granite?
Just as I got into my work again, someone else knocked on my slightly open door.
“Yes?” I stamped down my hope that it was Brooke. But it was Trevor, someone in the marketing department. He was from the previous management, and overall, not bad at his job. It was a shame, because something about him didn’t sit right with me.
“I wanted to talk to you about that report on the inflow of customers?” Trevor came in and shut the door. He was tall and wiry, like a long-distance runner, and always seemed like he was coiled tight and ready to go. “It’s troubling, isn’t it?”
“It is.” I raised an eyebrow. “But we have ups and downs. The demographic shift is different, but that’s where your department comes in. We can reach younger people and fix this. It won’t be immediate, but it’ll work out.”
Trevor crossed his arms over his chest. “I don’t think it’s that simple. The number of patrons has taken a complete nosedive. It’s terrible.”
Trevor’s agitation seemed like more than just worrying about the situation. It was like he’d been personally attacked by the younger crowd not coming in. But why? The dip in customers put us at about the baseline of where the casino had been under the old management.
But I kept that to myself and said, “Then you and your team should put together a marketing plan to reach new customers, since you’re so concerned. Get it to me by the end of the week.”
Trevor mulled over my words for a few moments, a muscle in his jaw twitching. “Okay. I will. We’ll turn it around. Can we get more of a budget? I’m talking double.”
“Put together your pitch, and I’ll consider it.” I glanced at the door pointedly. “You’re dismissed.”
Trevor turned on his heel and left, almost in a huff.
I wrote down Trevor’s name on my to-do list and starred it. Everyone had passed a background check, but who knew what else was going to pop up if I dug deeper?
I worked through to the end of the day, people leaving and saying goodbye to me as they passed my office. The office got quieter and quieter as the sun turned golden, streaming through the windows. I got up and stretched my legs, heading to get another cup of coffee from the break room. The cubicles had cleared out, and even Hunter’s and Lucas’s offices were empty.
