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“Landry?”
“Yes?”
“Do you have a boyfriend?”
Even though the room was a decent size as far as conference rooms went, it suddenly felt like it’d shrunk half in size. Rush was no longer pussyfooting around his attraction for me, and…I mean, everyone should update their resumé regularly, right?
Shaking that thought away, I decided to get serious for a moment. No matter how hot this man was, I’d never risk my job for dick. No matter how much I hated Bryant Stanton, I valued my worth ethic more. I took pride in my reputation as a well-respected auditor, and if I slept with Rush Crawford, all my credibility would be shot to shit. Even if Bryant didn’t fire me, my integrity would be discredited, and that was one regret that I didn’t want in my life.
So, looking him in those emerald-colored eyes of his, I said, “That’s none of your business, Mr. Crawford.”
Rush leaned back in his seat, eyeing me carefully. I wasn’t sure what he saw, but his intense stare was enough to make me want to fidget a bit. Whatever was happening right now, it was important. If I didn’t know better, I’d say that he was deciding whether I was worth the fight or not. However, that was stupid because this man didn’t have tofightfor female companionship. He could probably pull up the contacts on his phone and just pick a number.
Finally, he asked, “What happened to Rush?”
“You asked me a personal question,” I quickly answered. “That’s what happened.”
Not making this easy, he said, “I want you, Ms. Novak. I want you, and I’m not going to pretend that I don’t.”
Going with honesty and crossing all kinds of professional boundaries, I said, “And as flattered as I am, my job is more important to me than random dick, Mr. Crawford.”
The man leaned forward in his chair, and it was hard for me not to squirm. “And what makes you think that I’m looking for something random, Ms. Novak?”
I refused to let him intimidate me. “Because you’re Rush Crawford,” I replied easily. “What else could you possibly be looking for?”
“If I was looking for random, do you honestly think that I’d hit on a woman that could lose her job over her association with me?” he challenged.
“Since I know nothing about you, I very well don’t know the answer to that question,” I fired back. “For all I know, there could be a line a mile long out the unemployment offices thanks to you.”
Rush arched a brow, the sexiest smirk that I’d ever seen playing on his lips. “Well, you won’t be auditing Grandland Hotels forever, Ms. Novak.”
“That still doesn’t mean that I’m interested in dating, Mr. Crawford,” I told him, though that wasn’t necessarily true. I had nothing against dating as long as it was with a guy that wasn’t too clingy. I worked too much to deal with clingy.
Rush stood up, buttoning his suit jacket, that smirk still on his face. “Fair warning, Ms. Novak?” I nodded. “Once this audit is over, I’m coming for you.”
Sweet freakin’ Baby Jesus.
Chapter 8
Rush~
Istayed away from Landry for two whole fucking weeks, and I felt like I was going to lose my goddamn mind. Last week had been because of an emergency in Atlanta, and even though Preston normally oversaw things when I was away, because of his association with Davis Courtney, I had assigned Jim Tully to supervise the Grandland Hotels audit. He had emailed me daily with updates, and it really was beginning to look like Davis was just fucking stupid. Rather than sacrifice some of his company luxuries, he had allowed all the corporate higherups to continue to spend as if Grandland Hotels had been their own personal bank accounts. Travel had remained in first class, business dinners had continued to be booked at the most expensive restaurants in town, and the gas cards had continued to be charged to the max like it was nothing.
As for this past week, I had stayed away because I couldn’t trust myself around Landry anymore. I had acted like the worst kind of sonofabitch in Atlanta, and all because I’d been away from her. The insanity of it all also wasn’t lost on me, but it was what it was. Whatever spell that Landry Novak had cast on me, it’d been a powerful one and still was.
When I’d asked her if she had a boyfriend, I had immediately realized my mistake. Because I’d overheard her plotting Stanton’s death and/or accident, I had jumped to the conclusion that her job might not be that important to her. While she seemed to know way more than Bryant Stanton did, I still hadn’t realized how much she liked or needed her job. I had pushed her into a corner, and she had escaped smoothly and professionally.
However, that was all irrelevant now because the audit was over. The close-out preliminary reports had been submitted, and I’d already spoken with Preston about them. Under the right management, Grandland Hotels could easily make a profit. Davis Courtney had simply lost his way, spending more time enjoying his company’s profits, rather than putting in the work to keep those profits consistent. I mean, while I didn’t fault people for enjoying their wealth, if you were spending it faster than you were making it, then that’s when it became a problem.
I’d also spoken to Preston about what to do with Davis. He obviously couldn’t be trusted in any managerial position, but he was also a man that was accustomed to a certain lifestyle. While Crawford Industries paid well, only top executives got paid enough to go to the Bahamas every other month. Whatever we did with Davis Courtney, his family’s lifestyle was going to change dramatically, which concerned me. Yeah, Preston wasn’t a pushover, but I could see Davis asking for more favors in the future. I was going to have to put him somewhere out of Preston’s reach.
“Hey, it’s quitting time.”
I looked up to see my brother standing in the doorway of my office. “It’s never quitting time,” I quipped. “How else do you think we manage to sustain all this shit?”
Preston grinned as he walked further into my office. “Look, I know you keep saying that it’s okay, but I really do want to thank you for helping me out with Grandland Hotels.”
Since it was already close to seven, there was no need for Preston to shut the door to my office. Even if there were people still working on the other floors, this floor only housed me, Preston, our secretaries, a breakroom, two conference rooms, one set of restrooms, and three of my VPs that I knew were already gone for the day.
