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Chapter One
Kimberly
"Travis, I have a feelingwe’re going to regret this."
"Come on, Kimberly. You're usually the positive one out of the two of us."
"I know, but he's an ass. Demanding and self-absorbed."
"He's also the best man for the job," Travis countered.
I sighed. "I know." I'd voted for us to hire him, after all. I was with my cousin in our office—one of Chicago's newest and most sought-after hotels, the Maxwell Hotel. He owned it, and I was proud to work alongside him and my sister, Reese, to contribute to our family's legacy.
It was almost 5:00 p.m., and Drake had sent me no less than thirty-five emails today. The man hadn't even officially started the job. His last one took the cake.
Ms. Maxwell,
I demand complete cooperation. That's how I operate.
Well, guess what, asshole? You don't operate in a vacuum.
I have other people to reply towas what I wanted to write back, but that was no way to start a business relationship. Once he got here, I was going to explain how we did things in the Maxwell family.
"Are you going to be here tomorrow to welcome him?" I asked Travis, who yawned. I smiled sympathetically. My cousin had a small child at home and wasn't getting much sleep.
"Sure."
"If you want to sleep in, I'm happy to take over and explain how things are done here."
Travis pointed at me. "Your eyes flashed. You want to hand him his ass, don't you?"
"He kind of deserves it."
He chuckled. "Yeah, he does. But I'm going to be here and smooth things out. I’m going now. I don't want to leave Bonnie alone with Rose in the evening."
He was a very good father, and I loved him even more because of that.
"Go. I still have a couple of things to do before my date."
Travis laughed, getting up. "You're the only person I know who ever schedules a date where she works."
I cringed. "I just have a weird feeling, but I didn't want to cancel at the last minute because it's rude." I’d met the guy on an online dating site. I wasn't exactly feeling the chemistry between us, so I asked him to meet me at the bar upstairs. The logic was that if things were boring, I could always use work as an excuse to cut out early.
"On the other hand, I think it's an excellent idea. That way, Thomas can keep an eye on him." Thomas was our bartender.
"What did you do? Put the whole place on alert?"
"Something like that," Travis said. "Got to look after you and Reese."
"Oh, that's so sweet."
His eyes widened. "Damn, you used to give me shit about that."
"Yeah, but after spending so many years by myself in Paris, dating assholes, I realized how good it is when you have family willing to weed them out for you."
"Good to know," he said, coming to me and kissing my forehead before leaving my office.
I glanced at Drake's email again before minimizing the window. I wondered if he was already here at the hotel. We'd offered to put him up for a few nights until the apartment he rented was ready, but I couldn’t remember if he accepted or not. Human Resources handled all of that, thank God—fewer details I needed to deal with.
