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“Not too bad this morning, sir. We should be there with plenty of time.”
“Thanks.” I try to read my email from Jocelyn, our functions manager, who is also my second cousin. Her grandfather Lenny was my grandfather’s brother. Although, being related is a curse when we can’t stand each other. Blood doesn’t necessarily make you a big happy family.
I can’t be bothered to reply to her right now, because I don’t have time to put up with the twenty minutes of emails bouncing back and forth when she doesn’t agree with any of the answers I give her.
Instead, I choose to take a few moments to just get my thoughts together. They got turned upside down for a while this morning by a certain attractive whirlwind. I can’t decide what part of her was the most appealing. Her stunning looks or the spirit that she obviously has deep inside her that infuriated me and had fire erupting in me, wanting to bite back at everything she said. Either way, it doesn’t matter, because I’ll likely never see her again. But she sure made an interesting start to my Friday.
The car now pulling up in the front of our corporate head office right in Central London has me sighing with relief that I am here in plenty of time. I hate to be late anywhere. I look out the car window at my office building that is part of my property portfolio. It is easier to run a global chain of hotels from an independent location rather than from one of the actual hotels. You are taking up valuable floorspace that could be used for rooms and visitors to keep the income flowing. And that is all that the board cares about. Besides, there are things that get done in the corporate offices that don’t need to be shared in the establishments until we are ready for them to know.
Today is the perfect example. I’ve been wanting to reveal this to the board for some time, but I had to wait for them to learn to trust in me and my abilities. Judgment’s been high, and they thought they could wear me down to become a yes man, or worse still, to walk away.
Their mistake!
With Flynn standing beside me as my right-hand man, not once have I backed down in what I believe in. Not sure they knew what hit them when I arrived off the plane unexpectedly.
Walking through the foyer on my way to the elevator, it’s always a string of constant good-mornings. My mother told me that manners are free, so use them widely. She would kill me if I didn’t reply to every single person who greets me. Although some mornings it’s little more than a grunt they get, but at least they get one.
Standing in the elevator with the doors closing, at the last moment I see a flash of red hair that disappears. It’s too late, the doors lock together, and we are heading up to my office. I shake my head. Surely it wasn’t her. I mean, I assume she was taking the subway like most commuters on that train were, so she wouldn’t have made it here this quickly. Besides, how many red-haired, pale-complexioned women live in the UK? I’m sure it’s thousands, so there’s no way it was her.
As my rational head kicks back in and the elevator reaches the top floor, I realize one important thing, though.
My heart started thumping and my cock gave a twinge when I caught the slightest glimpse of someone I thought may have been her.
Something about her captivated me, and I just can’t seem to shake it.
“Good morning, Nicholas. You have five minutes to change suits. The vultures are assembling.” Lucy holds her hands out for my briefcase as she follows behind me into my office.
“Morning, Lucy. Thank you.” I slip into the bathroom straight away. When I started here, I tried to get her to stop calling me Mr. Weston and start calling me Nic. She refused, but we finally settled on Nicholas. It’s what I call my semi-stuffy name. It’s very rare I use Nicholas because it sounds too formal, but the British are all about formality I learned very early on.
Reentering my office, I collect my laptop and files from my briefcase. It’s time to face the board. I don’t understand if I own this company why I need them, but it’s just how it is, and I can’t change the whole British way of doing business and its history—well, not today, anyway.
Striding down the corridor, I see Flynn standing to the side of the boardroom door. Spotting me, he gives me that smile that says,yeah, good luck.
“How are the moods today for the English gentlemen and the lady who is not so much a lady?” I ask, reaching my hand out to shake his.
“As per usual, she walked in there like she has a stick up her ass and a face like a fish, with those Botox lips. Then she threw her nose in the air like I’m not worth her attention. As for the men, they look like they all need to just take a sip of whiskey and chill the fuck out.” Flynn rolls his eyes at me.
“Ah, so a normal monthly board meeting then.” We both start laughing, and I motion to the door.
“Shall we enter the lion’s den and see if we can avoid being today’s meal?”
Following him through the door, the murmurs in the room go silent and all eyes are on me.
I see they got the memo. Change is in the air, and not one of them is happy about that thought.
At the end of the day, though, this is my business and I’ll do what I damn well please.
“Shall we begin?”
ChapterThree
VICTORIA
Normally I hate the push and shove of the train in the mornings. No one is happy to be here, and everyone just wants to get from A to B and get on with their day.
Today I don’t even notice the crazy around me.
Because I’m trying to work out what the hell just happened!
