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“Please.”
As he carried her bag from the restaurant into the kitchen to put it in the fridge, Kaylee walked across the hardwood floor, and with each step, the view became more magnificent as the Mississippi filled her vision.
She’d never been so high this close to the river, and she was able to take in an entire swath of the mighty flow. “I had no idea it looked like this, and it seems to go on forever.”
He joined her. “Bonds suggested I look at this condo. One of his friends was the developer. Of course, I refused because I didn’t have the funds at the time.”
Another peek at the man she worked for.
“No one gets away with telling Bonds no. He insisted I at least take a tour while it was still under construction. At the point the real estate agent brought me up here, the place was really rough, not much more than studs and beams. There’s something about wearing a hardhat that makes it difficult to envision the finished project, even with blueprints and artist’s renderings. But when I saw this panorama…”
“You had to have it,” she guessed.
“Yeah. Wasn’t an option.”
Intrigued, hungry for more information even though she was being nosy, she looked at him. “So how did you manage it?”
“The ridiculous number of millions of dollars, you mean?”
“I don’t mean to be so crass. But…” She was already this far in. “Yes.”
“Bonds was an investor in the building. And selling the penthouses for record-setting prices was a surefire way to garner interest in the property.”
“Makes for big headlines in the business news.”
“As well as feature articles. Bonds pointed out I could garner press that would refocus on my career rather than the loss of the family business.”
“Did it?”
“Bastard is astute.” He shrugged. “Anyway, it required loans. One from my grandmother and another from Bonds himself—at a fucking usurious rate,” he admitted. “Self-serving asshole.”
Something he had in common with the genius? “There’s a reason he’s a billionaire.”
“I worked my ass off to pay him back.”
“I’m curious how you’ve accomplished so much in so little time.”
“Are you?”
His tone was noncommittal. Part of her was surprised he hadn’t shut down the conversation. “You got my life story out of me earlier. Fair’s fair. And after all, your grandmother will expect that I know your history.”
A small smile toyed with his lips. “Now you’re playing the Gran card?”
Saying that he wanted to keep his grandma happy had certainly worked to his advantage so far. “Again, fair’s fair.” She shrugged. “It’s effective; I have to admit.”
“Indeed it is. I’ll show you around.”
She followed him back to the entry.
“Let’s make you comfortable.”
Had he intentionally laced his words with sensuality? When she looked at him, desire was banked in his eyes. Who knew the man she thought of as cold actually possessed this kind of passion?
After she placed her purse on a table near the elevator doors, he helped her to remove her coat, which he hung in a closet alongside the blazer that he shrugged out of.
“I was going to offer you champagne, but for the room I want to show you, something warm might be better.”
His comment intrigued her. “Oh?”
