Double Bossed

Right. We were at my office and we were looking over the budget numbers for the boutique hotel project.

I frowned and shoved my hands into my pockets. “Yes. Well, I’m starting to worry.”

“Why?” Colten asked me. He tapped his fingers on the construction hat, and the repeating sounds made me even more irritated.

“Will you stop that?” I snapped at him. “It’s driving me crazy.”

“Geez, somebody got up on the wrong side of the bed,” Colten remarked.

I snorted. If only he knew just how wrong that was.

“I’m starting to worry that I won’t be able to give Alexandra the money she wants to make the project profitable,” I said to Grant and Colten.

Grant looked at me curiously. “Why do you think so?”

“Well, Alexandra has high-end taste and a big vision for the hotel. I understand that and I support it, because I also want the best for it, but I’m not sure we would be able to go through with it.”

“Hey, man. You always worry needlessly. If everything is going well so far, I think we can manage to get all the money we need, no matter how expensive it is,” Grant—always the relaxed one—tried to reassure me.

“That’s right,” Colten agreed with Grant. “After all, even if we need the loan, I’m sure we could repay it and earn a lot more by the end of the year.”

“Colten is right. Besides, these numbers right now aren’t bad. We can reach out to a few more sponsors, pitch them this project and see what kind of response we can get. I have a few of them in mind, and if you want, I can contact them.”

“That would be great,” I said, counting on him. “I believe in Alexandra’s judgment, and I would like her to be able to decorate it to the best of her ability.”

“Okay, guys. I’m leaving now,” Colten said and got up. “There is a lot more things to do in the field, so I’ll see you later.”

He waved at us and got out of my office. I looked at the numbers data on my screen, still feeling a bit tense about the project. I didn’t want to disappoint Alexandra. I’d told her I believed in her judgment and to use as much money as she needed. I wanted to stay true to my word.

“Oliver,” Grant started, looking at me seriously. “You seem unusually interested to make this project work.”

“That’s because I am interested in making it work.”

“It seems to me that you aren’t interested in this project only, but in that interior designer chick too.”

Shit. He’d already noticed, huh?

I decided to be straightforward with him. “That’s because I’m...” I exhaled, feeling unusually anxious now. “I’m interested in Alexandra Harris more than any other girl before.”

“Oh?” Grant smirked now, his all-knowing eyes telling me what I’d already known—he’d been there and he was now married to that woman.

“She is smart, passionate, beautiful, and she loves her work. From the moment I saw her there was something different about her, and even now—when I’m supposed to focus on my work—I keep thinking about her. The way she makes me feel... Shit, man, I can’t even describe it. I bet I sound like a pussy now.”

Grant laughed and tapped me on my back in support. “Don’t worry, I understand you completely. Been there, done tha

t. She is that special, huh?”

I exhaled again. “Yes. Actually, I might be falling for her. I mean I took her virginity.”

Now that I admitted this I felt a kind of scared, because I’d never felt something like this in my life. This was completely new for me, but I couldn’t resist it. Alexandra Harris was everything I’d ever wanted in a woman and she was driving me crazy. I just hoped she felt the same toward me. I needed her. What we had had barely even begun, and I wanted to have her again and again—in my bed and in my life too.

Grant’s reaction wasn’t what I’d expected at all. He just smiled to my confession and said, “Hell man, I think that deserves a toast. Grant Junior will get a friend to play with very soon.”

14

Alexandra

Once again I tried to concentrate on the hotel project at the office, looking at the documents on my computer screen, but I couldn’t. All I could think about was being with Oliver again. What happened this morning at his place was something else entirely. It opened my eyes. It made me realize I’d been missing out on life.