For 100 Reasons (100 3)

Our breakfast will be cold, but I don’t care. I can’t even mourn the phenomenal cup of coffee I won’t be drinking after all.

Not when I have Nick’s promise to hold on to and his arms wrapped around me.

Right now there is nothing more I need.

Chapter 13

I’m still thinking about Avery when my personal attorney Andrew Beckham walks into my office and sets a stack of contracts and a rolled up blueprint on my desk.

I glance at the cover page on the papers, then look up at Beck. “The deal on the Australian high-rise cleared?”

He nods, looking smugly confident. “You told me to look for cracks in the regulatory code that was obstructing the sale. Well, I found one.”

Intrigued, I lean back in my chair as he takes a seat on the other side of the desk from me. I’ve worked with Beck for years, consider him my best friend in many ways. With his rich brown skin and arresting pale green eyes, he’s the kind of guy who turns female heads every time he walks in the room. But behind the knife-edge cheekbones and smooth-as-silk smile is one of the sharpest minds I’ve ever encountered.

Fortunately for me, he works for Baine International.

“The current tower already exceeds new height restrictions that were passed a few years ago,” he explains. “Because we’re planning extensive renovations and expansion of the existing footprint, our request to be grandfathered in under the old regulation was denied.”

“Which is why we agreed we wouldn’t build up,” I remind him. “But our team on the ground in Melbourne seemed pretty convinced last night in our conference call that our hands were going to be tied on any kind of expansion.”

“They were right.” Beck’s mouth starts to curve, lifting the corners of his trim goatee. “But we can sidestep the regulations if we incorporate a new community area into our plans.”

I frown, already considering our options. “You’re talking about building a small park or playground for the building?”

Beck nods. “It’ll add to the overall cost of the project, but we’ll recoup it in less than ten years simply based on the current building revenue. Plus, we’ll be improving the quality of life for the residents.”

“Good work.” I pick up my pen and scribble my signature on the agreements. “Now we just have to figure out how to make it happen.”

He chuckles. “You mean you have to figure it out. I just connect dots and push paper, my friend.”

We both pause when my assistant, Lily Fontana, appears in the open doorway. “Excuse me for interrupting. Nick, there’s a job foreman from a YMCA construction site in New Jersey on the phone. He says he just received a shipment of drawer pulls and cabinet knobs delivered to him and he’s not sure what to do with them.”

Beck and I exchange a confused look. “Why’s he calling us?”

“Because the shipment is addressed to you. It was supposed to be delivered to the recreation center job site. The supplier sent it to the wrong place.”

“What do we have on site now?”

Lily’s face blanches a little. “Um, nothing. I checked with our site

foreman before I bothered you. Rudy says no one realized the parts hadn’t arrived yet. Someone checked them off the punch list by mistake.”

I don’t hold back the harsh curse that rips off my tongue. The rec center is the first thing I’ve actually built from the ground up, not acquired and improved or torn down to start again. It’s personal. More important to me than anything I’ve ever done in business before.

So even a minor fuck up like this matters.

“Have Rudy order the parts again. I’ll pick them up myself if I have to.”

“He’s already tried to get some more delivered. They’re on backorder. They won’t be in until next month.”

“Unbelievable. More than a million in kitchen equipment installed in that place but no one bothered to look at the cabinets? Jesus Christ.” I rake a hand over my head. “Tomorrow we’re going to have a couple dozen reporters out there on a private press tour ahead of the ribbon-cutting in a few days. Are you telling me there’s a chance we won’t have any hardware on the drawers or cabinets?”

“I’ll go pick them up from the New Jersey location,” Lily offers.

“No. That’s all right,” I tell her. Even though she’s always willing to go above and beyond, this is my problem to handle. “I’ll make sure the parts get to the site. I want to walk through again by myself before the press descends on the place anyway.”

She frowns. “Sorry, Nick.”