The Project

CHAPTER10

“We’re gonna be late,” Andi pointed out as she placed the coffee that she’d picked up for Devyn on the nightstand before dropping down on his bed with a satisfied sigh and the extra bacon and egg sandwich that never failed to brighten her day.

“What are you doing here, Miss Dawson?” came the question from the bathroom as she pulled her iPad out of her bag and decided to see how things were going as she waited for the man that she really hoped was going to be done soon so that they could go over her new duties before they headed to the office.

“We talked about that,” Andi pointed out as she googled Hillshire Hotels to see how they were holding up after yesterday, only to swallow hard when she saw the first headline.

Hillshire Hotels was filing for bankruptcy.

“My apologies,” Devyn murmured as he plucked the iPad out of her hands and drew her attention to find him standing next to the bed, frowning down at the press release, while Andi found herself running her eyes over him, taking in his wet hair that looked like he’d combed it back with his fingers, to his freshly shaved jaw, and down to his muscular chest and well-defined abs that ended just above the unsnapped pants hanging loosely on his hips. “This went out last night,” he said, drawing her attention back to find him frowning.

“Makes sense,” Andi said, taking back her iPad so that she could read the article. “They were planning on selling the majority of their stock so that they didn’t go down with the hotel, which would have left them free to file bankruptcy without worry and-”

“Made the stock completely worthless,” Devyn finished for her, looking lost in thought as he grabbed his coffee off the nightstand and took a sip while she sat there, worrying her bottom lip between her teeth as she thought of something.

For a moment, she debated whether or not she should ask, but…

“Who would have benefitted from this deal?”

“Besides the Hillshire family and board members?” Devyn asked, reaching up to rub the back of his neck, the move doing interesting things to all those muscles in his chest. “I’ve been trying to figure that out.”

“Could it have been someone from Carta Hotels?” Andi asked, nibbling on her delicious sandwich.

“I have no fucking idea, but I plan on talking to Lucas to see what he thinks,” Devyn said, taking one last sip of his coffee before placing it back on his nightstand as she found herself wondering how someone who’d been working on a project for almost two years didn’t know that it was-

“It wasn’t him,” Devyn said, correctly reading her thoughts as he grabbed the egg sandwich that she picked up for him and took a bite. “He needed this deal to be perfect to get a spot on the board. Without it, he’s fucked.”

“So, my new job is to find out what went wrong?” Andi guessed since he still hadn’t exactly been forthcoming with details, which led her to believe that he was making this up as he went. Not that she was going to complain when it kept her out of the accounting department, because she definitely wasn’t. She just wanted to have some idea of what she was supposed to be doing.

“That’s part of it,” he said, finishing off his sandwich before shifting a questioning look at her. “How did you get in here?”

“I used my key,” Andi said, shifting her attention back to the article about Hillshire Hotels.

“You have a key?” Devyn asked as he made his way back to the bathroom.

“It makes my job easier,” she told him, wondering what was going to happen to Hillshire Hotels now that the news was out.

“And what job is that?” Devyn asked from the bathroom.

“I have no idea since you haven’t told me what I’m doing exactly. The only thing that you told me was that you needed help cleaning up this mess,” Andi reminded him as she turned off her iPad when she heard him walk back into the room.

“Then, I’ll explain on the way,” Devyn said, fixing his tie as he walked back into the room and grabbed his coffee.

“Will it involve the accounting department?” she asked, narrowing her eyes on him as she waited for an answer that wouldn’t end with her spending the next month looking for a new job.

Devyn sighed heavily as he reached over and helped her to her feet as he said, “So little trust.”

“That’s not really an answer,” Andi said as she carefully slipped her feet back into her shoes.

“It’s not in the accounting department,” Devyn said with a teasing smile as he led her into the living room and grabbed his bag before grabbing hers.

“You promise?” she asked when he opened the door for her.

“I promise,” Devyn said as they made their way to the elevator.

“So then, what is my job exactly,” Andi asked as she pressed the call button.

“Besides finding out who was behind this? I need to make sure that there aren’t any more surprises waiting for me so that the board doesn’t have any excuse not to renew my contract,” Devyn said as the elevator doors slid open and they stepped inside.

“How long do we have?” Andi asked as she hit the button for the lobby.

“Four months.”

Nodding slowly, she said, “That’s not really a lot of time.”

“No, it’s not,” Devyn murmured in agreement.

“So, what’s the plan?” she asked, not really sure how they were going to pull this off.

“Pray for a miracle.”

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