First Comes Loathe (Blue Collar Bensons 1)

“All right,” Keith broke in. “I think Ronnie and Mickie have something they want to talk to us about, so let’s listen up.”

Mickie shot him a dopey eyed, grateful smile as Ronnie said, “Thank you. At least one of my brothers isn’t a complete moron.”

“Hey!” JP said, mouth still full as though he wasn’t the worst offender.

“Anyway…” Ronnie rolled her eyes. “Mickie and I have an idea to run by you. It’s something we’re very serious about so try to act your ages for a few moments, okay?”

Keith gave his woman a curious look as she winked at him. Though he’d tried every trick in his book to get her to blab, she’d been unusually secretive about her time spent with Ronnie.

“You have our compete attention,” he said.

“Thank you,” Mickie said. “Okay, guys, here it is. Ronnie and I recently purchased the old campground at the base of the mountain. We plan to turn it into luxury cabin rentals, and we’d like your help. Our hope is for this to become a family business that we can maintain for generations.”

Silence met her words. The rest of his brothers looked at Mickie and Ronnie as if they’d lost their minds, but Keith could only hear one phrase repeating in his mind.

Family business.

Though he’d long ago put aside his fears of Mickie leaving, hearing her include herself in business with his family made his heart soar.

“Fuck, I love you,” he whispered to her. “More each day. I’m in,” he announced.

She turned to him with a playful smile. “You haven’t even heard a single detail yet.”

With a shrug he said, “Doesn’t matter. If you’re in, I’m in.”

Her answering smile said it all. They’d be looking at each other like that for the rest of their lives.

“WELL, HOW NICE for you, bro, but I’m gonna need a little more info here,” Jagger said. “I mean, what the hell do you know about luxury anything, Ron? Your idea of glamour and luxury is using the Chapstick that costs three dollars instead of ninety-five cents.”

Mickie hid her chuckle as Ronnie stuck her tongue out at her brother. Doing business with his crew would be an experience like no other, but she had no doubts it would not only be a profitable and satisfying operation, but an extremely fun adventure as well.

“That’s where I come in,” Mickie said before the conversation could devolve into a full-on sibling war. “I do know luxury. And I’ve been working toward a design certification.” She handed each person at the table a stack of papers. “Jimmy and Ian, I’ve emailed these documents to you. It lays out our business plan in great detail. Basically, we want to use Jagger to renovate all of the cabins.”

She gave them all a minute to sift through the papers and get an idea of what she and Ronnie had laid out.

“If you look at page five,” Ronnie said, “You’ll see a market trend for this area. It’s been drawing a huge crowd of extremely wealthy individuals during the ski months. The resorts and hotels in this area are basic. We think we could capitalize on this and create a resort experience far above what the area offers.”

“Huh,” Jagger said as he turned the page. “You two have really done your work here, haven’t you?”

“We have,” Mickie said. “It’ll be a lot of work. A ton, really. We aren’t under any illusions that this will be easy, or cheap. But I have the money and there isn’t anything I’d rather invest in than a business with this family.”

Keith squeezed her hand, which had her glancing down at him. He stared up at her with so much love in his gaze, she couldn’t help but feel all warm and squishy inside.

“Jimmy and Ian, I know you guys will have to make decisions soon about whether you’re going to re-up or not, so we thought this would be a good time to let you know you have an option here if you decide to go the civilian route.” Ronnie spoke to the computer. She’d make a terrible actress. The poor girl didn’t stand a chance at hiding the nerves or hopeful look on her face.

Mickie on the other hand, steeled her expression though her insides rivaled Ronnie’s outside anxiety. “We don’t expect an answer from anyone today. We want you to look over what we’ve proposed then decide what if any role you’d like to play. How about you guys take the week, and we’ll do this again next Saturday?”

“Pfft,” JP said as he tossed his papers down on the table. “Hey, you know me. I’m game for anything. I’m in.”

No surprise there. JP’s endorsement was never in question. The guy would literally jump off the roof if they asked him to. Nothing got him riled and the word serious didn’t exist in his vocabulary.