The Project

CHAPTER22

So many decisions, Lucas thought as he leaned back against the iron gate as he stared across the street at the large, rundown apartment building where the reason why he was forced to come up with another plan slept soundly.

Andi Dawson.

Christ, he’d never seen her coming, Lucas thought as he considered the small woman that had destroyed everything that he’d worked so hard for before shifting his attention to the black BMW parked only a few yards away. It had been so fucking simple, but he got lazy, and now, he had to go with Plan B. It would still end the same way, but it would take a little longer than he’d expected. Then again, maybe that was a good thing, Lucas thought, glancing back at the apartment building across the street.

Saint Devyn…

Christ, out of all the women that he’d sent to lure the bastard, the secretaries, assistants, and that fucking hooker, and the woman that had finally brought him to his knees was a small woman who had no fucking idea what she was getting herself into. At least this explained why Devyn was suddenly eager to take a tour of Carta Hotels’ holdings, Lucas thought, seeing the small woman that he’d planned on getting rid of in a whole new light.

This was perfect.

Absolutely fucking perfect.

* * *

“How much longer are youplanning on pouting?” Devyn asked the small woman hogging the pillow as she gave him the saddest fucking pout that he’d ever seen.

“That depends,” Andi said, adding a little sniffle at the end there as she continued toying with his fingers while he lay there, unable to take his eyes off her as he thought about the last two days and…

God, he wasn’t ready for it to end yet.

In a matter of hours, he was going to have to return to reality, but until then, he was going to focus on the only thing that mattered to him. He smiled when Andi released a shuddering sigh, clearly getting desperate at this point. When he leaned in and kissed her forehead, she muttered, “I have needs.”

Chuckling, Devyn said, “No,” as he pulled his hand free so that he could wrap his arm around her and pull her closer.

“But-”

“No work,” he said, closing his eyes as he lay there, savoring the feel of holding her in his arms while he could and…

“What are you doing?” Devyn couldn’t help but wonder when she wiggled and squirmed in his arms until she had her back pressed against him.

“Nothing,” Andi said, and if she hadn’t said that while reaching for something on the nightstand, her soft ass pressing against him and wiggling in a way that made it difficult to focus on anything else as the unmistakable sounds of papers rustling filled the otherwise quiet room, he probably would have believed her.

“This doesn’t feel like nothing,” Devyn said, not that he was complaining.

Far from it, Devyn thought, his lips found the back of her neck as his hand slid down her body and-

“So, I think I figured it out,” Andi said, already completely fucking lost in whatever was on the iPad that she’d managed to get her hands on as she rolled onto her back.

“What’s that?” Devyn asked, kissing her shoulder as his hand found her thigh and slowly trailed a path to her hip.

“How to make the board happy,” Andi said, making him frown.

“What are you talking about?” he asked, which had her shoving the iPad in his hands and sitting up so that she could reach over and swipe through whatever file that she was trying to show him as he lay there trying to figure out what she was talking about.

“While I was taking a look at Roman Palms Hotel’s files, I got curious about a few things, mostly about their off-months,” she began as he took the hint and sat up only to release a small grunt when she climbed between his legs and grabbed the iPad back out of his hands so that she could take over.

“Every hotel has off-peak months,” Devyn explained, wrapping his arms around her as she settled more comfortably against him.

“True, but Roman Palms Hotel also has off-months during peak months,” Andi quickly explained, making him frown.

“Roman Palms is our highest earner,” Devyn said, watching as she scrolled to a financial report.

“Yes, but it’s also losing money,” Andi said, pointing to the figures. “These are peak months for the hotels within a ten-mile radius, but Roman Palms’ occupancy is down by thirty-five percent year after year, which didn’t make sense to me since the rates were actually lower than most of the competitors during that time. So, I had a closer look to see what they were doing differently.”

“January is an off-peak month in Florida,” he pointed out, watching as she scrolled to another page.

“True, but it doesn’t have to be. The other hotels offer fewer amenities, their prices on average are twenty percent higher during January and their occupancy rates are higher because they are filling a need that Roman Palms is ignoring,” Andi explained as she swiped to a competitor’s website and he saw their claim as the perfect wedding destination in Florida.

“Right now, Roman Palms is renting their ballroom space for the Winter Wonderland and a few other low attendance events at a fraction of the price because it’s easier, but it’s costing them in the long run,” Andi explained as he took the iPad from her and swiped through the file, taking a closer look at the numbers.

“You love the Winter Wonderland,” he pointed out absently as he went through the report that she made, noting the ways that Roman Palms was losing money, the trends, local events, and needs that the hotel was ignoring.

“I have a soft spot for Santa, but by January, most people are sick of Christmas. A large percentage of guests going to the Winter Wonderland in January are only going to kill time and the others are locals just going so that their children can go on the ice slides. According to the surveys that Roman Palms sends its guests, the majority of the guests staying during January are there because they are attending weddings at nearby hotels that didn’t have room for them.”

“I’m assuming that your plan wasn’t to sway the board with one hotel,” Devyn murmured, going through the project that she’d created for Roman Palms and couldn’t help but admit that he was impressed.

“I’ve been working on the hotels that were targeted by the mysterious James Jamerson, looking to see what we could do to recover the embezzled funds. I was able to go through their files and figure out where they were losing money and create a plan for each hotel to increase their profits. Keep in mind that I’ve never done this before, but if I’m right, Carta Hotels would be able to increase their revenue by at least forty percent by next year,” Andi explained as he swiped through what she came up with, taking in the figures, where the hotels were losing money, the local events that the hotels could incorporate to accommodate guests, and-

He realized that he had exactly what he needed.