Shacking Up (Shacking Up (Shacking Up 1)

Unless I’ve been reading things wrong, my expectation was that when I came home, all of that two-dimensional flirting would turn into something three-dimensional. With nudity. That I was so close to that reality last night makes me impatient to get the moment back. Except I have a feeling that’s not going to happen right now.

I give it one last try. I have no idea what time she came home, and I fell asleep on the couch last night and didn’t wake up until after midnight. She hadn’t appeared to be home at that point, although I hadn’t checked her room. Her shoes, a pair of worn flats, sit close to the front door. I don’t remember if they were at the door when I relocated from the couch to my bedroom.

I give up on trying to wake Ruby. I take my time getting ready for work, hoping she’ll come out before I have to leave. She doesn’t.

My entire day is spent in meetings presenting the PowerPoint I created on the flight home while my brother slept. I didn’t consult Lex, determined to have my own findings. He’s currently stewing in the seat opposite me. Every time he tries to throw me a curveball question I have the right answer, or at least one my father approves of. There’s always been competition between us and my approach to this hasn’t done anything to make it better. But I don’t like being micromanaged and that’s how the last five weeks have been with us working together.

My hope is that this trip overseas will be my last for a while and that I’ll have done enough to be able to ask to manage a few of the New York properties. We have ten, so it should be doable.

When the meeting is over my father pulls me aside.

I really should be able to ask for what I want. But I’ll have to put the feelers out first. My father always has a master plan, and I’m concerned it’s one that involves more travel for me.

I take a seat in one of the club chairs in his office and he sits across from me, rather than behind his desk. “Good work in London.”

This is high praise from my father. “Thanks. It was a good learning experience. I feel like I’m getting a good handle on the renovation aspect.”

“Once you’re settled in I think it would be a good idea for you to work with the design team on the new build concepts in Germany.”

This is preferable to working with Lex, but if I’m part of the design team, there’s a good chance my father is going to want me to be part of the groundbreaking team. That means another stint overseas, which is not what I want.

“Layla heads that up, doesn’t she? You don’t think it would be better for me to work with Griffin instead for a while?” He’s been taking care of some of the Chicago hotels. That’s much closer to home than Germany.

“Are you worried about your ability to focus around Layla?”

“Pardon?” I smooth my hand over my tie. Layla’s been part of the design team for quite a while. She’s incredibly career-driven and focused, so I can’t see why he thinks I won’t be able to manage working with her.

My father rolls his eyes. “Oh come on, Bancroft. You’ve spent the past seven years with an entourage of groupies running around after you. I’m just reminding you that this is the business world, and you’ll need to keep a level, focused head, even around the lookers like Layla.”

“Attractiveness isn’t the issue, Dad. I played professional rugby, I didn’t do battle in a Spartacus-style arena. I can handle myself around attractive women. Besides, Layla isn’t my type.” Until he mentioned it, I hadn’t even really noticed she was attractive at all. She’s blond and petite. I prefer dark hair and an athletic build, like Ruby. “What about local renovations? It would be good to work on some projects directly with you.” The best way to appeal to my father is through his ego.

He smiles and taps his pen on the arm of his chair. “That will happen in the future, once you’ve had sufficient training.”

“You don’t think I would benefit from having your expertise?” I try to tamp the frustration. I don’t want to close doors with him before I’ve even managed to pick the lock.

“You will always have my expertise. I’ll oversee all aspects of the projects you work on. But you need a good year of getting your feet wet and learning the company ropes. I want you to be comfortable with all the top-level employees.”

“When does ground break for the project in Germany?”

“Late fall, if things go smoothly. There will be other projects I’ll want you to have a hand in, as well. The hotels in California need attention and there’s property in Costa Rica that we’re interested in.”

He’s talking more travel, like I knew he would. I don’t want more travel. Except more travel would mean I’d need someone to stay and take care of Tiny and Francesca. It’s an excuse to have Ruby stick around longer or at least stay at my place periodically. If she still wants to. As soon as this meeting is over I need to talk to her. Hopefully she’s awake now.

“What about the New York renovations?”

He’s already looking at his phone, pretending to check emails. It’s what he does when he’s either done with the discussion or he wants to avoid a topic. Unfortunately, I’m his son, and I’m a lot like he is in many regards, so I refuse to take the hint for what it is.

“Aren’t there plans to start those in the new year? Isn’t Griffin working on the renovation project for the Times Square location? Now that I’m on board he and I could work together. The project would move faster then, wouldn’t it? We could start right after New Year’s, that way we won’t miss out on prime summer tourism and we’ll still get the holiday business.”

My father stops typing an email to regard me. “You’ve been thinking about this?”

“Of course. New York has so much opportunity for growth. I’d love to be involved in that project.” I bite my tongue before I can say I want to make this my hub.

“It’s a ways off. We can talk about it later.”

It’s not a no. I’ll take it.

* * *

I’d like to say I see Ruby when I get home. I don’t. I send her a message asking how she’s doing, then I fall asleep on the couch and drag my ass to my bedroom around one in the morning.

I don’t have a response when I wake up the next morning. I debate knocking on her door, but I have no idea what time she got in, and since she hasn’t responded to my message I leave it alone, although I don’t want to.

My morning is full of meetings again, discussions about the projects in the UK and abroad, and I’m fully immersed in the building, project management side of the company. I understand what my father is doing. He doesn’t want me to settle in one area of the business yet, because there are so many sides to it, and if I’m going to run it jointly with my brothers eventually, I need to understand all aspects. And I need to be able to work with both of them, no matter how challenging it is.

By noon I still haven’t heard from Ruby. I either need a drink or to punch someone out. Or to talk to Ruby. The latter would be my preference.

I have a decent reason to contact her that will inevitably get a response: Francesca’s feeding schedule.

Now that I’m home we need to communicate about that kind of thing so we don’t overfeed her. I had a routine, but I’m guessing with Ruby’s odd hours it’s changed significantly over the past month.