1
“Stop here.” My driver pulled up to the curb and let me out. It was still early enough in the day that there weren’t too many people around, less annoyance for me to deal with.
I walked into the coffee shop with my head down as I looked at my phone, making my way up to the counter. “I’ll have a double espresso with a twist.”
I paid and left without once looking at the person behind the counter and walked smack dab into a warm body. “Son of a…”
I looked up sharply at the expletive and came face to face with beauty. Maybe it’s because I wasn’t expecting it that it stopped me cold.
She was a little bit of a thing, barely reaching my chin. But her curves under the fitted skirt suit and the wild black curls that fell over her shoulders and back painted quite a picture.
I got just a small glimpse of her almond shaped hazel colored eyes before she looked down at herself where I’d spilled my drink.
Her scent reached me and my body reacted so strongly the shock of it left me reeling. I stood there staring down at her as time seemed to stand still.
She on the other hand barely acknowledged me as she turned and headed back out the door, muttering under her breath about inconsiderate assholes.
She didn’t even let me see to her after spilling the hot drink down her chest and I felt bad, but not as bad as I felt at the thought that I might never see her again.
The feeling of loss was so strong it was an ache in my chest and I tried calling out to her. But she was moving way too fast for me to keep up and for some reason my equilibrium seemed off. It felt like I was walking under water.
I moved out onto the sidewalk and watched her until she disappeared around the corner. I looked up at the name of the place and the street and headed back to my car where my driver was waiting to let me in.
I can’t say I thought of her for the rest of the ride, but she did cross my mind a time or two in the half an hour it took to reach my office.
I wonder who she is, if she’s from around there? And why this morning of all mornings I’d chosen to stop for coffee?
It was most definitely not the kind of place I’d usually frequent. In fact I’ve been coming this way to get from my place to the office for a few years now and never had the inclination.
By the time I logged the secret code into my personal elevator for the ride up to my luxury office on the fiftieth floor, my mind had shifted to the coming day and what laid ahead.
“Oh, you’re here, I need you to go over these specs before the new architect gets here.” My brother walked into my office minutes after I arrived.
“I thought you already did that?”
“Oh no, I’m not falling for that again. Last time I made a mistake my ears rang for a damn week after all your yelling.” This kid’s been a pain in my ass since birth.
“Just drop it there and get out of my office. I have things to do that don’t include being annoyed by you.”
“Fine, don’t forget she’s going to be here any minute. By the way you need to call our mother. She’s on the warpath again.”
“What did you do this time?”
“I like that, why is it always me? Actually this time it’s you. You missed Sunday brunch or something like that again.”
Dammit, why does my mother think she can hold my weekends hostage? “I’ll call her later.” I was already focused on the reports in front of me before he turned to the door.
I’d almost forgotten about the new architect that we’d hired, or more to the point my brother Gavin had hired.
I usually let him take care of the hiring for our company while I focused on bringing in business and making money.
Our grandfather had started the business over eighty years ago with nothing but a few thousand dollars and brute strength.
Now, what had started out, as a mere construction-company was now one of the leading residential and commercial builders in the country.
This latest project was taking us out of the country and Gavin had got the bright idea to hire some up and coming hotshot architect that he swears is the best thing since slice bread.
Since I usually let him handle that side of things, I didn’t have much to say about his choice, as long as she got the job done I could care less. Though up to this point we’d only dealt with male architects.
This woman he’s been going on about for weeks had apparently won some awards out west and was being touted as the latest talent in her field so I trust him to have it under control.
I glossed over the specs he’d left on my desk before checking my messages to get started on another day but somehow I was too restless.
I left the desk and moved over to the wall of glass to look down at all that my family had helped build over almost a century.
I love this, love looking down from this great height at the different structures my father and grandfather had erected around our great city.
Loved seeing our family name proclaimed proudly on the marquis of some of the city’s most outstanding architecture.
This new project had been like a shot in the arm though. I’d started to grow bored I guess, and needed something new and exciting to get the blood flowing.
The new hotel in Switzerland promised to be just the thing I needed. Not to mention the travelling back and forth should help to ease the sense of ennui that has been plaguing me the last few months.
At thirty-two I guess I’d pretty much seen and done it all. That happens when you’ve been raised with a silver service in your mouth. You’re exposed to a lot from an early age since people are always willing to do pretty much anything when money’s involved.
But the downside is that once you’ve tried everything by your early twenties, shit starts to become repetitious and boring as hell.
The excitement surrounding this new project, the fact that the whole world was watching to see what we were gonna come up with had given me new life.
Except for the constant tabloid coverage and assholes with cameras in my face, it was the best thing that could’ve happened at the right time.
I’d dealt with the unwanted press. By that I mean I’d threatened them to within an inch of their lives for messing with my privacy until they backed the hell off.
With that little problem taken care of I’d been able to focus on what I knew was going to be the thing that launches the company into a whole new market.
The client had asked for something unique, something that hadn’t been done before to fit into their elite ski village in the Alps.
They wanted it to stand out, which was our forte. My brother and I had a different vision than the one our father and grandfather had, but that was because of the change in times.
Dad had given up the reins over five years ago, intending for me to run the company. As the eldest son I’d inherited it all, with my brother receiving a monetary inheritance along with property.
I didn’t like that so once the company was in my hands I had my lawyers draw up a new contract making him equal partners with me.
He’d made a fuss at first, thinking he was robbing me of what was mine, but that’s not how I saw it.
He was as much my father’s son as I am, and had as much pride in the family name as I do. Had he been a worthless piece of shit I wouldn’t have cared so much.
But my little brother, younger than me by five years, has always followed in my footsteps. He’s looked up to me since he was old enough to walk and the love I have in my heart for him, wouldn’t allow me to do any less than share everything with him.
Of course there are days when I want to chuck his ass out a window just to get some peace from his constant annoyance. But the little shit can laugh his way out of anything.
Almost as if we’d planned it, he had concentrated more on the building aspects of our family enterprise while I looked after ways of making it grow.
I’d fought like hell to prove to our father that it was the right decision, and now with this new project, arguably the biggest one we’d tackled thus far since we took over, he was finally beginning to see the truth in my words.
It was a great opportunity for the company to spread its wings beyond the Americas and Great Britain.
And if this woman was as good as Gavin says she is then things should not only run smoothly, but catapult us into bigger and better things.