5

ABRAHAM

Even as I was sitting in this meeting, I still couldn’t get my mind off Summer. I should’ve fucking slowed it down with her, but when your bear growls as loud as mine did, it’s hard to shut him up until you claim what he wants. I should’ve known from the moment I laid eyes on her that she wasn’t the type of woman that would simply fall into bed with me whenever I crooked my finger. She had style, she had class, she had confidence. She wasn’t the type of woman to simply drop to her knees because I offered her a night of fun and good wine.

And I couldn’t get her voice out of my head.

Those sultry notes and the way they fell from her lips. The way her toned legs commanded that stage in those thin little stockings. The way those heels flexed her legs lusciously, beckoning for my fingertips was enough to drive my bear wild. She was a woman who wasn’t worried about covering up her imperfections, either. I saw the glimmer of a few stretch marks on the outside of her bosom while she was on stage. I saw the little dimples of cellulite on the backs of her thighs.

I loved those types of imperfections on a woman. They boasted of a life I wanted to get to know. I wanted my body to be another decadent platter to add weight to those breasts and thighs. I wanted to sink my fingertips into the meat of her while those low notes rumbled deep in my ear.

I fell asleep with her on my mind last night and woke up with a raging erection I couldn’t get to go away. Though this board meeting sure was helping with that issue. I crossed my leg and tried to focus on what my project manager was saying. He’d called yet another meeting to run down some dumbass piece of property he’d found we could acquire. Yes, the business had the money to take on these projects. Yes, we would make shit-tons of money for everyone sitting around this table.

But everything was so boring. You could only make condominiums look so different so many ways before they all looked the same. All the facades of the buildings were the same and all the levels were carved out in the same manner. They all had the same number of floors with the same number of condos on each floor. It was like I was stuck in a desperate rerun of a movie I couldn’t get out of.

“Mr. Johnson, do you have any input?”

All the board members turned towards me and I cleared my throat. I took a quick look at the chart in front of me before I peeked at the file in my lap, but the only thing I had going for me was my honesty.

So, I ran with it.

“Dan-”

“Daniel,” he said.

“Daniel. Project manager. You. Why do you keep bringing me these types of projects?” I asked.

“Because that’s what the company does,” he said.

“We do all sorts of things. We kick ass in the hotel industry, we sell homes, we build rental properties, we even own a couple of luxury hotel bungalow things overseas. We have our hands in many different areas. Why do you keep bringing me the same rundown buildings that we outfit and sell? Why can’t you bring me something interesting?”

“Because we’re all here to make money, Abraham,” someone said.

“We’ve invested our money into these things, too,” another said.

“Well, you don’t have to. No one’s chaining you to this table,” I said.

“You have a responsibility to us as your board members to recoup the money we put into your projects,” yet another said.

“And when have I ever not delivered?”

They all fell silent and I sat back into my chair. These greedy assholes cared about nothing else but the money that fell into their laps. Money they didn’t have to work for because my family returned their investment two-- somethings three-fold. I closed my eyes and saw those ruby red lips pop up into my vision again. It was either deal with this meeting and get her off my mind or keep her there and walk out with a raging dick tenting my pants after this hellacious meeting.

Holy hell, I should’ve taken it slower with her.

“The apartment building can be remodeled into midlevel condos. We can sell them for mid-level pricing and the building will be easy for people to maintain. We’ll mitigate costs by selling the condos instead of renting them because you won’t have to hire someone to oversee the building for you, and when someone wants to sell they’ll have to come back to us. We’ll just keep reselling these places over and over and over again,” Daniel said.

“Daniel-”

“Daniel.”

“Whatever. Isn’t there a-- I don’t know-- rundown theater or opera house somewhere. Maybe a shoddy nightclub that could use a new owner or a cabaret venue we could take on? God, I’d love to do one of those,” I said.

“You want to branch out into the nightlife business?” someone asked.

“It’s still retail. We’d own the property, we’d revamp it. We’d bring in people to work and cut them a decent salary then make bank off everything else. Music, girl, booze, live entertainment on the weekends. Sounds like a fun plan to me,” I said.

“Well, let’s get back to the issue at hand-”

“There’s no issue at hand, Darwin.”

“Really? It’s Daniel.”

“Yeah, that. We do these all the time. It’s like playing the same old sappy story all over again. It’s getting old. Come on, this entire table knows about getting old. It’s no fun, right?”

I could feel their glares on me, but at least I was getting a laugh out of this meeting.

“Okay, okay, okay. Hypothetically speaking-”

“There is no hypothetical,” Daniel said. “We’re due to put in a bid this afternoon.”

“Well, when were you going to tell me that, Dirks?”

“For fuck-... it’s Daniel!”

“The price has to be right. I mean, really right. And by ‘really right’, I mean below the floor. Offer them no more than five-hundred thousand less than what they’re selling it for.”

“Are you serious? We’ll never acquire the property that way. We’ll lose out on all that money.”

“Right now, no money’s on the line. The investors haven’t invested, and I still don’t know if I’m on board. You seem to forget who’s really in charge of this project. This isn’t a pansy hotel flip run by my parents. I’m in charge of this branch of our business. And if I’m gonna be forced to do something like this because I’m surrounded by money hungry lazy ass men, then I’m gonna do it at a bargain-hunting price. We’ll redo the condos and sell them off as property, just like you said. If they accept the offer, the agents can begin their negotiating process.”

“It’s got a few guaranteed sales, too. Some of the tenants living there are already interested in purchasing their place once it’s newly renovated.”

“That’s good news, Drake!”

“Oh, sweet fuck,” he said.

“Put in the bid and let me know how it goes. If it goes well, set up the first tenant meeting.”

“That’s also this afternoon,” Daniel said.

“Well, then you better put that bid in quicker than that,” I said, grinning. “And don’t worry about sending anyone out there to meet with the residents. I’ll go shake their hands. Get a feel for the layout and see what we can do to better their lives with this renovation. I need the distraction anyway.”

“Rough night?” someone asked.

“Nah, just itching for something to do. Is that it, Diego?”

“I hate you.”

“I pay you, so you love me. Now, get on with your job.”

I stood up and buttoned my coat before I went to grab the paperwork from Daniel. He was fuming, and it was hilarious, but it only stopped my mind whirling about Summer for a few minutes. I was hoping I could use this pathetic project as a way to really distract myself, so I took the paperwork and headed on towards the piece of property we were about to acquire.

Doing anything at this point was better than sitting in my office and thinking about how wonderful my fingers would’ve filled those divots on the backs of her thighs.