Читать книгу Pregnant By The Billionaire - Karen Booth, Karen Booth - Страница 9

Two

Kendall always prepared well for meetings, but knowledge of how amazing a potential client looked without clothes was not the normal intel. Did Sawyer know she worked there? Was he up to something? And then there was the question she wished hadn’t popped into her head at all, one she’d never ask, mostly because she wouldn’t like it if he turned the tables and asked her the same thing: Why hadn’t he called?

“Mr. Locke.” Jillian shook hands with Sawyer. “This is Kendall Ross. She’s our top PR person. If you hire us, she’ll be handling the details.”

Eyes trained on her, Sawyer reached for Kendall, his warm brown eyes transporting her to the not-so-distant past—a time and place where she knew every inch of his glorious body and he knew the same of her. She should’ve had her mind trained on wooing Sawyer as a client, not thinking about what a fantastic kisser he was. This was such unfamiliar territory, she hardly knew what to do. She only knew that she couldn’t allow herself to be distracted by things like his shoulders in that suit or the neatly trimmed five-o’clock shadow along his angular jaw.

“Actually, Ms. Ross and I already know each other.” Sawyer gripped her hand, all business, but it felt like he was trying to suck her in.

Kendall nearly clutched her chest with her free hand to keep her heart from failing. The handshake was far too intimate. Too much heat transferred from his big, firm, naked hand to hers. Stupid rules of polite society—touching him was putting her off her game.

“Oh, uh, yes. We do know each other.” She tittered, something she would never do, especially not in a meeting. Get it together. “We met at a mutual friend’s wedding.” Kendall scanned Sawyer’s face if only to figure out what in the hell he was hoping to accomplish by admitting they knew each other. Silently confronting him in this manner only created more problems, as he unflinchingly returned her gaze, eyes singularly trained on her, making her heart beat like a fish trying to flop out of a bucket to save its own life.

“We had a wonderful time. Ms. Ross showed me some of her moves.” He bounced his dark brows. The corners of his mouth twitched arrogantly. “On the dance floor.”

So he was just messing with her. Jerk. First he didn’t call her now he was dropping innuendo in a business meeting? Easy enough for him—the handsome billionaire who didn’t have his career on the line. Of course he hadn’t called her after the wedding. Guys like Sawyer Locke were too cavalier with the hearts and minds of others, especially women. He probably had them lined up around the block.

“Please, Mr. Locke. Have a seat. What can we do for you today?” Kendall was desperate to steer the conversation to the professional. She sat across the table from him, turning to a fresh page on her legal pad. When she looked up, his sights were locked on her left hand. The ring. Good. Let him look. Kendall glanced at the setting of shimmering stones. “Oh, goodness.” She straightened it.

Jillian remained standing. “I won’t stay long, Mr. Locke. I know you want to talk strategy and in that instance, Kendall is your woman.”

“Is that so?” Sawyer leaned back in his chair and slowly thrummed his fingers on the table.

Your woman. Why was she having such a hard time swallowing today? And had someone cranked the thermostat? “I’m good at my job, if that’s what you’re asking.”

Sawyer flashed his killer smile—a self-assured grin to remind her that he was not only a man who knew what he wanted, he had absolutely no problem getting it. Probably the reason he hadn’t called her after the wedding. She was just another in an endless string of women. “Perfect. I need to make a change with my PR. The last firm we worked with had a hard time following my lead. I’m too busy to spend my day butting heads.”

Kendall shifted in her seat. Of course. Men like Sawyer didn’t like it when anyone disagreed with them. “Tell me about the Grand Legacy. After the story in the Times, I can only assume that’s what we’re talking about.”

“So you saw it.”

“I did. I’d call it unflattering, at best.” Even if that picture of you was hot as hell.

“Tell me how you really feel.” His voice was terse, as if he had little patience for her opinion.

Kendall shrugged. “I’m telling you what I saw.”

Sawyer’s jaw tensed, then he cleared his throat. “Fine. You’re not wrong. It was horrible. My brother and I are extremely unhappy that those photos were leaked. We’ve done everything we can to keep the details of our project top secret. We can’t have information of any kind getting out, especially in the newspapers. It’s a disaster.”

“You might be creating your own problem. Keeping secrets almost never works.”

“It works if you do it well. You have to understand, we’re not just renovating the hotel, we’re rebuilding the mystique. We have to keep the details under wraps until the grand reopening, when all will be revealed. We’re going for drama. A big bang.”

She shook her head and tapped her pen on the notepad. “And as a member of the general public, I know nothing. You can’t assume people know the history. I don’t know much about the Grand Legacy and I grew up in New Jersey. It’s been closed for more than a decade. All of that makes me disinterested. Keeping things a secret is the wrong tack to take.”

“Kendall has an excellent point, Mr. Locke,” Jillian said. Any other boss might’ve taken issue with Kendall pointing out the mistakes a potential client had made, but not Jillian. She believed in transparency, at all times, and at all costs.

“What are you suggesting?” Sawyer’s annoyance was clear. “We let people see what we’re doing?”

“Let me ask you this. Would you rather have someone like me open a paper to see grainy, camera-phone photos of your hotel, or would it have been better if this morning’s paper had featured professional photographs, along with a story chock-full of interesting details?”

Sawyer pressed his lips together. His forehead crinkled. Kendall took great pleasure in showing him exactly how wrong he was. “I see your point.”

“Publicity and building anticipation is about the careful dissemination of information, not locking it up and throwing away the key. You have to go for the slow burn, Mr. Locke. You tease. You give the people a taste of what they want. Soon you have them clamoring for more.” Finally, she was hitting her stride. Even if she and Sawyer were not in agreement, at least he would know up front that she was not a “yes” woman. Not even for him.

Jillian’s assistant ducked her head into the room. “I’m sorry to interrupt, Ms. Sloan, but your ten o’clock is here early.”

“Coming,” she answered, reaching to shake hands with Sawyer as he stood. “I’m sorry I can’t stay for the whole meeting, but I have no doubt that Kendall is on the right track. You’re in excellent hands with her.”

“Thank you. I’m sure Ms. Ross knows exactly what to do with me.”

Kendall refrained from grumbling, but she sure felt like complaining. Much to her detriment, the man had a real talent for innuendo. He returned to his seat when Jillian left. He didn’t say a word. He just looked at her. As to what he might be thinking, she had no earthly idea. She only knew that if she and Sawyer were going to work together, she needed to keep them on course. A very narrow, nonsexual and never flirtatious course, especially now that they were alone.

“So? The Grand Legacy. Do we have the job?” she asked.

He nodded, not taking his eyes off her. “I have some questions.”

“Of course. Whatever you need to know.” She exhaled. She could do this. Her brief history with Sawyer didn’t have to be an insurmountable issue. It didn’t have to be an issue at all. They were both professional people and there was a job to be done.

“I want to hear more about the slow burn.” He trailed his index finger on the conference table in a painfully slow circle. “It sounds promising.”

“Oh. Uh. Sure. Of course.”

“Then I’d like to know when exactly you got engaged.”

Kendall froze. Her pulse thundered in her ears as she scrambled for an answer. It was one thing to come right out with it with her boss, but she had nothing for Sawyer. How was she supposed to have anticipated that he’d waltz back into her life that morning and make Operation Engagement Ring infinitely more complicated?

* * *

Sawyer didn’t like distractions in business meetings, nor did he like surprises. But this was no ordinary meeting, and Kendall Ross was much more than a beguiling bombshell. She was a force to be reckoned with.

“If it’s all the same to you, I’d like to get back to the PR plan. Isn’t that the most pressing matter?” She straightened in her seat, composed and determined.

Even with vast amounts of money on the line, Sawyer’s mind couldn’t keep from straying to pressing of another kind—namely the moment at the wedding when she pressed against him, his hand settled in the curve of her back and everything around them faded away. It wasn’t like him at all to be so unfocused in a meeting. But he’d never been tested like this either.

It was one thing to run into a former conquest months or years later and see her with a date or a serious boyfriend. That he could handle. That was the cost of being the guy who not only doesn’t do serious, but doesn’t get within ten miles of it. But engaged? Less than two months later? Who was this guy? Where did she find him? And how had Sawyer managed to sleep with the one woman who could move on even more easily than he did? Not that he’d actually moved on from Kendall. She’d kept wandering into his thoughts, while he kept waiting for the day when she’d simply walk out.

“I suppose,” he said.

“As I said, it’s more effective to release information and images on a specific, carefully planned timetable, all of it leading up to your grand reopening. The only way to control the story is to promise the press you’ll give them everything they want, but on your terms.”

“The slow burn.” He might come to hate that phrase. It was far too sexy, especially coming from Kendall’s tempting lips.

“Yes. You have to realize, most people are terrible at visualizing things. And it might seem counterintuitive, but letting them see glimpses of the hotel now will create demand for more and more until people can’t stand it and they have to see it for themselves.”

She was so convincing right now, she could’ve sold him nearly anything, even the contents of his own wallet. “I have a feeling I should’ve hired you from the beginning.”

“Does that mean you’re hiring me now?”

He laughed quietly. She not only knew how to bury his ideas while selling her own, she knew how to close the deal. He threw up his hands in mock surrender. “I don’t think I have a choice. You’ve made a compelling case. Despite the fact that you don’t seem inclined to agree with me, I appreciate your thought process. Let’s do it your way.” He cleared his throat. Idiot. “The PR. Your way.”

“Well, good. That’s great. Thank you. I’m happy to hear that.” She smiled, bringing a beautiful blush to her cheeks. It made him want to only do things that made her smile. But then she pushed her hair behind her ear with her left hand and he was reminded that he had zero business thinking of Kendall that way.

“So. Engaged, huh? That must’ve happened recently. I mean, I hope it’s a recent thing.” Sawyer gave free passes on most personal choices—he simply wasn’t judgmental. But if she had been unfaithful to someone, with him, that crossed the line. He hoped to hell she could be trusted.

“I’m not discussing my ring, Mr. Locke. We’re having a business meeting. Surely you can appreciate that.”

“First off, please don’t call me Mr. Locke. Considering our history, I think we’re past the point of calling each other by our last names.”

“Okay, then, Sawyer.” Damn, he loved hearing her say his first name. “I’m not discussing the ring. Frankly, it’s none of your business.”

“Ah, but it is my business. I need to know I can trust the person I’ll be working with for the next three months.” He hated the thought that he might come to regret his night with Kendall. He wanted to think it had been a good decision to learn how impossibly soft her skin was, or what it felt like to have her gasp in his ear when he’d brought her to her peak.

“Are you implying that I somehow deceived you?”

“We made love six weeks ago. I’d feel a lot better knowing your fiancé wasn’t in the picture then. I don’t pursue taken women. The thought of it makes me cringe.” That much was true. He’d lived through infidelity. He’d endured that violation of trust, and he didn’t take it lightly.

She pursed her lips. “Fine, then. If you must know, the ring is a very recent development in my life.”

“How recent?”

“Very. But for our purposes, it’s merely a reminder that we are nothing but business associates.”

He’d leave it alone for now. She was putting up walls that said to back off. That was enough. “Got it.”

“So, what’s your timetable?”

“The reopening gala is New Year’s Eve.”

“It’s October 7. We don’t have much time.”

“Indeed.” Brought back to earth, Sawyer again felt the weight of the responsibilities waiting for him—dealing with the contractors, trying to see if there was a way to get through to his dad, and hoping that, somehow, Kendall Ross would ultimately be his savior and help him pull off the impossible—a flawless reopening of the Grand Legacy Hotel.

“Can you give me a tour of the hotel? I need to see it as soon as possible.”

Sawyer had a ridiculous schedule tomorrow, but getting Kendall up to speed was of paramount importance. Plus, the thought of time with her sounded like a vast improvement over what would otherwise simply be more things he didn’t feel like dealing with.

“Can you meet me there at ten tomorrow morning? I’ll send a car to your office.”

“I’m perfectly capable of taking a cab or the subway.”

“I have no doubt about that.”

She shook her head. “Thanks for the offer, but I’m good.”

“Fine. I’m not about to argue with you.”

She stood and smiled, nearly knocking the breath from his chest. It would take some time to get used to working in such close proximity to Kendall. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow.” He shook her hand, which felt odd. Considering what had happened between them six weeks ago, his departure warranted something closer to an embrace and a kiss on the cheek.

He walked outside, relieved that the PR was now sewn up, but conflicted about everything else. He couldn’t stop wondering about her fiancé—who he was, and more specifically, how he’d swept her off her feet in such a short amount of time. Judging by the rock on her hand, the guy had money. Did Sawyer know him? He really hoped not. What did he look like? What did he do? And why was this bothering him so much?

He climbed into the back of his waiting town car and pulled out his phone to call his brother. He needed to get his mind on work and off Kendall, which would be a near impossibility now that she was on the project. But the reality was she’d never called him after their night together, and judging by the cool composure she’d radiated during their meeting, she’d done it with good reason.

Starting with the ring.