Saving the CEO (49th Floor #1)(32)

Oh, and there was also the part where they were done. Relationship, entanglement, whatever-over.

"Hi!" she said, stepping back to let him in. "Is this okay?" She  twirled, showing off a long-sleeved black silk blouse, a dark purple  pencil skirt, and low black heels.

"Perfect," he said, and meant it. She managed to look polished but not  overly formal. He might have added that perhaps the skirt hugged her ass  and hips a trifle too tightly, but he checked himself. Just because he  had a dirty mind where she was concerned didn't mean there was anything  wrong with the skirt.

"So Junior is a bit of a piece of work, hey?"

He laughed. "Yeah, he's pretty much the textbook entitled, spoiled, rich kid who never grew up."

"Because he never had to work a day in his life," she said, her top lip  curling up on one side. Coming from Cassie, that was probably the worst  insult possible. "But I like Senior. And Tania."                       
       
           



       

"About Junior," said Jack, who had just come from a one-on-one with Senior.

"Yeah?" She turned to the full length mirror opposite the bed and whipped out a tube of lipstick.

"David just told me he won't sell if Brian is opposed."

"What?" She stopped, one lip scarlet-ified, the other her natural Cassie  pink. The juxtaposition was oddly erotic. He took a step toward the  door.

"He might not sell anyway, but if Brian objects, he definitely won't."

"Well, that's it, then, isn't it?" she asked. "Brian will object, won't he?"

"I don't think it's that simple. You hit on it yourself-he may like the  idea of helming a big company, but he might be self-aware enough to  realize that he doesn't actually want to work."

"Hmmm." She went back to her lips. "A self-aware lazy good-for-nothing!"

"A buyout might suit him fine-take the money and run. We'll have to feel  him out." He ran his fingers through his hair and sat on Cassie's bed.  "I'm no closer with Senior, though. I can't figure him out. He seems  open to my ideas, but I think he wants Brian to want the company. Yet he  must realize that putting his son at the helm of the family company  will mean its ultimate demise."

She turned, perfect geisha-girl red lips smiling at him. "Families are complicated."

He sighed. "That's why it's so much easier not to have one."





Chapter Fifteen

After a dinner of the most amazing duck confit Cassie had ever had-okay,  the only duck confit Cassie had ever had-everyone retired to a small  den-like room to start talking business.

"I'm just going to level with you, Jack," said David. "I'm not sure  you're the right man for Wexler Construction. The eco-resort-I get it, I  guess. But aren't you trying to transition into being more of a  Caribbean sun-and-surf type developer?"

"There's a lot more continuity between the two types of projects than  you might think," said Cassie, before she could think better of it.  Darn. She really should stick to the financials and let Jack do the rest  of the talking. But now everyone, Jack included, was looking at her.  "The Mexican property is also going to be an eco-resort," she offered.  "And though it's bigger than this place would be, the basic principles  are down-scalable."

"Are they, though?" said Senior. "To be honest, I was always skeptical  of your decision to move into Mexico. You're a small player on the  international scene. Hasn't that project leveraged you way too much to  take on something like this?"

"Actually, no," said Jack. "Cassie can show you the projections for that  project. It's true we've directed a lot of resources into it, but we're  well positioned to work on a project here, too."

"I'd like to see those numbers," said David.

This was her cue. Cassie's stomach fluttered. "I'll just run to my room  and get my computer," she said. She hadn't been sure if she should bring  it with her, or if they were going to cling to the fiction that this  was a social visit. But clearly Senior had shifted gears, and now he was  all business.

"I'll come with you," he said. "Then we can swing by my office and you  can show me there. I have some notes I want to get." He stood and looked  back at Jack. "Jack, you want to come, or are you still leaving the  down and dirty finances to your lieutenants?"

"Lieutenants," said Jack, smiling and lifting his glass. "Especially when the alternative is port that's this good."

Tania smiled. "And Jack promised me a game of chess, so I'm keeping him."

And so Cassie found herself in David Wexler's office, situated at the  back of the house and featuring a wall of windows. "Oh!" she exclaimed  when she stepped into the still-dark office. "Can you wait to turn on  the light for just a moment?" She moved to the window. The house was  situated in a small clearing, and if you looked up from this vantage  point, the sky twinkled with stars.

"Amateur astronomer?" Wexler asked. "You start to take it for granted, but it's gorgeous, isn't it?"

"I can't imagine taking this for granted," said Cassie. When he didn't  answer, she realized she'd been unwise to speak so honestly. He probably  thought she was scolding him somehow. "I just mean … "

"Don't get to see the stars often in the city, I suppose?" he asked, his voice kind.                       
       
           



       

"Yes, and I never get out of the city, so even though I'd like to be an  amateur astronomer, my subscription to Astronomy magazine is about as  far as I ever get." She chuckled. "When I was a kid, I thought I would  be an astronomer."

"Yeah, a lot of kids get that idea, at summer camp or at the  cottage-somewhere they really start to see the night sky and think about  what's out there."

"Oh, no," said Cassie quickly, "I didn't … " Ahh, what was she saying?  Well, what the heck? Why not throw some truth into the mix of lies she  was weaving here? "I grew up poor. So no summer camp. No stars."

"I see," said Wexler. He looked like he was going to say something more,  but then he blinked and said, "Well, let's run through your numbers,  and then we can slip out and take a walk while we talk further. You only  get a limited view from this window."

 …

An hour later Cassie was toasty warm and happy. Everyone had said good  night and gone their own ways, and she, ensconced by the fire in the  great room, had intended to spend an hour before bed brushing up on some  details for tomorrow. Instead, though, she just stared into the fire  and let the heat melt her tension away. This was a good place. It was  silly, because she'd only been here a day, but she felt a sort of  affinity for the island. Jack could really do something here.

Never in her life had she seen stars like tonight. When Wexler had taken  her outside, it seemed the entire Milky Way was lit up like a swatch of  white silk, stars so thick you couldn't differentiate one from another.  And even better, she felt confident she'd done the best she could  making Jack's case. Wexler had proven a receptive audience. He must have  sensed that she appreciated the place because as they walked, they  talked about the island as much as about its possible sale. Whereas  before she'd felt embarrassed about telling him she'd grown up poor, she  was reassured now that he wasn't holding it against her. In fact, he  seemed impressed with her story of putting herself through school as a  bartender. He was easy to talk to. Like she imagined an interested  father might be-someone who managed to ask the right questions and be a  good listener. The only thing that put a damper on the walk was the  niggling guilt she felt over the fact that she was a fraud. She told  herself she wasn't deceiving him. She knew her stuff. She could tell him  what he needed to know and make a case for Jack. None of that was a  lie. Not precisely.

"Burning the midnight oil?"

For a moment her heart leapt, thinking it was Jack. And really, if she  were being honest with herself, didn't she hope it was Jack? Isn't that  why she was here to begin with, stationed in this public area of the  house, in the hopes he'd find her?

"How about some company?" said the voice from the shadows.

Her mind was a little slow to catch up, but when it did, it registered  the presence of Brian, who, now that she had gotten to know his father a  little, seemed even more unworthy as heir to the Wexler fortune.

He surprised her by sitting right next to her on the sofa, rather than on one of the adjacent armchairs. "You want a drink?"