Chapter Two
WALKER
“This won’t take long,” I say to my secretary Josh as I walk into my small kitchen and see him sitting at the bar. “Go ahead and move tomorrow’s meeting to the day after. I’ll be back by then.”
“Are you sure?” He looks at me over the dark frames of his glasses while holding a stylus over his tablet. “Because if I’m being honest, Walker—”
“Aren’t you supposed to be calling me ‘Mr. Smoke’?” Josh keeps staring at me with his deadpan expression, and I ignore him. “Where’s my coffee? What kind of secretary are you?”
“The best.” Josh places his tablet on the counter and crosses his arms over his chest. “And your coffee is right beside you, Walker.”
He puts an emphasis on my name because he’s right. He is the best, and it would be weird for him to call me something else. Josh has been with me over ten years now and knows my life's schedule better than me most days. He’s more like my annoying baby brother who happens to usually be right about everything, but I’d never tell him that.
Taking the hot coffee, I mumble a thank you and ignore his smug smile as I lean my hip against the island and wait for him to continue.
“As I was saying, are you sure this won’t take long?”
“When have I ever not been able to charm my way through a deal?”
“I don’t know, but I have a feeling about this one.”
“You said that about Georgia,” I point out, but he’s not budging.
“And you had to flip that property within the year or take a multi-million-dollar loss.”
“Yes, but I sold it,” I counter, and he rolls his eyes.
“I told you from the beginning that was going to be a problem.”
“And you think this one will be?” I wait as he gives me a funny look.
“I’m not sure.” He drags out the last word as he taps his pen to his chin. “But I’ve got a funny feeling about this deal. I can’t put my finger on it, but I’d pack an extra change of clothes if I were you.”
I glance down at my cell and think about calling Natalie Thompson for the hundredth time. She’s the one in charge of the Thompson property holdings and the one person I need to say yes. She also happens to have the sexiest voice I’ve ever heard in my whole fucking life. Even when she’s yelling at me. Hell, who am I kidding? It’s even sexier when she’s yelling at me.
“Yes, Mother,” I sigh as I glance to the front door and see my travel bag is already packed and ready to go. “You already packed my stuff, didn’t you?”
“You’re welcome,” Josh sing-songs, standing and grabbing his tablet. “Call me when you land, and we’ll talk more about how long you’re going to be there.”
“I’m going to fire you one day.”
“But not today.” He shrugs. “I'll be on a beach sipping drinks out of a coconut by the time you get there, so I’m not stressing it.”
“I didn’t give you permission to take a vacation.”
Just before Josh leaves the kitchen, he looks back at me once more and then points at my phone. “You forget that I know you, Walker. The way you keep glancing at that thing is the reason I’m heading to the tropics.”
“That doesn’t mean anything.” Even as I say the words, I know they’re not true.
“Let me ask you this,” he says as he grabs his coat. “If you didn’t have to come back to this tiny apartment with hardly a stick of furniture in it, what would you do with your life?”
“That’s a ridiculous question.” I wave my hand at him, and the little shit smiles. “I love my job.”
“You’ve got no family, and I’m your only friend.” I start to argue but snap my mouth closed. He laughs and shakes his head. “You’ve made us both enough money so that we don’t have to keep doing this. Why this one, Walker? What is it about Bear Mountain that makes you have to have it?”
A long silence stretches between us, and finally I shrug. “I don’t know.”
Josh smiles as he comes over and surprises me by giving me a hug. “Then go find out.” He’s gone before I can say another word, and I’m left with what he said hanging in the air.
I was raised by my dad after my mom took off when I was a kid, and the only thing he ever taught me was how to work hard. That’s all I’ve done all my life, and maybe Josh is right. Since my dad died, I’ve been left with nothing but the work I do, and Josh as my only connection to anyone.
Most of the people I deal with either despise me because they have no choice but to sell to me, or they love me because I’m paying them a shit ton of money for it. I’m the middleman between a company with a plan and a development being built. I’m the one that takes the idea and secures the property to make it happen. I don’t actually build anything myself or come up with the ideas; I just acquire what’s necessary and make it happen.