“I do.” Before he could get another word out, I sat up tall and launched into full business mode. “I also realize we are losing out on a profitable side of the business.”
“So, you want to be a pimp and collect a portion of their sexual profits?”
“Ugh, you’re so close-minded and prudish.”
He barked a laugh, but I pushed on.
“The sexual exchange for profit is currently done according to each escort’s discretion without any rules other than their own but tied to The Berkshire. Tied to its reputation. Tied to its name—my name.”
“So, you don’t want the business to get a bad reputation for having bad sex? What are you going to do? Test each escort’s sexual prowess to make sure they’re good enough to sell?”
He was being purposefully obtuse, and it annoyed me enough to snap back—in my own way.
I leaned back and recrossed my legs. This time grazing my fingers up my thigh to play with the hem of my shorts, tugging it higher. He didn’t disappoint when his glance lingered longer than before. “Maybe I will,” I said with a smirk. “I’m sure there are more than a few men there I wouldn’t turn down. Maybe I should see how many orgasms they can give me in an hour to decide if they get to keep their job.”
His jaw clenched tighter than before, and his eyes blazed in warning. “Rose…”
Giving him more of a break than he deserved, I rolled my eyes and shifted forward again, fully hiding my legs under the table. “Relax, Corbin. Any sexual acts won’t be done as a test for a job. I’m not trying to earn a sexual harassment suit. But if they offer…”
“Jesus,” he muttered.
“Listen,” I said, more serious than I’d been all night. I needed him to hear me because as much as I wanted to conquer this on my own, part of me knew I’d be better off with help. “I’ve been studying what I could get my hands on about the business. Phillip has been stingy with what he chose to share, but legally, I should have access to it all once I turned twenty-one, according to my trust. But that’s beside the point.” I waved the tangent aside, not feeding into the frustration now. “The bottom line is that I want to create an elite, private section of the business that will allow us to set the boundaries on what is done under The Berkshire’s name, as well as protect the escorts from any shitty clients or deals.”
“So, a prostitution ring.”
Clenching my own jaw, I leveled him with an unamused glare. “No,” I deadpanned. “The escorts perform the acts anyway, so why not take control and build a business around it that allows me to collect a profit?”
He leaned back in his own chair and rubbed his long fingers across his lips. I stared, imagining this was how he felt when I taunted him—a little dazed and consumed with thoughts of being the one to touch his mouth.
Focus, Rose.
I blocked the motion from my line of sight and held his stare, biting my tongue to let him think.
“So, how do you plan on creating this and making it lucrative?”
It was the first serious thing he’d said, and I fought from bouncing in my chair in victory. He was listening. He was listening.
“We own the building, so I want to convert the floors above to a private club suite for customers that pass inspection to become members. On the floor above that, I’ll create a set of rooms like a hotel that can be rented by the month, week, day, or hour. We’ll make money through memberships and rent while the escorts can continue to charge what they want. They’d even be able to raise their prices because of the exclusivity.”
Finishing the loose outline of my plan, I forced myself to sit back and give him a chance to speak. I hadn’t seen a clock anywhere when I walked in, but I swear one ticked agonizingly slow while he just stared at me, a whole slew of thoughts I wanted to be privy to working behind his deep blue eyes.
Finally, when I couldn’t take it anymore, and my heart began deflating, I spoke first. “You disapprove?”
He heaved a heavy sigh. “It’s not that. I mean, it’s not even my place to approve or disapprove.”
It wasn’t, and I didn’t need his approval for anything. This was my name and my business, but along with searching about The Berkshire, I did research on Black Industries and discovered a well-respected businessman. And it wasn’t until just then that I realized how much I actually did want his approval. He was the closest approval I could get to my father’s. “It kind of is your place since you’re my guardian.”
“Maybe when you were underage.”