“For how long?”
My cheeks puffed with my exhale. “I’m not sure. Until I can get shit on track again. Until I can find someone I trust to manage this place.”
“It’s never easy to find someone to do a job as good as you.”
“That sounds promising.”
“Welcome to being a business owner,” he said, sarcasm dripping from his words.
I rolled my eyes and got to work.
Thankfully, the computer was left unlocked, so I was able to download the few files there. Most of it was in a filing cabinet we’d emptied into boxes.
We were almost done when someone knocked softly on the door.
“Come in,” I shouted.
Camille peeked her head around the door. “Uhhh, hey. Everything good? I saw Charlie storm out a bit ago. I would have been back then, but we were slammed at the bar.”
“I fired Charlie.”
“Oh, thank god,” she sighed dramatically, rolling her eyes as she opened the door fully. “He’s scum.”
“That’s putting it lightly,” Corbin muttered.
I snorted a laugh, earning a softer smile from where he hunched behind the desk, digging through files.
“So, what now?”
“Now…” I sighed, hating the idea of shutting down the lucrative business. I just didn’t know an alternative. Not without more information and familiarity. “Now, we need to shut down.”
“What?” she breathed.
“Just until I can figure all this out. I’m collecting everything now and will pour over it and come back with a plan. It’s not permanent,” I promised.
“But we’re in the black. By a lot,” she argued, looking anything but composed now. “People need this job.”
“I know.” I winced, hating the domino effect of all of this. “I just can’t keep it open without a manager, and I don’t know enough to do it myself. We’ll plummet.”
“I’ll do it,” Camille offered. “Hell, I did most of it anyway while Charlie fucked off. I can do it.”
Out from behind the bar, she looked just as at home in the office. She stood there like an Amazonian warrior, ready to fight for this. It was that fight that had me conceding. This wasn’t a woman who offered control just to fail. My gut screamed at me that this was a woman I could rely on.
“I really like you,” I said.
Her shoulders dropped, already thinking she knew the answer.
“So, don’t fuck up and make me fire you.”
“I don’t fuck up,” she promised. “Not anymore.”
“Good. Now let’s talk.”
While Corbin packed up the rest of the files, I sat with Camille and created a plan.
My detailed dream I’d always pictured of taking over The Berkshire was derailed as soon as Corbin came home early, demanding he come with me.
But as I sat in his car on the way home, breathing easier than I had in years, I didn’t mind it.
I just hoped I didn’t regret the shifts in my plan and letting him in.
I hoped I didn’t regret him.
Chapter Five
CORBIN
“This is exhausting,” Rose said from where she sat on the floor.
She’d been there since I came home a couple hours ago. After at least managing to make her eat dinner, I joined her in the living room and went over a few files of my own.
“Running a business always is.”
If looks could speak, hers would say, fuck you for pointing out the obvious. Instead of actually saying anything, she groaned and rolled her eyes.
I almost groaned right along with her when she rocked her head side to side before stretching her arms up then wide. Thankfully, she had on pants rather than the shorts she preferred to lounge in. However, she’d ditched the bra, leaving her nipples within view, moving against her shirt with each move.
I’d always dated women with breasts that spilled from my hands. I liked pushing my cock between them and losing myself in the soft curves. I never imagined being captivated by anything less. Yet, I couldn’t help but be consumed with imagining everything about Rose’s nipples. I wanted to suck as much of her perfect little tits in my mouth and bite at her nipples.
And each passing day became harder and harder as she relaxed, making herself at home. The alarming truth was that I liked seeing her there. I liked the way she casually strolled around, content to pile her hair in some precarious mass that never seemed to fall but always looked like it would at any second.
Yesterday, when she proclaimed she was bored, I offered to take her out to dinner at an exclusive restaurant. Juliette would have jumped at the chance.
Not Rose, though. No. She scrunched her nose and asked if I wanted to play games instead. Once I overcame my shock, we ordered Chinese and even bantered back and forth while we ate. She told me a bit about college and how struggled to find her place in a male dominated profession. At one point she even let slip how isolated she’d been, but she quickly changed the topic when I prodded. To ease her discomfort, I bared a bit of myself and confessed my desire to have a family and how it was beginning to feel like a pipe-dream.