Laura Lee

The Drug in Me is You” by Falling in Reverse starts playing.

He starts pacing

Rihanna’s “Love on the Brain” begins belting through the speakers

Tupac Sugar. Kiara’s mommy grew up listening to his music all the time. Her mama says everyone knows the West Side is the best side!”

black Honda Civics appear on the giant screen, their drivers on a mission to hijack a semi-filled w

Malakai is my ex’s older brother.”

“Why?” she sasses. “So you could clear your groupies out of the house?”

I give her a half-cocked smile. “Careful, babe. Your jealousy is showing.”

Jazz’s gorgeous brown eyes roll back. “I’d have to care to be jealous.”

She’s going to review each phase of—”

Mr. Maxwell then entered the room. As usual, he was dressed impeccably in a charcoal designer suit—Prada, I was guessing—with a crisp white shirt.  The overhead lights glinted off his signature platinum cufflinks as he looked at his watch.

His light blue eyes met mine and for a moment, I forgot about how much I loathed this man. His focus was so intense, it was a miracle I could finish my sentence. Ronan Maxwell was so beautiful, yet masculine, it took my breath away. Every inch of him was undeniably attractive, but my gaze always got hung up on his ridiculously full lips.

I couldn’t tell you how many times I’d fantasized about tugging that lower lip between my teeth. If I didn’t know better, I’d swear he got injections. As much as I’d like to deny it, my lady bits were instantly ready for action any time he was near. Hell, the man could practically make me come just with his deep, rumbly voice. It also didn’t help that you could bounce a quarter off his ass and he always wore his dark brown hair in that freshly fucked way that I loved.

He rolled his eyes. “I don’t give a shit what testers responded best to. I care about what’s going to max out our occupancy. What’s going to boost sales for spa services and guest excursions. I care about what’s going to make me and our shareholders money. And this slogan is not it. Understand?”

She blinked rapidly. “Yes, sir. We’ll come up with more ideas and get those to you by the end of the week.”

“You have until Thursday, or you’ll all be looking for new jobs. Am I clear?” Mr. Maxwell folded his arms over his chest.

Sylvie nodded and began closing down her laptop. “Yes, sir.”

Mr. Maxwell looked around the room. “Well, what are you waiting for? The meeting is over. Get out of here.”

Ugh, he is such an ass.

As I headed toward the door, Mr. Maxwell said, “Not you, Miss Montgomery. I’d like a word.”

Sylvie mouthed good luck as she stepped out of the room.

I mirrored his stance and crossed my arms. “Yes?”

He stared at me without a word.

“Nice of you to finally show up. I thought at this point you had taken the rest of the day off.” I looked up, startled by the deep voice. Mr. Maxwell was standing in the doorway to my office that served as the antechamber to his.

“Of course not, Mr. Maxwell.” My voice was sugary sweet but laced with arsenic. “I would never dream of doing such a thing without permission.”

He folded his arms and leveled me with a glare. “What took you so damn long?”

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. “This is Los Angeles, sir. Traffic at any time of day is a nightmare. Since you decided to send me across town in the middle of the evening rush hour on a Friday, it was even worse. My apologies for not having the ability to steamroll over thousands of vehicles so I could return sooner.”