A Billionaire's Mistake

4|The Serpent

I nod. "Thank you. We moved into this building a few years ago. The old one was getting cramped."

Stepping into my office, he gracefully slides into the leather chair opposite my desk, appreciating the view of downtown that sits directly behind it out a floor-to-ceiling window. I'm cursing myself for choosing this place to host this meeting because although my office is more than spacious, I think I'd need a football stadium's length to stop the tension I'm feeling towards him. Just the realization that all that stands between us is a desk has the heat forming between my legs all too quickly.

Is it my time of the month? Is that why I'm unbearably horny? And did someone turn up the heat? It's so unlike me to get this turned on by someone, let alone a client. I haven't felt like this since...

I wince, immediately blocking the memories as I focus on Lincoln once more.

"Do you mind if I take my jacket off?" he asks.

Okay, so maybe it's not just me.

"Go ahead. Is it hot? I can have Rachel turn up the air conditioner if you'd like."

He clears his throat before he utters, "Quite."

Slinging his jacket on the back of his chair, he sits back down again, and the very minute I lock eyes with him, I wish I hadn't. Large, muscular arms flex underneath his white dress shirt, a tease of just how much this man must work out, and then...

And then...

Black ink is poking slightly over the collar of the shirt. It looks like a serpentine's head, a snake of some sort. I can't make the figure out completely, but I'm...utter putty. I've lost all sense of rational thought staring at this man when he is a client. I need to focus.

Lincoln looks at the desk, then me, then the desk again.

Focus.

Focus.

Focus.

Pulling out a stack of papers, I clear my throat and say, "Okay, so I've had time to look over a lot of the reports, but what stuck out the most to me was your customer analysis." I stick another copy in front of him to look over. "Most of the guests staying in your hotels are millennials. They're the ones going to concerts, visiting friends, traveling...and yet..." I place their current logo and some printed pictures offline of the interior of his hotels. "The inside of your hotels look like they were made in the seventies."

He snorts. "Way to be blunt."

"Sorry, but it's true. You need to update not just the logo, but the interior of the hotels too to see the kind of turn-around you're after."

"Which all costs money," he adds, "and if it doesn't work then my company is screwed."

"Then attack your busiest hotels first. Atlanta, Hollywood, this very one right in New York. I did my research, and one of the main reasons your company is going under is because you're not keeping up with the times. Young people want selfie walls, cute photo opportunities for Instagram, and you have the prime locations, you just need to do something with them."

"You say this like you're in your fifties," he says with a laugh. "Aren't you one of those girls who likes to take pictures in front of a selfie wall?"

I shrug. "Mr. Nash, I've learned from a very young age to be mature when it comes to business. You wanted answers, this is it. Now we just have to put the work in."

Leaning back in the chair, he folds his arms behind his head and I almost moan at the sight. "How did you become so successful, anyway?"

I shoot him a pointed look. "I think we're here to talk about your business, not mine."