Braxton Greco
"Peter, I don't want to wait it out. We need to be proactive, start the project or get rid of the land. I'm sick of dealing with the paper work." I tell my business partner Peter Henson. We usually agree on most business dealings but he's dragging his feet on this current arrangement and I'm having to deal with the headache. Stacks of environmental impact reports, and miles and miles of bureaucratic red tape. Permits alone can hold up a property development, why he's stalling on this project is unknown to me and its beyond frustrating.
"So, push it to someone else. Let's sit on it for a couple more months." He insists.
Giving him an irritated look, I shake my head. "No, I have all the permits in order. We start next month."
He gives me a disaproving look. "I promised Charlie that we'd help fund the children's cancer wing and they're not breaking ground for another nine months." He explains.
Listening to his statement my mind instantly fills in the rest. "Of course." I nod. "You don't want to build until we have the market, which will come with the hospital addition." I reply, knowingly. Peter is a philanthropist, but a businessman above all. The tax break we'll get from helping to fund the addition to the hospital is his main concern, his granddaughters happiness a close second. He's a great business partner, even if he's a little taxing on my patience. I'm glad my father introduced me to him. "Charlotte doesn't know about the hotel?" I ask.
"Charlie's only concerned about the hospital. You know that." Peter replies fondly.
I nod. "I understand your hesitation but its really a matter of resource allocation. We currently have five hotels in various stages of construction. Steven Daniels finishes Tokyo in two weeks. I want to put him on this project right away and not twiddling his thumbs for the next nine months."
There's only a brief pause while he pounders what I'm telling him. He knows I'm not asking for permission on this, I'm not even sure why we're talking about it. Time is money and holding onto the plans for this hotel is making us bleed. "Fine, it'll look better to Charlie if we finish the build before the hospital. Get it started, use whomever you need." He encourages.
"She'll still have something to say about it." I respond, smiling slightly at the thought of Charlotte scolding him for profiting from the hospital addition. Sick people with families need the hospital and we provide the families with accommodations. Its a lucrative business, but Charlotte would find it sleazy.
He grimaces. "She usually does."
Charlotte or Charlie, as Peter calls her is his youngest granddaughter and the only Henson I like, besides Peter. She works as a nurse at the hospital working in the cancer ward. She's been fighting to have a children's cancer wing made and donate's most of her modest earnings to families struggling to pay hospital bills. It's a cause close to her heart after her only cousin and best friend, Amelia Henson died of leukaemia fifteen years ago. Peter's only son, Amelia's father passed just three months later from a brain aneurysm.
I smile thinking of her. You could always ask her out." He chuckles. I narrow my eyes at him. He knows as well as I do, Charlotte is terrified of me. "She's going to have to move on from that night eventually." He adds, sadly.
"I terrify her." I remind him.
"I know that. You're just going to have to show her she doesn't need to fear you." He replies, trying to be helpful.
I don't bother responding. If she sees me coming she runs in the opposite direction. Until six months ago I hadn't known what caused her reaction, then Peter let it slip that Charlotte was almost raped by a former boyfriend. A guy she met at med school. Peter explained that she has avoided all men since that night. It makes sense, except for the fact that I'm not her ex-boyfriend. Nor do I have any interest in hurting her.
"We're having lunch together. Why don't you come?"
"Making her uncomfortable isn't exactly fun for me." I grumble.
"Like I said, she needs to see you're not Byron. You don't help your cause by staring at her all the time. Maybe if you looked at her a little less,....heated. She wouldn't be so uncomfortable." He points out.
"Heated?" I ask, amused.
"Yes, heated." He replies, disgusted.
"I don't look at her like that." I say, dismissing his allegation.
"You do." He aruges. "Its nauseating."
I grit my teeth. I don't like knowing I show my feelings for her to anyone.
I nod. "I want her."
"I know that! Tell her." He yells, exasperated. "I'm not getting any younger. I could die any day and I want to see her settled."
I scoff. The man has the best nurse taking care of him. Charlotte makes sure he doesn't miss his med's and even plans his meals.
"I'm serious. I expect you to take care of her when I can't." He states, pointing at me for emphasis. Peter is the only person I would ever let speak to me this way.
I look at him seriously. "I know what I'm doing." I lie. "I want her, but it doesn't change the facts. Unless you plan on dragging her down the aisle yourself, it's a waiting game."
"You're not trying hard enough." He accuses.
"What do you suggest? Handcuffing her to me?" I ask, feeling my frustration over the situation rise.
"If you wanted her bad enough you would." He retorts.
I groan. I can't help but get a little angry when she refuses to talk to me, I'm sure she notices it. For that, I'll give her as much time as she needs to get used to being around me. I've been to dinners and events knowing she'd be there and I always get the cold shoulder. Even with the cold reception I still stand next to her at parties, making sure no men approach her. Hell, I even make Ben, our security detail here at the office call or text me when she enters the building. It's been over a year and still my presence spooks her. There was a time I liked being an intimidating man, it does have its advantages. Now, it's a burden. My phone buzzes with a text message telling me Charlotte has checked in at reception.
"I'll come to lunch." I agree. Even if I'll be ignored the whole time.
"Good. She'll be here shortly. We're going to Sullivan's." He adds, distastefully. Charlotte likes to eat there because of the healthy menu options. Two years ago Peter suffered from a massive heart attack, she's been looking after him ever since. That means she dictates what he eats and how much he exercises. She recently moved in with him, saying he doesn't take his health seriously enough. However, it doesn't stop him from sneaking a glass of scotch here and there. Right now we're both sipping the delicious beverage.
"She's going to smell this on you." I warn, lifting my glass. He reaches in his pocket taking out a red and white tin of breath mints. I laugh. "It's not worth the risk. I'd hate to see her dump this hundred year-old scotch down the drain."
Making a distressed sound he drinks the last of his glass quickly and pops a breath mint in his mouth. A knock on the door has him shoving his glass into the bottom drawer of his desk. "Come in." He calls, loudly.
The door opens, "Hey, grandpa. Are you ready?" Charlotte asks, not looking up from her phone.
She looks so young. Younger than her twenty six years. She always seems to have her long thick strawberry-blonde hair in a ponytail. She doesn't wear a lot of makeup, never any lipstick, yet her lips are continuously stained a deep red. Her dark blue v-neck sweater and tight skinny jeans never disappoint. Feeling myself harden as I take in her perfect body, I look at my scotch glass and drink the contents and look back at her. Noticing the glass in my hand she turns to glare at Peter.
"You've been drinking again haven't you." She accuses. "You know you can't drink with your medication." She scolds, moving closer to the desk looking for evidence of a glass.
"I did not." He adamantly denies. "Braxton is drinking alone." I smirk, knowing she'd never believe that.
"I'm not stupid." She huffs.
Peter stands up and I set my empty glass on the desk joining him. "It was just a little." He replies, guiltily.
"I don't know why I even try. You're determined to undermine all my hard work." She grumbles, unhappily.
"Because you love me." He responds, pinching her cheek. Walking to the door, he holds it open for Charlotte.
"Too much, if you ask me." I say, walking out the door after her.
"No one did." Peter replies, smirking.
She turns slightly at the sound of my voice but doesn't look at me, she rarely does. "I hope you don't mind if I join you, Peter insisted." I tell her.
She forces a small smile. I feel the anger, same as always when she refuses to give me a simple answer. Charlotte steps into the elevator first and Peter shakes his head at me. I glare at him, remembering what he told me earlier. Am I looking at her, heatedly? I force myself not to look at her the whole ride down to the lobby.
A car parked at the curb is waiting to take us to the restaurant. I hold the door open for her and Peter. After we get settled my eyes beg to go to her, to take in everything about her. However, I control myself by keeping busy and using my phone to respond to a few work e-mails.
"We're meeting a friend of mine at Sullivan's." I hear Charlotte tell Peter quietly. A friend? I feel jealousy start to course through my veins, but continue my e-mail as if I didn't hear.
"A friend?" Peter inquires, clearly intrigued.
"Yes, her name is, Allison Grant. She's new at the hospital." She answers.
"That's great." He says, sounding a little relieved.
"Yeah, she's really nice. She called today and asked if I wanted to have lunch. I told her I was meeting you and I asked if she wanted to join. She's new to the area, I didn't want it to seem like I was dodging her." She explains, sounding somewhat guilty for not clearing it with him first. The weekly lunches have been something Charlotte and Peter continued since she was in High School.
"Its fine, dear. The more the merrier. By the way, we're having a family dinner on Sunday."
"What for?" She questions, not sounding happy about the news.
"I just want to get everyone together. It's been over three months." Peter responds.
I can tell by the look on Charlotte's face it hasn't been long enough. Her older brother Keith and sister Brynn are notorious for asking for money and using Peter like their personal piggy bank. Keith works for the company as a low level employee, but never really strives for more. He's lazy, overly confident and not all together smart. How Keith shares blood with Peter Henson, the most hardworking man I know is beyond me.
Brynn is a lot like Keith. She relies on her looks to get her want she wants. Charlotte has no illusions about her siblings. I know she doesn't like them coming to Peter every time they need money. Even though she doesn't agree with her brother and sisters laziness or Peter giving into them, she never says anything bad about her family and they rarely argue.
We pull up to the restaurant and I open the door holding it for both Henson's. I get a quiet "Thank you" from Charlotte and we make our way inside.