Page 5

Chapter Five

Roman

“ M r. Bertini, Eva is here.” Dorothy’s voice sounds through my speaker.

I press the button to respond. “Send her in, Dorothy.”

I stand up and button my jacket, then walk around my desk as the door opens. She and Dorothy are laughing as they step into the office.

The moment she sees me, her laughter fades away. It shouldn’t bother me, but for some reason, I don’t fucking like it.

“Mr. Bertini,” Eva says as she extends her arm.

“Please, it’s Roman. We’re going to spend a lot of time together. I think we can drop the formalities.”

Dorothy nods at me and steps out of the office. I motion for Eva to join me in the corner of my office that has two sofas across from each other.

I sit first and watch her as she slowly takes a seat opposite me. She’s in a cream dress that hugs every single curve. Her cleavage is subtle, not like it was the other day in her apartment, but still noticeable.

I try to remain unaffected. Thinking of how I can steer my brain away from where it’s headed.

“Are you settling into your apartment?”

She smiles softly at me, though it doesn’t seem natural. “It’s getting there. Thank you for allowing me to stay there. I wasn’t aware you were the friend my brother was referring to when he told me he knew the owner.”

“Is that a problem?”

She seems caught off guard by my question. “Not at all. I just hope you didn’t feel pressured into it. Walker can be persuasive, but I hate to be an inconvenience.”

“I don’t agree to things if I don’t want to do them.”

Eva straightens herself on the couch. “Of course.”

“Shall we get started?” I suggest moving this conversation to a more productive topic.

“Absolutely,” she replies as she takes out her notebook and pen.

“Before we get to work on the list of hotels that need to be designed and the order in which they will be done, I thought it might be appropriate to let you see the hotel redesign that we are up against.”

“That would definitely help me understand what we need to top.”

I stand abruptly. “Good. Let’s go.”

She looks left and right, then up at me. “Now?”

“I told you I want this project done as quickly as possible. I want an official design for the New York hotel done by the end of the month.”

She follows me out of the office, where Dorothy is typing on her computer.

“Eva and I will be stepping out for about an hour. Make sure to forward all important matters over to Penelope.”

“You got it,” she answers while continuing her task at hand.

I walk toward the elevators. “Penelope is my VP. I will introduce you to her when we get back.”

We ride the elevator down in silence. I need to clear my head and find a way to make this working relationship doable despite my attraction. I just need to ignore it. Every time I have an inappropriate thought, I’ll pinch my thigh through the material in my pocket—like behavioral therapy.

We hit the ground floor, and the doors glide open. I motion for Eva to go first, which provides a perfect view of her ass in her tight dress as she walks out.

I reach into my pocket and pinch my thigh as hard as I can, my jaw clenching with the pain.

Fuck. This is going to be brutal.

Aaron, my driver, is waiting outside, as planned.

“Aaron. This is Eva, my new interior designer.”

Aaron bows his head slightly. “Miss Eva. Nice to meet you.”

“Hello, Aaron. Lovely to meet you.”

Once we are in the car, Aaron rolls the divider up. If it’s just the two of us, he’ll leave it down so we can chat. I do enjoy our mutual appreciation for football. We can talk for hours about the Giants. But he knows I like my privacy when I have someone in the car with me.

Though it might be beneficial for Eva to be the exception to that rule. Privacy with her seems dangerous.

Pinch.

Fuck, that really hurts! But it’s a damn good distraction.

The car pulls up to the hotel. I open the door and extend my hand to Eva as I stare up at my nemesis’s building. Much like me, Sebastian inherited this from his father. He has had it out to beat me ever since he took over the company two years ago.

“The Zenith Hotel,” Eva states matter-of-factly as I close the door behind her.

“Yes. Sebastian Zenith took over and immediately did a major renovation.”

“Shall we?” Eva walks in front of me, leading the way into the hotel.

I’ve only been in here once to see what the big fuss was, and I gave up after seeing just the lobby. Today, I want to see everything.

We walk in through the revolving doors. Eva doesn’t say anything as I walk up to the reception desk.

“Checking in for Mr. Bertini.”

The young woman behind the counter smiles seductively at me. “Absolutely. I’m happy to help.”

I ignore her obvious interest the entire time she checks me in. I’m used to the interest women have in me. I’m handsome, and I obviously have money. Little do they know, I’m not interested in settling down. I never will be. Once they know they can’t get their hands on my money, they lose interest.

I grab the key card from her, then walk away from the desk, feeling Eva’s presence following behind me. We move farther into the lobby, taking our time as our heads move in different directions, absorbing every detail.

“It’s very,” she starts as her eyes shift from the floor to the ceiling, “basic.”

The beginning of a smile tips the corners of my mouth.

“There’s no emotion or direction,” she continues. “It’s as if the designer walked into someone’s high-rise apartment and copied their living room.”

“And you don’t think that’s what customers want? Because they sure have stolen a lot of our revenue since the redesign,” I say as I watch her take in her surroundings.

She sighs as we continue walking around the lobby. “You’re dealing with people who put money and status over all else. I’m sure they see the renovations as staying somewhere that has the newest and best.”

“How do you suppose we bring them back?”

She stops and turns to me. “Even the wealthiest people have feelings. You have to find a way for them to get in touch with those feelings while still providing them with something fancy and new.”

“And your design, it will get them in touch with their feelings?”

She smiles. “We transport them back to the most glamorous time in New York City. A time of cultural brilliance, where art, music, and literature were at their peak. Women were entering the workforce and starting the feminist movement. The fashion was classic, and still, to this day, it brings a nostalgia that every person feels when they see the clothing. I don’t care who you are, where you are from, you have a connection to that period of time. ”

I get lost in the way her face lights up when she talks so passionately. I don’t know if it’s her intelligence pulling me in or something far deeper, but I’m hooked.

“What do you think?” she asks as she faces me.

I swallow the lump that feels stuck in my throat. “I think it sounds … nice.”

The look of disappointment on her face from my underwhelming response is evident. I know it’s a hell of a lot more than nice, but for some reason, I can’t say it.

I can’t get lost in this vortex that is sucking me in. I need to stay neutral, like I would with any other designer that I hired.

“Shall we go see the rest of the hotel?” I offer to move past this awkward moment.

“Of course. Yes,” she agrees quickly.

We take our time strolling through the guest bedroom, analyzing the design before we move to the amenities.

Overall, it is a productive visit after I managed to get my head solely focused on work.

Once we’re back at the office, I direct her to Penelope’s office. Penelope’s assistant, Doug, nods at me to let me know that she’s off the phone.

I walk in to find her eyes strained on the computer in front of her.

“Got a spare minute to give me?”

Her stony face offers a hint of a smile. “I suppose I can give you a minute or two of my time.”

Penelope has been with me for about a year now. My father’s VP, Stanley, retired not too long after him. They were pals in the business, which sometimes hindered their ability to work together and critique the other.

I’m not afraid to tell Penelope when I think she’s wrong because there is no personal relationship. She knows I’m all business.

She’s around my age, and she has been in the hospitality industry for over a decade. I truly value her knowledge and the expertise that she brings to my company.

“I appreciate the sacrifice,” I quip. “This is Eva.” I gesture to my left, where she stands next to me. “She is our new designer, who will be taking over all renovations for our luxury hotels going forward.”

Penelope stands up and extends her arm to Eva. “That’s quite a bit of work you have in store for yourself. Welcome to Bertini Hotels. I look forward to seeing your designs.”

“Eva has come up with a great concept for the New York hotel.”

Penelope looks at me, then back at Eva. “I’m sure it must be fabulous to impress this guy. Trust me, it isn’t easy.”

Eva chuckles, and I find myself slightly irritated that the two seem to be in on some kind of joke at my expense.

“Eva, I will be your main point of contact, but there will be times when I’m pulled in another direction, and Penelope will take my place.”

Eva smiles tentatively as she looks at Penelope. “Nice to meet you, Penelope. I look forward to working with you.”

I leave Penelope to get back to work while I walk Eva in the direction of my office.

“I know this is going to be a long process, and you will likely be putting a lot of time into the project, so I wanted to make sure you had an option to work from our office if you preferred.”

I push open the heavy wooden door to an empty office next to mine.

“Wow, that’s really nice of you to offer this space. Are you sure you don’t mind me using it?”

“Not at all. It will be helpful to have easy access to you.”

I regret the words just as they come out of my mouth. Her eyes look me up and down, slightly widened.

“It’s important to me to be accessible to my clients,” she whispers.

“Well …” I say as I reach into my pocket and pinch myself. I wince from the pain, going at it a little too hard.

Her eyebrows slant down, and she looks concerned by my reaction.

“I’ll let you get settled in. Feel free to come and go as you please. I will have Dorothy come get you soon to get you a security badge.”

Without another word, I walk out of the room and directly into my office, where I close the door.

This was a stupid idea. Why would I give her an office next to mine, where I will likely see her way more than is necessary?

I rub my thigh where I think I might have actually broken the skin, then sit down in my chair.

I need a drink when this day is over. Why does Walker’s sister have to be so tempting?