Page 10

Crew

“ T he purchase of the new building is in order and the date of transfer is still scheduled for the first of March. I already have the names of the staff members that you will be terminating. George has the list and cost projections of the renovations and new equipment. The car taking us to the new site will be here in the next fifteen minutes. Please do not get in here and scare the good employees away. You have teeth for a reason, let them see that beautiful smile,” Janelle, my general manager joked.

Janelle had been with me since I bought my first nursing home in my twenties and her expertise was indispensable.

Janelle and her partner Delema were the backbone of my organization.

They ran the day-to-day aspects of my facilities whenever I wasn’t able to be hands on and there was no one else I trusted more with my business.

Plus, they were the only people other than my grandfather that could put me in my place and call me out on my bullshit.

“Whatever, Janelle. It’s not my job to coddle them, it's my job to whip them into a five-star building," I told her.

“You’re right, but you can do all that and still be a nice guy.”

“I am nice.”

“To who?”

“You still have a job don’t you? I asked her, cocking my head to the side.

“Touché, mean ass. Well at least let me and Del deal with the employees who won't be reporting directly to you. That at least will keep them from having mental meltdowns every other day after you give them the evil eye,” she said with a knowing smirk.

Janelle and Del often said I had a frightening presence but I felt that I was just a direct individual who didn’t believe in smiling in the face of every idiot that came into my presence.

The drive to the facility was a beautiful one.

This facility was on the outskirts of Timberline, a thirty minute drive from the larger city of Brookview.

The facility was smaller than the others that I currently owned but it had larger grounds and potential to be one of the nicest. The facility had good bones, it just needed a few renovations, supplies and building-wide training.

Mostly operations, the clinical team seemed competent.

I thought with an influx of well trained staff they would be a force to be reckoned with.

I knew this wouldn’t be easy but I was determined for this building to be just as successful as my others.

The meeting went just as I expected it to go except for one beautiful distraction.

The employees that weren’t up to par were excused and the ones that stayed would hopefully be able to meet the requirements of the job they were assigned.

If not, they would be out on their asses right behind their incompetent coworkers.

I tried my best to remain focused during the meeting but the one person I had been dying to see again had my attention from the moment I stepped in the room and we locked eyes.

Even in her scrubs she was captivating. She drew everyone’s attention in any room she entered.

She was a thick beauty with curves for days, intelligence and sex appeal to go with it.

Memories of her ass bouncing as I fucked her from the back against the window of my suite had my dick stiffening.

Looking at her face to keep my eyes off her curves didn’t help much either.

If I had to guess, she looked to be in her mid-twenties with her smooth chocolate skin with freckles that pepper her cheeks and almond shaped eyes that gave her a youthful appearance.

The kicker was the beauty mark that rested on the right side of her thick pouty lips.

I took her entire body as I seated myself, every curve, dimple and curl of her hair.

Breaking my gaze from her I refocused my energy on the task at hand.

Getting sidetracked by one of my employees wasn’t on the agenda for me, so I did what I had trained myself to do, and that was shut myself off to anything and anyone that could knock me off my square.

And based on my time with her, she could do just that.

I was able to get through the meeting without any further interruptions.

The fear in the room was almost palpable as I laid out my plan for the future of Timberline Springs.

I had never planned to lead with fear, but it was beneficial.

If my staff was fearful they tended not to fuck-up as much.

And right now, I would use that fear to keep everything professional with the gorgeous beauty in front of me.

“How about you guys introduce yourselves before we get started,” Janelle said to the nursing team. With a soft clearing of her throat the heartbreaker I had been trying to ignore spoke and her voice was like silk.

“Good morning, my name is Nova Travers. As you probably know, I’ve been the director of nursing here since last April.

I’m looking forward to working with all of you and would like to say that I am very appreciative of any knowledge you all will provide us.

Whatever you can do that will allow me to be a better leader, I’m all for it,” she said.

I tried to remain nonchalant, but just being in her presence again made it hard for me to keep my wall up.

“You will be reporting directly to me,” I said before my brain even processed what had just come out of my mouth.

“Are you sure? I thought I would be reporting to your general manager,” she asked with her brows bunched together.

“Both you and the administrator will be reporting to me. Is that a problem? " I asked, never taking my eyes from hers. Normally, I wouldn’t have repeated myself, but memories of her bouncing on my dick made me give her a pass on questioning me.

“No, sir, " she said softly, looking me directly in my eyes, making my balls tighten and my dick jump. She had to know what she was doing by calling me that.

“Okay, now that we know who will be reporting to who. How about the rest of the team please introduce themselves?” Janelle said, grinning hard as hell.

We finished the introductions and discussed the current condition of the facility.

We went over the last state survey and how we could do better next time.

Janelle reviewed a couple of new procedures we would be rolling out and then we exchanged contact information leaving a call log available and hierarchy of who to call first and for what.

I was pleased with the team Nova had put together in such a short time.

With a few minor adjustments this facility would be a force to be reckoned with under her leadership.

“When have you ever had one of your DONs reporting directly to you?” Janelle asked as we left the office for the night.

The meetings had lasted most of the day and we hadn't reached our office until after six that evening. The day was long and boring and with it being the beginning of the purchase there would be more to come.

“She’s fairly new to the role of director, and I just wanted to make sure that she had everything she needed to be a success," I said, somewhat honestly.

“You like her, don’t you?" she sang.

“No, and why would you say that?” She looked at me with her face screwed up like I was stupid.

“Okay, so remember the woman I told you about from the Gala?” I asked, waiting for her to get on my ass.

“Oh my god, that’s her? You fucked her, didn’t you? That’s why you want her reporting directly to you.” She laughed. It's about time. We were worried about you. Del was getting ready to download a dating app on your phone” she laughed.

“I don’t need to date to get a nut. You and I both know that’s really all I have time for,” I said.

“You’ve already proven yourself as owner of Phoenix. You’re 34 years old, Crew. It’s time for you to start a family,” she said.

“You sound like the old man.”

“That’s because he’s right. So what happened at the resort?” she asked.

“Let's just say it was great until it wasn’t,” I said leaving it at that. I wasn’t one to gossip with my friends let alone one that acted like my mother at every turn. Besides the way Nova ran from me that night I don’t think she was interested in anything more than what we shared.

“Yeah, okay, but think about this. She could be just what you need. I know your grandfather is still pushing for you to get married. Why not ask her out on a real date to see if she could be interested in more? You’ve already sampled the goods and clearly you’re interested.

Based on your performance at the meeting, anyway. ”

“I’ll think about it.” We would have to do some research before I even considered her as an option.

Maybe spending time with her on a professional level would give me the fix I needed to move along.

My life wasn’t set up for a relationship at the moment, so I would do my best to keep everything professional with Ms. Nova Travers like she wanted.

Even if I wanted nothing more than to have her on her knees as she gagged around my dick.

Fuck, I would have to clear my mind of all improper thoughts of her before I met with her again.

“Wonderful, because contrary to what you believe, you deserve to be happy and in love again.

“I know,” I said.

“What took you so long to come and see me, grandson?” My grandfather, Bruno, asked as he stirred the pot of chili he was putting the finishing touches on.

My grandfather was known far and wide for his home cooking.

It was something that he had shared with me as a small boy coming to live with him after my parents passed.

Every Sunday he would make us dinner while we sat and caught up.

“The new facilities has been keeping me busy, old man. What you been up to since I was here last?”

“Not too much. Just staying out the way. Catching up on some reading. Even had a date last week with Ms. Davis from across the way.”

“Ms. Davis, my fourth grade teacher? That Ms. Davis? I knew something was going on with you two when she stopped me in the grocery store two weeks ago asking about you. You still got it old man,” I joked.

“You need to work on getting you someone up under your old acting ass. When was the last time you had a woman checking for you?”

My thoughts went straight to the curvy beauty from the new facility. Images of her writhing underneath me with her hands tied above her head as I thrust deep inside her.

“Mine your business old man, " I laughed.

“Exactly, you need to get back out there Crew, " he said, his tone turning serious. It’s been long enough. “You deserve to have someone to come home to. You are a successful business man that went from hustling to the board room. You’ve changed and it's about time you let all that old hurt go and let someone in Crew. If you want to take over everything when I go you’ll get it done sooner than later,” he declared.

This is the only part I hated about coming to see my grandfather; he was determined to get me back on the saddle and married.

Before passing his company to me, he made sure to add a stipulation to his estate that I had to be married to fully take over after his passing, and if I wasn’t, I could remain CEO, but I would own nothing.

I would be just another employee that the board could fire at any time.

But the walls I had put up all those years ago to protect myself were hard to take down after so long.

“Sabrina was a good woman, but it's time to move on, Son,” he said.

I pushed all those old feelings down before I said, “I'm good, old man. Don’t worry about me. It's not like I’m lonely, I've had a few friends here and there. I just haven’t met the right person. But you’ll be the first to know when I do okay. I have something in the works.”

“Good, because I need some great grands to pass all this knowledge to before I leave here, " he said.

We continued to catch up and enjoy each other's company until it was time for me to get back home. Maybe the old man was right. Going home to an empty house, no matter the size, was getting old. But after my past experiences with love and relationships, I wasn’t so sure.