Page 85 of The Heartbreaker

“You certainly are. You’re in my head—and I don’t know how you got in there or how to get you out.”

“A place I’m enjoying very much.” He pulled me closer, our faces almost touching. “And to think, I kept you clothed this whole time and never once did I get you naked.”

I laughed. “Let’s not downplay the naked times. I love those just as much.” I leaned into his face and kissed him. “But tonight—this, us—was the most special.”

TWENTY-ONE

Ridge

“Ineed a status update on each of the properties you’re all working on,” Jo said, glancing around the conference room table at the faces of our executive team. “Brady, why don’t you start?”

Brady kicked back in his chair and crossed his arms behind his head. “Things are going well in Bangkok. Lily and I are only home for a couple more days before we return to Thailand. I’ll be able to give you a more detailed analysis when we get back since I’m expecting the crew to have moved mountains while we’ve been gone.” He smiled. “Wait until you see the hotel, you guys. It’s fucking sick.”

“Are you on track to hit the completion date?” Jo asked him.

Brady nodded. “We should be good.”

Jo jotted some notes on her pad of paper and addressed Macon. “Now that Kauai is finished, are you scouting for another property?”

“I’m always on the hunt,” Macon replied. “I’ve got a few locations brewing.”

Jo looked at Cooper. “Tell me about Lake Louise and downtown Banff.”

Cooper whistled out some air. “We’re in the thick of it—aren’t we, baby?” he said to Rowan.

“God, we are,” Rowan sighed.

“We’re about halfway there, maybe,” Cooper continued. “Ortechnically, I guess you could say. But there’s still a long way to go. I’ve been riding the hell out of the contractor to try to speed things up. We’re behind, but hopefully, we’ll get caught up.”

“Jesus,” I said, shaking my head. “That was a visual I did not want.”

Cooper flipped me off. “I didn’t mean itthatway.”

“Of course you didn’t.” I laughed at him and reached into my pocket, grabbing my phone, which was vibrating.

Addison

Sitting in class, dreaming about YOU and the beach … but mostly you.

Me

What do those dreams look like? Are you naked in them?

“Ridge?”

“Huh?” I glanced up, realizing Jo, along with everyone else, was looking at me. “Yeah?”

“Do you want to give us a status update on the Malibu and Beverly Hills hotels?”

Brady tapped his thumb on the table. “No, he’d rather fixate on his girl. I’m assuming that’s who you were texting since you were looking like a dreamy-eyed chick the whole time.”

I set my phone down with the screen facing the wood. “It’s none of your business who I was texting.”

“Which means that’s exactly who he was texting,” Macon teased.

“I think we need a status update on the teacher,” Brady added. “Let’s start there. We can get to Malibu and Beverly Hills after.”

I shook my head, running my hand over the top of it. “You fools aren’t getting anything out of me.”