Total pages in book: 73
Estimated words: 69413 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 347(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 231(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69413 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 347(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 231(@300wpm)
How could one man manage to look so good, no matter the circumstances? I’d expected him to open the door hungover, tired, and bedraggled like I had felt this morning, but he looked fresh as ever.
“Hi,” he said, his brown eyes going wide. “Jamie. How are you feeling?”
He was holding a metal thermos full of coffee that smelled a whole lot better than the stuff from the hotel lobby.
“I’ve been better,” I admitted. “A lot better. But the painkillers are starting to kick in, at least.”
“Come in, come in,” he said, leading me through the door and down the main hall of his suite.
“I brought you a cup of coffee from downstairs, but I see you already have one,” I told him.
“That’s so sweet, Jamie,” he said. “I’ll take it. I’m already on my second cup of the day.” He took the paper cup from me.
I realized with a shock as we entered the living room that Landry wasn’t alone.
There were three people sitting at the dining area table. They were in front of the big, open windows, and two more people were sitting on his couch. All of them were dressed just as nicely and had laptops, cell phones, and thick stacks of paperwork in front of them.
“Oh,” I said. “I’m so sorry—I didn’t mean to interrupt.”
Everyone smiled at me or gave a little nod, and I realized a couple of them were actually on phone calls or in video conference calls.
“Don’t sweat it,” Landry said, placing his hand at the small of my back. “Just a financial meeting with a couple of the Waycott Marketing junior execs. They’re all working on the LA division with a startup I’m getting more involved with.”
My mind was still working to catch up. I’d been so far into vacation mode on this trip that I hadn’t realized being in very legit business meetings during a vacation was a regular occurrence for Landry. A guy like him didn’t really have much in the way of “time off”—he was probably working, bit by bit, all of the time.
I cleared my throat. “Just came for my clothes,” I said under my breath. I had no clue how close Landry was with these other colleagues, but I was pretty sure he didn’t want a failed hookup from last night loudly announcing that I’d left my clothes here.
“Got ‘em in the laundry room,” Landry said, not missing a beat. He emerged again a few moments later with my clothes, neatly folded in a sleek bag.
“Great,” I said. “Thank you.”
“Of course.”
“Landry, do you have the proposal outline from Thomas yet, or are we still waiting on his notes?” one of the guys on the couch called to him.
“Got it on my drive,” Landry told him before turning back to me with a sympathetic look. “I’m so sorry. Meeting.”
“Right. Thank you for this,” I told him, gesturing to the bag before turning to head back down the hall.
“Bye, Jamie. And thank you for the coffee.”
I walked out of the room feeling like I’d just interrupted something important, even though I knew Landry wouldn’t mind. It was wild, seeing a business meeting when I’d been expecting to find him alone and sleepy.
But, then, there were a lot of things that I wasn’t used to.
Things that were just a part of everyday life for Landry.
Everything in his world seemed faster. Higher-level. More intense. I could get a lot of stress from making omelettes for tourists day after day, but outside of the work kitchens, I was free.
I headed back down to my room, tossed on my white coat, and went out into the world. The falling snow had slowed by now, and only a few tiny flakes still landed on me as I went out onto the streets of the little ski town. Mom was with Chase right now, and while they hung out, Chase had asked me for help getting some sort of small gift or souvenir for everyone attending the rehearsal dinner tonight. I’d jumped at the chance. I desperately needed something to occupy my mind.
About an hour into shopping, my phone vibrated.
>>Landry: One of the people in my video conference has a cat that keeps showing up on camera. You have to see this.
A moment later, a close-cropped photo of the cat came through, cut from someone’s background. The cat had all black fur on one side of his face and the other all white.
>>Jamie: Get back to work, CEO.
>>Landry: If you think I’m a CEO I need to explain my business to you better.
>>Jamie: CEO, genius, marketing wizard. All impressive to me.
>>Landry: Thanks again for the coffee. Needed something more substantial than a vanilla latte after last night.
>>Jamie: You didn’t seem hungover.
>>Landry: I clean up well.
I imagined sending the text I actually wanted to send: no, Landry, you don’t just clean up well, you always look so fucking good it hurts. I held myself back, though, opting for something nice but less aggressive.