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 withthose feelings while still providing them with something fancy and new.”
“And your design, it will get them in touch with their feelings?”