Page 59 of Cross Point

Trinity suspected that Joseph was probably telling the truth. His company had been in business for over sixty years and had a good reputation and solid connections. A fuck up like this was enough to destroy all of that and it made no sense from a business perspective.

It had been obvious that the older and younger man had done their share of construction work over the years. Despite the suits and ties they wore, their hands had been those of men who worked hard. But something about the blonde ice princess had Trinity’s radar going off. She had immediately pegged her as a spoiled bitch as soon as she had walked into the room. And it wasn’t just because the skank had tried to make eyes with Maxwell.

The Rivieras had ensured Maxwell that they would do everything in their power to figure out what happened. They also promised to replace all the materials with what had originally been agreed upon, at their expense. Overall, the meeting was brief and to the point, but Trinity wasn’t satisfied.

“The daughter is involved somehow,” she said as she lifted her champagne flute to take a sip.

He smiled. “You’re just saying that because you didn’t like the way she was flirting with me. Are you always going to glare at the women I do business with?”

“It wasn’t all she wanted to do with you,” she muttered, making him chuckle. “And you’re one to talk. I seem to recall you growling at the son.”

“Because the fucker had the gall to ask you to dinner right in front of us,” he said, his voice filled with outrage.

“And I think you and Jackson made it perfectly clear that wasn’t going to happen. I would have said no. You just didn’t give me the chance.”

They paused as the waiter came to whisk their empty appetizer plates away, and another man set down their entrees with a flourish. She moaned as she took the first bite of her steak.

“Jesus, Kat. Watching you eat is like watching you have sex.”

She smiled. “Well, when you enjoy something you should show it, right? You know, speaking of sex…I’ve been thinking. Maybe this is a good opportunity to rethink the construction of the new building.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, they are going to have to redo a lot of the structure anyway. Why not change it up and do something different than another replica of what you have already? Maybe private villas or something.”

He seemed to consider it as he chewed. “It’s possible, but we can host more people in a larger structure.”

“Yeah, but do you really need that many more rooms? If you changed it up and made private villas, I bet you could hype them up as exclusive and charge more for them. And anyone having wild, crazy, monkey sex wouldn’t have to worry about the poor guy next door. You know what I mean.”

“Right. Villas it is. I had considered it before, but went with what was more cost-efficient. I have some concepts already drawn up. Maybe you’d like to take a look at them and see if you like any of the other plans.”

She set her fork down and studied him. “Really? Just like that?”

“I value your opinion, love. Seriously though, what makes you say the daughter is involved?”

“She was good at hiding it, but she wasn’t just pissed about what this was doing to her company’s reputation. She didn’t like being questioned, period. I got the vibe from her.”

“The vibe?”

She waved her fork in the air as she explained. “The vibe. It’s like when you know something is off. My take is the father is pissed because he is proud of the company he built. It’s there when he talks about it. The son is the same because the company is his now, but the daughter? She could give two shits about the company. It’s all about her. And she’s irritated that they had to come here and answer our questions. Even more so, she was furious when her brother said they were going to do an internal audit. I don’t think he informed her about that before.”

Maxwell thought back to what had happened during the meeting and had to agree. They continued to talk about the new construction as they finished eating. He really was interested in her ideas for changing the strategy for the build and decided to take a walk down to the construction site after their meal was done so he could visualize the new plans.

As they strolled down to the pathway leading to the beach, they passed several other couples enjoying the night air. Once they reached the sand, they paused to remove their shoes and he helped her put her jacket back on. Carrying their shoes, they headed toward the more secluded section of the beach. The simple pleasure of holding her hand was enough to make him happier than he’d been in years.

The cool breeze teased at the flowing skirt of her white dress making it flutter, giving him tantalizing glimpses of her long legs. He wanted to take her down to the sand and push the material up her legs for a better view, but he knew it wouldn’t stop there.

“You have a special place here, Max. It’s one of the nicest resorts I’ve ever seen.”

He squeezed her hand and pulled her to a stop, wrapping his arms around her from behind as they both studied the dark form of the partially constructed building. He had been planning on building the new resort near the western cliffs, making it as if the very structure was part of the land itself. It would have been interesting, but individual villas did have some perks.

Privacy being one of them.

“I think you’re right, though. If we made several private villas with a central structure to house the common areas like food services, a gym, and concierge staff to cater to the guests on this side, it could almost be like its own little resort.”

“It’s like renting a private home but still having access to all the amenities of a hotel. I think it will be awesome. Now, we just have to figure out why someone has been willing to kill me to cover up what’s been going on with the build,” she said lightly.

His arms tightened around her. Just thinking about anything happening to her had Maxwell feeling a fury the likes of which he had never felt before. This woman had become essential to his life in such a short amount of time. He couldn’t imagine living without her now. Turning her slowly, he pushed the hair back so he could see her face bathed in the moonlight.

---