Page 1 of Hooked on a Feeling

Chapter One

When was the last time I fucked a woman? No strings attached. John would love to be doing that right now. Instead…“Dad, it’s easier to deal with if it’s on my phone.”

“Why does everyone want things run off their phone nowadays? I can hardly manage to read my emails from the damn thing without it taking a picture.”

“A screenshot,” John corrected him.

John Davenport III had two problems. First, his father’s dynasty, Blue Horizon Yachts, was no longer the king of yacht building. The second problem was that if John argued his case too much, his father wouldn’t retire and leave his eldest son as CEO. It helped that he knew exactly how his dad operated. That Davenport stubborn streak ran far and wide. Deep.

“We have a solid clientele who comes to Blue Horizon because they trust us. They know what they’ll get. They depend on us to give them the best yacht money can buy.” John Davenport Jr. was a businessman, through and through. He was proud of Blue Horizon, which had been passed down to him when his father, John Davenport Sr., retired back in the eighties. The family had done a great job of keeping the bottom line in the positives, despite not having quite the top-notch touches John would like to see.

“I know we do, Dad. But we can grow our clientele to epic proportions. Advancing our yachts into the modern digital age—and beyond—isn’t a recipe for failure. Especially with the advancement of technology and people making millions off it, a lot of people buying yachts are younger than ever before.” He would never wish death on anyone, least of all his father, but was that what it would take to get his dad to hand over the CEO role? Would death be the only thing that would allow John Davenport Jr. to hand over the reins to the company? “They live off the digital age.”

“We have a fine list of folks who are happy with our services. You know what’s important to them? Being out on the water. Luxury. Owning a ship unlike their neighbor’s ship. We give them all of that when they purchase a yacht from us. They get attention to detail. They get personalized service from us that they do not get anywhere else.” His dad leaned back in his office chair, and his eyes flitted to where the Blue Horizon’s logo blazed on his computer screen.

Once John took the helm, updating the logo was first on his list. And sex. Lots of sex. Celebratory sex. Yes, it was well-known, but every brand in history had gotten an update at one point or another, and it was damn well time Blue Horizon got theirs. John walked a delicate line. He couldn’t get too brash on all the things he wanted changed.

“Dad, all I’m saying is that our competitors are light-years ahead of us. I’ve put together a course of action based on months of research where improvements could be—”

“We do not need to fix what isn’t broken. Sales last quarter were higher than the past three. That tells us that we are doing what we need to do.” His dad went back to looking through information about their newest customer—a British man who’d just signed a contract for a 120-foot custom motorized yacht. It didn’t help John’s case that this man was a new client.

John tapped his pen back and forth, staring out his father’s office window, certain he had time to get a run in.

Nothing would change until his dad retired and John became President/CEO of the company. Then he could start implementing his ideas. In the meantime, he was forced to bite his tongue, keep his head down, and do his job. But it didn’t prevent his blood from boiling. He could legitimately feel the pulse throbbing in his neck. If he touched it, the beats would far exceed the doctor’s recommended beats per minute.

He turned away from the derelict marina and faced the stubborn old goat. “I’m just saying, there are a lot of things we could do to modernize that would put us in the catbird seat without losing our integrity.”

John’s brother, Jersey, VP of technology, felt the same way. That was one thing John had in his back pocket when their father retired—the family business was run with the lot of them. Seven brothers and sisters—all under the age of forty—with six of them working within Blue.

“Sir?” His father’s assistant stood at the door. “Your next appointment is here.”

“Thank you, Carol.” He glanced at his son. “We can talk more later. I’m curious to hear how your meeting went with the new carpet importers.”

John suppressed an eye roll and stood from his chair. Out of all the things his dad could have wanted to hear about, he’d chosen the new carpet imports. It sometimes felt like a lost cause. Maybe John was an idiot for wanting to attract more business, wanting to take their company from great to greater. Maybe it wasn’t worth it.

John stalked down the hallway, passing each of his siblings’ offices along the way. There was nothing better to clear his mind than running during his lunch hour. He had to figure a way around his father’s resistance to change. He reached into his office and grabbed his duffel bag and made his way to the bathroom to change.

He didn’t want to disappoint his father. But something had to change. It had to be a gradual process. With the help of his little sister, Reed, they could at least work up a new logo. Reed had won awards for her design skills, and between the two of them, they could cook up an amazing, updated logo that would turn heads. He was sure of it.

He tugged his running clothes on and tied his shoes, tossing the duffel bag on the floor in the corner of the bathroom. He put in his earbuds, tucked his phone into his armband, and hit his playlist. The welcoming May sun beat down on him, warming his insides, the second he stepped outside. This was the magic of Emerald Port. On the Gulf Coast of Florida, the air smelled like salt and sand. Sun and humidity.

There was no better place to be.

John did a few stretches and took off on his usual running route. He waited for the drawbridge to close, waving at Darlene, who managed the booth. Once the bridge was down, he set off across the road to the other side of the harbor. His phone rang and he almost declined it, but a quick glance at his sleeve showed the call coming from Italy. Intrigued, he stopped running and answered. “This is John.”

“John. I hope I’m not catching you at a bad time. This is Domenicio Alessio. Gianni’s cousin.” His accent was strong, but John knew Gianni’s family had lived in America for the last century, not Italy.

“Domenicio. Your timing is perfect. You spending time in Italy now?” John hadn’t spoken to Dom for months, and he wouldn’t say they were close friends by any means, but with both of them being in the shipbuilding world, they were acquaintances.

“Only here for the next few months. I don’t have a lot of time now as I’m getting ready to hop on a plane to Como, but I wanted to throw this pebble at you and see what would happen.”

“Shoot.”

“Thinking about opening Benetto in the US along the coast of North Carolina. Looking at purchasing Crystal Lines. I’m sure your family has seen they’re shutting down productions.”

“We did.” John wasn’t sure what that had to do with Blue aside from competition.

“You have enough experience, so what about moving up there and running it? CEO of the US counterpart. Full benefits. Bonus package. You’d have free reign to do what you wanted.”

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