Page 6 of The Cocky Neighbor

Liam stood there looking at me, seemingly unfazed for a few seconds before a crooked smile that had accentuated his dimples appeared on his face. I hated how beautiful he looked, especially when I didn't really have many good feelings towards him right at this moment. To further add to my irritation with him, the fucker acted like his entire outburst against my staff hadn't happened and proceeded to complain about the cleanliness of the hotel.

The hotel must be immaculate.There's dust on the baseboards. Unacceptable. There are water stains on the bathroom mirrors. Unacceptable. There's a piece of lint on the bed skirt. Unacceptable.

The only thing unacceptable was how he’d managed to find something new to pick at every few seconds, and the fact that I couldn’t stop staring at his handsome face despite him being a huge pain in the ass.

Nothing was good enough for the man. An hour later, I had a laundry list of items Liam demanded were unacceptable and needed rectifying. How I ever thought that Liam Wright was a reasonable person was beyond me. As the vein at my temple throbbed while I tried to reign in my temper—I cannot lash out at my new boss—Liam had the nerve to shoot his cocky smile at me. He was an insufferable prick that I had the displeasure of having to work with.

However, as the professional that I was, I swallowed the hundreds of curses that I wished I could bombard him with and led him to the presidential suite. We were in the process of touring each type of room we had available from our singles to the honeymoon, and lastly—thank fuck—the presidential suite.

I held the door open for Liam as he walked into the suite and gave the room a once-over as he slid his hand against the leather sofa. His eyes darted from the art pieces hanging on the walls to the full-sized kitchen off to the right. I prayed that he couldn't find anything to find fault with, but after spending even the smallest amount of time with the man, I realized that my prayers would likely go unanswered. I’d never met someone who complained more than he had.

We took a closer look in the kitchen area before checking out the two bedrooms that were included in this presidential suite, and to my surprise, he stayed silent the entire time. I was waiting for him to make a snide remark about how some part of the suite was "unacceptable" and "not to the Wright standard," but there was nothing.

He quietly looked through each room before turning to me with a huge smile that almost had me thinking with my other head, and not the one that contained my brain. "Now this is what I'm talking about," he said with a laugh. Those dimples reappeared under his scruff.

My breath caught in my chest as I watched him, mesmerized by this man who had me bouncing from one emotional extreme to the other. I didn't know how to feel around him, but one thing was for certain, I would be kept on my toes.

SIX

LIAM

Eric Wells had to be the most expressive man I'd had the pleasure of knowing. He probably thought that he had his professional mask mastered, but I found that he didn't know how to hide his feelings very well. Especially when those feelings were of irritation towards his new boss who was trying to rile him up.

The suggestions I'd so kindly pointed out to Eric were made to improve the hotel, of course, but I would be lying if I said that my delivery couldn't have been smoother. It wasn't my fault, though. The man was too cute not to tease. It took every single cell in my body to not lick the throbbing vein on his temple every time I ruffled his feathers. I thought he would finally break his professional mask and yell at me or something, but his control was a lot better than I gave him credit for. So, I'd continued to tease him through the rest of the tour. Of course, teasing was all I would ever get with him since I couldn't let anything fuck up what I came here to do. I couldn't let my brother down. Not again.

I figured that if I told myself that enough times, the fantasies of bending the sexy man over my desk would finally stop. It hadn't worked so far, but one could hope.

It didn't help that when I'd stopped teasing him in the presidential suite and finally shot him a real smile, he smiled back, his entire face lighting up with the action. It was like all the annoyance that had vibrated from him throughout the entire day had disappeared, and the only thing that remained was the unrestrained happiness that he showed from the one smile.

Why he was so happy, I didn't know. What I did know was that his dreamy smile was dangerous. Much too dangerous for me to be around, and that was why I had cut the meeting short.

Several emotions flashed across Eric's face when I abruptly announced that I was leaving. Relief, confusion, and dare I imagine, even disappointment. A burst of giddiness bubbled inside me at the possibility that he wanted me around despite all the teasing and obvious frustrations that I was causing him.

Again, those thoughts skirted the line of what was appropriate for a boss to have about their employee. He didn't work directly for me, but Roslyn Hotels had employed him and my family's company now owned the hotel chain. It was basically the same as if hewasworking for me, and I knew the rules. Abuse of power and all that.

I shook off the lust I'd clearly developed for my new manager, and hopped into my aqua blue sedan (I wasn’t going to drive in something less than stylish). I'd achieved today's goal of introducing myself to the staff at the hotel and meeting the manager in charge. There was no point in staying here when I knew that I wouldn't get much done besides thinking about said manager.

With the file Eric had prepared for me in the passenger seat, I drove away from the hotel and headed home. Corio Heights was the building I'd purchased as a passion project eight years ago. It was the only place that I could truly call my own. A place that was completely untouched by the influence of my powerful family.

I'd moved into the loft of this building almost a year ago after an event that had shaken up the entire Wright family. Everything was fine now, but things had gotten tense at Wright manor, and I’d just needed some space. The manor was large enough that I could go days without seeing another member of my family, but that was beside the point.

Even after things had settled down, I had no intention of moving back to the manor just yet. I wasn't ready to leave my new home and the unexpected friends I'd gained at Corio Heights. Being friends with your landlord? Scandalous, right? But I'd always been friendly with my tenants and considered all of them friends, some closer than others.

It helped that I didn't take advantage of my tenants and placed their rent at a reasonable price for the area. My original intent of purchasing this building was never to increase my already sizable wealth, but to create a safe space for people like me. Although the world was now a lot more accepting of those who identified as queer, there were still many places who rejected rental applications based on sexual orientation.

Since I had the money and resources, I started purchasing buildings to turn into rental apartments that didn't discriminate against anyone, and Corio Heights was my very first one. The operations had grown throughout the years with apartment buildings all over the city, but I was hands-off for the most part, with managers taking care of the daily tasks and providing me monthly updates.

Those were all things that I didn't have to worry about for now. Parking in my designated spot at Corio Heights—one of the perks of owning the building and lot—I exited my car. Ava had to return to the office to take care of some other matters, so I was basically done for the day. I had the documents that Eric gave me to review, but that could be done from the comfort of my own home.

My loft wasn't anything big, and definitely nowhere as lavish as the Wright manor, but it was homey. The building was located within walking distance of the beach, and the large windows of the loft had the perfect view of the waves. Most evenings, I liked sitting with the window opened, watching the sun descend behind the crashing seas. It was beautiful and a bit humbling to see the greatness of the world, another reminder of how small humans really were.

Ariel, the manager of Corio Heights, was in the lobby sorting out the mail. The redhead had his head down but looked up when I walked in. "Hey, boss. Welcome back.”

"Hey," I said, returning his smile.Ariel recently started at the building after the previous manager retired and moved back to her hometown. Ariel had come with high praise from his previous employer, and so far, he'd been living up to his reputation by keeping the building running smoothly—perhaps even better than my previous building manager had.

"How are things going today?" I asked, accepting the pile of envelopes he had for me.

"Very good. The tenant in 2A officially moved out today. The place looked pristine, practically unlived-in, so I think we're set on renting it out right away."

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