Page 12 of Pilot's Virgin

Jason Weir was happy to see me, and the introduction was pleasant, but I had to admit, I had no idea of what to tell him when he took me to the hotel and showed me around, telling me his vision with each step he took.

“What do you think?” he asked after giving me the rundown. “Can you make this happen?”

“Absolutely.” I nodded.

But, the voice that responded was far more confident than I felt, and I wasn’t sure if I really would be able to pull this off the way he had envisioned.

All I could do was try.

But damn, did I ever have my work cut out for me.

SEVEN

Greyson

“Successfully landed and on time, too,”I said.

“Great, but what I was really calling for was to patch you through to my boss, Mr. Roberts. He wanted the chance to speak with you personally if you are able,” the secretary told me, and I agreed.

I couldn’t imagine having the kind of life in which I would need a secretary to call someone on my behalf to see if they had the time to speak with me. If I didn’t, would she just tell him that she couldn’t get a hold of me? It seemed strange to have someone else find out if I was free to talk rather than calling me directly.

But, I wasn’t the kind of person to have that many people under me.

I did a lot of things on my own, and I liked doing them that way. It kept it simple in my book, and the simpler I could do things, the better as far as I was concerned.

So, if that’s how Mr. Roberts wanted to do things, who was I to judge? It didn’t bother me any to wait on hold for the few moments it took the secretary to patch me through, as she put it, to her boss. Though I couldn’t help but wonder what it was he was doing that was so important he had to have her do the legwork to get him on the phone with me.

“Hello, Captain,” Mr. Roberts said. “I’m glad I was able to get a hold of you. This is important.”

“Call me Greyson, please,” I said. “I prefer it to anything else you could call me. And I’m here to help. What can I do for you?”

“Greyson? Then it will be Leroy for me. I don’t like being on a first name basis with someone who is calling me by a professional title, how does that sound?” he asked.

“Great.”

“Excellent. Now, I’m calling to tell you that I want you to be absolutely available for my designer you have down in Florida with you at this point,” he said. “I don’t know if my secretary was clear on this front, but I need you to be ready to take her anywhere she asks at the drop of a hat. I know this might not be the best option for your own business, which is why I’m letting you know that we are willing to compensate you heavily for your constant availability.”

“Really?” I asked.

I had already planned on keeping myself available for the girl to get a hold of me should she need to leave Florida and head back to New York, but I hadn’t been planning on being available for her 24/7. It wasn’t that I was going to be doing other work, but the fact that I had to be so openly available did change some of the things I was able to do with my own time.

But, if he was going to pay me more to make sure I was readily available for her, then I wasn’t about to turn that down. I didn’t like to charge personal clients any more money than what I quoted up front to them for the trip, but if I was going to go above and beyond, and I was doing it for the sake of someone who was working on behalf of a company, I had little reservations about telling them what I wanted them to pay me to do it.

“Absolutely. I don’t know what you agreed on with the secretary. That goes to accounting and I don’t get it until I’m ready to finalize. But I told her to pay you whatever it took to get you to stick around down there, and I’m calling you personally to let you know I meant it when I said it. I want to make sure we have all the means necessary to make sure we get what we need with this project.”

“I understand that,” I said. “I haven’t left Florida, and if you want me to stick around, that’s just fine with me.”

In all honesty, I wasn’t planning on leaving Florida myself, but the fact that this man was offering me more money to stick around gave me the upper hand when it came to haggling the price, and I was all for that. If I could make any amount of extra money during this time, then I was happy to do it.

Not that I wanted to take advantage of anyone, but this wasn’t taking advantage. This was a matter of making sure that I was being paid to put the work in for what I was doing.

And to be making more money to hang out with that beautiful woman? I couldn’t sign myself up fast enough for that if I was given the option.

“Let me know what you’ve got for your sleeping arrangements, and make sure we add that to the bill.”

“I would say if you want me to be as available as possible for this young woman, then I better be staying at the same location she is. I don’t know what you put your workers in when they are on the job, but you can just put me in the most basic rooms and I’ll be fine,” I said.

“I’ll make sure to have Sam get back on the line with you and work out those details,” Leroy said. “Just name you price, and we’ll get you sent over to the location. I’ll call ahead and let Laurel know that you’ll be in the same hotel in case she’s in need of immediate travel. That should ease her surprise, too, if the two of you run into each other.”

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