Page 25 of Tempt Me Forever

He hesitated. "I'm not sure of that, man. You know how Aspen is."

"I want the rights to the first visit," I said in an authoritative tone. That usually cut off any argument.

"Let me talk to my bosses. I’ll ask them to delay putting it online, but I can't hold it for more than a few days."

The sweet smell of victory never got old. I relished it every time. "A few days is all I need. Thank you. I appreciate this."

"When would you like to come?"

"I don't have an answer for you yet, but it'll be sometime this week."

"Understood.”

“I'll call you later."

Efficiency was important to me. I didn't like to waste time chitchatting.

As soon as I hung up, I emailed Reese, Kimberly, and Travis, inviting them to an emergency meeting. I wasn't going to wait until this evening; this opportunity was too good.

I didn't bother checking their calendars first, as there was just no time. Travis had most of it blocked out anyway, but one of the advantages of working in a family-owned company was that people were flexible. I was starting to see the benefits of that. Just yesterday, Reese walked into my office, saying she needed a couple of minutes of my time. This would never have happened in any of the previous companies I'd worked for—a meeting with me always required a formal calendar invite. But I was learning to appreciate that the time it took to organize a meeting was better used to simply solve the problem.

I received emails from all three before I had time to minimize the screen. They were all available for lunch. Travis suggested we order something and eat it in the meeting room. That was fine by me.

My body heated when I looked at Kimberly's reply. Fuck me, just seeing that woman's name was doing things to me. She excited me unlike anyone I'd ever met.

Every time she passed my office, it was all I could do not to pull her inside, shut the door, and kiss her against it. Or lay her on my desk, then flip her around, hike up her skirt, and sink inside her.

What the hell has gotten into me?

I was in Chicago for one reason alone: Suze. But every time my path crossed with Kimberly's, my imagination ran wild. She kept asking me about my sister, and it was another fight with myself not to pour out my every thought.

Thankfully—or maybe unfortunately—Kimberly and I didn't have many reasons to meet one-on-one. Most of our interactions could be done through email. And when I needed her in a meeting, it was usually a joint one with Travis or Reese or both.

At noon, I headed to the meeting room. Travis, Reese, and Kimberly had carried on an entire email conversation about what to order for lunch. I kept out of it because I honestly didn't fucking care. I wasn't here to make small talk or enjoy the food; I was here to convince them to see things from my point of view.

When I opened the door to the meeting room, I saw they were already there with four pizza boxes situated on one end of the table. Kimberly threw a crumpled sheet of paper, and Travis caught it in midair.

Reese was holding one palm toward Kimberly and the other toward Travis, as if she was signaling a timeout. I felt like I'd walked into a kindergarten room. I'd never seen this type of behavior in a company, and it was bizarre. They were family, true, but I’d never seen such behavior with families either. The Maxwells appeared to legitimately like one another. I respected that.

"Am I interrupting?" I asked.

Reese lowered her hands and sat down in the chair at the head of the table. "Oh, Drake, good, you're here. You can help me settle this dispute between these two. Pineapple on pizza or not?"

I blinked.Is she pulling my leg?"What?"

"We ordered pizza, and one of them had pineapple on it. These two are fighting over the benefits of having pineapple on it or not."

"What's there to fight about?" I asked.

"Exactly my point," Travis exclaimed.

Kimberly's eyes widened in horror. "Oh my God, you're one of those people who has pineapple on their pizza," she exclaimed.

"I have pizza with everything," I replied, sitting down.

Kimberly pressed her lips together. Travis and Reese began to laugh.

"Thank you,” Reese said. "Now, hand over the pizza. What did you want to talk to us about?"

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