Page 122 of The Playboy

I got up from my chair and went to her side of the table, sliding the watch out of the box and wrapping it around her delicate wrist, where I clasped the band on the underside of her arm. “Stunning.”

“It really is.”

“I was talking about you, Brooklyn.” I leaned down and pressed my lips to hers, a salty tear reaching my mouth right before I pulled away. I swiped under her eyes and licked across my lips. “But the watch does look great on you.”

She laughed. “I love it. So much. And I’m going to cherish it—I promise.” As I went to return to my seat, she grabbed my hand. “You are the most amazing man, Macon. I’m so lucky that you picked me.” The emotion had thickened in her eyes.

I cupped her chin as she looked up at me. “Nah, I’m the lucky one, baby.” I gave her another kiss, and when I sat in my chair, holding my new drink, I said, “You only have a handful of weeks left until you start your job. Are you excited?”

She dabbed her eyes with her napkin and placed the empty box in her purse, taking several glimpses at the watch, her smile as big as ever. “Excited is an understatement. I’ve called my parents at least five times because I can’t stop talking about it. That’s all my sisters have heard about since the second I got the email. I even grabbed a few boxes from work so I can start packing.”

She filled her lungs, holding in the air because her chest never lowered. “But I’m nervous too.Sooonervous.” She lifted her glass of white wine and took a few drinks. “It’s going to be a massive transition, going from living with my family to living on my own in a hotel. And then there’s my manager, who I don’t know, but I hope they learn to love me, along with my coworkers. It’s just a lot to think about.”

I didn’t think she’d be spending many nights in that hotel room. She’d be at my place, and eventually, once we were both ready, I wanted her to move in.

Something I’d never thought would ever happen with a woman.

But the nights we spent apart on Kauai, I missed her like hell. I wanted her in my hotel room, and I didn’t see that changing once we were in LA.

As for her concern about her manager, I wasn’t surprised to hear it. Brooklyn wanted every aspect of her job to be perfect, and the person overseeing her position and her coworkers would have a lot to do with that. There was nothing I could say to make her feel better since it was a piece of information I was still withholding from her. I just wasn’t sold on the fact that she’d follow through with the job if she knew I was going to be her direct supervisor.

I wanted that to change.

I wanted that worry gone.

But there was something I could give her in the meantime, so I rested my arms on the table and said, “Would it ease your mind a little if you knew some of the plans for the Beverly Hills location, the hotel you’ll be starting with?” I picked up my fork and ran my thumb across the tines.

“Yesss.”

“You know, I couldn’t discuss it before, but you’ve accepted the job, and you’ve signed the NDA. There’s no reason now to hold those plans back from you.”

She bit her lip and nodded. “Tell me everything.”

I huffed all the air I had. “God, the work side of you is so fucking sexy.”

“I’m laughing because I was literally just thinking the same thing about you. You’ve always been the hottest man ever, but I’m seriously digging the side of you that talks about Spade Hotels.” Her stare dropped to my chest and slowly lifted to my eyes again. “Business Macon poked his head out not too long ago, but disappeared when you weren’t able to discuss the hotels with me. But right now”—her voice lowered—“all I can see is that delicious beard and hear your gritty alpha voice and take in the way you’re staring at me, like you want to eat me, and I’m feeling it hard, Macon.”

I set down the fork and reached for her hand. “Hard enough to let me take you in the restroom and fuck you in one of the stalls?” I looked at my own Rolex, its face showing now that my arm was stretched across the table. “We probably have another ten minutes before dinner arrives.”

“You think you can come that fast?” She smiled. “You’re not really a ten-minute man.”

“I know we canbothcome that fast.”

She gazed toward the entrance, where the restroom was located off a hallway.

I knew the location. I’d already been in there.

And when her eyes returned to me, her lips gradually parted and whispered, “It’s a shame I’d have to hold in my screams.”

“I’ll bring my napkin and tie it around your mouth just in case one decides to slip out.”

She got up from her chair and said over her shoulder, “I’ll be in the last stall.”

TWENTY

Brooklyn

Macon

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