Page 15 of Mad Rivals
I was out of place in a suit in the middle of Starbucks. I’m fairly well-known around these parts, but I look different in a suit with my hair neatly styled than I do in a jersey and pads with eye black and helmet hair. Admittedly, it’s harder to recognize me when I’m not in my element.
I was only in San Diego a few days, and I’ve spent the rest of my time at my father’s Chicago office. My future office.
I’ve gone to Starbucks each morning on the off-chance I might run into her again, but I haven’t.
I have enough resources to procure her number, but I have this sneaking suspicion our paths will cross again—like today, for example. Besides, it would feel strange to call her out of the blue. I’ve thought about what I’d say if I did it, and every time, I just sound like a creep.
No, I need to let things happen the natural way.
I told my father I could handle this on my own. I’m not entirely sure that’s true, but I wanted the chance to seeheragain without my dad being a cockblock.
I found out after the fact that the man Kennedy was with was her father. From the sounds of things, he and my father are business rivals, but Thomas Bradley has met few people who haven’t eventually become his rival, and none that he hasn’t won against. It’s quite the record, really.
I’m not terribly surprised to see the woman standing in the lobby chatting up the receptionist as I pull open the door, but Iamglad to see she’s here. I sort of assumed SCS would invite all the developers back to let everyone else down gently since obviously my company submitted the best proposal. I say that with confidence, by the way—not arrogance.
She’s wearing black pants with a green shirt that accentuates the blonde of her hair, which is hanging in loose waves just past her shoulders. Her back is to me, but it’s unmistakably her, and my eyes fall to her ass. It’s cupped perfectly in those tight, black pants, and I salivate as I try not to openly stare.
Tight, black pants just do it for me.
And on her?
Damn.
That’s one hell of a nice ass.
One I could sink my teeth into.
One I could spend all night caressing just before I bend her over and slide inside.
Fuck.
Great. Now I need to attend this meeting with a fucking erection caused by the woman who will be sitting beside me. I draw in a breath.
She glances toward the door when she sees the glint of the light reflecting off the glass as I open it. Her eyes meet mine, and she glares.
Sheglaresat me. What the fuck did I do to earn her ire? We had a nice little flirt, and now this?
And furthermore, while I’m not surprised she’s here, Iamsurprised when the receptionist welcomes just the two of us back to Simon’s office. Kennedy follows her, and I follow Kennedy. We’re both silent on the walk back, though I’m tempted to saysomething.
“Welcome, Ms. Van Buren, Mr. Bradley,” Simon says, and he shakes each of our hands across the desk. He nods at the chairs, and we both take a seat. “Both of your bids were incredibly impressive, and you each had a unique take on how to make our vision come to life,” he begins. He glances up at both of us. “As you can both see, you’re the only two we’ve invited back, and there’s a reason why.” He pauses dramatically, and I’m tempted to inject some humor into the moment. I refrain.
Barely.
“Because the scope of the project is so large and we appreciated pieces from each of your bids, we’ve decided to split the project,” he says.
My stomach twists as my heart drops somewhere down there.
This wasmyproject.
My father expected me to win the bid. Granted, he didn’t have medraftthe bid, but he did have me handle the walk, and he did have me oversee and approve the bid before we sent it to SCS.
He’s going to hand me my ass, and it’s likely well deserved.
I’m about to interrupt to ask whether we can negotiate this so we can get the full scope of the project when Simon continues.
“Van Buren will cover all residentials, and Bradley will oversee the commercial. We feel this is the best use of our resources and will also yield the timeliest method to break ground. There will, of course, be challenges to this, and we will need you to work together on all stages of the project together from master planning to infrastructure to branding and marketing.”
Wait a minute.
