Page 9 of The Holidays with Mr. Mitchell
“Addy, we’re fine. Go downstairs. We’ll be there in a minute,” Jim said, voice stern.
She snorted. “Maybe keep it down, you horny old people.”
“Addy, that’s not what—” I started.
“Dad’s pants are over here,” she chimed.
“I literally took a nail in my ass to avoid this exact moment,” I muttered.
“What?” Addy pressed.
My eyes darted to the Halloween boxes. “We were trying on Halloween costumes and my ass landed on a nail,” I said, hoping to salvage our dignity.
“Right,” she said with a laugh.
“Just head to bed, kid,” Jim took control. “We’re going to have to run down to the ER and get mom a tetanus shot,” he said, arching a brow at me. “Let’s head to the hospital and dodge our teenager’s commentary.”
“Okay,” she answered, still not believing our half-lie.
“Perfect plan.” I sighed. “I’ll see if Bree and Alex can sit with the girls.”
“Addy will be fine here. I’ll alert security to up their watch while we’re gone tonight.”
So much for reunion sex, night two. A nail had claimed me before Jim did. Addy would never let us live it down, either. Still, at least the excuse was believable. I wasn’t screaming in ecstasy; I was screaming because of a contractor’s mistake. If it came to it, Jim could even throw on his old wizard costume from one of these boxes to back up our story.
Honestly, who gave a damn, anyway? The chaos made it even more fun. I might’ve hurt like hell, but it made for one hell of a story. I just had to make sure that story didn’t involve tetanus.
FOUR
Jim
The crashof waves below the cliffside blended with the sharp clang of steel beams locking into place. Pacific Palisades didn’t do anything small, not the ocean views, not the price tags, and certainly not the development project Titus Hawk and I were standing in the middle of.
I adjusted my cufflinks as I listened to the foreman lay out the day’s work. Behind him, crews moved like a well-oiled machine framed against the Pacific horizon. Glass towers and sleek villas would rise here, an empire of concrete and steel. The Hawk brothers didn’t fuck around, and Titus had roped me into co-developing this site as if he knew I couldn’t resist a challenge this big.
“You’re still thinking hotel plus residences?” I asked, my gaze scanning the blueprint Titus had unrolled on a makeshift table.
He smirked, his eyes flicking up from the plans. “Hotel, residences, and a private club. Something exclusive. Something the billionaires’ billionaires will beg to get into.”
Of course, he said it like that. Hawk had never played it safe a day in his life.
I ran a hand down my jaw, considering the numbers. “It’ll sell. You know that, but don’t underestimate the politics of a build this size. Neighbors will fight. The city council will drag their feet.”
Titus leaned back against the table, arms crossed, watching me with that predator’s grin he always wore when he smelled blood. “Which is why I want Mitchell and Associates on this. You know how to close, no matter the opposition.”
I sighed. “You are already aware of the conditions I placed on my company whilst doing any work with Hawk Global on the West Coast. This ismy worldand my empire. My vision was not to cater only to the wealthy. Our agreement was that if I went intoanyhotel business with your prestigious builds, it would be wealth and luxury at the middleman price tag.”
Hawk smirked. “Of course,” he answered. “No one will be turned away.”
I folded my arms, studying my sly business partner. “In the end, will the price tag be the thing that makes them turn up their noses?”
“I’ll make sure it doesn’t, my friend.” He pushed off the table he’d been leaning against. “I just need you focused on yourselfandon your bulldog of a VP who’s handling the petty shit that could slow this down.”
One of the workers hammered in a beam too close to where we stood, the clang reverberating up the frame. Instinctively, I glanced at the nail gun in his hands, and Avery’s laugh from last night past through my mind…You literally nailed my ass.
The image of her still-glossy eyes, ecstasy building before the nail seemed to get her, replayed in my mind, and I ached to be with her, to make up for everything going to shit. Even so, I smirked despite myself.
“All good?” Hawk asked, arching a brow. “That nail gun seems to have triggered some kind of response, and by the looks of it, I think it’s not a bad memory.”
