Chapter 17
LIAM
M onday morning came faster than I would have liked, but I got up bright and early, dragging my ass out of bed and to a gym I’d found not far from our house. By the time I walked in, there was already a flurry of activity inside, weights clanging and energetic music blasting through the speakers.
It wasn’t a huge facility, but it had a few circuits scattered around the spacious interior, treadmills, a swimming pool, and some areas for classes. The scent of chlorine and fresh sweat hung in the air and I nodded to myself, satisfied that I would be happy here.
I’d already signed up and I strode to the treadmill first. While I preferred the real thing to just running on a belt, I’d been craving other forms of exercise. I needed my muscles to burn—everywhere. I was still stuck on my night with London and I was hoping I could sweat her out of my system.
Nothing else had worked so far, and getting caught up just wasn’t me. I’d always been able to leave a hookup behind as soon as I was out of the bed—or office, kitchen, wherever really—where it’d happened, but this was proving to be different.
I also wished it was only because I had to see her all the dang time, but I didn’t make a habit of lying to myself, and I knew she could’ve been on the other side of the world and I still would’ve been hung up on her.
I entered the settings I wanted into the treadmill and started running.
My feet thwacked against the belt at a steady pace, but it wasn’t the pool in front of me that I saw.
It was an array of images of the party, of her standing there at the bar staring at James and the relief on her face when she saw me coming.
The way she’d looked at me in the ocean.
A snapshot of me coming down those stairs and seeing her in that bikini with her cutoff denim shorts.
A memory of the look in her eyes when she’d turned to me from the stairs.
Obviously, I also thought a lot about what had happened after that. I thought about feeling her drench my trunks with her juices and how she’d tasted. Her thighs quivering next to my head and how beautifully she’d let me take charge.
I upped the pace on the treadmill to go faster. Clearly, this wasn’t working at all. I found a new rhythm, the thwack-thwack-thwacking much more rapid now and yet I blinked and saw her looking back at me over her shoulder.
Fuck me, Liam. The words echoed through my mind like a sultry siren’s song and I groaned. I was in the middle of a gym, on a treadmill surrounded by at least a dozen other people, and I was getting hard. Like I was back to being thirteen and not knowing how to control the monster between my legs.
I kept upping the pace and beads of sweat started to form on my forehead. Another highlight reel of her started playing in my mind, Shaking my head at myself, I finally focused on the pounding of my feet. When I figured I’d run enough, I hit a circuit. Hard.
Thankfully, I was meeting London at the office and not at our place, so I headed home after my workout, grabbing a shower and doing everything I could to rid myself of my frustrations before I climbed out and got ready for the day.
In jeans and a T-shirt since we wouldn’t be conducting the interviews today, I went to our brand new offices and clocked in for my first day of actual work since we’d gotten here.
London was already there, as I’d known she would be, sitting in her office and scouring through the mountains of paperwork we had to make our way through. As I strode down the hallway toward her, I took the time I had alone to get over how damn good she looked.
Again.
Her blonde waves were pulled into a sleek, smooth ponytail and her makeup was minimal, a silver watch her only jewelry today.
If I’d needed any confirmation of how seriously she was taking the vetting process, it was that.
She’d foregone her usual amount of bracelets and Christmas-tree-esque decoration of herself in favor of freedom of movement.
She had on a dove gray sundress with relatively casual, sparkly sandals that wrapped around her ankles, and I realized I loved her like this. The way she was dressed today was the London version of relaxed and comfortable, and it did things to me knowing that about her.
She was intensely focused and scribbling on a notepad next to the paperwork, glancing up at me when I walked into her office. “Good morning. How was your workout?”
I drew a pamphlet for the gym’s yoga sessions out of my pocket and pushed it across the desk to her. “It’s a nice place. Smaller but I like that. Thought you might be interested in this.”
Her gaze dropped to the pamphlet and surprise flickered across her features before she smiled. “Thank you. It was really nice of you to think of me. I’ll check it out sometime.”
She swiped it off her desk, folded it, and slid it into her drawer before she leaned back in her chair, expression serious and her eyes on mine.
“If we can get this narrowed down today, I’d like to start the interview process tomorrow.
I’ve already heard of a few possible leads on clients and I’d hate to miss the window of opportunity. ”
“You got it,” I said. “Let’s get some coffee and we can go over what we’re looking for in our new coworkers, as well as the most urgent positions we need filled.”
“Sounds good.” She rose from her chair and followed me to our brand new, barista style coffee machine. Caffeine fueled our creativity, so we had splurged a bit.
While I worked on setting the ratios we liked and getting the machine started, London ran us through the discussions we’d had last night. “First and foremost, we need the most amazing receptionist this town has ever seen, who will also be doubling as our assistant for now.”
“Yeah, I still think that’s going to be the toughest personality to find,” I said thoughtfully. “We want someone efficient but who is also friendly and good with clients. This person is going to be the face of the company when people first arrive here.”
“Exactly.” She drew in a deep breath, her pretty face pinched as she turned her gaze to the window. “A few of the people from the job fair jumped out at me. I’ll pull their applications.”
“Excellent.” I stuck her caffeine in her hand before she went into withdrawal and bit me. “What’s next?”
“Account managers.” She turned those vivid blue eyes back to mine. “Two at least. A web developer, a content strategist, a social media guru, and a couple of designers.”
Nodding slowly, I picked up my own mug and walked with her back to her office. We spent all day in there together, ordering in some Cuban sandwiches for lunch and whittling down our applicants to those we thought held the most promise. Then we started setting up interviews.
The sun was disappearing below the horizon by the time we headed home. If everything went well, we’d be able to start working as soon as the day after tomorrow.
The next morning, she came to the gym with me, but both of us were already mentally prepping a day of trying to decide who to hire and neither of us said much.
This was crunch time. If we made the wrong decisions today and hired tool bags, the branch was screwed under our leadership.
Nate would have to send in somebody else to start all over. No pressure.
By the time our first interview rolled around, we were as ready as we’d ever be. Our candidate sat across from us at the conference table on our floor, admiring the view behind us as he settled in. I wasn’t sure, but I had a feeling that the acrid scent in the room was coming from him.
He definitely gave off unwashed because I’m too cool to do it vibes and he had an absent smile on his lips that made me wonder if he was high.
He also wasn’t wearing any shoes. I glanced at London, whose nostrils were flaring a bit and her nose wrinkled, but she nodded at me before turning toward him.
“River Knox,” she said after glancing at the paperwork. “That’s your name, correct?”
The dude nodded, turning his gaze to her and looking her over lazily but appreciatively. Immediately, I nixed him in my mind, but he was here for an interview and we were going to give him one.
“That’s my name,” he finally replied. “My parents call me Jack, though.”
“Jack,” London repeated, glancing back down at his paperwork, but I already knew the only name on there was River . “That’s so interesting. I see that you’re an account manager. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and where you’ve worked previously?”
“Sure, dude,” he said easily. “Before we get started, is it going to be a problem that I don’t believe in shoes?”
My eyebrows shot up. “You don’t believe in… shoes ?”
The guy shook his head and turned to me, a somber expression on his face. “They’re really bad for your feet, man. I prefer a more natural approach to life.”
I stared back at him, wondering how the hell we’d even invited him here, but it only got worse from there.
A woman who had no personality sat across from us a few interviews later, everything about her completely drab, but she was utterly insistent, “I’d be a personality hire.
I don’t have much experience as an assistant, but I have assisted my grandmother many times.
I also worked the reception desk at a clinic once. ”
“That’s wonderful,” London said, although she seemed a little confused. “Is your grandmother a businesswoman? How long were you on the clinic’s reception desk?”
“Oh, no. It was only once. Like I said.” She stared back at us with a completely blank, straight face.
“I assisted my grandmother by taking her for a checkup. The clinic was already closed for the day, but the doctor was still finishing up with her so I sat at the desk and waited. The doctor is my brother.”
“That’s great,” London said, flashing the woman a weak, wavering smile. “You must be very proud of him.”
Yet another few interviews later, a web developer desperately tried to convince us that he’d need a bowl of chili powder and a mirror at his desk, and I frowned. “And you said this was to keep the UFOs away, am I getting that right?”
He nodded, very seriously adding, “I also only wear red. That deters them too.”
London’s lips parted. “Aliens don’t like red?”
“They wouldn’t know.” He suddenly turned smug, folding his arms over his chest as he smirked at us. “The color red is invisible to them. Wearing it makes you invisible to them too. You’re welcome for the tip.”
“Oh, well, thank you.” I stood up and showed him out, relieved that had been our last interview for the day.
Once he was gone, I went back to London and widened my eyes. “I truly believe we met every kind of person you can find in Miami today.”
She laughed. “Yeah, and now we need to pick the ten least crazy people to hire.”
“Tough job. Were they all this weird at the job fair?” I packed up my stuff while she went to her office to get hers.
Once we got home, we ordered takeout and settled in the living room, ready to sit down and start looking through all the people we interviewed so we could make our decisions.
“There are a few I think we can eliminate right away,” she said, lifting a glass of red wine to her lips and taking a delicate sip. “The hippie dude, for starters. I couldn’t live with that smell and our clients wouldn’t take kindly to someone running around barefoot in our offices.”
“Agreed. The personality hire too.”
She laughed, seeking out those folders and sliding them off to the side. While we were sorting through the others, my phone started buzzing on the table. I glanced at it, tension rising inside when I saw it was my dad.
I declined the call and looked back up, but when I did, it was obvious that London knew who it had been. “It’s okay to answer him every now and again. Maybe he’s just checking in on you.”
“You know he’s always after something, and it’s usually me. Thanks, but I just don’t have the energy for that right now.”
I knew that denying his call wouldn’t hold him off for long, though. Dad still hadn’t really forgiven me for taking a job with the Walkers, and he would never stop hounding me to come and work for him instead.