And maybe a little intimidated.
Because this version of her isn’t waiting around for me to lead her.
If I’m being honest, I agreed to buy Baywatch less because of her promise to take it over and more because I’d already decided it made sense.
Don’t get me wrong, Jess has always been capable. But I expected her to stumble at the beginning.
That’s what happens when I underestimate her, I guess.
“Logan?”
I blink and realize she’s looking at me expectantly.
“What?” I ask, having completely missed whatever she just said.
She repeats herself. “How many people do you think we’ll need?”
“Right.” I clear my throat and force myself back into work mode. “I was here during the evening, and it was packed. I’d say two at the front door, one in the back hallway. Hayao mentioned they already have a bouncer for the VIP area.”
Jess nods thoughtfully, scanning the room again.
“What about the doors?” she asks.
“Apparently,” I say, gesturing vaguely, “this is an open club. Like… the doors are just open.”
Her head snaps toward me. “Open?”
“That’s what she said.”
“What about capacity?” Jess asks, genuinely bewildered now.
“I have no idea,” I admit.
That probably should’ve been my first question, but I’d been in too much of a rush to get away to ask secondary questions.
“I thought I heard voices,” a smooth voice says from behind us.
We both turn.
Hayao walks confidently toward us from the back hallway, a smile aimed directly at me.
But her stride, and that smile, falter for just a second when she spots Jess standing beside me.
“Hi,” she says to me first.
Then she recovers smoothly, extending a hand toward Jess. “I’m Hayao. The owner.”
“Oh,” Jess replies calmly, taking her hand. “I’m Jess.”
“Your boss kind of scared me,” Hayao says with a light laugh, leaning in toward Jess like she expects my wife to side with her. “All that talk about where we lack in security…”
Jess doesn’t even blink. Ever the professional, she bypasses the bait entirely. “We offer several different tiers…,” she says smoothly, stepping into presentation mode without missing a beat.
I’m going to be honest.
Confidence is a turn-on for me.
I fell for Jess, hook, line, and sinker, back in college. All it took was watching her give a presentation in a class we’d shared all semester. I hadn’t said a single word to her before that day, but the moment she stood at the front of the room, calm, articulate, and effortlessly commanding attention, I was done for.
