“What about the Los Angeles location?”
“It’s ready to open, but I’ve been pushing it out. We have leeway with LA and New York, but not with Vegas. The resort’s scheduled to open on New Year’s, but before that can happen, we need you to put some finishing touches on it.”
“Me?” She looked between Kieran and me. “Why me?”
“Because it’s your legacy,” Kieran noted. “We’ve provided our input throughout, as you saw yesterday. However, we moved forward with the understanding that you might want to change some things.”
“I don’t know if I’m ready for that,” she said, then quickly added, “I mean, I am, but I’m not sure I should be trusted with something of that magnitude. I don’t know what I’m doing.”
“I’d like to take you to Vegas,” I told her. “Let you see it, meet those we’ve hired to run it. You’ll be able to ask them questions, get their insight. At that point, we can discuss whether or not you’re ready.”
“When do we go?”
I looked at Kieran, got a slight nod to confirm, then looked back at Emily. “Right now.”
Emily’s eyes widened. “Now?”
“My jet is waiting,” Kieran supplied. “It’s a six-hour flight.”
24
Emily
Until the flight that brought me fromTexas to New York, I’d never been on a plane before. And during that particular flight, I’d been lucky in that I was bumped to first class for some reason. Not that I’d cared at the time. Well, with the exception of the anxiety attack I’d nearly had when I realized I was about to be sandwiched between two burly men. It was as though a higher power had been watching over me and I’d been whisked to the front of the plane and settled comfortably into a much roomier seat, complete with meal service and my own television screen.
However,thatcomfortable space didn’t hold a candle tothis.
I was currently occupying a leather chair that had a million functionalities, from recline to massage and probably everything in between. I could easily get through a six-hour flight like this.
No sooner had we stepped onto the Gulfstream than Kieran went one way and Knox the other, both with cell phones pressed to their ears. Based on their grumbling voices, I suspected they were both immersed in work issues.
When Carol, the flight attendant, offered me a pair of Bose noise-canceling headphones and the remote for the retractable wide-screen television, I hadn’t been able to pass it up. While Knox and Kieran took care of business, I was reclined watching a movie, but I wasn’t completely engaged. No, my thoughts were scattered as I tried to process what Knox had told me a short time ago.
I was the third partner in Obsession Unlimited.
I didn’t know exactly what that entailed or what they envisioned my role being, but I already had a million questions, all of them pertaining to this new venture of … ours. I wanted to know every nuance of how it ran, what the financial forecast was, the projections. And yes, I wanted to know how it would benefit Delta June’s.
It seemed silly for me to wonder about things like that considering Knox and Kieran were obviously capable of running a multimillion-dollar company—or many as was their case. The problem was, if I was going to be a part of this venture, I damn sure did not intend to sit on my thumbs and let them handle all the details. I might not know how to run it now, but with their help, I had every intention of learning.
A big body moved up beside me and I pulled one of the ear coverings off to look up.
“What’s on your mind, love?”
Realizing he was off the phone, I removed the headphones completely, set them on the table.
“A million things,” I admitted.
Kieran’s smirk was sexy. “I hope I’m one of those million.”
I remembered what had transpired between us in my bedroom a few hours ago and squared my shoulders. “You would’ve been if you hadn’t lit me up this morning and then let me burn myself out.”
I saw the flash of heat in his navy blue gaze. “Did I?”
“Yes. And I’m still mad about it.”
He leaned down and unbuckled my seat belt. Then he held out his hand. I stared at it for a second, then hesitantly placed mine in it, allowing him to help me to my feet. Kieran steered me down the narrow aisle to a different conversation area, this one with two plush sofas that faced one another from opposite sides of the plane. He motioned for me to take a seat, then he eased down beside me.
“What can I do to make it up to you?”
