Wright with Benefits (Wright Series #8) - K.A. Linde Page 0,30
and then she disappeared back to work. Still, I couldn’t bring myself to regret that one bit of contact. Even though I knew she’d found it more forward than the hours lost in my sheets, where I fucked her brains out.
Did you hear from Larissa?
Julian texted me for the tenth time today. But no, in fact, I hadn’t heard from Larissa. And I was starting to get pissed off. It was nearly five o’clock, and I could hardly concentrate on my own work while waiting for her call about the winery.
I hadn’t even wanted this stupid winery, and now that I was invested, it seemed to be taking over my life. I was about to text Larissa for an update when her number flashed on my screen.
“Hey, Larissa,” I said.
“Jordan.”
“Cutting it a little close.”
She exhaled in frustration. “I’ve been trying to sort this mess out so that you don’t have to.”
I sat up straighter. “What mess?”
“The winery has had a second offer come in. It’s higher than yours. Though not significantly so. We could go over it easily.”
“Who is it?”
She sighed again. “That’s the tricky part. They won’t tell me. They said it was an anonymous offer. No matter how much I tried to find out, they stuck to their guns.”
“Frustrating. What do you suggest?”
“I think we need to go big or go home. If this is the property you want, we should show that we’re serious. Scare off the competition.”
“How much?”
She threw out a number, and I gritted my teeth. Of course. Some asshole had had to come in and mess up the plan that I’d set up. I’d have to rerun the numbers to make sure it was feasible. We had the money. That wasn’t really the problem. But I wanted it to still be a sound business decision.
“If you don’t want to go that high, we can always go lower,” Larissa said instantly. “The property has a history of problems, as you know. So, it could be that we skirt the issue and see if the anonymous person comes back with something else.”
“No,” I said at once. “Your idea makes sense. I run it by Julian and Hollin. How long do we have?”
She paused a little too long. “They want an answer today.”
“What?” I ground out. “They made us wait an extra week, and now, they’re riding us hard?”
“I did say the property has issues.”
Haunted. That was the word she wasn’t using. I’d heard that from multiple people since I’d looked into purchasing it. The property had had too many issues over the years for it not to get a reputation for being haunted despite the fact that no one had ever died at the place. Well, as far as I knew.
“Give me an hour,” I told her. “I’ll get back to you.”
“Sounds good. Thanks, Jordan.”
I hung up the phone and stood with such force that my chair smacked hard into the bookshelves behind me. This was all Julian’s and Hollin’s fault. They’d dragged me into it, and now, I had to deal with all the fallout. Story of my fucking life.
It wasn’t even really a decision. I knew what they’d say. That as long as I okayed the finances, they were in. Of course they would be. It was their pet project. It was my investment. Two different things.
I ran the numbers first before calling Julian and Hollin. We put the higher offer in an hour later. I still wasn’t happy about it even though they were. It was a risk. As a businessman, I accepted a certain level of risk in my life, but a haunted winery? That might be taking it too far.
I didn’t stay my irritation until Annie crawled into my bed just after midnight. Her hands tugging off my boxers, her mouth falling hot and needy on my cock. My hands threaded through her hair as she made me forget all about my abysmal afternoon.
14
Annie
The smell of coffee woke me.
I groaned and peeled my eyes open. Jordan stood with two steaming mugs in his hands. He was shirtless in nothing but a pair of black boxers. His hair was wet and floppy, as if he’d just gotten out of the shower.
“Is that for me?” I whispered, rubbing my bleary eyes.
“It’s almost noon.”
I yawned again as I took the coffee from his hand. “I was so tired.”
“I noticed that.”
“Did you already shower?” I pouted. “Without me?”
He laughed, sinking into the bed next to me. “I worked out this morning. Needed the shower.”