his thick brown hair. Damn if her heart didn’t do a flip at the sight of him.
Not her type. Not at all.
Yeah, tell that to her libido.
A half-smile pulled at his lips as he leaned on the rail and looked at her. “Sorry I’m late. We were delayed coming back from a trip. I’m Griffin Lambert.” He pushed himself off the rail and held his hand out to her. “But most people call me Griff.”
Griff. It was the perfect name for him. Strong and gruff and maybe more than a little bit rough. It took everything she had not to shiver. “Hi. I’m Autumn Paxton.” She slid her palm into his, feeling the warmth of his skin as his fingers folded around hers. It was absurd how tiny her hand looked in his.
With one squeeze he could probably break every bone.
“Shall I… ah… let go now?” Griff asked. She looked down to see her fingers still curled tightly around his hand, even though he’d relaxed his grip. She quickly pulled her hand away.
It took her a moment to regain her equilibrium. And in that moment she blamed the divorce, the ocean air, and even that damn angel Captain Paxton saw centuries ago. Because this was so unlike her.
She didn’t get flustered, especially not by a guy. She was Autumn Paxton. She was in control.
She took a deep breath. “Okay, so I just wanted to introduce myself, tell you a little about my plans for the next few weeks, and then answer any questions you might have.” She turned to the assembled crowd and smiled again.
“Let me start by telling you a bit about my background. I’m a real estate professional from New York, and have been involved with commercial property since I graduated. I have a Masters in Business Administration, and for the past six years I’ve owned and run my own business. When I saw the listing for Paxton’s Pier, I knew that I could make it work. I’ve taken a look at the books and have also spoken to a lot of locals. I understand that for years the pier has been underfunded, neglected, and most importantly for me, running at a loss.” She gave them a rueful grin. “I know that all of you have been running businesses on the pier for a long time, and you’re understandably nervous about what’s going to happen with them. But I can tell you that I always work with my tenants, not against them. I believe my success comes from your success.”
The front row looked singularly unimpressed. She glanced beyond them at Griff, who was still leaning on the rail, his expression placid, and his substantial arms folded across his chest.
His gaze caught hers and it threatened to throw her off her game. She quickly pulled her eyes away.
“I plan on spending time with each of you over the next couple of weeks. I want to learn about your business, about your history. And maybe I can give you some suggestions for improvement.”
A woman in the front rolled her eyes, muttering something unintelligible.
“I’ll also be looking at some of the underutilized space on the pier. To make more money, I either have to reduce costs, up the rent, or find more tenants. I’d prefer the latter option.”
At last somebody nodded. It felt like she’d won a marathon.
She took a deep breath. “Okay, who has any questions?”
At least ten hands shot up. She spent the next twenty minutes answering each one, taking her time to make sure they were content with her answer, or occasionally promising to get back to them once she knew more.
“For any questions you might think of later, I will be working in the office at the top of the pier. My door is always open if you need me,” Autumn added before she ended the meeting.
At that time, most of the Delmonico family headed to the restaurant which was already filling with guests, while Ricky, the watersports rental owner, gave them a nod and ambled back to his shack by the beach. Autumn grabbed her phone to call the Beach Club, who’d kindly loaned her the chairs.
“You did good.”
She looked up to see Griff towering over her.
“Thanks.” She gave him a smile. “I know it must be disconcerting for everyone having an outsider buy this place.”
He shrugged. “I’m just glad somebody bought it. The last owners weren’t exactly responsive to the problems. A few years ago, they used to have a general manager working out of