Page 64 of A Suite Temptation
A message buzzed on her cell. It was from Nancy.
RR all good to go ahead with contract. Agreed to have JR fly out here next week to sign at your house. Talk soon. N
Chloe’s heart was thumping hard in her chest. Jordan was coming to her house to sign the contract.
He’s coming here.
She hadn’t ever thought to see him again, let alone have to work with him. And now their first face to face contact in the long months since he had walked out on her was going to be here with her manager and lawyer present.
But why was he handling her Vegas gig? Did he possibly think she was going to cause some sort of trouble for his daddy’s company, was that it? He wanted to baby sit his ex to make sure she complied with the terms of the contract. To make sure she stayed silent about their relationship. Seriously, had he never trusted her.
You did write a withering breakup revenge song about him.
Okay, so there is that.
But if Jordan was going to play games, she would play along. And if he was counting on her to be the first one to blink, Chloe was going to show her “Bitter Babe” ex just how long a girl who’d survived living on the streets of Nebraska could hold out. This was her home, and she would do anything to keep it.
CHAPTERTHIRTY-FIVE
Los Angeles
January, but it feels more like groundhog day.
Clusterfuck.noun. vulgar slang. A disastrously mishandled situation or undertaking. Jordan was certain that if you looked that word up in a dictionary, it would include the additional line,see also Jordan Royal.
At least his brother hadn’t fired him. Bryce would have been well within his rights as the new CEO of Royal Resorts USA to have terminated Jordan’s employment following the disaster at Laguna Beach. The board had made it clear Jordan wouldn’t be given another chance at managing a resort—thank god for that— but at least they had offered him the opportunity to make some amends. To partially redeem himself.
One final chance. If he stuffed up again, he was out. His father and older brother had gone in to bat for him for the Laguna Beach resort, and their trust had been burned.
Jordan’s SUV slowed outside the gate to the private estate in Beverly Hills. The two burly security guards were the same ones as before. He lowered his driver’s side window and showed them his New York driver’s license. “Hi, I have an appointment at number twenty five. My name is Jordan Royal, hopefully I am on your list.”
He had learned a lot of hard lessons over the past year and one of them was not to assume people would remember his name. When things had gotten really bad during the resort launch, he’d tried to call in some favors. It had been humiliating for him to discover that many of those markers were not owed to him, but rather his father. Humility had been a bitter pill to swallow.
The contents of the security guard’s silver clipboard were promptly checked, and Jordan was waved through. As the gate closed behind him, he let out the breath he’d been holding. He was nervous. His usual cocksure self was nowhere to be seen. He’d been well aware that it had been missing for some time, but today its absence was more keenly felt. The Jordan Royal who’d thought he’d conquered his past and his fears was nowhere to be found.
I just hope Chloe and I can find a way to work together. To put our past behind us.
If he’d had any say in this, he would have suggested they chose someone else for the job of managing Chloe for her Vegas residency, but with some members of the company board making it clear they wanted him gone from Royal Resorts, he had been left with little option than to agree. He might not ever want to manage another resort, but until he could decide on what he did want to do with his life, he’d do what the company required of him.
Dread filled him. He’d wiped his sweaty hands on the leg of his pants several times on the drive over here from his hotel. He was certain Chloe, and her people were going to treat him like yesterday’s news.
Marta and her accomplices are going to do everything to make my life hell.
But after the mess he’d made of the new resort, he owed it to his family to suffer whatever fate could throw his way.
The SUV moved around the long winding bend, and as he caught his first glimpse of Chloe’s house, memories of the two of them came flooding back. Of the nights they had shared together. He smiled as he remembered the gentle, almost shy way she used to take him by the hand, and quietly lead him up to her bedroom.
And the lust filled vixen she transformed into as soon as they got between the sheets.
“Wrong time to be thinking of Chloe like that. Get your head in the game. This is your final chance.”
He turned the car into her driveway, waiting while a large security gate slowly opened.
That’s new. I wonder why she’s had that installed.
After passing through the gate, and making his way down the drive, Jordan parked his SUV in the visitor spot furthest from the front door. There were several other flashy cars parked close by, none of which Jordan recognized. Had Chloe gone ahead and bought the new cars she had promised to her team?Generous bonuses.
Turning off the ignition, Jordan sat for a moment and gathered his thoughts. He could do this, he had to, there was no other choice. If he failed to get her signature today, he might as well not bother returning to New York. The top of a mountain somewhere in the Himalayas would be a better option than going home empty handed to face his family.