Page 403 of Seasons of Love
He chuckled. “Now, when I see a guy in a suit, his intelligence isn’t necessarily the first thing I notice.”
Our eyes met in the mirror and held there for a few seconds before he looked away.
“There. You’re all set,” he said.
I looked at my reflection and smiled at how perfectly straight my tie was.
“Thank you,” I said. “Griff always does my tie. I really am hopeless at it.”
He smiled. “Now you have a go-to tie man at home and at work.”
“Come on, let’s make sure we’re not too late for this dinner. Are you ready to answer more questions from them about your project?” I asked.
He winked. “I was born ready.”
Silver Palm Resort was twice the size of Silver Sands. We’d had a full tour of the resort when we arrived. Of course, Jake was already familiar with the location, but their state-of-the-art conference facility was brand new.
We were both amazed by the capacity of the resort to host events on a scale I hadn’t seen before at a resort whose primary focus was the tourist trade.
“I’m glad you’re with me because I think I’d be lost already,” I said as we turned what felt like the tenth corner into another large hallway.
Jake laughed, “It’s normally not that difficult to go from your room to the dining areas, but we’re not dining in a customer area. Besides, this is the shortcut.”
“This is the shortcut?”
Jake looked at me and winked.
I smiled and shook my head. We’d been working together a few weeks now, and attraction aside, Jake was a perfect work partner. He listened, had good ideas, and wasn’t afraid to volunteer them, even when he wasn’t sure if they could work.
We’d even found ourselves working through meal breaks because we were so engrossed.
There was definitely something special about Jake. I just hoped I could help channel his drive to build a career in his uncle’s company without interference from my personal feelings about him.
And those feelings, that attraction that lived under the surface every second we were together, needed to stay under the surface.
The room that was set up for our dinner was a private meeting room conveniently located near the resort’s main kitchen. The smell coming from it made my mouth water.
“I’m so sorry to have to host you here rather than the main restaurant, but we have a wedding there tonight, and I’m not sure they’d be happy with us crashing the party,” Mason, the resort manager, said. “Please, take a seat. We may not be part of the wedding party, but the chef has reassured me he has some of his specialty dishes for us nevertheless.”
We took our seats, and a server came over to offer us fresh rolls.
“Mal, Jake, you got here a minute too late to be part of the decision-making so you’ll have to go with it,” Trey, the manager of Silver Springs, said.
“What did we miss?” I asked.
“Lose the tie,” Mason said. “We may talk business at the table, but we can damn well be comfortable while we do it.”
It was only then I realized Jake and I were the only ones wearing a tie, while everyone else had lost their jackets and looked relaxed in their unbuttoned shirts.
“To think Mal spent the last three hours doing his tie,” Jake joked.
I hit him with my elbow, and everyone laughed, including me.
“My absentee vote agrees with the majority,” I said, removing my tie twice as fast as it took Jake to tie it. I looked at him from the corner of my eye and saw his dimpled smile.
“Then I think we’re ready to get started on food and business.” Morgan nodded to the server to indicate we were ready and then turned to Jake. “Jake, we all know you well. You’ve worked with all of us in the past, and I’m impressed to hear about both you finishing your MBA and the ideas you’re bringing to the table.”
“Thank you,” Jake said.
