Page 433 of Seasons of Love
“I really like this, Jake. We can work on the details, but this is a really cost-effective solution to upskill our staff using someone else’s payroll. We could refresh all our skills in one go. Staff will feel valued. We could even lose some along the way to the other resorts if they secure a promotion, but that’s a hit I’d love to take. Well done, Jake.”
Everyone around the room had a smile on their face. Apart from Brian, of course.
“Good afternoon, everyone. My apologies for the delay. I was having a wonderful conversation with Griff and lost track of time,” Frank said as he came in the room and took a seat at one end of the table.
From the corner of my eye, I noticed Jake tense up.
“Welcome, Frank. I hope Elena didn’t kick you both out of El Pancito for emptying her pastry shelf,” I joked.
“Don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said, waving his hand dismissively. Which also meant guilty as charged.
I laughed. “Actually, Frank, you came at the right time. Jake was just describing the potential of his resourcing matrix, and I’d love to book a meeting for us to go through the numbers.”
“Fantastic,” Frank said and then gestured for Jake to carry on.
There were no two ways about it. Jake’s passion and great ideas were sexy as hell. While he gave Frank an abridged version of his earlier speech, I sat back to admire him. Pride swelled in my chest. He’d done all this on his own. Yes, it needed refining, and I was sure not everyone would be happy with it, but it was a solid idea.
Frank was beaming when Jake finished, and everyone around the room was on board, even Brian. Well, semi on board.
“Do you have time to crunch some numbers with me, Frank? Or do you want to sleep on it?” I asked Frank after everyone left the room.
“I’m happy to do it now.”
I glanced at the rest of the office and saw Jake go toward the restroom.
“Frank, will you excuse me for a moment? I just remembered I need to catch Jake about something. Would you like me to grab you a coffee or tea on the way back?”
“No thanks, Mal. But if there’s one of those fruit tarts from Chef Silva, then I wouldn’t mind taking one home. Jessie has been craving them.”
I laughed out loud, knowing Frank’s dog would get nowhere near that tart. “You got it. Gotta keep the girl happy.”
The great thing about my team was that no one liked to spend much time cooped up in the office, so after the meeting, everyone disappeared. It helped that it was a gorgeous early summer day.
As I’d hoped, there was no one else in the restroom, so I waited for Jake to come out of the cubicle.
“Oh, hey,” he said before looking under the other cubicles, but I shook my head to let him know there was no one else around.
Then he walked over until he had me pressed against the wall. His hands gripped my waist as he nuzzled my neck.
“I've been dying to touch you all day, Mal. When you looked at me earlier, I nearly came in my pants.” His voice was low and sexy, and his lips ghosting my skin without actually touching me was torture.
“How do you think I felt, watching you command that room with your sexy brain?”
“Sexy brain?” He chuckled.
“Oh yeah, your brain turns me on so much. Your ideas, your creativity…”
“Nothing to do with my tailored slacks then?”
“Hmm…”
This time he sucked a spot on my neck as his hands roamed to cup my cock, which by now was fully hard. How I was going to leave this restroom with any kind of decorum, I didn’t know.
“Jake, we’re playing with fire.”
He let out a sound between a laugh and a sigh and settled his hands on my chest. I pulled him in for a kiss but didn’t let it get too heated.
“God, I can’t wait to get home,” he said before he caught himself. “Um, sorry, I shouldn’t assume…”
