Page 10 of Titus

Broken hearts? God, how? We didn’t even know each other. If anything, this woman should feel a hint of gratitude that I needed to get laid badly last night. Hell, she was lucky she was waking up in my bed. I hadn’t let a woman stay the night, let alone sleep in my arms, since a drunken night in Madrid.

So, the fact that I was sober? She could thank the jet lag from Monaco for that. It was the only reason she got the rare privilege of seeing my eyes the next morning after I’d had her.

My closet was behind the doors opposite the ones that led out to my room, and from there was my thousand-square-foot private office. After showering, dressing, and sending off a few emails, I had my briefcase in hand with my driver waiting for me just outside the lobby.

I glanced at my Rolex. The woman whose name still escaped me was either just finishing her breakfast in the room I’d left her or had already gone. Who knew? All I knew was that it would be the last time I saw her in my suite, and that was on her, not me.

“Good morning, Mr. Hawk,” Jim Mitchell’s receptionist greeted as I stepped out of the elevators onto the top floors of Howard Tower.

“Good morning to you, Brooke.” I smiled, watching the young receptionist blush as she always had under my gaze. “I trust springtime in Southern California is treating you well?”

“Always,” she said, absently chewing on the back of her pen.

I smirked in response. “Is Jim prepared to receive me?” I questioned, hoping the woman didn’t melt into a pile of lust right here in front of me.

“I’m prepared,” Jim said with his usual dry tone. “Thank you, Brooke.” He shot a warning glance at his secretary, then gave me one to confirm that type of shit would not be happening between her and me.

“Good to see you again, hermano,” I said, smiling and reaching for Jim’s extended hand. “I trust the Palisades project was in good hands while I was away?”

“Everything is in good hands when my company is involved,” Jim said, leading the way into his office that overlooked downtown Los Angeles.

“You know, you’re lucky you claimed this location before I could.” I smiled at him, sitting in a rich leather chair that was situated across from his mahogany desk.

Jim rolled his eyes. “You’re about fifty years too late. My father beat you to the punch,” he grinned as he sat in his oversized leather office chair. “Now,” he said, clasping his hands together and stretching them across his desk, “are we going to talk about the fact that you were at my competition’s gala last evening and you screwed their PR agent, Presley Adams, or the fact that I’m going to seriously kick your Spanish ass if you keep toying with my secretary every time you’re admitted onto this floor?”

“Hey, I’m innocent.” I raised my hands and smiled playfully. “She’s the one who flirts with me, I merely return the pleasantries.”

Jim smirked and leaned back in his chair. “I’m sure that’s what you were doing with Lowell Jameston’s PR rep last night at his benefit?”

“That’s exactly what I was doing. The difference is, she works for the competition, and I wanted a little more detail about what the assholes were planning.”

Jim’s eyebrows pulled together as his gaze locked onto mine, looking like the CEO I’d been smart enough not to compete with when I chose to build my empire further out on the West Coast.

“Go on,” he said.

“Are you sure you don’t wish to keep treating me as though I’m some child who went to a party without his parents’ permission?” I teased.

“If I had the time in my day, your cocky ass knows I would, but first, I want to know what Jameston Brokerage is doing on the West Coast?”

I crossed an ankle over my knee. “They plan to start with Natalia Monroe’s real estate interests,” I said. “They have a team of ten members on her projects alone, not including the other agents in that firm.”

I grinned when Jim rolled his eyes. “Then they’re wasting payroll. They’ll never gain a foothold out here with that approach.”

“Exactly.” I leaned my arm on the armrest and my chin on my fist. “You don’t build empires like my brothers and I have by waltzing into others’ territories believing you can take them down.”

“No, you don’t,” Jim smirked, eyeing me. “Your arrogant ass took the same approach you always take in business.”

“Not so,” I replied. “Because working side by side with you to develop Southern California’s luxury resorts isn’t something I’ve ever done before. I had only ever trusted my brothers in business before.”

“Not that,” he chuckled, pushing to his feet. “You tried to merge and then take over my company like I was a rookie.”

I laughed. “That’s true, hermano,” I admitted. “But I did my research before approaching you about this venture. I just wanted to see if the things they say about James Mitchell were actually true.”

“And what did they say?” he asked, obviously amused.

“That you acquire businesses and grow them even more. And now, with our two great minds thinking alike? Well, I believe Jameston has made a foolish mistake by testing the real estate waters out here.”

Jim slid his hands into his pockets and turned to face the floor-to-ceiling windows behind his desk, “True. However, I think you and I can lay low. I much prefer to see Natalia Monroe devour the army of ten men Jameston has unknowingly sacrificed.”