Total pages in book: 146
Estimated words: 141951 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 710(@200wpm)___ 568(@250wpm)___ 473(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 141951 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 710(@200wpm)___ 568(@250wpm)___ 473(@300wpm)
Delaney agreed.
He had a second option but had held off on mentioning it.
If she would agree …
Lucas didn’t think explaining his twenty-four-hour access to a helicopter—that made the two-hour drive between cities a single hour sprint through the sky that was far more interesting—over the form of text messages gave the right impression. He wasn’t exactly trying to impress Delaney, the helicopter was simply there to be used, and the last thing he intended was to brag about it either. After all, it wasn’t technically his.
The helicopter should only be used for company excursions, and typically was—however, his grandfather and father had both been known to book the flying machine off the record of the business. As long as the helicopter was back on the pad when it needed to be, the money didn’t come out of the company’s accounts, and the pilot got paid, nobody cared.
Another benefit to a non-publicly owned company like theirs. There weren’t any investors breathing down the backs of their necks in regards to the way money got spent or even how business matters were handled at the end of the day.
Instead, it was all a family affair.
Private, entirely confidential, and easier on the taxes at the end of the year. On the flip side of that same coin, he had become intimately familiar with the cons of being a shareholder in a privately owned company as well.
Mostly, being in business with his father.
Either way, what good was his privilege if Lucas didn’t sometimes use it, right?
That’s what he told himself, anyway.
On his way up in the elevator, Lucas sent Delaney another message: Could you fit me in for a call today?
An inside joke, really.
Despite admitting the schedule of the salon was a little strange compared to the norm, she proclaimed to love it. She worked half the days of the month and got the other half off when it was all worked out. Not to mention, she practically made her own schedule with her clients, and walk-ins like him were few and far between when her time slots booked up rather quickly.
“Is lunch too late?” she asked back seconds later.
The elevator slowed to a stop before the doors slid open to reveal the upstairs lobby for the office employees. The space bustled with quiet activity as his secretary chatted on the phone behind her desk in front of the large company logo with backlit lights that made it look like it was hovering in front of the wall. The parcel carrier, the same one who always brought their packages and mail upstairs, unloaded his cart with the help of another woman who kept things on track upstairs.
He didn’t expect to find the office as low energy as it was when he stepped beyond the elevator door. Usually, on Mondays, someone had a story to retell from their weekend exploits that kept the upstairs laughing until well into the afternoon.
Today, he even found the doorways to the offices closed as he headed for the long hallway that led to his own. On the way by, Nola called at his back, “Uh, Lucas, there’s—”
“Give me five minutes, okay?” he interrupted.
Delaney remained at the forefront of his mind while he typed back a confirmation that lunch would be fine to call. In fact, he’d make sure his own was entirely open for whenever her call came through to his cell.
“Sure, but …” Nola trailed off when her phone rang again, and over his shoulder, he watched her wary stare drift down the calls she already had on hold that blinked at the top of the receiver.
“Five minutes,” he repeated, already too far down the hall for the woman to see him from her own desk.
Lucas had just shoved the phone into his back pocket when he pushed open the door to his private office.
And there sat his father.
Scowling behind Lucas’ desk.
“Ah, son,” his father said with a snide smile forming on his face that was like looking into an aging mirror for Lucas. Right down to the cleft on his chin. Jacob had the same. Their dimples came from their mother. It was the only thing that set the brother’s apart from their father, and he tried to focus on that feature of his face rather than the rest. It was hard to see the reflection people proclaimed to be good-looking staring at him in the mirror when he more often saw the similarities to his father as a focus.
Probably something he should take to his therapist.
“Nice of you to finally show up in the office this morning. You’re what, twenty minutes late?”
“Ronald,” Lucas deadpanned.
No hello.
Not even: why are you here?
Lucas bypassed all that bullshit and went straight to the important matter at hand. The fact that his father was sitting in his office, at his desk. Who gave a fuck if he showed up an hour late? That didn’t change the fact that Ronald only sat where he did to get a rise out of Lucas, and he wouldn’t go for the bait.