Billionaire's Love Suite (2 page)

“I should have asked for more money.”

She had barely slept more than four hours a night since coming to work
at the New York City Lux hotel.

She’d only had her resume out for one week after finishing her job at
the Plaza Cote d’Azur when she’d gotten a response from Justin Yates via
email. They had emailed each other back and forth negotiating her salary and
benefits until Shana had gotten everything she’d wanted. Shana knew that
revitalizing the Lux Hotels would be the biggest coup of her career. Despite
the fact that Justin’s father, Peter Yates’ had possessed a horrific reputation
as a heartless bastard, what the Lux Hotels did have in spades was incredible
locations. In every city they stood, New York, San Francisco, Chicago,
Denver and Toronto, the Lux hotels had been built over a hundred years ago
when those cities were bustling but land was still attainable. Today, their
prime locations were worth tens of billions of dollars.

Shana clearly understood what she wanted to believe was Justin Yates’
passion to cling to the hotels. Being born to parents who ran a rustic inn in
Sedona, Arizona just north of Oak Creek Canyon, she’d lived and breathed
the hotel, inn-keeping mind-set all her life. Her mother and her father, until
his death, had taught her that caring for other people during the difficult
times of travel and even to give a bit of respite in troubled lives, was a noble
mission. She had always felt privileged to work in the hotel industry. Shana
knew that if she’d been born a Yates, she would have moved heaven and
earth to retain the historic buildings for future generations.

However, eradicating the disparaging, caustic reputation of Peter Yates’
from the minds of the media and most Americans who’d read stories about
Peter in
Vanity Fair
magazine and every newspaper including
USA Today
,
would take a miracle. Even though it was through emails, Shana had convinced
the new heir to the Lux chain, Justin, that she was indeed, a miracle
worker.

She was just about to turn off her computer, when she received an alert
that she had another new email. She punched up her mailbox and cringed.
“Justin. Again. Doesn’t he ever sleep either?”

She read the email requesting a meeting with her the following morning
nine o’clock sharp. “Sharp. As in, on-the-dot? As in, assuming I don’t know
what it means to be on time?”

Shana frowned. Then scowled. Since coming to the Lux Hotel, she’d
heard a great deal about her new boss as well as his autocratic and obdurate
father. Justin was apparently a true man-about-town who had enough money to indulge all his whims. This was evidenced by the Lamborghini he
kept in the hotel garage, the luxuriously appointed penthouse suite he occupied
when he was in New York and the many luxury vacation trips abroad
he billed back to the company.

Shana knew that he was a self-made man because she’d investigated
him at the same time she was certain he was checking out
her
references.
She’d read a great deal about him, though she still hadn’t seen a photograph
of him. There were portraits of Peter Yates in the hotel offices, but because
Justin had only recently become the new corporate head, no portraits or
photographs of him existed on the grounds.

Shana figured he had to be somewhat attractive because his reputation
as a playboy was often the subject of the staff gossip. Shana had personally
seen the stack of phone messages from various women he dated each time
she placed a report on his desk in his absence. Just today she’d actually met
one of his paramours as she’d walked out of Justin’s office. The buxom
auburn-haired young woman, who teetered on six-inch high heels and wore
a painted-on purple silk dress, couldn’t possibly have had anything more
substantial than air encased within the confines of her skull.

“Is Jus in there?” She’d asked with a breathy voice that would have
given Marilyn Monroe pause.

“No, he’s away.”

“Oh,” she giggled. “I knew that.”

Shana’s eyebrow clicked up a notch. “Really? Then why are you
here?”

“I went to his old office off of Wall Street and they told me he was here
now. I was jes hopin’…er…to leave him a note. Or somepin’.”

“I see,” Shana said choking back a chuckle. She didn’t know a thing
about her new boss, but he had to have half a dozen screws loose to even
spend five minutes with this woman. “Maybe you should just give him a
call on his cell.”

“Oh, he doesn’t like that. Emails either. I tried. He was fierce mad.”

“I’ll bet,” Shana grumbled under her breath. “Well, good luck.”

The woman smiled back her displaying the most perfect teeth she’d ever
seen, but there was no mistaking the forlorn look in her eyes. The young
woman was truly disappointed.

Maybe she has some attributes
, Shana thought kindly as the young
woman looked down at the floor then to the door as if not knowing where
to go. Suddenly, Shana felt sorry for her. “Would you like me to give him a
message for you?” Shana offered.

The red head flashed her a friendly, grateful smile. At that moment,
Shana saw what Justin must have seen in her. She was sweet. And Shana
liked her.

“Oh, thank you s’much! Could you just tell him that Kimmie was here.
And tell him I said ‘thanks’.”

“Sure.” Shana was dying to know what she was thankful about, but she
didn’t dare get that personal. Plus, she didn’t really want to know all that
much about her new boss, either. In New York, he was considered a player.
He used women like tissues and tossed them away just as easily. His lack
of commitment to a woman was often likened to his lightening fast ability
to buy and sell stocks within a few minutes time. Justin didn’t stick with
anything for long. He traded off his women like he traded his stock.

Justin Yates was precisely the kind of man Shana wanted as little to do
with as possible. That was why, thus far, her job as his employee suited her
just fine. They had only an email relationship. Justin was doing his thing
and she was free to get down to business and take care of building her
career’s sterling reputation.

Shana believed that the feather in her cap of turning the Lux Hotels into
strong profit making centers would make her a star in the industry.

She heard the “click” on the computer that alerted her to another
incoming email.

“Justin,” she groaned to herself. She read the email.

“Send a confirmation about the meeting tomorrow. J.” it read.

“Testy. Testy.” It had only been sixty seconds since he’d sent the last
email. Her anger spiked. If this was any indication of what she was going to
be facing now that she was about to meet Justin, perhaps she’d jumped too
soon into this job. She took a deep breath and calmed herself.

Shana hit the Reply button on her computer to send a confirmation to
Justin.

The second she hit the Send button, the networking window popped
up on her screen. “Glad you are on-line,” Justin had replied. “Do you have
newest bids from Allied Construction?”

“I do.” Shana typed. “I thought we were going with Silver City
Construction for the New York property.”

“I have not confirmed that. Tell me you have not sent out contracts.”

Shana’s jaw dropped. “He thinks I’m an utter idiot!”

Her fingers flew across the board in stern, purposeful strikes. “I have
never taken it upon myself to make such decisions without the owner’s and
the board’s approval. Ever. I would not start now. I will have all necessary
paperwork ready for your perusal at the meeting tomorrow.”

“Nine o’clock sharp.” Justin replied and signed off.

“Sharp.” Shana stuck out her tongue at the screen.

*****

“I’ve haven’t even met my new Director and she’s making me absolutely
crazy,” Justin Yates growled as he banged his fingers against his Blackberry
keys.

Trent Wellington shot Justin an exasperated look. He grabbed the
Blackberry out of Justin’s hands.

“Hiring Shana Jackson is the best decision you’ve ever made, Justin,”
Trent said carefully handing the Blackberry back to his billionaire friend
and client. Confidently, he slid a thick manila file folder into his briefcase.

“She’s costing me a fortune,” Justin Yates grumbled as he surveyed the
stack of construction bids on his New York City flagship hotel and then
handed them to Trent for his perusal. Justin looked down at the latest cryptic
text message from Shana stating that she had readjusted the figures on the
on the new heating and cooling system. “Look at this. Another million dollars
because she didn’t do her job right the first time.”

“Would you calm down? She told us the figures were not exact. It
happens.”

Justin pursed his lips tightly and then exhaled strongly through his nostrils.
He kept silent in order to check his anger while he listened to his friend
and good counsel.

“Just remember that Shana Jackson single-handedly put the Shellingham
Geneva Hotel back on the map, not to mention being responsible for the
turnaround in the Plaza Cote d’Azur. She’s a genius when it comes to turning
non-performing properties into gold mines. She’s the best of the best.”

“She’s also the reason I’ve been half-way around the world trying to
find the capital to fund her refurbishing and marketing costs.” Justin rubbed
his weary eyes and stretched his aching neck. He looked up at the airline
departure board to check on their flight status from Beijing back to the
United States.

Trent stood up and planted his feet shoulder width apart and stared down
at his intractable boss. “Let me remind you, they are your refurbishing costs.”
Then he took a deep breath. “Maybe this isn’t for me to say, but we’ve been
together for over a decade, so I think that gives me some leeway here.”

“Here it comes again, the ‘Justin you’ve got straw for brains’ speech.”

“Hey, when we were at Harvard and rooming together, you listened to
me all the time.”

“That’s because you could get girls faster than anyone I’ve ever met.”

“That’s right. I helped you out then and I’m helping you this time,”
Trent said with firm conviction.

“I didn’t need all that much help, as I remember,” Justin replied sarcastically.
“Once I got my feet wet, I swam pretty darn well and hard,” he
said remembering the steady stream of co-eds that he dated briefly and then
moved on quickly after becoming bored and impatient with their overly
possessive attitudes. Justin knew that most of the girls he was attracted to
saw his famous family name and instantly started doodling their name in
front of his before the first date was over. Justin had great plans for his life
and none of those plans including being a “catch” for a social climber.

“Need I remind you that you are under the gun here, buddy? Your
father’s Will specifically stated that you have to increase the chain’s profits
by a minimum of fifteen percent in one year or the entire kit and caboodle
goes on the auction block and the money goes to charity? And why would
he do that?”

“Plain and simple. He wants me to prove that I’m worthy to take on the
chain.”

“You’ve proven to half the world that you’re successful.”

“Ah!” Justin held up his index finger. “But not in hotels. It’s a different
animal,” he said looking down at another text from Shana Jackson.

“I’ve heard horror stories about your father for years, including the ones
you told me in college. I guess I just didn’t want to believe a parent could
be that belligerent and demanding.”

“Yeah,” Justin sighed morosely. Raking, his hand through his hair, it felt
like his nerves were on fire all the way from his scalp to the end of his hair.
His father’s Will had come as a shock to him. A big shock.

Justin had been a very late-in-life child to his father and his new wife,
Jeanine. Justin’s mother had died of cancer when he was ten. She had been
his sole comfort all his life. She was the kind of loving and giving person
that all children should have. His father, Peter Yates, was exactly the opposite.
Cold-hearted, distant and single-minded, his father lived to work. Once
Jeanine was dead, any joy his father had experienced in his life died with
her.

Justin’s father was trapped in the past and that included his business
practices and the way he thought his hotels should be run.

When Justin graduated from Harvard he begged his father to let him take
over the hotels and his father adamantly refused. Not only was Peter not
ready to hand over the reins, but Peter thought Justin was irresponsible and
far too focused on being a playboy. Peter wanted Justin to settle down and
take life and his career seriously, which included getting married. Only then
would Peter believe that Justin was responsible enough to take on the heavy
task of running the Lux Hotel Chain. Justin thought his father’s demands
were lunacy and said so. He had no intention of giving up his single lifestyle
just to appease his father.

Their argument had been heated and turned very ugly. It ended when
Justin slammed out of the house, promising never to see his father again.
Justin struck out on his own. He went to Wall Street and became an investment
banker. He worked his tail off and was not shy about using his family
name to his advantage. Though he never had his father’s backing, his initial
clients didn’t know that. They trusted Justin and it paid off for them and
him. In a decade, Justin was close to a billionaire.

That fact and the fact that he had never married had made his father
royally angry. His father’s only course of action to elicit proof of Justin’s stability was to create a provision in his Will demanding that Justin marry
within a year of his death. Though Peter was dead, he was still holding very
tightly onto the reins of Justin’s life.

Unfortunately for Justin, he had long harbored one secret ambition and
that was to one day own the nearly century old hotel chain that Justin’s
great-grandfather had founded, The Lux Hotel Chain.