Hide: Part One (The Black Letters Series Book 1) Read online

  Kissing Nathan was a new low for even me. I knew he was gay and didn’t want anything to do with women, but I’d still pursued him. I was an adult now and had no time to waste on making irresponsible decisions that could ruin the relationships I actually cared about. Nathan was gone from my bed, leaving no sign of his take on my aggressiveness.

  This is always what happened when those letters came around. After my first drunken one night stand in college, I’d realized casual sex helped numb me from Rod’s torture. As long as I was in charge, the evening would be blissful. Me on top and in total control, the sexy prospect underneath me and unable to harm me because I had him pinned down.

  My first night with a new man had been a powerful experience, giving me all the confidence I’d needed to become a stronger woman who knew what she wanted. Besides, it felt like I was giving Rod a big fuck you by screwing another man who wasn’t him.

  But then those letters started to find me, and I realized that as long as I didn’t stay monogamous with one man, the letters would come farther apart. I didn’t want Rod to reach his breaking point with someone I cared about. I shuddered, remembering how far he’d gone the first time.

  Sex still numbed me, but once it was over, thoughts of Rod’s hands caging me weren’t far behind, throwing me into a constant loop of anxiety. The best I could do to ease the fear of Rod from my bones was to head to work.

  Hopefully this hangover would fade, then I’d ask Nathan to forgive me for being a drunken idiot.

  My head was still thumping by lunch. I hadn’t eaten anything besides two cups of coffee, but those didn’t really count because they came right back up before the caffeine could take effect. My brother Landon had always scolded me when I wouldn’t take Tylenol and drink a glass of water before I’d pass out after drinking. I always regretted not listening to him.

  You’d think my sexual frustration would have disappeared with a hangover, but not for this girl.

  Of course, I could get the job done myself, but having a man’s hand grasping your skin, the way he’d move firmly and aggressively while revving you up to that moment of release … I was hot just thinking about it. Bulky, muscular arms, calloused hands, and strong thighs could easily cure me of my agitation. Mitch’s face popped into my head, and I suddenly felt nauseated again. What was I thinking? He was too much of an idiot, too conceited and egotistical. He’d probably only last a few minutes anyway.

  Growling in frustration, I let my head fall lazily on my desk, running my hands through my hair. Why was I thinking about him like that? And why did my vagina just flex?

  “Sleeping on the job? I thought only I was allowed to do that?”

  I jolted upward, knocking the back of my head on the cabinet. “God damn it, Mitch! What the hell are you doing here?”

  When I looked up, it was as though he had appeared from my own sick, filthy dream. He was broad and sexy, his sandy hair short and messy, his cheekbones devastatingly chiseled as his mouth gave me his typical wicked grin.

  He chuckled under his breath, clearly amused by my lack of attentiveness. Leaning against the end of my desk with his arms crossed in front of his chest, he studied me. His smirk was so hot, yet so fucking annoying.

  “Don’t you have buildings to build?”

  “Yes, I do. Don’t you have clients to gain?”

  I didn’t like his laughing tone. “I’m above quota.”

  Mitch licked his lips. “As of yesterday, I thought you were lacking?”

  I raised a brow at him. “According to whom?” Oh my God, did Nathan talk to him?

  He looked down and softly laughed, then stood tall. “I believe you were the one who admitted you’d been lacking.”

  I crossed my arms and legs tightly, waiting for him to continue. He was the last person I wanted to play the guessing game with, especially while nursing a killer hangover. Then I remembered my conversation with Nathan from yesterday that Mitch had overheard. Of course he was sending this conversation into something inappropriate.

  Mitch’s gaze moved to my chest. For a moment I thought maybe I had vomit on my shirt, but when I looked down, I rolled my eyes. The way my arms were crossed helped to boost my cleavage in my red shift dress. Just as I was about to ream him a new one for being such a pig, his stare took my breath away. The look in his eyes was primal and hungry, and I had to squirm in my seat to avoid the tingling in between my legs.

  “Could you not?”

  Mitch looked back, a mischievous grin spreading across his face. “Maybe if they weren’t so out in the open.” I huffed and shifted my arms, raising my chin to him. “Oh, you don’t have to cover up, I thoroughly enjoy the view.” He had the nerve to wink at me and I became more flustered. He’s such a dick.

  My office phone rang, saving me. “Conklin Architecture, Construction, and Design. This is Jamie, how can I help you?”

  “Having a rough morning?” Nathan slyly asked.

  My hand found my head as I winced. “That about sums it up. Are you mad at me?”

  “For what? Begging me to kiss you on the front porch? Please. I’ve seen your tits and had you grinding against me. Nothing I haven’t dealt with before.”

  His dismissal made me flush slightly, but my lip quirked into a smile. He wasn’t upset or uncomfortable; another reason why I loved him.

  “He’s seen your tits?” Mitch’s jaw was hanging down nearly to his chest. Gosh, why did Nathan have to talk so damn loud! My head craned toward Mitch, giving him my best death glare possible.

  He held both hands in the air, but the smirk on his face proved he wasn’t really surrendering.

  “You didn’t tell me Mitch was there.” Nathan laughed.

  “Why don’t I just put you on speaker phone?” I said coldly, annoyed with both their playful attitudes.

  “Actually, that’s a fantastic idea. I need to talk to him.” I huffed and switched to speaker.

  “Jamie, stop being so grumpy,” Nathan scolded playfully.

  Mitch chuckled under his breath, pissing me off even more.

  “She just needs some release,” he hummed.

  “Yeah, I know,” Nathan laughed. “But enough about Jamie’s sex life.” Oh my God, it’s like I’m not even in the room. “Mitch, I need you and Tony to meet Kobiashi in an hour at the Plaza Towers. He wants a walk through of the suite before we start adding drywall.”

  Mitch flattened his palms on my desk as he leaned closer to the phone. “Tony’s breaking ground on the high rise apartments in Palm Springs. There’s no way he’d be able to get here in time.”

  “Okay…” Nathan paused for a moment. “Take Jamie with you. Kobiashi loves her.”

  I knew Nathan was uncomfortable with Mitch associating with our top client without Tony. From my understanding, Tony was the brains and helped keep Mitch in line.

  My brows scrunched together. “Nathan, I’d be of no help on-site. I know nothing about construction.” Besides, I didn’t want to spend the rest of the afternoon with Mitch—for more reasons than one.

  “You’ll be fine. If anything you can keep the conversation flowing. But no loose lips on what I told you last night.” At first I thought he was talking about my humiliating stunt to get in his pants, but then I recalled the amusement park deal.

  “I can handle it if you have other stuff to do,” Mitch said quietly. His hands found his pockets as his chin dipped low. I was taken aback by his change in demeanor. Normally Mitch was all confidence, but the way his green eyes dulled pinched my nerves in an uncomfortable way.

  “No, I can come.” The air felt thick with new emotional territory.

  “Good! You two better get a move on then, and Mitch.” Mitch’s eyes shot up as though Nathan was in the room with us, “let Jamie do the talking. No need to screw something up with your big mouth.”

  For the most part I agreed with Nathan on Mitch having a big mouth, but as much as I hated to admit it, he was always professional with clients.

  “We’ve got this,” I rep
lied quickly. Mitch’s head was hung low in shame, his mouth staying unusually quiet.

  “I know you both will deliver. Jamie, we’ll catch up later at dinner?”

  “Of course. You cooking?”

  “Hell no. I’ll have Jessica make the reservations.” Nathan hung up before I could ask where, but I was sure it’d be at the same place as always. Nathan wasn’t one for a change.

  “Let’s go,” Mitch grumbled as he darted toward the door.

  I stood dazed. Part of me was shocked that Mitch hadn’t fired back at Nathan with some snide comment. They did share the same gene pool.

  “Are you coming?” Mitch clipped impatiently.

  “Yes,” I snapped back. After smoothing over my dress, I grabbed my purse and slipped on my heels. Mitch laughed under his breath while he watched me. I knew it wasn’t very professional to sit at my desk barefoot, but no clients were planning on coming in during the afternoon. If a walk-in arrived, I’d have been able to slide them on without notice.

  “What’s so funny?” I sneered as I began to wedge myself between him and the door. The smell of his delicious cologne forced me to stop, trapping me with my back leaning against the doorframe as he towered over me. The broadness of his shoulders was anything but intimidating. The need to slap the grin off his face came to mind, followed by ripping off his shirt and attacking him like an animal.

  My eyes found the ground as I hurried past him. The last thing he needed to see was how the closeness of his body was affecting me.

  “Nothing.” He followed me to the parking lot but went in the opposite direction. “Come on, I’ll drive.”

  I froze in my tracks. Driving in other peoples cars made me anxious and uneasy. My feet betrayed me as I followed Mitch to his truck, my hand reaching up to cover the front of my neck.

  The snort escaped my mouth before I could stop it. Mitch turned to look at me as he stood in front of the ginormous black truck. “What’s so funny?”

  “Nothing,” I mimicked him as I eyed the truck.

  Mitch’s shoulders sagged as he gave me a knowing grin. “Don’t like trucks?”

  My pace sped up once I saw Mitch following me to the other side of the truck. I glanced around, feeling nervous as to why he was following me. To my surprise, he reached past me to grab the door handle before I could, causing me to flinch and wrap my other arm around my body. “Whoa, relax. I was just getting the door for you. Chicks normally have a hard time getting inside by themselves.”

  “I can handle it,” I said under my breath. The sweat was forming on the back of my neck as I observed the amount of space between the ground and the truck. Surely climbing my way in wouldn’t be ladylike. “Are you going to just stand there? Or do I need to go to the driver’s side?”

  Mitch threw his hands in the air. “Hey, I was just going to give you a boost.”

  “Give me a boost or grab my ass?” Mitch’s lip quirked slightly. “Yeah, I know how assholes like you think. Go to your side of the truck,” I demanded, throwing him as much attitude as I could. I held out until he started for his side of the truck.

  I huffed as I reached for the handles in the truck, yanking myself upward, but I lost my footing, causing my purse to fall down to my forearm and my knee to scrape along the edge of the door.

  “Shit,” I mumbled under my breath, then tried fixing my heel that had bent when I landed. Mitch’s chuckle burned my ears. Just as I was about to open my mouth and call him an ass, he leaned over and grabbed my bicep, pulling me with ease into the truck.

  The hitch in my breath betrayed me from the sudden contact. Once again, I was too close to him. His green eyes sparkled.

  “You good?” he asked, humor dancing in his eyes.

  My mouth finally snapped shut as I yanked my arm from his strong grasp. I wiggled in the leather seat trying to fix my dress, which happened to ride up from my abrupt entrance into the cab.

  “Do you know where we’re going?” I asked as normally as I could.

  “Of course. I’ve only been working there the past month.”

  “Working might not be the right verb.”

  Mitch swung his arm behind me as he backed the truck out of the parking spot. “Why? You know, just because I don’t start my day until later in the morning, doesn’t mean I cut my hours short. I work a lot of late nights.” The offended tone he took made my body tense.

  “I guess I wouldn’t know, since you’re constantly asking me out every night. I assumed that meant you went out most nights.”

  His foot laid heavy on the brake as he turned to me. “I’d stop every job for dinner with you, no matter what the deadline might be.”

  The green in his eyes was no longer sparkling but were piercing with intensity. My heart was beating rapidly as I met his stare. Mitch bit his lip but turned to face the road as he sighed.

  “It’s a real shame,” he said quietly, “letting Nathan see what’s beneath that dress. He probably wouldn’t even know what to do with a body like that.”

  Anger filled me as I caught his lip curl. Cocky asshole. “Your brother could satisfy anyone, man or woman. Trust me, I know.”

  Mitch’s face twisted in disgust. “Jesus, you had to go there.”

  I crossed my arms as I prepared to rip into his judgmental self. If he were to say anything hurtful about Nathan—

  “He’s never admitted to being gay, but if he is, I couldn’t care less,” he said defensively. “I love Nathan. He’s been amazing since my father died. Don’t get me wrong, he’s always looked out for Tyler and me, but he’s really stepped it up these past few months. He calls me more, and not just to bitch at me for fucking something up.”

  “You can’t fuck up that much.” I laughed, trying to make light of the subject. The way Mitch softened for Nathan tugged at my heart.

  Mitch laughed under his breath. “Can you do me a favor? I’ve got a black notebook in the console in front of you. Can you grab it?”

  As I dug, I could feel his eyes on me. “I don’t see a black notebook.”

  Mitch’s leg started to bounce uneasily as I kept searching through the mounds of papers. “Are you sure?”

  “Positive.”

  He tapped his steering wheel in thought.

  “Everything okay?” The air in his truck was bouncing in all directions. Mood-whiplash was another trait all the Conklin brother’s shared.

  “Never been better.” He smiled. It was obvious he was hiding something, but I didn’t have the courage to pry.

  ***

  “Jamie Rae, always a pleasure,” Kobiashi greeted me. My smile was wide as I took his hand. The first time I’d met Kobiashi he was intimidating, which was a big deal for me. I was rarely thrown off by clients and enjoyed a good strong personality, but something about his stillness got to me. Maybe it was Nathan’s constant yapping in my ear about how important of a figure he was in the city of Miami.

  “I thought I’d tag along. I hope you don’t mind.”

  “Of course not. Mr. Conklin, it’s great to finally meet you. I hear you’re quite good with your hands,” Kobiashi said as he took Mitch’s hand.

  Mitch gave him a stiff nod and a firm shake. My eyes found his biceps yet again, and fantasies started playing in my head, wondering just how good he might be with his hands.

  “My assistant, Tony, can’t join us today, but I’m sure Jamie and I will be able to answer all of your questions.”

  “I’m interested in seeing the suites. The rest can wait for the designers.”

  Kobiashi straightened his suit jacket while Mitch grabbed helmets for us from his on-site manager. If Mitch was nervous, he was hiding it well. I gave him a reassuring smile as we strolled into the elevator with Kobiashi and his two assistants.

  “The elevator is nice. Seems larger than normal.”

  “It is,” Mitch said quickly. “It meets code easily. Conklin buildings believe in larger elevators, especially for living complexes.”

  Kobiashi nodded expectedly. “What ar
e the exact dimensions?”

  Mitch froze, then reached for the tube, fumbling with the top. “I’ll be able to tell you in a moment.” Kobiashi stared at him. I was surprised he didn’t have the elevator measurements memorized.

  Mitch finally opened the plans by the time we reached the top floor suite. “Let me just lay this out,” he said with a slight laugh.

  “Sure, can you find out the exact square footage for me as well? After reading Architecture Digest, I’d like to see if we’d qualify for an entry in their magazine.”

  Mitch gave him a confident nod but looked lost as he examined the prints.

  “Mr. Kobiashi, congratulations on your latest land purchase,” I chimed in, trying to buy Mitch some time.

  Kobiashi tilted his head as he studied me. “Did Nathan tell you that?”

  “Of course not. I saw it in the newspaper earlier this week. Any big plans?” I asked inquisitively, although I already knew the answer. If Nathan were with me, he’d be nudging me with his elbow and telling me to shut the hell up, but the 1200 acres he’d purchased was a matter of public knowledge.

  “I’ve got a few ideas.”

  I rolled my eyes internally. Nathan sounded the same way when he didn’t want to inform others of his projects, but to my surprise, Kobiashi started to open up, telling me some very vague ideas as he walked through the space of the suite. While he examined the fireplace, I took the time to look over Mitch’s shoulder. Sweat was forming through the back of his T-shirt… Math had always been my strongest subject, so I quickly added the room’s square footage in my head

  “Just under 4200 square feet,” I said as Kobiashi turned to face us. He gave me a pleased smile.

  Mitch’s head jerked in my direction. I could feel his glare, but screw him. Kobiashi wasn’t a patient man. My eyes found the plans again, searching for the elevator shaft. Sure enough, there it was. “The elevators are just over 10.74x10 as well.”

  Kobiashi smiled at me, but then shot Mitch a look. Mitch’s chest rose as he followed us to the other side of the suite.