Snatched (Coronado Series Book 2) (12 page)

“Ok. It’s going to take me a while to figure out how I can be of benefit to your business.”

“You are going to be a huge benefit - every company needs a COO. That’s going to be you.”

“That doesn’t make any sense. Don’t you have someone who deserves a promotion?”

“No, we don’t have anyone running the business except me. I can no longer do it all, plus it’s my least favorite part of my day. I’m going to hand it over to you. I have never liked the operations part of it.”

“I will do my best to try to help.”

“Thank you baby, I appreciate it. Your first job can be hiring an accountant and payroll person. Carol is leaving us in a month, her baby is due at the end of December.”

I’m not an expert at personnel. I would choose Birdie as an accountant, but I don’t think she would do it. Maybe she can recommend someone, she knows lots of people from the firm she consults for.”

“Sounds good to me. I trust you.”

“That’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”

“The thing I said earlier wasn’t as nice?”
 

“No, this is nicer.”

“I don’t understand, but I guess that’s ok.”

They pulled into the restaurant and both got out. “Why haven’t you hired someone before to help you run the day to day?”

He took her hand and led her to the restaurant. “Since I opened the doors two years ago, I’ve been playing catch up. “We were busy the first week, and it hasn’t slowed down for a moment.” They walked in and were led to a table. Max chose to sit next to Rory.
 

“Why are you sitting next to me?”

“I will always sit next to you if I can. Why wouldn’t I?”

“I don’t know. I’m not used to it. So tell me what your company does and which service is in the most demand?”

“We offer corporate security analysis, which includes the physical location, the people and information management. That is probably the largest and most profitable part of the company right now. It’s interesting because it’s true for all the offices across the country. It’s something that is easy for us to do and we are completely successful with it. We provide personal security for executives and political figures - the Los Angeles office does personal security for some celebrities. I can have you speak with Tom who runs the LA office if you have any questions. In fact, he wants to open an office in San Francisco, because he’s always sending people up there. He hasn’t had time to work on it, so maybe you can help him. One of our most requested services is recovering people who have been kidnapped. There are not many people who have our set of skills, and unfortunately, kidnapping is becoming more popular. We seem to be the most effective choice if you want to find someone. Those are probably the ones that are our biggest focus right now.”

“Does each office operate independently?”

“Yes and no. We try to share resources, but the day to day decisions are left to the managing partner. I have partners in four of the offices, and the other two are satellites of the bigger offices. When someone retires from the teams, they are welcome to join us in whatever capacity they choose. I never have to interview anyone. I pretty much know everything I need to know before I ever speak with them.”

“This is the most unique business that exists. You couldn’t replicate this with any other circumstances. What’s going to happen when you add people from other branches of the military? Will it work the same way?”

“That’s an interesting question. I guess we will have to wait and see. If Sean wants to add people that he knows then, I’m fine with that. I trust whatever decisions he makes.”
 

“Because he is your brother or because of what he does?”
 

“Both. You do not become a member of a Special Force’s team in any of the branches without possessing a unique personality, set of skills and dedication. If you make it through and succeed, then you are a person who is willing to put your life on the line for others. You have signed a check to the United States government with an amount of up to and/or including your life. That’s a person who I want working with the team.

“How big do you see the business getting?”

“I never thought about it. If someone wants to come join us, then we find the right place for them. If we have the people, then we have the business. You can probably give me some good ideas about the potential.”

Why do you think that I’m qualified for this? I think you need someone with more experience.”

“I think you are the perfect person to do this. If you don’t know how - then hire someone to help you. You have overseen the operations for ten hotels for five years. That involves a lot more moving parts than a security company. I trust you and we are going to be married - that makes you the perfect person.”

“We are not getting married. I don’t want a boyfriend.”

“Yes, we are.”

She decided to ignore his last statement and enjoy her breakfast. They were going to have to agree to disagree.

He knew she wasn’t ready to face what was happening between them. That was fine for now.
Some things are simple, when you know, you know.
There was no question that he was going to spend the rest of his life with her. He just had to wait until she was ready to embrace the idea.

***

Max set Rory up in the office next to accounting and told her to help herself to whatever she needed. She decided to meet with Carol, the accountant, first. She felt it would give her the most complete picture of Max’s business.
 

She became so engrossed in her research that she didn’t realize how late it was, until Max came in and brought her lunch. “Thanks, I didn’t even feel hungry.”

“I don’t want you to accuse me of not taking care of you.” Come into my office and let’s eat. We can relax on the couch and you can tell me what you think so far.”

“I have a little more work here. I’m just going to eat here and see if I can finish my notes.”

“Ok, I will come get you in a couple of hours and we can go to the gun range.”
 

“Did my license come today? Can I pick out a cute gun?”

“Yes and Yes! I have a couple on hold. You can choose which one you want.” He watched her get up and come around the desk, she wrapped him in a hug and laid her head against his chest.

“Thank you for helping me with this. I know you think it’s silly. Your faith means the world to me.”

“I think you are capable of anything. Just let me help you out every once in a while.”

“All right, you can make the bed, be in charge of general security matters and also taking out the trash. Oh… if there are any ugly bugs they’re all yours. Also you make really good coffee, so keep doing that. I’ll be in charge of cooking and organizational matters and entertaining.”

“Ok, sounds good to me.” Dropping a kiss on her head, he hugged her back and then released her. I’m going back to my office so we can get out of here. I have big plans for this evening and I want to get started.” He winked at her as he left her office and headed into the computer room. He wanted to see if they had gotten any more info about her stalker. He needed to solve this so she would be free of the worry. He sat down with Derick and went through the information and tried to cross reference it with the info they pulled on the people who Max thought were suspects.
 

***

Rory was talking a mile a minute as they drove to the gun range. She had a million ideas for his business and wanted to share every single one of them with him. He looked over at her and felt his heart flip over and thump against his chest. He knew his feelings were running deep for this woman, but now he was adding respect to the mix. She had a sharp analytical mind, and there was no way she wasn’t going to be a huge asset to the business. “I’ve not been this excited in such a long time - I love the idea of consulting with your company. I love putting systems into place. I haven’t thought about my stalker all day. This is the first day in a very long time that I’m not worried. I hadn’t realized how much this had weighed me down.” She grabbed his hand and squeezed it, “Thank you.”

He squeezed it back, “Thank you for bringing all of your happy light into my life.” He saw a tear roll down her cheek and she quickly wiped it away and looked out the window. He held on tight to her hand and sent her his silent love. He figured that is all she could handle right now. “Ready to try shooting again?”

“Yes, I’m going to keep my eyes open the whole time. Do they have guns with those pretty handles?”
 

“Let’s see what we can find.” They pulled in and he was happy to see that she was ready to start working with him. This was the first step in starting their lives together.
 

“I was thinking…. after we’re done here - we can go down to Hotel Valencia and have dinner. It was Bob’s first hotel and the restaurant has beautiful ocean views. I’m only going to be employed for another week and I think we should enjoy it before I leave the company. I can see if I can get a room for us - if you want?”

“Sounds perfect.”

“After this, let’s go home and grab a bag, and that way we can go directly to the office in the morning.”

“Sounds good to me. I think I can do all of the things I was planning in a hotel as easily as I can do it at home. I hope the walls are sound proof, because I’m planning on making you scream.”

“I’m not a screamer. I am a lady.”

“Well tonight you are going to be a lady who screams my name.”

“We’ll see.”

CHAPTER NINE

Sitting in the lounge of the hotel enjoying a martini next to a handsome man while looking at the sunset was not how she thought her week was going to end. Yet here she was - it felt like a stolen moment in what was turning out to be a crazy month. She had survived living with Max and didn’t feel like killing him. He was surprisingly easy to get along with. Even though he was over protective, controlling and a little overbearing - he was terribly charming. Which she knew made no sense at all.

“I think this is the finest property that Bob owns. He spent a lot of time updating it and making it perfect, and I think it shows. The man was a gifted hotelier, and I hope the properties he leaves will remain a proud legacy.”

“I’ve never heard you speak with such admiration about him. I didn’t get the impression that you respected him very much.”

“I have enormous respect for him. I allowed myself to forget how talented he was, because he’s not been involved very much in the last couple of years. I had allowed my dealings with Jackson to color my perception and that wasn’t fair. It all seems to make sense now; the diagnosis must have given him some peace. I know my Mom feels better now that she knows what she’s dealing with and they have a plan. She told me that they’re going to travel as much as they can in the next several years. She wants him to be happy for whatever time he has left.”

“I never thought about what it took to create a memorable experience for a hotel guest. It starts from the moment a guest’s car enters the property and doesn’t stop until the guest leaves. There are a 1000 moving parts and each one has to work together for the guest to have the experience that you want them to have. The security business is going to be a breeze for you.”

“I don’t think so. Your business has a lot of moving parts as well, they’re just different. Enough about work, let’s talk about food. Would you like to eat in the restaurant or have room service?”

“I would like to have room service - I want you all to myself.”

“I had a feeling that’s what you were going to say. Let me go put our order in for dinner, I’ll be right back.”
 

Sitting back he watched her go into one of the doors next to the bar and noticed all of the appreciative glances she got. He thought about saying something to the men that felt so comfortable looking at his girlfriend. He was about to get up, but caught sight of Jackson moving through the lobby.
Great …. what is the guy up to now?

Max stood up and watched as Jackson approached, “What brings you here?”

“I could ask the same of you?”

“We’re enjoying an evening at your Father’s beautiful hotel before Rory leaves the company.” He noticed Jackson was high on something - he was jittery and sweating and looking around for someone or something. He wondered if his problems were because of the drugs or if the drugs helped him deal with his problems. It didn’t really matter as long as he kept far away from Rory. He knew the guy was going to self-implode, and he didn’t want Rory anywhere near him when it happened.

“This will all soon be mine anyways. Dad is going to retire and leave it all to me. Rory made a foolish decision in leaving, but it’s her loss.”

Max didn’t reply, he was going to let Jackson run his mouth as long as he wanted. It didn’t matter to him unless it affected Rory. “I’m sure everything is going to work out for the best.” He watched Jackson fidget and wondered how long he was going to last before he bottomed out. From the looks of it, it wasn’t going to be long. He saw Rory come out of the doors and excused himself. “Take care. Hope you get everything you want.”

“What is Jackson doing here? Did he say any more nasty things?”

“No, its fine. I don’t want to waste our time thinking about him.” Taking her hand he led her towards the elevators, “I’m ready to start our evening.”