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Nothing makes me happier—aside from knowing you’ll be back tomorrow.
Me
Does that mean I’ll get to see you?
Brady
Fuck yes.
Me
Good. I can’t wait.
TWENTY-FIVE
Brady
“First order of business,” I said while sitting at the conference room table in our corporate office, glancing around the large oval, where Macon, Cooper, Jo, Rowan, Rhett, and Ridge had joined me. “We need a second jet. And we need one immediately.”
Rhett held up his hand. “Hold on a second?—”
“What am I holding for?” I barked, cutting him off, not liking the way he had begun his reply. “We discussed a second jet months ago. It’s apparent how badly we need one. That’s why this isn’t a discussion. This is me informing you that our company is buying one.”
“You mean, you need a new jet now,” Rhett responded.
There was no question; he was right.
But I didn’t appreciate his tone, the sharpness of his words, or that he hadn’t instantly agreed.
I leaned my arms on the table to get closer to the motherfucker as he glared from the spot directly across from me. “I’ll be traveling back and forth to Edinburgh for the next six months or so. Our jet is booked out for weeks. It’s not going to be available every time I need it. That’s a fucking problem.”
Rhett smirked. “That’s a Brady problem. That’s not a Cole and Spade Hotels problem.”
This fucking asshole.
The one thing I had in my pocket was that my assistant had informed me there were several occasions when the Cole family had tried to book the jet and it was unavailable, causing them to take commercial flights. According to her, they had been just as unpleased as when it had happened to me. That told me Rhett wanted this jet. He was acting this way because I’d prompted the conversation and I was asking for it.
Which gave me an idea.
“The truth is,” I started, “it would be beneficial if we actually purchased two jets. There are seven partners, plus our senior team, not even counting legal. Wouldn’t it be nice to have Jenner only bill us for his hours rather than airtime and fuel, too, since he has to take his own jet whenever he travels for us? Which you know is billed at a marked-up Dalton rate, not at cost.”
I looked at Jo for a rebuttal, knowing she’d surely have something to say about her husband.
She laughed and replied, “Do you really think my husband would charge us the full rate?”
“No fucking doubt about it,” Cooper replied. “He knows we can afford it. He’s giving us no breaks on his time, travel, or any expenses incurred.”
Jo winked. “You’re right.”
Point proven.
Now, I needed to rub things in a little more, so I said, “Our hotel fleet has doubled since the merger. Edinburgh will be up and running in less than a year.”
I nodded toward the bastard across from me. “You’re looking at properties for us to purchase, and once one is bought, that’ll take you away for an extended period.”
I glanced at the other partners. “The rest of you travel nonstop. You’re facing another wave of remodels and purchases, and that’ll all take you away from LA, and you’ll need a jet to get to wherever you’re going.”
I leaned back and crossed my arms. “The company can afford it, and we could certainly use the expense. Three isn’t outlandish. It’s more than reasonable for an organization as large as ours.”
