Page 4 of Do It With Me

Smooth, Holden. So smooth. Nothing like casually insulting your students’ wardrobes to make a stellar first impression.

Finally alone, I rubbed the back of my neck and sighed. I hadn’t meant it the way it’d sounded. I’d just wanted to help, but that had been the best my socially inept subconscious had been able to come up with on the spot.

God, and to think that I used to have game. A lot of it. Looks like Shannon might’ve gotten that in the settlement too. For fuck’s sake.

After the divorce, I’d needed something different. Something that wasn’t boardrooms, investors, or never-ending project deadlines. Teaching had become that something.

Eventually, I’d taken a step back from my company, mostly only going into the office for half-days now, unless there was a major impending disaster and the world was ending.

The rest of my time, I spent here. Not for the money.

God knew, I didn’t need it, and if I did, this wouldn’t have been the place to make it. I taught because I loved it. Watching ideas click. Seeing people light up when they understood something new. Now I was wondering if perhaps I’d let my social abilities slide a little too far while being so focused on my day and night jobs.

Hastily packing up the rest of my things, I swore to myself that I would leave it alone. It was best to put that beautiful woman, my student, out of my head and get back to my own life.

If only it were that easy. Her angelic face consumed my thoughts for the rest of the evening and followed me to bed, where I didn’t push them away.

By the next morning, the events of the previous night and the girl with red hair in my dreams felt like they belonged to a different universe. Everything made sense again as I sat in my office atop the city, the New York skyline spreading out beyond my floor-to-ceiling windows and wintery sunlight filtering in.

I sat across from Jimmy Corrigan, my VP at Langton Development and occasional pain in my ass. He glanced up at me after spreading the new renderings of our Renewal Initiative project across the conference table.

“Alright,” he said. “We just got these back yesterday, but I was waiting for you to get in to look them over. What do you think? The architects told me that they managed to incorporate all those changes you wanted made to the plans.”

I leaned over, carefully studying the latest effort. The design gleamed with sleek glass buildings, plenty of open space, and the kind of symmetry that spoke of progress and money. That was what the Renewal Initiative was all about, taking the old and making it new.

“Walk me through the changes,” I said, turning my wrist to glance at my watch. “We’ve got about twenty minutes to hammer this out before my next meeting.”

“Right. Let’s do it,” he agreed without arguing. Jimmy had tried to talk me out of taking so much time away from the office, but eventually, he’d learned to accept it. These days, we both knew how to maximize the time I was here.

Diving in without further ado, he started from the top, just the way I liked it. “The brief we gave them was to design a luxury, mixed-use complex spanning several blocks on the Upper East Side. We wanted two towers, one high-end residential and one commercial, a ground-floor retail plaza, and a Heritage Walk meant to honor the old shops that used to be in that area.”

“It’s not just meant to honor those old shops. It will honor them. It’s a public space dedicated to the history of the community. We’re revitalizing the neighborhood, not erasing it.”

Jimmy gave me a look that was half skeptical and half amused. “Right, and the fact that every heritage shop is being replaced by designer brands is purely coincidental.”

I leaned back in my chair. “Progress isn’t painless, but at least we’ve incorporated the old with the new, right? We’re honoring where this area came from while taking it into the future.”

He snorted. “Tell that to the guy whose family has been running a corner bakery there for the last fifty years.”

I groaned. “I get that and I’m not stupid. I know the community is going to fight me on this, but eventually, they’ll get onboard. Property values will go up, the infrastructure will improve, and new jobs will be created. This is going to be amazing for them. Everyone will benefit, and as soon as that sinks in, they’ll stop resisting.”

“I don’t think it’ll be that simple, Holden,” he said. “Either way, you wanted the plaza to connect the two towers, which has been done, and you wanted more green space. We can’t really have full-sized parks since the space we’ve got earmarked won’t allow it, but they’ve built in as much greenery as they can. Think square-foot gardening and loads of trees lining the walk.”

I nodded slowly, looking over the changes with a critical eye. This project was going to be my legacy. Not just another tower with my name on it but something lasting. Something I was going to do for the city I loved that would become something it could be proud of. Everything about it had to be perfect.

Once I sat back again, he arched an eyebrow at me. “The board meeting?”

“We’re ready. Schedule it,” I said. “I want the directors to sign off on this before the end of the month. Once they do, we’ll go public with the announcement.”

“Consider it done.” Jimmy made a note on his tablet, then looked up at me with that sly grin he got when he was about to remind me of something inconvenient. “You have that wedding in two weeks. I set an alert to remind you.”

I frowned. “I thought that was optional.”

“It’s not,” he said. “You RSVP’d and it’s the owner of the construction company we’re going to be working with on the Renewal Initiative. Bail on him now and you can bet that the quotes they’ve sent to get the job done will double.”

I sighed, rubbing the bridge of my nose. “Jimmy⁠—”

“It’s good optics. You congratulate the guy, shake hands, and make nice. You want the board to see you’re invested, right?”