New York City tells the world it’s a town that never sleeps, but here in Vegas that’s not just a saying, it’s our reality. There’s something going on here twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. There really isn’t a slow period. During the summer, when Las Vegas is miserably hot, the conventions are buzzing. At Thanksgiving, the Canadians come down in full force because of the deals and because they’ve already celebrated Thanksgiving. And while it’s a little quieter, all the non-Christians come in full force over Christmas. Maybe it’s because I grew up in Minneapolis and hate the snow, but I love the desert. I love the heat. And I’m finding out I love the casino resort business.
I exit out the far side of the casino floor and head across the property to my apartment. I hardly slept last night. I worked late clearing as much off of my plate as I could so I could take a few days off, and then I was just too excited. Maggie and I have been flirting for months now, and I’ve spent my life getting ready for this moment.
When I reach my apartment, I settle in at my desk and watch her flight arrive from my computer. A little while later I can see her walk onto our property via the security camera feeds. My heart picks up, and my cock is immediately hard. Her blond hair flows with just the right amount of curl. She’s breathtaking. I watch men and women notice her, but she doesn’t see it. That’s one of her many amazing qualities.
At first glance, no one would know she’s an heiress to a major department store. I thumb the engagement ring I bought at Cartier months ago. I saw it and knew I wanted to buy it for her. I think she’ll like it. It’s not too ostentatious, but it’s a beautiful eight-karat center stone with the eternity band covered in half-karat diamonds, all set in platinum. I tuck it away in my safe and shut the computer off.
Moments later, there’s a knock at my apartment door. I open it, and her face lights up.
“Jonnie!” She’s the only person on this planet who can call me that. She steps in for a hug and holds on a few seconds.
I’m ready for this every day for the rest of my life. “Mag-pie. You look stunning.”
“I left the Twin Cities before dawn this morning. I’m tired, grumpy, and I’m sure my makeup is running.”
She looks perfect.
“You’re fabulous. Come in.” I usher her into my apartment, toward the view of the mountains and the golden hues of the desert.
I feel jittery. Maybe if I take her right to the bedroom and fuck her senseless, we can get it out of the way and then talk about our future.
“I was really excited to get your message,” I tell her.
She smiles, and I want to kiss her like crazy.
“It’s been hectic since Dad’s death. The reading of his will had some…surprises for all of us.” She looks away for a moment. “But Christopher and Stevie have been great,” she continues. “My mom, though… She is surprisingly upset.”
She sits on the couch, and I sit next to her. I reach for her hand, and the chemistry is electric. My cock is so hard right now, and I need to taste her. I lean in for a kiss, but she places her hands on my shoulders.
I can see the line she gets between her eyes when she’s worried about something.
“Your mom may be a little cold at times, but I’m sure she’s grieving in her own way.”
She looks at me with a tight smile.
“What is it?”
“Jonnie, I didn’t want to tell you this over the phone, but…”
My stomach drops.
“…Alex and I are getting married.”
Chapter 2
Maggie
It physically hurts to tell Jonnie we can’t be involved anymore. I can barely believe I had the guts to say it, since everything in me wants it not to be true. I’ve had a crush on Johnathan Best since I was in middle school. I spent the better part of my youth dreaming about him, and over the past few months he’s shown me how fun and fantastic a relationship can be. And believe me, that was a welcome change since my life at home revolves almost entirely around work and my family’s standing in the community.
But none of that matters, because I don’t have a choice.
I’ve always known that our company is first and foremost a family affair. That’s been drilled into me since I was a child. Most children learn to identify cars, or maybe planes. I could identify retail chains and read a profit-and-loss statement before I was ten. At my grandfather’s knee, we learned the importance of growing the family business and never taking it public to be at the mercy of stockholders. We were taught business first and family second. We celebrated when other families gave up their businesses to non-family members, went public, or closed their doors. All the better for us. When my grandfather died, my father assumed his role in the company and pushed the same agenda.
It has to be a Reinhardt son at the helm. And once my father was gone, we all knew the duty would fall to one of his sons—otherwise the company would have to be dissolved. The problem is, neither of my brothers is particularly available for the job. Christopher emancipated himself from my parents at age sixteen, and though he’s still part of my life, he will never run the company. And my brother Stevie is not only not interested, he’s not particularly qualified since he’s spent most of the past several years surfing and smoking pot in Hawaii. (I, on the other hand, went to business school and have been growing the foundation portion of the company for several years now. But, you know, I’m a girl, so it doesn’t officially matter—insert eye roll.)
When my father got sick, Christopher and I devised a plan to hire someone to run the day-to-day operations of the company, which would leave me free to continue my work with the Reinhardt Foundation, and Christopher agreed to take the title of board chair. This probably wasn’t exactly what my grandfather envisioned—especially since Christopher isn’t legally an heir anymore—but it seemed workable to us and would allow the company to continue meeting the terms of the will as a family business.
However, after my father passed and we gathered for the reading of his will, we realized he had changed one of the provisions my grandfather originally established. Rather than being run by a Reinhardt son, my father had made the chairman of the board position open to any Reinhardt heir, throwing me into the running as well. But the real kicker? He left my grandfather’s archaic provision that says the head of the company must be married.
After my brothers had gone home, my mother turned her sights on me. She rejected Christopher’s compromise proposal out of hand, and said it was clearly up to me to carry the company forward, as a real heir. And I’d have to get married to do so.
Whatever Jonnie and I have, we’re nowhere near ready for marriage, and I haven’t opened that relationship to my mother’s scrutiny anyway. It would never survive.
But Mother had a solution all ready for me—so ready that I now realize she’d likely been working on it for months. The Walker family, owners of Elite Electronics, are close family friends of ours, and their son, Alex, has been my best friend since we were little. Our parents have joked for years that someday Alex and I would marry, but now I’ve learned my mother isn’t kidding.
Not only does marrying Alex Walker fulfill the will requirements, it also brings Elite Electronics into the Reinhardt Hudson fold, creating a merger and keeping the family company firmly in hand all at the same time. Mother gets giddy whenever she talks about it, and she’s set out to plan the wedding of the century.