“That’s why I told Izzy we should talk,” Jack said, popping shrimp into his mouth. “Mark has that partner of his, Jordan Ashford, under his belt. If he was on board, you’d be an unstoppable team and the perfect fit for taking over Heartstring.”
“I like the sound of that,” I grinned, my mind already racing with the potential.
It was a win all the way around. I’d get to make my name in the business world—pay my dues, earn my title and hefty salary. Daddy wouldn’t feel like he did me any favors.
And there was the bonus of him.
Jordan Ashford. My god, what a perfect specimen of my type he was. In fact, Jordan may have been solely responsible for molding my type and my high standards for men. It was a unique type, and so far he was the only one I had ever met who actually fit the bill.
Lunch went on. Jack and Izzy continued chatting. But I was a million miles away at just the mention of his name.
My eyes drifted back over to the sparkling crystal blue water of the pool, and I was instantly transported back to that day when I was fifteen. I was sitting around my parents’ pool—just like this. It was in the middle of July and blazing hot.
My father and Jordan, ten years my senior, had only just started working together. I could still remember it so vividly. I wasn’t a romantic for anything but business and making money. But the first time I laid eyes on him…that was the closest thing to romantic love I had ever experienced.
I was flipping through teen magazines and drinking virgin daiquiris with my friends. We thought we were so cool in our new bikinis and fresh tans. I was listening intently to some scandalous story my friend Megan was telling when suddenly, there he was.
Daddy came out the back door of the house, having just finished his meeting with Jordan—who was tall with dark hair and gray eyes. Even back then he was a snappy dresser. My father wouldn’t have looked twice at him if he wasn’t. His muscles strained against his designer suit, and he just had this air to him, like he knew he was hot stuff.
And boy did I ever know it, too. He already had my attention, even before he paced the edge of the pool on the opposite side from us and said to my father with a whistle, “Nice pool.”
“Take a dive if you want!” my dad told him. “I’ll have someone bring you a drink.”
“Really?” Jordan perked up. “Don’t mind if I do.”
He walked over to one of the lounge chairs and began to strip right in front of my teenage eyes. That moment was when I officially lost any shred of innocence I had left, because as I watched his dark rippling muscles be set free from those expensive clothes…my mind was riddled with dirty thoughts I didn’t even know I was capable of thinking.
Things only got worse when I watched him dive into the water and emerge again with water glistening across every inch of his perfect body. My mouth and throat were suddenly dry and tight. No amount of virgin daiquiri in the world would fix what Jordan was doing to me. Only he could do that.
“Cat!? Cat! Catherine! Hellloooo!” my friends teased, realizing how distracted I had become.
The memory merged with my current life as Izzy snapped her fingers to get my attention.
“Oh, sorry,” I offered, clearing my throat. “Sorry. I was just…imagining the potential of your idea.”
Slowly, I floated back down from my Jordan Ashford cloud as I had done so many times before.
That day, when I first saw him, I instantly fell in love. It was just a silly teenage crush, really, and I never told a single soul. But the thought of him still made my mouth water.
“So you’ll do it?” Jack asked.
“Huh?” I struggled keeping my feet on the ground, out of my sex-daze fantasies about my dad’s business partner. “Oh. Oh yeah. I mean…I obviously can’t say we’ll do it. But I’ll mention it to my dad and see about setting up a meeting.”
Jack cracked his knuckles together and shot up from his chair. “Excellent. Keep me posted, Cat.”
As he went inside, Izzy turned to me with a curious look in her eyes. She was no doubt wondering what sent me shooting off into space, but she didn’t ask. Maybe she knew. Hell, anyone with eyes could see how hot Jordan was.
“Should we jump in for a bit?” she proposed.
“Yes, please!” I shot back. I was in desperate need to cool down after thinking about him.
1
Jordan
“You know I never turn down new ventures,” I said to my partner, Mark, over my shoulder as I straightened my tie in the mirror. “But a company this size?” I whistled. “That’s ambitious enough to make even me a little hesitant.”
Mark smirked and took a sip of his scotch. “Tell me about it. But I have to say…my little Kitty Cat really sold me on the idea. It’d be a team effort. Of course I don’t need to tell you…you’d be taking on the brunt of that effort.”
“Great,” I groaned sarcastically. “And the brunt of the profits I hope?”
“Now, now, Jordan. You know I’m not putting my name anywhere near this thing without an agreement to a three-way split,” he countered.
“I just hope I’m in the position to make those kinds of demands by the time I’m your age,” I winked, grabbing my suit
