Accidentally Flirting With the CEO by Shadonna Richards Page B

to
settle down and have kids, he sure wouldn’t mind a planet that was still in
decent shape for them to inhabit.
    It was dark in his bedroom; he lay naked under the blue
satin sheet on his king-sized four-poster bed. Oddly, he always felt
comfortable with no clothes on. While at home, of course. The room felt slightly
cool tonight with the window cracked open slightly to allow some breeze to seep
through. It had been an unusually humid day in the month of May for Mercy
Springs, Texas—but thank God, the night was cooling down.
    He pressed the button to power off his cell phone.
    “Who the hell could be sending an e-mail at this hour?”
    He peered at the alarm clock with squinted eyes. It read:
12:03 a.m.
    “Great!”
    He’d been up since the crack of dawn and was sleep deprived
the entire weekend as he planned for the work week ahead. Busting his butt,
meeting client demands. Setting up new strategies on his computer with files he
brought  home from the office. All this from one of his clients. And that
was because a new major launch was about to spring. Otherwise he would be on a
less-stress-diet plan. He was on a new path now.
    Though at twenty-nine he was part owner and CEO of TLC
Advertising Agency, he sure didn’t want the heartache and ulcer that often
paired up with top-dog positions. He had to learn to  play it cool now.
He’d known too many of his buddies in the industry, the corporate world, some
not too much older than himself, with that old familiar zigzag surgery mark on
the center of their chest. Triple Bypass
surgery.               
    Usual precursor? Poor diet, too much stress. Clogged
arteries were just not his thing.
    He ate well, most of the time, and exercised hard at the
gym, his second home apart from the office of TLC.
    He lay on the bed, eyes open now with a lot on his mind.
    Too much on his mind.
    He had to satisfy his newest client, Hot Spot Resort, with
their impossible demands and get a major photo shoot on the island done ahead
of schedule. Hot Spot was having an extreme image makeover and wanted to
relaunch this year to compete with other Caribbean resorts. A challenge in this
economy. But if it wasn’t a success that meant that Hot Spot might not renew
their contract. He knew the owner of Hot Spot, a spoiled rich brat who
inherited a whack of cash from her grandfather and teamed up with a friend to
get this holiday resort thing going. They were known to ditch contractors at
the drop of a cap.
    They mightbe hot but their
demands could be damn right cold.
    That meant he would have to fly his creative team out there
and scout out local talent then get this show going. At such short notice.
    Jess groaned.
    Stress.
    He had to watch his heart and his back in this industry. The
owner of Hot Spot already hinted she might not renew. Which could cause a huge
financial dent in the company that he’dstarted
with his older sister and cousin.
    Chase, his cousin, had told him to take a vacation while
down there. Unwind. Get away from office politics and running the business. He
even offered to foot the bill out of his own pocket for Jess who promptly
refused. Jess just didn’t want to spend any more time than necessary at a
romantic resort.  He had his share of women but falling in love and
romance just wasn’t his thing—never would be. The more he guarded his
heart the better it would be. He’d been burned one too many times by gold-diggers
and opportunists.
    When his parents died, they left him and his half sister
with a generous life insurance payout. He felt he would rather have his folks
back than the money. If only. 
    He decided to open up an ad agency after finishing college with
Chase but his ever-so-watchful and untrusting older sister didn’t think his
decision was wise and since she held the keys to the money at the time, she
only allowed him access to the funds on the condition that she could be the
company’s accountant and part owner. Reluctantly, he