“Not without a lot of cost. There’s plumbing in back for showers, but it all runs along the back of the building.”
Jonathan wasn’t in the market to rent a build-to-suit property. “You’ll make more keeping it.”
“I need the cash now. Red’s got this idea...” Aaron’s younger sister was supposedly some kind of social-engineering genius. Jonathan only knew the basic details, but she was good enough to make Aaron worth billions. The two were eternally trying to recreate the phenomenon.
Jonathan couldn’t turn the property down for the price Aaron wanted. Even if the bottom floor stayed empty, and the rest dropped to fifty percent occupancy, it would pay for itself within the year. In addition, it was in a growing part of town. Jonathan was banking on urban life picking up there, and he wasn’t wrong about these things. He also couldn’t leave a partner stranded. “Seventy-five percent. I manage it, you get the cash, but you keep a share.”
His phone buzzed, and he couldn’t help glancing at the note from Bailey.
I’m heading to L.A. for a week. You’re going to show me the time of my life.
Jonathan smiled and set his phone aside.
“Do you need to be somewhere else?” Aaron asked.
Jonathan shook his head. A new idea was forming, but he needed time to think it through. “Get me the contracts, and we’ll go from there.”
“Done.” Aaron stood and shook his hand. “Thanks, man.”
“No worries.” Jonathan was distracted by ideas of what he’d do with that bottom floor. He hoped it worked.
Chapter Twenty-One
Bailey fell into stepwith the disembarking crowd and made her way through the landing gate and toward the shuttles. Most of her life she’d heard that Atlanta was a miniature Los Angeles. That the West Coast city did everything bigger, better, and more Hollywood.
LAX airport was huge, but nothing compared to Hartsfield-Jackson International. It didn’t matter that there were fewer people here; the crowds and distance to baggage claim were still too much. Her pulse raced with excitement, and the minutes couldn’t go fast enough. She had to force herself to keep from sprinting to the carousels when she disembarked from the shuttle. Getting there sooner meant waiting longer if Jonathan hadn’t arrived yet.
His memory filled her with an unfamiliar but giddy excitement. Maybe she should have talked this through with him first. Given him a hint of what she was thinking, before she made the flight arrangements. He hadn’t objected to her announcement she was visiting, though, and she wanted to do this in person. Needed to discover what it would take, to see him more often.
She kept more of her attention on the crowds than on the conveyor belt, but no recognizable face stood out. She needed to calm down. If he was held up, she’d make herself sick with anticipation and then crash before he got here.
Two hands rested on her hips. Her body reacted, energy jolting through her before her brain put words to what it meant.
“I missed you.” Jonathan’s breath caressed her ear.
She grinned and whirled, careful not to displace his grip. Before she could answer, he tangled his fingers in her hair and crushed his mouth to hers. The kiss stole her breath and erased her doubt. She dug her fingers into his chest, needing something to hold on to, so she’d stay grounded in the middle of this amazing dream come to life.