Chapter17
Kennedy
The next morning wasn’t easy. There wasn’t enough coffee to keep my eyes open. It didn’t help that my entire body was sore in new delicious places. Every time I crossed my legs under the boardroom table, I was reminded of how Knight’s thumbs pressed into my thighs, his fingers digging into my flesh. The heat of his breath blowing over my skin. It was an inconvenient time to think about being in bed together, the wine cellar, or the shower. I was in the middle of meeting with the legal team about the Crescent Towers project.
Renee stood to reach for the pot in the center of the table. She had to stretch for the handle.
“I think we wait until the bill can be added into another one. We’ll tie it with a piece of legislation that can’t fail.” She placed the giant pot on the tray.
“I think you know we can’t afford to wait that long,” I corrected her. “It has to be this bill. This round. We need another vote.”
Crew’s head was buried in his tablet. I saw a smile spread across his face. I couldn’t remember a time when he had looked happy at the office. I usually tasked him with too many projects for him to display any expression other than constant concentration. His forehead furrowed. His brows angled outward when he tried to solve a problem for me. This was a different look on him. I wondered if it was because of Seraphina. I still hadn’t wrapped my head around their relationship or helping them. I pushed back when Knight wanted a solution. One crisis at a time.
“What’s the update from Victoria Banks?” I asked.
Renee stopped stirring creamer into her mug. Her head lifted. “We spoke this morning.”
“And? She told me there were ways to get the votes.”
“There are. She’s working those angles.”
“I need the specifics. Tell her I want an update this afternoon.”
Renee nodded. Crew tore his eyes from the screen. “Construction is on schedule.”
“At least there is that.” I sighed. We all knew without the casino licensing, there wasn’t a chance in hell the Crescent Towers would survive the first year. I wouldn’t be the only one impacted by the success of the project. Everyone in this room needed to understand how critical it was the bill passed.
I rose from my seat. Kimble was waiting for me in the hallway outside the conference room.
I tilted my head. “I’m glad you’re here. There’s something I need you to do.”
“I have some information.”
“Oh? Then let’s move out of the hallway.”
He nodded. “In your office.”
Kimble was a fixture at work. No one batted an eye when he walked through the offices. I knew there was something different in his demeanor. He wasn’t going to like what I was going to ask him to do.
He closed the glass door behind him.
“What information do you have for me?” I asked.
He folded his hands in front of his waist. “I think you should slow down with Knight Corban. I need to vet him before you go any farther.”
I blinked. “Excuse me?”
His expression didn’t waiver. Neither did his tone. “You don’t know what he did the five years he was in France. You don’t know who he was in business with. I want to do a full background history on his time there. A complete assessment.”
I leaned against my desk. “Kimble, that’s crazy. I trust Knight. You can trust him too. I know neither of you is a fan of the other, but you don’t need to look for things to dig up on him. He and I actually had a conversation about you. I told him about the kidnapping. I think it might help things between you two.” It was an event I rarely mentioned to him. “He understands more now. I’m hoping maybe you will too.”
His face muscles didn’t move. “I don’t trust him. You shouldn’t either. At least not until we know everything he was up to in France.”
It wasn’t a conversation I was interested in having with Kimble, or anyone else. Kimble had access to a view of my personal life no one else did, but that didn’t give him the right to interject. Our arrangement worked because he stayed silent. He seemed to want to make a change that I wasn’t sure I could allow.
“What he was up to? That’s absurd. He was busy running his family’s vineyards. He wasn’t allowed to come back to New Orleans. You know that.”
“I could have started the investigation, but I thought you should know I plan on telling you what I find.”