LITMIR.BIZ

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tight, her mother would wistfully bring up Morgan’s college account, but Chloe had made her promise they wouldn’t touch it. No way was she going to let her brilliant sister miss out on any educational opportunity provided to her. Jeanine had, despite the gleam in her eye when she looked at the bank statement, agreed.

      So for now it was again up to Chloe to support her mother and younger sister as best she could. If she could handle this night job until the end of the year, she’d be able to graduate by Christmas and maybe have a good-paying, full-time position by the New Year—just in time to sock away the rest of the money she’d need to send Morgan to school the following fall.

      The connections she could make on this trip might help that wish come true. But Jess was also right—she could definitely use a couple of days lounging by a pool at a pricey resort.

      “Maybe you’ll meet some fab man who’ll make you forget all your problems.”

      Chloe shrugged. “I’m beginning to think there’s no such thing as a fab man.” She dropped her chin into her palm. “The young, gorgeous, carefree ones only seem to want one thing. The older, responsible, successful ones are either taken or impossibly arrogant. The older carefree ones are usually gay.”

      “What about the young, responsible, successful ones,” Jess said eagerly.

      Chloe snorted. “Like Troy Langtree.”

      “I get your point.” Jess sighed. “He gives new meaning to the word ‘stiff.”’ As if just hearing the sexy underlying meaning in her comment, her friend covered her lips with her fingers and began to giggle uncontrollably.

      Chloe felt a flush rise in her cheeks. “He’s not what I’m searching for. A guy who can hold down a job would be wonderful—but he has to at least be able to laugh at a good joke. I’ve never seen Troy Langtree crack a smile that wasn’t prompted somehow by finances or sales figures.”

      “Well, you’re right in terms of here at work,” Jess said, thoughtfully tapping her finger on her cheek. “But I’ve been here a few months longer than you, and I have heard rumors about his after-hour activities. He might not actually be the conservative, respectable man he pretends to be here at work. Away from the store, he may not be exactly what he seems.”

      Chloe knew better than most that he wasn’t what he seemed. Unfortunately, she hadn’t seen him after hours in two weeks. “There are days when he’s so stuffy, I can’t picture him taking off his six-hundred-dollar suit even to barbecue in his backyard.” Unless, of course, he’s changing a tire!

      “But I think I’d be able to overlook a lot of arrogance to come home to a man who looks like that every night.”

      Chloe didn’t reply. Troy had been on her mind enough already; she didn’t need to start talking about him to another man-hungry woman.

      “Maybe you’ll get lucky this weekend,” Jess continued. “Maybe the rumor mill is right and he’s a different man outside the store. He might just sweep you off your feet during the conference.”

      Chloe dropped a long, ivory-colored plastic leg onto her right foot, then hissed and hunched over in pain. “What are you talking about?” she finally managed to gasp. Wincing, she hobbled over to her desk and leaned against it to take her weight off her squashed toes.

      “Well, you know, he’s going to be there, too.”

      “No he’s not. This meeting is more for marketers, buyers, and P.R. types. Not store owners.”

      Jess raised a perfectly plucked, heavily penciled eyebrow. “Yes, Chloe, of course he is. He goes every year. Besides, I heard him talking to his secretary about it this afternoon. I was trying to get him to sample some new Pico cologne, which, by the way, is so sweet and flowery, if I went out with a guy who was wearing it, I’d be checking for bra straps.”

      Chloe rolled her eyes. “Get back to Troy.”

      “He’s going to the conference, too. You didn’t know?”

      She shook her head. “I had no idea. Is he going to be staying there? At the same hotel?”

      “Well, sure.” A smile crossed Jess’s face as she obviously noticed Chloe’s consternation. “Oh, so you have noticed him and you are interested, hmm?”

      “Noticed, yeah. But I’m not interested. Like I said, he’s not my type.”

      “Not your type for the long-term, maybe,” Jess said, obviously warming up to her subject. She leaned closer, conspiratorially. “But why not have a sexy little fling while you’re both out of town?”

      “A sexy little fling? I don’t do sexy little flings.” My mother is the sexy little fling person in my family. “And I seriously doubt Troy Langtree does, either.”

      “Just because you haven’t doesn’t mean you can’t,” Jess said. “Isn’t it time to give yourself a break? Indulge in something delicious for a change? Okay, you know you and the stuffy one have nothing in common and couldn’t possibly get seriously involved. So what? Nothing to stop you from getting mindless and fabulous in bed with him for a night or two.”

      Chloe tried to close her ears. What Jess suggested was simply impossible. Even if she was willing, Troy Langtree had never given her any indication he was attracted to her.

      “Heck, I’d seduce him in a heartbeat if he appeared the least bit interested,” Jess continued. “Unfortunately, judging by the women I’ve heard he’s dated, I suspect he likes curvy, stacked bundles—like you—rather than stick-thin Amazons like me. Why don’t you stop by the makeup counter on your way out and I’ll get you some samples for this weekend?”

      “Forget it,” Chloe said with a snort. “This is about business, not pleasure. I’m not going to get personal with Troy Langtree, the managing director of this store.”

      Of course, if Troy Langtree the pagan tire changer shows up, I might just be persuaded.

      “Okay, suit yourself,” Jess said as she stood and prepared to leave the office. “But remember, if you keep putting off finding Mr. Right until after you finish school and get your mother and sister taken care of, you might find he’s already married…or old and in need of Viagra!”

      IN SPITE OF THE MERCILESS Friday afternoon sun sizzling against the bare skin on his back, Trent Langtree decided to go for one more walk of the resort grounds before calling it quits for the day. He’d been on-site since daybreak; it was now five. A long day, but a productive one. This job was definitely worth some long days—to Trent and to all his crew. Besides, long, hard days outside were still better than working in the family-owned department store like his twin brother Troy did.

      The $200,000 job at the Dolphin Island Resort and Country Club was the biggest project his three-year-old landscaping company had ever landed and he was being damned ruthless in making sure it went off without a hitch. His workers weren’t complaining too much about the long hours and demand for perfection. They knew as well as he how much was at stake with this job. And every one of them had a bonus riding on the outcome.

      The stakes were even higher for Trent. The money would be nice, would keep the company in the black for a while. But even more important was the exposure and future clientele this work could bring in. The success of his company, The Great Outdoors, depended upon breaking into the upper-crust south Florida market.

      “You could do that with a few phone calls,” Jason, his most reliable crew foreman, liked to tell him. True. A few calls to his former friends and colleagues would probably bring in all the exclusive work The Great Outdoors could handle. But Trent didn’t want it that way.

      When he’d walked out of his grandmother’s house, he’d told her he’d make it on his own—without the family name, or business, to prop him up. She hadn’t been happy, but Trent had refused to back down. Her pleas and tears hadn’t changed his mind; certainly her threats hadn’t.

      Trent loved the old woman, and the rest of the family,

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