LITMIR.BIZ

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actually have a plus-one prospect.

      She shoved her phone into her back pocket and returned to the front of the store, where Parker looked fit to be tied.

      * * *

      Parker stared at Kayleigh. He’d bet she took that call in the middle of their negotiations just to tick him off.

      If that was her aim, she’d succeeded.

      He was a busy man. He’d scheduled exactly thirty-five minutes for this meeting. It was already going on forty-five minutes and they hadn’t agreed on anything.

      Kayleigh was being stubborn. No, downright ornery. Was she really going to allow her disdain for him to prevent her from accepting his exceedingly generous offer?

      “So, where were we?” Kayleigh seemed distracted and her hair looked even wilder than it had when she’d disappeared behind the curtain. As if she’d just tumbled out of bed and she hadn’t been alone.

      He swallowed hard, fighting off the image of Kayleigh in bed that immediately filled his brain.

       Focus, Parker. Focus.

      “I’d offered you fifty percent more than the assessed value.”

      She froze for a moment, cocking her head before a smirk curled one corner of her mouth. “I remember now. You asked what figure would make me happy, and I said—”

      “I know what you said, Kayleigh, and it’s unacceptable.”

      “Then buy someone else’s building instead.” She stared at him defiantly.

      The number-one rule of negotiating was be prepared to walk away. Every salesperson understood that. But his family hadn’t given him that option. This building had once belonged to his mother’s family. They’d run a tiny café here, and now his father wanted to help his mother reclaim a portion of her family’s history by creating a flagship restaurant here, branded with the King’s Finest name.

      It was going to be a surprise. His mother didn’t know, but his father had already purchased the two other buildings on the block and made the sellers sign confidentiality agreements. But without Kayleigh’s building—the cornerstone of the entire project—it simply wouldn’t work.

      Closing this deal was the leverage he needed to make his father realize that naming his older brother, Blake, as his successor at King’s Finest, simply because he’d had the good fortune to be born first, would be a grave mistake.

      Blake was a good person, a great brother and an excellent operations manager. But neither Blake nor their brother Max possessed the killer instinct the CEO position called for. His sister, Zora, did have that killer instinct. More so than he, perhaps. But what she lacked was the ability to control her emotions. With Zora, everything was personal. She was much like Kayleigh in that way.

      He had to have this building, but Kayleigh didn’t know that. So maybe if he showed her that he was willing to walk away, she’d come to her senses.

      Parker stooped to pick up his attaché. “Sorry we couldn’t come to an agreement. Maybe it would be better if we went with new construction in that shopping center. I’m sure my brother will give us a good deal.”

      Parker crossed the room under Kayleigh’s cold stare, waiting for her to stop him.

      She didn’t.

      He turned the doorknob and stepped one foot onto the sidewalk, the bell jingling above him.

      Still nothing.

      “You really don’t have anything else to say?” Parker turned back to her.

      “Don’t let the doorknob hit you where the good Lord split you.” She grinned, her eyes shimmering with amusement.

      Parker blew out an exasperated breath and stepped back inside. “Look, there has to be something we can do to sweeten the deal for you. I can do the one-point-five and throw in renovation of your new space so that it meets your specific needs. Or maybe an all-expenses paid vacation.”

      “What did you say?” She narrowed her gaze at him.

      He now had Kayleigh’s rapt attention.

      “I said we can renovate your space so it fits your needs.”

      “Or...”

      “Or throw in an all-expenses paid vacation.” Something in Kayleigh’s expression unnerved him. The wheels were definitely turning in her head.

      “That.” She shook a finger in his direction, her gaze not meeting his, as if she was still working everything out. “I want the all-expenses paid vacation, but you won’t have to pay for it.”

      Parker scratched the back of his neck. Kayleigh Jemison had confounded him for years. He didn’t think it was possible, but today she was more confusing than usual. “That doesn’t make any sense. The whole point of the offer is to—”

      “I know how negotiations work, Abbott,” she said dismissively. “Just listen and don’t panic while I tell you the rest.”

      Now Parker was really alarmed. He set his attaché on the floor again and shoved his hands in his pockets. “I’m listening.”

      “You pay me twice the property’s assessed value. That will allow me to lease a new shop and buy a nice condo in the same complex.”

      Parker had no desire to overpay for Kayleigh’s crumbling building, but his father had insisted that he do whatever it took to acquire the property. It was to be his anniversary gift to Parker’s mother, and a sound investment for their business.

      “I’ll consider it,” he said gruffly.

      “But there’s one more thing I need.”

      “In addition to us overpaying for the property?”

      She didn’t acknowledge the comment. “As a condition of our deal, you’ll need to accompany me on a one-week, all-expenses paid trip to the Caribbean.”

      He stared at her for a moment, waiting for the punch line.

      “But you despise me.” When she didn’t disagree, Parker leaned against a display case, his arms folded across his chest as he studied her. “Why would you want me, of all people, to accompany you?”

      He wasn’t always the best at reading people, but there was definitely something that Kayleigh was having a hard time getting out.

      “You have to pretend to be my fiancé.” She cringed as she said the words.

      “What?” Parker pressed a hand to his forehead, stunned by her request. “You’re not serious.”

      “You need this building for whatever your next big venture is, and I need a fake fiancé for a week. It’s not as if I’m asking you to trade murders, Abbott. This isn’t Strangers on a Train. Do you want this building or not?”

      “There are escorts for this sort of thing, or have you not seen The Wedding Date?” he retorted. She wasn’t the only one who could throw around a film reference to make a point.

      “You’re no Dermot Mulroney,” she mumbled under her breath. “This isn’t some romantic fantasy, and I have zero interest in sleeping with you. So if that’s what’s worrying you, let me put your mind at ease.”

      Kayleigh Jemison evidently had no compunction about taking a Louisville Slugger to his ego.

      “We’ll pay double, without the pretend fiancé thing. Final offer.”

      “Then no deal.” She folded her arms. She’d gone from sheepish to defiant again. “The fiancé thing is nonnegotiable.”

      He’d thought she’d thrown that in as a bargaining chip just to get him to agree to double his original offer, but she was serious.

       Dead serious.

      “Then

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