Sweet Pleasures ✔︎

[12] 𝑼𝒑𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒊𝒓𝒔?

Status : Unedited

❦︎

As Josh drove back to the Candy King offices, he believed his head was spinning. That never happened to him. He always thought with clarity and logic.

But ever since Jupiter Rhoades had crashed into his life, he'd been...off balance. Unable to stop himself from kissing her, then getting possessive about her and asking - okay, ordering - her out on a date. Then he had some thorn in his side about not wanting her to leave his house, and then they'd made each other come so hard the bed shook, and then he'd slept until nine-fucking-thirty-four.

And now he was offering her pro bono consulting services and wondering how she'd managed to get under his skim so fast that his head was spinning.

Not good. Bad, in fact. Really got damn bad.

But he couldn't just let her bakery go under when he, of all people in the world, know how to fix it. Jupiter was standing in quicksand, and he had the rope to haul her out. He couldn't walk away from her now. He wouldn't.

He turned off the highway to the Candy King campus. After parking in his assigned spot, he stalked into the building, nodding a curt greeting at the receptionist, and took the mirrored elevator up to his seventh-floor office.

"Mr. King, you have some papers to sign." Kate rose from her chair as he approached. "I left them on your desk."

"Thank you, Kate." He handed her a box of eclairs and doughnuts Jupiter had packed for him. "Get someone to take these around to the others."

"Yes, sir." She took the box and peered inside with a murmur of delight. "Also, there's a call from Miss Paterson asking if you were still planning on attending her yacht party tomorrow night. It's leaving from Pier 40 at nine."

Josh groaned. There was only one place he intended to be tomorrow night, and it was not on Miss Paterson's yacht.

"I'll tell her you have an unexpected work meeting," Kate said quickly.

Kate was the best hire he had made in the past two years. After his former assistant retired, he'd intended to hire someone with years of experience. At twenty-six, Kate had almost no experience, but she'd so impressed Josh during her interview that he'd hired her on the spot.

That time, his instincts had proven correct. He thanked Kate again and went into his office, forcing his brain to the multiple tasks at hand. He first did a crime report check for the neighbourhood where the Rainbow Palace was located.

Though he wasn't surprised by the multiple reports of robbery, theft, weapon violations, and drug investigations in the area, his jaw clenched harder the more he read. Because the public incident reports were incomplete, Josh called the Indigo Bay police chief to get more details.

"I'll have to get back to you since that not my jurisdiction," Brad said. "Give me a couple of hours, okay?"

"Sure. Thanks."

After ending the call, Josh reminded himself on his main priority and turned his attention to company business. He reviewed several budgets, allocated funds to the retro product development, returned five calls, then checked his email. A message from Jupiter appeared on the screen.

_

TO : Josh King, Megalomaniac Willy Wonka (j.king@candyking.com)
FROM : Jupiter Rhoades, Tea Brewer Extraordinaire (jupiter@rainbowpalace.com)

Mr. King:

Attached are the password-secured Important Financial Documents you requested. I will be at my desk until five p.m. should you have any questions. If not, I will be at you office at two p.m. tomorrow for our meeting.