Two

      Michael did not like to go into meetings unprepared, but he did love a challenge. He first saw Charlotte only in profile, her long, golden-blond hair framing her rosy cheeks, full lips and adorable chin. She sat straight as a pin in a dark purple jacket and black skirt, poised on the edge of her seat. That was Charlotte. Beautiful, but always on the edge. She turned toward him, her vivid blue eyes immediately putting him on notice. She was still angry. He not only saw it, he felt it, as if her eyes were slicing right into him.

      It was pretty hot.

      Just seeing her brought back the day they first met seven or eight months ago, when she’d come to interview for a position in his agency. She’d been professional and polished, but her résumé was thin. As they talked, he became more and more enchanted by her as a woman, but he knew she wasn’t cutthroat enough to work for him. She smiled so easily, almost as if she couldn’t help it. She laughed in much the same, affable manner. She was clearly beguiling, but he couldn’t see her playing hardball in a negotiation, or putting up with an ultrademanding billionaire client. He’d told her as much. That hadn’t gone over well. In fact, she’d argued with him about it, giving him that first vision of the fire behind those eyes. In the end, she didn’t get the job she wanted, but he called her a few weeks later anyway. He asked her out and she said no, but then she started peppering him with questions about real estate, and the next thing he knew, they’d been on the phone for an hour, the conversation ultimately drifting to more personal topics. Three or four more marathon calls after that, he asked her out again, and that time she said yes. The rest—all three months of it—was history.

      “Michael, hello.” Charlotte’s words were polite enough, but the tenor of her voice was rigid. She’d never taken that tone with him before, not even when she left. That day, she’d only had tears and gasping breaths. Crying was one of his weak spots when it came to relationships. He never knew what to say. So he often didn’t say much of anything.

      “Charlotte. It’s nice to see you.” He reached out to shake her hand and it was clear she was thinking twice about it. When she finally reciprocated, she was quick to retreat, but even a lightning-fast brush of her skin against his brought back memories of just how white-hot their connection had been. Charlotte might be a handful, but that was also the reason she was impossible to forget.

      She folded her hands in her lap as Michael took the open chair next to her and Sawyer sat behind his desk. Michael’s full attention needed to be on Sawyer at this moment, but he had to steal a glance at Charlotte’s legs as she crossed them and sat even straighter. She was wearing jet-black heels today, and he would’ve been a fool not to take his chance to admire her, while his mind flashed to what the rest of her looked like naked as she did the simplest of things, like padding from his bed to the bathroom and back.

      “Michael, the reason I’ve asked Charlotte to sit in on this meeting is because I’ve decided to make a change with the Grand Legacy condos. I’m giving half of the listings to Charlotte.”

      Michael always did everything he could to keep his cool in a business meeting, but he did not like surprises. Not at the last minute. “You’re what?” His voice betrayed him. The anger was apparent and quite possibly too strong, but as far as he was concerned, he had every right to be mad. He glanced over at Charlotte, only to see her fighting back a smile. He knew that look—the corners of her plump lips twitching while she was trying everything she could not to laugh.

      Sawyer held up his hands in defense. “I know this is a surprise, and it’s not the way I like to do business, but the timing just wasn’t right on this one. You were already on your way here when Charlotte and I talked about it this morning.”

      “You do realize I can sell those units ten times faster than she can, right?”

      Charlotte’s hair whipped through the air when she turned to Michael. “Excuse me?” She was no longer close to smiling. Her mouth was slack and gaping with disbelief.

      “It’s the truth.” Michael shrugged and sat back in his chair, reminding himself to stay cool and calm, however angry he might be.

      “Look, I hear what you’re saying,” Sawyer said. “You’re a rock star of an agent. There’s no denying that.”

      Tell me something I don’t know.

      “But Charlotte is family,” Sawyer continued. “And she brings some unique qualities to the table that, quite honestly, I hadn’t considered and no one else has.”

      “Like what, exactly?” Michael couldn’t imagine that anyone had a talent that he didn’t possess. If he was lacking in some way, it had yet to materialize in his life in a formidable way. If he didn’t know how to do something, he learned. Quickly.

      Charlotte huffed and shook her head. “I have a history with the hotel. I know it almost as well as Sawyer. And I have the Locke name. That counts for something.”

      She had him on that. “I can always introduce a client to your brother, Charlotte, if they want to meet a member of the Locke family. Of course, at that point, the only name they’ll truly care about is mine. They’ll get experience with me. How many properties have you even sold since you became an agent?”

      “I didn’t come here to share my résumé with you. Sawyer doesn’t care about that.”

      “It’s not that I don’t care about it. I’m simply willing to see past it in order to make a compromise,”