Sweet Pleasures ✔︎

[17] 𝑱𝒖𝒍𝒊𝒂-𝒂𝒄𝒉𝒆

Status : Unedited

❦︎

"Mr. King? Mr. King."

Josh jerked his attention away from staring out his office window. He turned in his chair, forcing himself to focus. Kate stood by his desk, holding a folder and watching him with a furrowed brow.

"Are you all right, sir?" She put the folder on his desk. "Do you need anything?"

"No."

What he needed was Jupiter to stay at his house, security system or not. But even more than that, what he needed was to stop thinking about her and concentrate in his work. He hadn't contacted her all morning, and he hated himself for checking his email more often than he usually did in the hopes of finding a message from her.

She'd told him her sister had shown up unexpectedly, and he couldn't tell whether or not she was glad about that. Jupiter missed Isabelle, but their relationship was strained.

And he sure as hell knew something about strained sibling relationships.

"Perhaps a protein drink?" Kate asked.

"No, thanks."

It would take a lot more than a protein drink to straighten him out. He didn't enjoy that realization one bit. In less than three weeks, Jupiter Rhoades had infiltrated his mind to the point that she was clouding his usually razor-sharp concentration on the business. Hell, he'd made a stupid mistake on the Switzerland project analysis this morning because he couldn't stop thinking about sinking into her warm, tight-

"...the corporate social responsibility report," Kate was saying.

Josh shook his head slightly, as if that would somehow get thoughts of Jupiter out of his mind.

"Okay, thanks."

"And I've confirmed your travel plans to Bern, so everything is settled."

Travel plans. Bern.

Shit.

"Did you still want to take a few extra days at the end of the trip to go to Brussels?" Kate asked.

Josh dragged a hand down his face. A month ago, a three-week-long business trip to Switzerland would have been just a regular part of his work. Typical. Ordinary. But since the instant he'd looked up from the pool table to see a curly-haired angel watching him from across the room, nothing in his life had been ordinary.

He rubbed his palm, still feeling Jupiter's light touch as she examined his heart line.

"Sir?" Kate prompted. "Would you like me to reserve a room for you in Brussels for a few nights?"

"No." Josh didn't want to be away from Jupiter for three hours, much less three weeks. He sure as hell wouldn't extend his trip any longer than necessary. "I'll come back after Bern. Is Evan in yet?"

"I believe so, sir. Shall I summon him for you?"

"No, I'll go see him." Josh shrugged into his suit jacket and headed down the hall to his brother's office.

Evan stood at the table in the corner, looking over a bunch of graphics. He glanced up when Josh entered.

Tension tightened the air.

"Did you talk to Sam about the Fair Trade Foundation?" Josh closed the door behind him. "He had a marketing idea about a fair trade challenge to get other companies on board."

"Yeah, he mentioned it. He didn't know where to start, though." Evan rubbed his jaw. "I got the website up and running, and I started drafting a charter of standards and principles."