14. Kyle

14

KYLE

M y mind raced with the possibilities of taking over for James Stone.

"Alayna," I called out from my desk in the small office space I currently occupied.

She walked into my office, her eyebrows lifted to her hairline in question.

"What if we didn't sign the lease for the space on West Madison?"

"This place is big enough. As it is, your top designers are working from their kitchen tables. I know they would like proper drafting tables to work at because Nick has already complained about it. You are going to need to set up an office somewhere." She spoke as if I were a child not understanding her words.

"I was thinking, what if we held out for the Stone Group and moved in with them?"

"I thought that was just an initial talk. How fast is he willing to sell?" she asked.

I shrugged. I wasn't certain, but they had a good space, and I didn't see any reason to move the setup they had when I didn't even have a proper office ready.

"I guess we could hold off signing the lease until we know whether your agreement with Stone Group will go through. But there's no guarantee the property will still be available at that point. Are their offices really that much better?"

"The interior decoration is fabulous. Good energy flows in the floor plan. Really good location. It's only a couple of blocks from West Madison," I said. I had been thinking about the space for hours. I could easily work there.

"Is it large enough? We're bringing in how many employees?" she asked. I could always trust Alayna to be pragmatical.

"It's a small firm with only ten employees," I said.

"And we'll bring in another six or so. You need space for at least twenty people. Is their space big enough? Can we easily expand it?"

"Hmm." I thought about what she was saying. The office building he was in potentially could be expanded into, but I didn't know the occupancy in the rest of the property. I hadn't exactly looked at it from that perspective. "That's something you can look into, right?"

Alayna nodded. She was the best assistant a guy could have.

"Why didn't you tell me his assistant was Clarissa?" I asked before she had a chance to leave.

Alayna paused and stared at me. "Pardon?"

"Clarissa, do you remember her? She was one of the interns with Steve," I said.

"Yes, I remember Clarissa. I didn't know she was James Stone's assistant."

"I thought you set up the meeting with her," I said.

"I believe the woman I spoke with was named Jenna. Was Clarissa there?"

"She was. Maybe she's just the receptionist. I must have assumed she was his assistant because she had always struck me as being more ambitious than wanting to be somebody's receptionist." What had happened to her? How had she gone from a talented architectural student with potential to a receptionist who answered phones?

"Can you set up another meeting for us?" I asked Alayna before she stepped out of my office.

"Of course. Do you have a preference for date and time?"

"Let's give it a week. I don't want him to think I'm too enthusiastic," I said with a chuckle. I was pretty sure James Stone already knew I was eager for this deal.

The following week, when I walked into the Stone Group's offices, Clarissa was perched behind the receptionist desk.

"Hello, Clarissa, nice to see you again," I said, genuinely pleased to see her.

"Kyle." She smiled, but it didn't seem genuine. More like she was pretending because she had to greet me as I walked in the door. "James is expecting you. I'll let him know that you're here."

I leaned against her desk and hovered as she pushed buttons on her phone and told her boss that I was waiting. She hung up and looked back up at me.

"He said he'll be right out. Why don't you have a seat?" She gestured toward the overstuffed chairs situated in the lobby area. They looked like they had never been sat in.

"I'm okay right here," I said. I continued to lean on the receptionist desk.

"I really can't believe how good it is to see you again."

"Thank you. It's been a few years. How did you like Hong Kong? Were you there the entire time?"

"Hong Kong was great. I had a consulting contract onsite for a client, and then I decided to stay and expand my client base," I told her.

"What brought you back to Chicago?" she asked.

"Chicago has always felt like I belong here, and I had unfinished business. So I wanted to come back. Do you still like those little secret temples on top of buildings?" I asked, remembering that she liked those little hidden gems in the architecture of Chicago.

"I still like those. I can't believe you remembered that," she said. "It's been a while."

"I remember quite a few things," I admitted, thinking about how it felt to kiss her and how her body felt in my bed. "You should go out to dinner with me," I said.

She leaned forward conspiratorially. "Why would I do that?" Her eyes seemed to almost gleam wickedly.

"Because I seem to recall we got along very well," I said as I raised my brows in a knowing waggle.

She leaned away from me. This time, there was a slight tinge of blush on her cheeks. "We did, didn't we?"

"See, you should go out to dinner with me."

"I don't think that would be a good idea." She shot my invitation down.

Before I had a chance to say anything else, James stepped out and asked if I was ready to go. He gestured for me to lead the way out the door.

"Are you stepping out for lunch? When should I expect you back if you have any calls?" Clarissa asked.

"We should be back in the next two to three hours," James said as we left.

Lunch was only two and a half hours long, surprisingly enough. We skipped the chit-chat and got into some of the more in-depth details that purchasing his architectural firm would entail.

"If you were to do a complete buyout, what would you see my role as in this process?" James asked.

"If we are talking about a complete buyout," I started, "Your role would be that of a wealthy, retired architect. However, you had mentioned the potential for a takeover process, in which case I would take ownership over the course of a couple of years. If we were to follow that line of thinking, I would see you as a senior consultant. We would discuss what percentage of time I could rely on your expertise, and with each year, that percentage diminishing until you were fully retired. How does that sound?"

"I do like the sound of wealthy retired architect. However, I have to admit the thought of handing all of my clients over for me to just go and sit by the side of the lake with my grandkids is a little daunting. I want my clients to be confident in my choice as well," he said.

"I think your clients would be more comfortable if you were around in a consulting role for a year or two. I don't think this is something that we would need to drag out. Watch, you'll get used to being retired real quick, and you'll want to shrink those consultation hours down to nothing within a few months."

I was ready to sign a check and take over, but I did like the thought of having James around for six months to a year to really see how he intellectually translated client needs from initial ideas through drawn concepts and into constructed buildings.

"I think we need to work out some details and maybe get some lawyers involved at this point," he said.

I couldn't agree more. We continued to chat about some of the minor details as we walked back to his office. I had questions about how easy the property management company at the current location was to work with and admitted that I was interested in maintaining the same space.

I followed him inside but stayed in the lobby. I wanted to catch a few minutes with Clarissa alone. She wasn't there, so I said my goodbyes to James and waited.

"Oh, you're here," she said as she turned the corner from the back of the office. "Do you need me to call James for you?"

"No, I wanted to see you," I admitted.

She raised her brows and waited for me to continue.

"If you won't have dinner with me to catch up on old times, would you come have dinner with me so that I can pick your brain about the Stone Group?" I asked.

"I am not going to give away any business secrets," she said.

I chuckled. "That's not exactly the kind of information I'm looking for. I'm more interested in…"

"I know what it's for. You're looking at purchasing the business. I guess I could do that." She bit her lip, which I knew meant she was thinking. "I can meet you for dinner on Friday night."

"Friday night it is. Should I make reservations?" I asked.

"Do you mind if I pick?" she asked.

I gave her my phone number and told her to text me where she wanted me to meet her.