Chapter 6

The waitress approached, refilling Jacqui’s water, which had a lemon floating in it, and asked Neal and Morgan for their drink orders. “Water with lemon, please,” Neal said. The waitress turned to Morgan and Jacqui watched as the woman’s eyes twinkled when he smiled up at her. Her hip popped out, and she leaned a little lower down, the creamy top of her breasts pushing at her blouse. Morgan, typical male that he seemed to be, smiled even more as he raked her with his eyes. “Shock Top with an orange slice, please.” The girl gave him a seductive smile and bounced off to fill the drink order. Jacqui would almost bet he would get his beer before Neal received his water.

“A day drinker?” She glanced over at Morgan as he watched the waitress walk away. Neal cleared his throat, and Morgan finally turned around. He showed no sign of being embarrassed at his ogling. Brazen. Jacqui didn’t particularly care for brazen.

“Glenlivet. Grey Goose. Jameson. That would be day drinking. A Shock Top with an orange slice is just lunch.” He settled back in his seat. “You’ve never had a drink with lunch?”

“I don’t drink. I prefer to keep a clear head.”

Brent leaned on the table, his fingers intertwined in front of him. “So, Jacqui, Rutherford Construction has built everything from subdivisions to hospitals to theme parks. They’re great at doing stuff that has a Disney-like look to it, which is what you said you wanted for the community center.”

“We have,” Neal said, taking over and helping Brent divert everyone’s attention from the way the conversation had been going. “In one building, a center for children, we built indoor slides that went from the fourth floor down to the first. Kids loved it.”

Jacqui stared at Morgan a moment longer. He just smiled back at her. “It’s true. I’ve been down those slides myself. They’re quite fun.”

Jacqui cocked her head to the side, narrowed her eyes. “You’re pretty cocky for a man trying to convince me to hire him. You don’t seem to be taking this meeting very seriously.”

Neal leaned forward. “I assure you, we are taking this meeting very seriously. Morgan is just used to dealing with construction workers.” Neal shot Morgan a stern look, and Jacqui could tell the boss was not happy with his underling. Good. “I don’t usually take him on these types of meetings, but I assure you, he’s the man for the job. We’re the company for the job.”

Morgan didn’t even look like his boss just reprimanded him. Jacqui would have shaken her head if she hadn’t been at a business meeting. Of course, with his behavior, she should be able to convince Brent they didn’t need Rutherford Construction, and they sure as hell didn’t need Morgan Brewer. She needed serious people around her, people who would take the community center seriously. It was too important for anyone to treat it like a game and from what she could see of Mr. Brewer, everything was a game.

She watched as he leaned forward, ignoring the warning glance from his boss, the owner of the company. He clasped his hands together in front of him, fingers intertwined, that damn cocky grin pushing his tanned cheeks up. “Mrs. Karston, you want to put people to work in your city. We understand that, and Rutherford Construction can do just that. The people we hire will be from right here in the area. I’m the only one relocating for now. I’ll build my team from local people, your people. What you’ll get from us is our experience, expertise, and resources. We know what works, and we have the money to accomplish whatever we need to accomplish. Bottom line, you want to put people to work, and we can do that. We’re not bringing people to Biloxi. We’re bringing money. Isn’t that what the people of Biloxi need?”

Jacqui stared at the man. “Just you? No one else? All local? Then why do I need you?”

“Because we have the clout to pull this off while bringing you in way below budget. We’ll not only be putting money back into your economy, but we’ll be costing you less than if you were to go with someone else. Shoot, we’ll do it for cost, just to be able to showcase our work to others. You save money while putting people to work, and we get to prove ourselves. It’s a deal you can’t, in good conscience, refuse. Everyone wins.”

Brent had already warned her about their financial situation. This project would already cost The Karston Foundation a pretty penny, and they wanted to make the center its own self-sustaining entity. They wanted to come in under budget, so they would not be straining their resources, resources that couldn’t afford to be strained, to be honest, but also so they would have a reserve in place for the center. Morgan Brewer was promising to do just that while helping her community in the process. He was right. She couldn’t refuse. That didn’t mean she had to like it, however.

She was really going to hate working with the man, especially if he continued to give her that cocky-ass grin.