Rush

how many lovers she’d had. It would just piss him off. He wasn’t
     concerned with them anyway, because they were in her past and that’s where they were
     going to stay.
    Mia didn’t know it yet, but she was going to be his. He justhadn’t quite settled in his mind how bluntly to put his approach. She was…different.
     Younger, yes, but she was quieter, more naïve maybe. Or perhaps that was merely his
     perception. Who really knew what she did away from Jace’s eagle eye?
    No matter how he decided to approach her, it had to be done with finesse, and in such
     a way that he didn’t completely overwhelm her and scare her off before he ever got
     in the door. Because there was no way in hell he was backing down or taking no for
     an answer when he’d finally decided to make his move.
    And then there was the whole bloody issue of Jace. That was one factor Gabe hadn’t
     figured out, but there was no sense in addressing it now before he even reeled Mia
     in. Jace would simply have to be dealt with later.
    A noise at his door had him glaring up in annoyance. His instructions to the receptionist
     for HCM had been explicit. He wasn’t to be disturbed. By anyone. And it wasn’t time
     for Mia to have arrived. He had over an hour yet.
    Jace and Ash sauntered through the door and Gabe’s irritation only grew. What the
     hell were they doing in the offices today? They were both supposed to be on a plane
     to California to meet with a contractor to go over plans for a new resort.
    All three men traveled extensively, often splitting the duties of overseeing foreign
     and domestic projects. And they had several in various stages of work at the moment,
     including a hotel about to break ground in California, one still in the early planning
     stages in Paris and a potential site in the Caribbean for a luxury resort. Lately,
     however, Gabe had been stuck in the city overseeing the finishing touches of the Bentley,
     their newest luxury hotel in Union Square. He was the closer. He was too anal to trust
     even his best friends with that task.
    Jace and Ash were the middlemen, as Gabe referred to them. Though they both had equal
     partnership in the corporation, Gabeinitiated projects, bid them out, got every detail down to his ultimate satisfaction.
     Then Jace and Ash came in to oversee, get construction off the ground and make sure
     things went smoothly. Then Gabe came back in to put the polish on.
    It was an arrangement that suited the three of them well. And they all dealt with
     the day-to-day operations and management of the hotels and resorts.
    The three had been friends since college. Looking back, he wasn’t even certain what
     had brought them together other than alcohol and frat parties and plenty of girl chasing.
     They’d just clicked and hit it off.
    Things had gotten difficult for Jace when his parents had been killed in a car accident
     and he’d had to assume responsibility for a much younger sister, but Gabe and Ash
     had banded around him, offering their support, and they hadn’t left him to make it
     on his own.
    Later, it had been Jace and Ash banding around him during his very messy and public
     divorce.
    Perhaps, in a way, Mia was very much responsible for the strong bond between the three.
     Ironic, since she could well mean the end of it if Gabe didn’t handle this just right.
    “What’s got your shorts in a knot this morning?” Ash drawled as he slouched into one
     of the chairs in front of Gabe’s desk.
    Jace settled in the other, quieter and slightly less irreverent than Ash.
    Yeah, Jace and Ash were the only two people he considered friends in the true sense
     of the word. He trusted them—the only people he trusted—and they had his loyalty,
     which was something he didn’t blindly offer to anyone.
    Jace was the quiet brooder of the two, while Ash was the charming playboy who attracted
     women like flies. Gabe was convinced it was the combination of the two that made women
     a littlecrazy. They certainly had no shortage of women lining up to have a threesome with
     them.
    Ash was always on the front line. Flirty, outgoing, he made women breathless and fluttery.
     Gabe had witnessed Ash’s charm and how it affected women firsthand. Jace merely stood
     back and observed with those dark eyes and that silent demeanor. Women found him a
     challenge, and maybe they considered Ash an easy enough conquest, but they went after
     Jace with single-minded determination only to discover