60

His jaw flexed, like he was grinding his teeth together, his stare so intense that it was vibrating through me. “The student role …”

I took a deep breath. “Yeah, you know, just because I have my degree doesn’t mean I want to stop learning.” I dragged my teeth across my lip before I smiled. “And I’m going to be your student throughout this whole build-out.”

His gaze thickened, his face telling me he was making the connection I wanted him to—the little nugget I was dropping in his mind from the day I’d shown up to his hotel, wearing a naughty schoolgirl costume.

Just as he opened his mouth to reply, his phone began to ring. He reached into his pocket and said, “It’s the realtor. I’m going to put her on speakerphone.” He hit the screen. “This is Jenner.”

“Jenner, it’s Renee. I just spoke to the agent, and they’ve budged a little.”

“What’s a little?”

“A dollar a square foot.”

He laughed. “That’s not a budge; that’s a slap in the face. Tell them they need to do better. Much better.” He was