Total pages in book: 25
Estimated words: 23758 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 119(@200wpm)___ 95(@250wpm)___ 79(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 23758 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 119(@200wpm)___ 95(@250wpm)___ 79(@300wpm)
I gape at him.
“But this is the address that the secretary gave me at Carlton Realty,” I stammer. “I thought I was coming to Ken’s apartment. Maybe they gave me the wrong place?”
Mr. Carlton looks amused.
“No, they didn’t. Kenneth lives in this building, but he has his own place on a different floor. Only I live in the penthouse,” he says with a knowing smile.
“Oh,” I say dumbly. “So you must have told the doorman to direct me here, instead of to your son’s apartment.”
“That I did,” the dark man acknowledges with a dip of his head.
“Does Ken know?” I ask, sitting up suddenly. “Because he’s going to think I’m blowing him off if he doesn’t, and I don’t want my mom to be kicked out of her apartment because of it.”
The handsome man throws back his head, revealing the bronzed muscularity of his throat, and laughs deep in his chest.
“Ken knows,” he says. “And trust me. We decided together that it was best for him to leave this issue to me. You don’t need to worry about my son anymore. You’ll be dealing only with me from here on out.”
I’m stunned and my eyes grow wide.
“Oh okay, great. Thank you, Mr. Carlton. I’m so glad that you’re open to negotiation because my mom’s in a really tough position, you see. She has her own business, so she gets really busy. Maybe you’ve heard of it? It’s called Dinah’s Delights downtown, and she sells cupcakes. My mom makes plenty of money, don’t worry,” I say quickly. “It’s just that she’s so busy that she sometimes forgets things like paying the bills.”
Mr. Carlton nods and looks thoughtful.
“Yes, I can see how that would happen. When I opened my own shop thirty years ago, I was also completely overwhelmed. I was Carlton Realty’s first CEO, but I was also its first janitor, its first accountant, and its first IT guy, if you can believe it.”
I stare at him. There is no way this imposing man was ever taking out the trash. But he merely sees my shocked expression and chuckles.
“It’s true, Katie. Many times, an entrepreneur has to wear many hats because they’re the one ultimately in the hot seat. There’s honestly no one else in many cases, and all the money on the line was mine. So I did everything and anything that had to be done in those early days. Including cleaning the bathrooms,” he says with a wink.
My shoulders relax a bit and I let out a sigh. Xavier Carlton is actually easy to talk to, which is surprising, seeing the difference in our ages. If he’s Kenneth’s dad, and Ken is the same age as me, then he must be at least forty-five or more? Fifty? Fifty-five? I’m not sure.
But it doesn’t seem to matter. Mr. Carlton has a wry sense of humor that speaks to me, and despite the lavish surroundings, I feel quite at ease. I giggle a little myself and smile back at him.
“I can’t imagine you cleaning the toilets, Mr. Carlton.”
“Oh, you bet I did,” he says with a low chuckle. “It was especially bad after we had an International Food potluck at the company in the late nineties. Let me tell you, Mexican food can wreak havoc with peoples’ digestive systems, and it was not fun to scour bathrooms the next day.”
I giggle again, my cheeks flushing. It’s such a far-fetched scenario, that I can’t even imagine it ever took place. This handsome man used to put on scummy clothes and become Mr. Maid with a broom and a mop in his hands? It seems such a far cry from the imposing CEO sitting before me today.
But he merely smiles again.
“You gotta do what you gotta do to succeed,” he quips. “In the old days, that meant I had to do everything. But you know what? Sometimes I miss it. I miss having a small company to lead, where I knew everyone’s names, their birthdays, and their kids. Now, Carlton Realty is so huge that I hardly ever know anyone on a personal level anymore.”
I nod, just thinking. Wow, Xavier Carlton sounds like a man of the people, actually. He’s not a king sitting on some faraway throne. Instead, he’s someone who values personal connections and probably inspires a lot of loyalty and admiration among his employees. I’m stunned, and more than a little impressed at this revelation.
After all, I know how hard it is to be a leader. Not that I have any experience, but I’ve had some bad bosses over the years, and they were terrible. I used to work in the library at school, and my manager there was a total nightmare. She thought she was the next President of the United States, despite the fact that we were really only in charge of the Science section within the library as a whole.