Antonio and Harlow arrived home, both were beat from the vacation and decided to nap before unpacking. Antonio slept for a few hours and when he woke up, he couldn't help but wonder how things were going with his business and got out of bed to call Ethan, leaving Harlow catch up on her sleep.

After hanging up with Ethan, he took a shower, then left Harlow a note, letting her know he ran to the office and placed it on the nightstand. He kissed her forehead then softly trailed his lips to hers, gently kissing them before leaving.

Ethan showed Antonio paperwork of a new hotel he bought while Antonio was away on his honeymoon, located in Texas. Letting him know the owners wanted to meet with Antonio before they were to take it over. "How the heck did you find this?" Antonio asked surprised.

"I was looking nationwide for properties that were for sale, saw it had been on the market for quite a while and inquired about it. They were asking way too much for it and after several phone calls, they finally accepted my offer."

"If it's been on the market for a while, what's wrong with it?" Antonio asked, grabbing the paperwork and looking at it.

Ethan dug through his stack of paperwork located at the corner of his desk and pulled out a file with pictures inside, handing it over to Antonio. "Here, everything looks fine to me. It could use a little updating in the rooms, but they claimed there were no known issues. My guess is, they had it overpriced for a reason, trying to get the right offer."

"Hmm..."

"They would like to meet with us this week, will that work for you?" Ethan asked, setting his elbow on the desk and resting his chin in the palm of his hand.

"It's going to have to. I can see if Harlow would like to come along, but I believe she starts her new job tomorrow."

Ethan gave Antonio a shit eating grin. "Would that mean we'd be on our own in Texas?"

Antonio lifted his head and smirked. "Don't even think we're going there to party; we'll be there on business."

Ethan chuckled. "Did I say anything about partying?"

"No, but I'm no dummy. I know exactly what you're thinking... I don't have to be at my other job until next week. Why don't you call and let them know we'll be there in a couple days."

Ethan laughed and picked up the phone, called the owners of the hotel to let them know when they'll be there, then showed Antonio some more properties that were for sale, wondering if he would be interested in any of them. He shook his head. "None of these, I need something to make money on, something more along the lines of something that would be a quick and easy flip."

On the way home, Antonio stopped at the flower shop, he wasn't sure how upset she would be that he had to leave for a few days and figured if he got her flowers, she wouldn't be so mad and maybe put a smile on her face.

Harlow was unpacking when she heard Antonio walk into the house and walked out of the room. She stood at the top of the stairs watching him try and take off his shoes, while holding flowers in his hand. She smiled and started walking down to him. "Flowers?"

He stood back up and smiled, giving her a kiss as she met him at the bottom of the steps, then held up the flowers. "Thought you might like them."

"Thank you, you didn't have to buy me any flowers," she said, taking the flowers from his hand. She walked into the kitchen and set the flowers down while she looked for a vase.

"I had to buy you flowers," he sighed as he walked into the kitchen.

"How come?" she asked, giving him a strange look while filling the vase with water.

He walked over to her, took the vase from her hand and set it onto the counter, then rested his hands on her hips, kissing her gently on the lips. "Why do I get the feeling you're trying to suck up to me?" she asked, squinting her eyes.

He tilted his head back, damn, is it that obvious? he thought. He looked back at her and took a deep breath. "I have to fly to Texas in a couple days and was going to see if you would like to come with, but knowing you start your new job tomorrow, I didn't think you would come along and figured this was a way of saying I'm sorry before I had to say it."

"Oh," she said, sounding bummed. "I would go with... what's in Texas?"

"You can come with us and I wish you would. Ethan bought a hotel down in Texas while we were on our honeymoon and the owners would like to meet with me, to go over things before we take over."

"Another hotel?"

"Unfortunately... although, it looks like a very nice hotel. Easy money."

She wasn't sure she liked the idea of him owning a hotel in Texas, only being she felt he would be flying down there a lot and to make sure things were going the way they should be. The look on her face said it all, he could see she wasn't too thrilled and gave her a hug. "I know what you're thinking, and don't worry... this is Ethan's deal, I'll be making sure he'll be the one overseeing everything once we take over, and, I'll only be going down there as needed."

"Okay. I'm assuming Ethan is going there with you, so, I need you to make me a promise."

"What's that?"

"That the two of you aren't going to be doing anything stupid while you're there, acting like complete fools."

He laughed. "Would we do that?"

She gave him a funny look, then grabbed the vase and finished filling it with water. "I'm not going to say another word."

The next couple days, Antonio made sure to do everything right and to not piss Harlow off. He stayed at home working from his den, with a couple times meeting clients at a coffee house to go over their cases. He wasn't supposed to go back to work until next week, but ended up in his office after having a couple emergencies with some clients and wanted to make sure those were straightened out before he left.

On top of working his ass off, he made sure to give Harlow all the loving she needed before leaving for Texas.

Antonio was packing his suitcase when Harlow walked over to him and shoved him onto the bed. Wondering where that came from and worried, she was pissed, he rolled onto his back and gave her a confused look. "Whoa, what was that for?"

She climbed on top of him, and lowered her face inched away from his while holding a fistful of his shirt, giving him a warning. "I don't want to be getting any phone calls in the middle of the night and hear the two of you need to be bailed out."

He cupped the back of her head and pressed his lips to hers, kissing her passionately. "Hun, you have nothing to worry about, we're going there on business," he said lowly, assuring her there was nothing to be worried about.

"I know you two better than that, you'll be working during the day, and you and I both know what happens after you're done working."

He smiled and chuckled. "Hun, this is me you're talking about. I'm the one always keeping him out of trouble."

"Yeah, but you're pretty good at getting yourself in trouble, you can't deny that one."

"Only with you," he grinned, kissing her again.

She giggled. "I won't be there to keep you out of trouble either, so, you're on your own."

She rolled off him as he pushed himself up, assuring her once again nothing will go wrong, then looked at his watch and quickly stood. "I better hurry, I should have done all this shit last night..." He looked over to her and grinned. "Although, I liked the hanky panky much better," he winked.

"I have to leave for work anyway." She got off the bed and gave him a big warming I'll miss you hug. "I'll miss you."

"I'll call you every chance I get and before you go to bed. I do love you..." he said, squeezing her tighter.

"I love you too..."

Harlow and Antonio walked out of the house at the same time. She got into her car and was about to shut her door until Antonio stopped her from closing it, wanting one more kiss before he left. "Have a good day at work, I'll see you on Sunday."

As he closed her door for her, she smiled the heart waring smile he loved, then waved, causing him to feel guilty he was leaving so soon after their honeymoon.

Antonio picked up Ethan and headed to the airport. "Is she still upset?"

"Nah, she never really was upset. She's just worried we'll get ourselves into some sort of trouble and won't be able to help get us out."

Ethan laughed turning his head towards Antonio. "Seriously? What kind of trouble would we get ourselves into?" Antonio turned his head towards Ethan and gave him a look. "Never mind, she should know I don't do that stupid shit anymore. I'm so over those times."

"The only thing she's still worried about, is how much I'll be having to fly down there." He turned towards Ethan and grinned. "But I think I've got her calmed down on that one."

"How?

"I told her that you'll be the one going down there, and how I'll only be going there if and when I have to."

"Gee thanks."

Antonio shrugged, lifting his hands off the wheel, palms faced up into the air while chuckling. "This is your deal; I'll talk to you more about it while we're in the air."

As Ethan got on the plane and sat, he immediately pulled out his flask and smiled after seeing Antonio shaking his head at him. "What? This is probably my most favorite gift that has ever been given to me."

"I need you to stay focused here,' he said sternly. "I have something very important I would like to discuss with you."

"Oh shit, am I in trouble?" he asked, looking worried as put the flask back inside is jacket.

"No, but this may be something that might interest you."

Antonio pulled out his laptop, some files, and set them onto the table in front of him. Once they were settled in the air, he logged into his laptop and handed Ethan a file.

Ethan, looking serious, opened the file and looked through it, wondering what this was all about. Antonio entered in his password and logged into his program he designed for all the properties he owned, then pulled up all the numbers and stats, bar graphs, etcetera, and turned his laptop so Ethan could see and started discussing the hotel in Texas. Showing him numbers, their profits and losses and explained how they needed to make some changes, hoping to profit more.

"From my understanding, their loan is paid off. They should be making a one hundred percent profit, minus the property taxes, wages, etcetera." Ethan said, looking confused.

"Correct, but after crunching in the numbers based off what they charge for the rooms, the food prices and what they pay their employees, they're only at about a twenty five percent profit. This is all based off the numbers they provided you. Someone is pocketing the money; the numbers aren't adding up. Here, look at the bank statements," he said, pulling another file out and handing it to Ethan.

Ethan opened the file, looked at the deposits and matched them to the paperwork the owners were claiming. He looked back and forth and realized where the discrepancies were with the bank deposits. "The owners explained they left the hotel in charge with someone who they trusted when they moved out to California. Originally, they wanted to keep the hotel while living there, but then it got to be too much for them as they traveled back and forth and that's when they hired this other person to run and manage it for them."

"So, this person could be fudging the numbers to pocket the money and still keep their job... It could be many different things."

"Are you saying you want to fire everyone and start off with new hires?"

Antonio smiled and leaned back in his chair. "This is where you come in."

"Me?"

He leaned forward and grinned. "I've been thinking a lot these last couple days, if you can get this place straightened out and figure out where the money is going, I'll make you partner in this hotel. I'll give you sixty percent of the profits, which obviously means I'll only be taking in forty percent... how does that sound to you, sound good?"

Ethan's hands started shaking with excitement, he couldn't believe what Antonio was offering him and felt overwhelmed with excitement and felt like jumping up and down, while screaming like a little kid when you wake up Christmas morning and see all the gifts sitting under the tree. "I could kiss you," he said grinning ear to ear.

Antonio's hands went into the air, palms facing Ethan and chuckled "Oh, no. There'll be none of that... so is that a yes?"

Ethan chuckled then tried not to smile as he looked at Antonio with a serious look. "I don't know... I'm thinking more along the lines of eighty- twenty"

"Sixty- forty..."

"Seventy- thirty?" he tried, knowing Antonio won't budge.

"Sixty- forty."

"Fine, sixty- forty it is." He reached out his hand, shaking Antonio's excitedly. "Thank you!"

"No problem... you know what this means, right?" Antonio asked smiling wide. He had a feeling Ethan would like the offer. He was basically giving him a hotel to make himself some money, all off Antonio's money.

"It means, that I'll be spending a lot of time in Texas.... now can I have a drink? I need to calm the nerves you just spiked."

Antonio laughed and stood. He grabbed a bottle of bourbon and set it on the table between them. "A couple celebration drinks won't hurt."

They finally landed in Texas and took a cab to the hotel. Antonio wanted to stay at the hotel to inspect the place before meeting with the owners in the morning. They walked around outside the hotel, looking at the building and landscaping, looking for any flaws they need to address.

Antonio noticed the parking lot needed work and a lot of cleaning up to do, there was visible trash scattered all over the lot and cigarette butts lying on the ground everywhere they walked, which was one thing Antonio hated seeing, cigarette butts on the ground. "This will need to be addressed." Antonio said, pointing to the ground.

They walked inside and stopped to look around. They were both wowed by how the inside looked. Antonio leaned to Ethan and whispered, "We're at the right place, right?"

Ethan pulled out the file and looked at the pictures he was provided. "This is the right place," Ethan said, scratching his head.

The hotel was immaculate inside. Everything was updated with new carpeting, artwork, and looking like it was completely remodeled. "I wonder what happened?" Ethan whispered.

Antonio walked over to the front desk to check into their rooms and were nicely greeted. "Can I ask you something?" Antonio asked the hotel clerk after they were greeted with smiles.

"Sure, what would you like to know?"

"Did they remodel here recently?"

"Yes," she said excitedly. "It was finally completed about a month ago... have you been here before?"

"Actually, no. This is our first time here. My name is Antonio Russo, and this is Ethan Stamos."

An employee happened to walk past as they were talking, overheard Antonio say his name and walked back over to them. "I can take it from here," the man said to the hotel clerk.

"Antonio, Ethan... nice to finally meet you both. My name is John McClintock," he said extending out his arm and shaking their hands. "I wasn't expecting you both until tomorrow."

Antonio looked at Ethan with a furrowed brow. "Did you not set us up a couple rooms?"

Ethan looked away from Antonio and to John, confused. "I made reservations for two rooms a few days ago. We figured we would stay the night here and check things out before meeting with Dave and Diane."

"My apologies, I wasn't aware of that. Let me look and see where they placed your reservations," he said as he looked at the computer screen. "If you would like, we can set you up into better rooms we have available."

"Better rooms?" Antonio asked, shaking his head unsure of what he meant, hoping that didn't mean the other rooms needed work.

He smiled. "Yes, we have higher end rooms for people on business, celebrities, the wealthy, whoever they may be."

Ethan looked at the guy with a raised eyebrow. "That's news to me, I was never told about those rooms, or was given photos of those rooms. It's not even noted in our paperwork."

"Huh, that's strange. Would you like to look at them, they're on the top floor and recently updated."

Both Antonio and Ethan were confused and wondered why none of this was ever brought to Ethan's attention, especially after speaking with the owners and making an offer. "Please, we would really like to see them," Antonio said.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter!!❤❤❤❤❤