Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 102781 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 514(@200wpm)___ 411(@250wpm)___ 343(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 102781 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 514(@200wpm)___ 411(@250wpm)___ 343(@300wpm)
“So what else can I do to help you hit this out of the park?” Tobias looked only at Annalise when he spoke, even though the three of us were sitting at a small, round table.
“I’d love for us to sketch out some rough logo designs and run them past you informally before we get going too far down the road on our full branding pitch to the group,” she said.
Tobias nodded. “Done. Send over anything you want me to take a look at. Better yet, come on back down, and I’ll arrange a lunch with some of the key players and see if they could give you an early feel.”
“Wow. That would be great.”
I felt the need to contribute something. Or maybe remind him that I was in the room. “Thanks, Tobias. That would be great.”
He acknowledged me with a polite smile and returned his attention to the woman next to him. Again, he touched her arm. “Anything for Anna.”
Annalise caught me staring where his hand rested and quickly moved her arm.
Holy shit. That’s a guilty face. Did she fuck him? Here I was thinking the guy was just a regular run-of-the-mill asshole who takes advantage of his position. But there was something more going on here.
The two of them spent a while talking about crap they did together at his last studio. Of course, I couldn’t contribute to that conversation either, which might have been the point. Luckily, Tobias’s assistant eventually knocked to interrupt and remind him he had a conference call soon.
“See if you can push it back, will you, Susan?”
I wanted to get the fuck out of this office. I stood. “That’s alright. You’ve been so generous with your time. We don’t want to overstay our welcome. Right, Annalise?”
Her brows drew down. “Umm… Of course. Will you be at dinner tonight?”
“I wasn’t planning on joining, but I’m going to see if I can move some things around to make it after all.”
I forced a fake smile. Fuck off. “Great.”
After Toby boy got another hug, Annalise and I walked to the parking lot in silence. It felt like a giant knot had taken root at the back of my neck. I opened her car door and our eyes met for a brief second. My face remained stern.
If I spoke right now, I’d definitely explode. We had a few hours until our dinner tonight, so I’d need to hit the gym for an hour or so to help blow off some of this steam—maybe two hours.
After she folded inside, I shut the car door with moderate success at not slamming it hard enough to come off the hinges.
The minute the ignition started, I put the car into drive and began to move through the lot without programming any directions.
“Do you know how to get to the hotel?” Annalise asked.
“Nope. Why don’t you figure it out and direct me, considering you’re the boss.”
Annalise frowned. “What did you want me to do? Correct the client in the middle of his presentation? You know that would be unprofessional.”
“Not half as unprofessional as encouraging the client to paw you.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?”
Annalise wasn’t much of a curser, so I knew before getting a look at her red face that she was pissed. Which was fine. That fucking made two of us.
“He’s friendly because we worked together before. He’s also happily married, not that I need to explain anything to you.”
“You can’t really be that naïve, can you? To think that a little thing like being married makes a shit of a difference to some men?” I paused, although I should have just ended my rant there. “Oh wait. You can be that naïve. You’re the same woman who thought meeting an ex at a hotel wasn’t for a booty call.”
If I’d thought her face was hot with anger before, I was wrong. The red shade deepened to a near purple. She looked almost as if she’d been holding her breath. For a half second, I considered getting out of the car for my own safety.
“Stop the car,” she demanded. “Stop the damn car!”
I came to an abrupt halt.
Annalise unbuckled her seatbelt and whipped the car door open. We were still in the parking lot, and at least there were no other cars or people around to watch as she got out, started to pace while flailing her hands in the air, and shouted about what a dick I was.
Maybe I was a dick. In fact, I knew I was. But it didn’t make what had gone on between the two of them all afternoon any less acceptable. So I left her out there to stew while I did my own grumbling inside. After about fifteen minutes, she waltzed back to the car, got in, and buckled her seatbelt.
“Drive to the hotel. We have to pretend to be friendly in front of the client at dinner tonight. But there’s zero reason to be nice right now.”