Chapter 21
twenty-one
WEST
“Wow, that was intense,” Bennett says as we finish a meeting with some suppliers and head out to grab some lunch. It’s almost two in the afternoon and neither of us has eaten anything for hours.
I slide my sunglasses on to shade my eyes from the sharp glare of the sun as it hits the freshly poured concrete. “Yeah, they’ve been screwing us around for weeks. Sometimes nice doesn’t cut it.”
I glance over at the far side of the site, where Eden’s been meeting with the irrigation guys. I haven’t heard from her since this morning. It makes me feel restless.
Bennett nods, his legs having to work twice as fast to keep up with me, because my stomach is growling and needs to be fed. We have exactly twenty minutes until the next meeting. This one is with a group of investors. Luckily not Vin, because I’m still salty over him.
“We’re eating at the food truck?” Bennett asks, looking confused when we join the back of the line that snakes along the sidewalk to the trailer where the food team is busy making every kind of wrap you could want.
“Yeah.” A smile pulls at my lips. “Where else would we eat?”
“I don’t know. I just assumed…” Bennett clears his throat. “I thought you’d have like a restaurant for the executives. My uncle hates having to eat anywhere near the people who work for him. Says it ruins his appetite.”
Yeah, well that’s because his uncle is a dick. “They deserve to eat as much as I do. Actually more. They’re working their asses off to get this place built. I’m just sitting in the airconditioned office making calls while they’re lifting two hundred pound beams in ninety degree heat.”
Two of the guys in front of us turn to look in my direction. Their eyes widen when they see me standing there.
“Frank,” I say to the first one. “How’s it going?”
“Could be better. My team lost yesterday.” He grimaces.
“That’s what happens when you support the damn Yankees,” the guy next to him points out.
“I’m from New York. I don’t get a choice. Anyway, your team isn’t much better,” Frank shoots back, jerking his thumb at the other guy. “He’s a Cubs fan. Man didn’t even grow up in Chicago and he still hasn’t known a win since 2016.”
“I like to keep my expectations low,” the Cubs guy says with a shrug, reaching forward to grab his sandwich order from the window. “That way I’m never heartbroken.”
“Smart man,” I say, then glance at Bennett. “You follow baseball?”
“Not really,” he admits. “My mom hates sports.”
“And your dad?”
He lets out a breath. “Yeah, he wasn’t around much.”
I notice the past tense, but don’t say anything.
“I have some money to pay for lunch,” Bennett says when we’re finally at the front and are handed our wraps.
“It’s cashless,” the server tells him when he tries to give her a twenty.
“Oh. I have Apple Pay…” he grabs his phone.
“No, I mean it’s covered.” She smiles like he offered to wash the dishes to pay for dinner.
He looks at me. “You have a tab?” he asks.
I shake my head. “The cost of the food comes out of the budget. It’s easier that way.”
“So you buy everybody lunch?” he asks, as I lift my hand to the crew behind us and we walk back to the offices.
I shrug. “It’s actually a good business move. Nobody has to leave the site to eat or worry about money, morale is boosted for the afternoon. It’s a small price to keep things smooth.”
“I can’t see my uncle ever doing that,” he says, shaking his head. “If there isn’t an immediate profit, he’s out.”
Tell me about it.
“I guess you and him are tight, huh?”
Bennett takes a bite of his burrito. “Nope,” he says, his voice muffled by chicken. “Not really. I mean, I guess he was around when I was a kid, but he and my mom hadn’t talked for a long time.”
“What changed?”
He glances at me. “Me, I guess. I was messing up. Getting into trouble. Dropped out of college, got arrested for that dumb car theft. My mom was freaking out, so she reached out to Vin. Asked him to help get me back on track.”
“And he sent you here.”
Bennett nods. “Said if I shadowed you, stayed out of trouble, and enrolled back in college to get a business degree, he’d offer me a job. And he said he’ll pay the tuition. He thinks it’s time I stepped up.”
I stay quiet for a moment. Because yeah, it’s a generous offer. And a smart one. But I know Vin too well to believe it comes without strings.
“Sounds like he’s giving you a second chance,” I say, careful to keep my tone neutral.
Bennett smiles. “I think he is.”
I force a smile back, but I still don’t like it. Because Vin Marchetti doesn’t give second chances out of the kindness of his heart. Not even to family. And I don’t want Bennett getting tangled in a web he doesn’t see coming.
We step back into the cool of the office, the scent of concrete and drywall filling the air. Bennett heads toward the far desk to grab the laptop I gave him, but my phone buzzes in my pocket before I can follow. One glance at the screen and my already-tight shoulders get tenser.
Apparently, I’m seducing your intern. My entire family has decided Bennett and I are having a beach fling. Autumn’s threatening to post it on Instagram. - Eden
Another message follows quickly.
Honestly, maybe it’s a good thing? Keeps them off the scent… you know, the whole marriage thing. - Eden
The whole marriage thing.
She’s my wife. And everyone thinks she’s screwing the intern?
Except they don’t know she’s my wife. Which is a good thing, I remind myself. It doesn’t stop a hot flare of something that feels like jealousy shoot through me.
“Just need to make a call,” I tell Bennett. “Stay here. If the video conference starts, tell them I’ll be right back.”
“You want me to start the meeting without you?” He looks suddenly panicked.
“Yes. Say ‘hello’ and that I’ll be two minutes. You’ll survive.”
He nods quickly, but I’m already out the door, stepping into the heat. As soon as the door closes behind me I hit her contact and press call.
She answers on the second ring, breathless, like she’s been laughing. “Hey.”
“No,” I say firmly.
“What are we talking about here?” she asks. “The fact I just tripped over a stone and landed ass first in the dirt, or something else?”
“You tripped?” There’s a weird pull at my chest. “Are you hurt?” Jesus, this woman is a danger to herself.
“I’m fine. The only thing hurt is my dignity. Anyway, if it’s not that, then what’s up?”
“You’re not going to pretend to be seeing somebody else. Not when you’re my wife.”
“Oooooh.” She draws it out way longer than she should. “Are you jealous?”
“Of a kid who doesn’t shave yet?” I scoff. “No.”
“You sound kind of jealous.”
I roll my eyes. “Where are you right now?”
“Busy. And so are you. So no, you’re not going to march over here and show me exactly who I’m married to. Not that it would be wise. People would see.”
I let out a grunt.
“Relax,” she says softly. “I just thought it was funny. Don’t worry, I won’t be letting Bennett seduce me while you’re working late tonight.”
“Good. Nobody seduces you but me.”
“Is that right?”
“Tell me where you are.”
“West… go back to work.”
“I could find you in five minutes.”
“Of course you could, but you won’t. You’ll go back to work, I’ll do the same, and we’ll talk about this tonight like the grown ups we are.”
It doesn’t escape my attention that I’m the one who’s older here. Yet I’m the one being chastised.
I let out a low breath. “Okay. But I’m serious, we’re talking about this tonight.”
“Talking?” she murmurs. “That’s good. Because I assumed you’d be bending me over the dining table and showing me exactly who I belong to. I see real character growth here.”
I groan. “Eden.”
“I’m proud of you.”
“I have to work late tonight,” I say, scrubbing a hand over my face. “It’ll be at least ten before I’m home.”
“I’ll be in bed by then,” she says, like it’s a promise.
“Keep it warm for me.”
“Mm. I’ll try. No promises.”
“Eden.”
She laughs again. “Don’t worry, I won’t invite Bennett in our bed. Or the battery-operated boyfriend that you told me I wasn’t allowed to fall for. It’s strictly a party of one over here.”
A laugh rumbles in my chest. “I’m glad to hear it.”
“Why’s that?”
“Because I didn’t make you come last night. And I’ve been thinking about it all damn day.”
Silence. Then a soft, shaky breath.
“I’ll leave the light on,” she says.
Click.
I stare at my phone for a second, her voice still echoing in my head. I shove it in my pocket and walk back into the office with the kind of smile I reserve for deals I already know I’ve won.
“Let’s make this quick,” I say, nodding at Bennett, who looks like he’s one spreadsheet away from a stroke. “We’ve all got somewhere better to be tonight.”
I know I do. And I can’t fucking wait.