Chapter 35
I tapped my foot against the carpeted floor in the hallway outside the office door, scrolling through my phone while I waited. When I heard the door open, I glanced up to see a few older men in suits walk out, chatting with smiles.
Lucas appeared in the doorway a moment later, grinning at me. “Sorry about that.”
“No worries.”
“Ready?”
“Yeah.” I grabbed my things and stood, walking into his office before he shut the door behind me.
“God, sometimes they just ramble on and on,” he said as he shook his head.
“Let me take a wild stab in the dark…members of your board?”
“How’d you guess?”
“Their stuffy looks. That, and they’re old.”
“Fair enough,” he said with a chuckle as he gestured to the seating area of his office. I set my bag down as he took a seat. “So, what do you have for me?”
I smiled as I unrolled my layers of plans across the top of the table in front of him. “Your new office, sir.”
Lucas and I had a meeting to go over the plans for his new office and to make his selections for what he wanted for the space in terms of paint, window treatments, flooring, furniture, and everything else.
I needed to get in touch with the contractors and have everything ordered a few months in advance to ensure it would be there and ready when I headed to Miami, barring any delays or issues.
I showed him my plans for the layout of the space, he ordered us lunch, and for the next couple of hours, we went through samples and swatches galore.
“That one”—I tapped the hardwood sample he was looking at with my chopstick—“is my favorite. It’s a little darker than the others. Looks more sleek.”
“Yeah, I think I like that one the best, then this one,” he said, pointing to another. I nodded, and he set the samples down before biting into a crab rangoon. He swallowed his bite and washed it down with water. “So, that’s everything, then?”
“Yeah,” I answered as I leaned back in the chair. “I’ll get all your selections put in and ordered. Hopefully, there won’t be any backorders or delays, but we have your secondary choices for each, just in case.”
“I’ve already booked your flight, your room at the hotel in Miami, and a rental car under the company card. And I’ll be giving you one to take with you to cover any meals and whatnot while you’re there.”
“Is it a good room?” I teased.
“The family of a friend of mine from college owns the hotel. So…” He trailed off with a smile for what I assumed to be a dramatic effect. “He got me a private suite for you.”
“Shut up!” I grinned. “Seriously?”
“Seriously,” he repeated, his grin broadening. “And he promised to keep an eye on you. You know, alone in a strange city and all that.”
“You’re a gem, Lucas Carlisle.”
He chuckled. “Only the best for you. If Callie found out I gave her best friend anything less, she’d probably call off the wedding.”
“No, she wouldn’t,” I said with a laugh.
“I’m sure she’s going to be calling you a ton. We’ll be in the thick of wedding planning while you’re gone, and I know she’s going to want your thoughts on pretty much everything.”
I smiled. “So, June, huh?” He grinned with a nod. I don’t know if I ever knew a future groom to be as excited as he seemed. “There needs to be more men out there like you.”
He offered me a curious smile. “What do you mean?”
“You wear your heart on your sleeve when it comes to Callie. You don’t shy away from letting anyone know how you feel about her and your life together. And I love that for her. And you.”
“I’m sure plenty of guys out there do that.”
“No, see, that’s where you’re wrong. You’re part of the very small percentage of men that we women consider an anomaly. And I’m going to need you to get up on your soapbox and give these other goons a talking to.”
“You going to bring one of these said goons as a date to the wedding?”
I snorted. “I’m ninety-nine percent sure I’ll be going solo to your wedding.”
“Ah, but see, there’s still that one percent you’re holding onto,” he noted with a grin.
“That’s not me holding onto anything. The one percent is the slim possibility of a miracle occurring.” He chuckled. “But it’s fine. I’m the maid of honor, and my focus needs to be on Callie that day anyway. I don’t need a date distracting me from my duties.”
“Your duties…” he repeated.
“Yes, my duties. It’s my job to make sure she stays as calm, cool, and collected as possible. And to hold up her dress when she has to pee.”
“Now, there’s an image,” he muttered through a laugh. “But seriously…you can bring a date.”
“But seriously, there’s no one I’ve met that I’d want to ask.”
“You’ve got plenty of time to meet someone.”
“I heard that same thing months before my brother’s wedding. And guess what? I went solo to that, too.”
“Hey, you never know…” He shrugged. “You might meet someone before June.”
“Doubtful. Not everyone is lucky in that area. I’ve come to accept that the probability of me being single for the rest of my life is very likely at this point.”
“Nonsense. I’m a firm believer that there’s someone out there for everyone.”
“You can’t say that. Because you’ve known Callie since you were kids.”
“True.” Lucas smiled. “But that just goes to show that, sometimes, it’s the person right in front of you.”
“Your optimism is inspiring. Truly,” I said sarcastically.
I inhaled a deep breath, raising my arms above my head as I stretched the sleep from my body. When I turned, and my eyes fluttered open, they landed on a still-sleeping Wes.
I took a moment to look at him, letting my gaze travel over his face, taking in the sharp lines of his jaw peppered with a thin layer of scruff, his pillowy lips that were slightly parted, and his dark lashes.
I noticed a few strands of his dark hair—short with a slight curl at the ends—falling against his forehead, and I got the sudden urge to reach up and brush them away, to run my finger over the lines of his face… but I didn’t.
Wes and I hadn’t met up in a couple of weeks—the last time we had sex before last night was at the charity ball.
And he’d been acting odd those couple of weeks.
When we saw each other for Tuesday trivia and Saturday night out with the others, I would catch him looking at me like he was studying me as though my depths held the key to some kind of mystery he was secretly trying to unravel, but then he’d look away and carry on. It was…weird.
I finally messaged him last night; he responded like usual and said he’d be over.
Everything seemed normal, so I shrugged off the odd behavior from before as Wes just being a weird version of himself that I hadn’t seen before.
And that was nothing new. I’d seen a lot of sides of Wes I’d never seen before in the time since we made our deal.
Sides I didn’t know existed—playful and, dare I say…
sweet at times. I didn’t know if they were sides he kept hidden from most people or if I just never cared to notice before…
but I was noticing now for reasons I wasn’t entirely sure of.
“I can feel you admiring me with your eyes,” he mumbled against the pillow, his eyes still closed.
I scoffed. “I was not admiring you.” I supposed I was, but I wasn’t going to tell him that. “You…were snoring,” I lied.
“I don’t snore,” he murmured.
“But you do.” I had to keep it going.
“Prove it.”
I let out a breathy laugh, and he finally opened his eyes and met my gaze with a sleepy smile. I never took too much notice of the different hues of emerald in his eyes before. I’d never been a particular fan of green…but I found myself suddenly drawn to that distinct shade.
“You gonna keep eyefucking me like that, Princess, or get over here and have the real thing?”
I rolled my eyes, turning away before he could see the small smile I was struggling to fight back. I couldn’t give him too much, or it would go straight to his head.