Chapter 36
LONDON
L iam and I hit up a local taco spot on our way back to the hotel after a long but awesome day. My mind was spinning with all the new information we’d taken onboard, already whirring with ideas to turn it into a kick ass campaign.
“I’ll have extra jalapenos,” I said to the server after placing my order. “That’s it for me. Thank you.”
“I knew you were spicy, but dang, girl.” Liam chuckled before he glanced up to place an order of his own—minus the extra heat.
The server nodded and headed toward the kitchen, and Liam turned back to me. Despite all the excitement of the day, his eyes were still shimmering with energy and he seemed to be bursting at the seams to get started. I knew that because I felt the same way.
“That was a pretty amazing experience, huh? I have so many ideas for those people.”
“Yeah, I have a feeling that tonight might be a late one for us,” I said. “Jenny asked if we could get together a basic marketing plan for them by tomorrow afternoon. They’re really eager to get the ball rolling.”
He blinked hard before his eyebrows shot up. “They want us to submit by tomorrow ? I didn’t realize they were in such a rush.”
“Summer is coming.” I drew in a deep breath and rolled my lips into my mouth, gathering my thoughts before I reached for my lemonade.
“It’s important to them to start with the rebranding as soon as possible.
Essentially, it seems like they want to reinvent themselves a little bit before their busy season starts. ”
“It makes sense, but it’s a pretty tall order,” he said, pushing his sleeves up to his elbows and sliding his arms onto the table, leaning forward to look right at me. “I have some ideas, though. Maybe we should brainstorm a little while we eat so we can jump to it when we get back to the hotel.”
“That’s a good idea. Let’s hear it, Jones. Jenny expects nothing but the best, so you’d better be ready to get creative with this.”
He took a sip of his soda and swallowed it, taking a moment to get his thoughts in order before he started detailing some of the ideas he’d come up with while we’d been there. Some of them were pretty good, and when he was done, I added my ideas to his, linking up those that went together.
As soon as we got back to the hotel, we changed into pajamas and grabbed our laptops, settling in for a long night in the sitting area of our suite.
After noting down the different campaign ideas we’d hammered out at the restaurant, we sorted through them, already having a much better grasp on what we wanted to work on to submit tomorrow.
“I’m not sure we’re going to be able to make that happen fast enough,” I said a couple hours later, biting back at yawn as I pointed at his screen.
“Getting influencers involved can be part of phase two, maybe? I can put out some feelers to people we’ve worked with before, but it’s unlikely we’ll have it all buttoned up by tomorrow afternoon. ”
He glanced into my eyes, a slight furrow appearing between his brows. “So ask your friends. Most of them have some kind of influence online. We don’t only have to work with super well-known influencers. Normal people with influence are fine.”
“Yeah, and normal people with influence are called influenc ers , Grandpa.” I pursed my lips, but I couldn’t keep a straight face for very long. Chuckling as I swiped my phone from the table, I opened my messaging app and started scrolling. “You owe me for this.”
“I can live with that.” He shot me a lopsided smile. “How many orgasms would you like? I think we should link that to the amount of friends you get onboard.”
Heat exploded across my cheeks, but my body warmed all the way through. “Two per friend. Final offer.”
Liam’s head dropped back as he laughed, the sound open and surprisingly happy. “That’s a pretty high opening. You can’t start with your final offer. It’s just not how it works.”
“It’s how it works if you want me to convince my friends to help us when it’s already almost midnight.”
“Please, midnight is the equivalent of six p.m. to most of the friends in question. A lot of them only started getting ready to go out an hour ago.”
“Who made you the expert on New York high society?”
He scoffed down laughter and winked at me. “You.”
I groaned, but he wasn’t wrong. “Good to know you were paying some attention after all. Fine, I’m willing to go one for one.”
Burning embers sparked to life in his eyes. “I guess I can make that work.”
“Not tonight, though. We’re not nearly done here yet.”
“Agreed.”
We got back to work as we waited for the responses to start coming in, but as always, it wasn’t tedious doing this with him. Late nights were a norm for us and we always had a great time doing it. As I smiled when we started on the next part of our plan, he suddenly looked at me.
“I love getting to go on all these adventures with you, Walker.”
Tiny little parts of my insides revolted at the softness in his gaze, but the rest of me completely melted. Can’t let him see that, though. “Aww, is sleep deprivation making you hallucinate? You hate?—”
“Seriously, you’re one of the smartest girls I know and you do an incredible job every time. I’m not hallucinating. I’m just being honest.”
My heart fluttered. Oh, this is not good. Not good at all. Why am I having feelings about this? I can’t have those. Not with him.
If I ever gave into wanting him—truly wanting him—and it ended with me losing his friendship, I’d be devastated.
He meant way too much to me to be a guinea pig to try the whole serious relationship thing with—and that was what it would be.
No way either of us would be able to casually date the other.
Only, I couldn’t bring myself to tease him for what he’d just said.
Especially not with him looking at me with those eyes all twinkly, and pretty, and soft.
I cleared my throat and pushed back my chair.
“You know, I think maybe we’ve done enough for tonight.
I think I’m going to go have a soak in the hot tub and check in with my sisters.
Liv was talking about coming for a visit.
I should probably see what that was all about. ”
Liam’s nostrils flared, but he smiled as he leaned back in his chair. “If you get lost, you know my number.”
I chuckled. “You just said I was one of the smartest girls you know. I’m sure I can find my way to the hot tub and back.”
“Yeah, I was just in my feels, but don’t worry, I’m back now.”
Soft laughter bubbled out of me, but I still got out of the room as fast as I could, my heart beating fast. I strode down the hall to the elevator. These last couple weeks, I’d been suppressing wave upon wave of realizations about how my relationship with Liam had changed.
Even before we’d decided to sprinkle some benefits into our friendship, I’d noticed things about him I hadn’t consciously taken note of in years. I’d done my best to keep it that way, to keep the tide at bay and to refuse to acknowledge certain things.
The elevator doors slid open in front of me and I climbed into the empty car with nothing but soothing background music to keep me company. The dam finally burst. I couldn’t deny it anymore. I wanted him more and more with each passing day and not just sexually. Like actually wanting him .
I’d grabbed a swimsuit before I’d left the room and there were piles of soft, fluffy towels available at the indoor swimming pools where the hot tubs were, but I bypassed them all.
Undecided if I was actually going to get in the water, I found a private spot far away from the few late-night swimmers and Facetimed my sisters.
Both answered one after the other, smiles on their faces, but their eyes were tired. I was sure I looked the same. All three of us had mild cases of workaholism on a good day. A severe case on any other day.
“What’s up?” Olivia leaned forward on the couch where she was sitting, her gaze intent on mine. “I suppose you already know this, but it’s pretty late.”
“Yeah, is everything okay?” Abi asked quietly, perhaps trying not to wake Simon. I saw parts of her robe as she pulled it on over her pajamas and then she was moving through their house. “You look a little stressed for this time of night.”
As I looked at their faces and thought back to the amount of times they’d asked me about this, I found myself weirdly uncertain about how to make this admission. Usually, I didn’t have to think at all before I spoke to them, but now? With this?
God, where do I even start?
Eventually, I settled for beginning at the crux of the matter. “I think I might be in some trouble. It’s not a legal issue. Don’t worry. I’m not about to be arrested or anything, but, uh, I need your help.”
Olivia blinked slowly. “Okay, but we’re going to need a little bit more than that to be able to do anything.”
“I know.”
Abi’s eyes glazed over with thought before realization sparked in them and her head finally cocked. “It’s Liam, isn’t it?”
“Yep.”
“Alright.” Olivia suddenly looked wide awake. “That’s it. We need a sister weekend. You’re both coming to Texas for a couple days. How’s next week?”
“I can make that work,” Abi agreed immediately.
I let out a heavy breath, so relieved that I was lightheaded as I nodded. “Yeah, I can be there too.”
“Good.” Olivia grinned, her eyes wide and alight with excitement. “I’ll take care of the arrangements on my end. You two just make sure that you get your butts to Houston by the end of business next Friday, and London?”
“Yeah?”
“Don’t worry about this, okay? Just go with it for now and we’ll talk you through it when you get here.”
I groaned when I realized how entirely predictable this phone call had been. Clearly, they’d been ready and prepared for it. I just didn’t know for how long. It made me wonder what else I was missing—and whether I even really wanted to know.