Chapter 12
REJECTION SUCKS
“You know,” Spencer said the next night, leaning against the arm of the chair in their hotel room like he had all the time in the world, “you never answered my question about what brought you to New York.”
She hadn’t. Because right when he’d asked, her phone had rung. Her twin was conveniently rescuing her from drowning in Spencer Jensen’s ridiculously piercing blue eyes as if she’d sent out their wonder power signals that were received hours away.
The man could be dangerously charming when he decided to be.
And when he got snarky with her? Even better. She hated that she liked it…but she did.
She pulled the leftover wine from the fridge, poured herself a full glass, emptying the bottle, then grabbed a beer for him. She held it up and wiggled it at him. Slow and teasing like bait on a hook.
Maybe she wanted to coax out that version of him again. Because this morning he’d reverted to his boring, uptight self giving her that lawyerly tone-it-down glare at the plant.
She understood why. She really did.
She’d only raised her voice once. Not intentionally. It had just slipped out because the place was a mess and people were making decisions so stupid it was a miracle the building hadn’t spontaneously combusted.
And Chad? That idiot was still ignoring her calls. Still ignoring her emails. The coward probably knew his job was dangling by a thread. Belinda had said she’d talked to him earlier that morning, so it wasn’t like he’d disappeared off the grid.
No. He was hiding.
And she was in no mood to tolerate cowards tonight.
Which meant she had to open her mouth and answer the questions that Spencer had asked because he’d done that to her last night.
“I didn’t answer it, did I?”
“You thought you could get away without me asking again?”
“Nope. I know men like you. You’ll get the answers one way or another.” She held her hand up when he frowned. “Not meant as an insult. More like a compliment. It’s a good trait to have.”
He relaxed some and poured his beer into the glass. “Even if it’s not done the same way you would?”
They moved toward the balcony and went back to the plastic butt-numbing chairs that had left marks in the back of her thighs last night.
“I’m learning not everyone has to do things the same way.”
“Growth is a good thing. And you’re evading.”
“Nah. Just getting comfortable. So why Paris and I decided to do this. First, I like to be the boss. I’m positive that comes as no surprise to you.”
“Not in the least,” he said, sipping his beer, his eyes dancing over the rim of his glass, his brown hair shifting in the light breeze. He wasn’t a stuffy attorney right now. Not even with the whiskers on his face since he hadn’t shaved.
Phew. He was back to the guy she was more interested in last night. She just wished he’d stayed like that more.
But then he probably wished she were more relaxed during working hours also.
So, guess she had to cut him some slack.
“Paris and I always knew we’d want to do this.
We were both business majors in college.
She focused more on HR. Me, operations. I don’t think we’d thought this is what we’d actually do at that time.
I got my job first as a consultant. She was working for some company doing benefits and writing policies. ”
“Did she like it?”
“She’s pretty adaptable. But I was traveling and telling her how much fun it was. I encouraged her to look into it also. If my company had had any openings I would have pushed for her there, but they hadn’t. She actually worked out of a firm in North Carolina. So she was remote or on the road.”
“And you were in the office when not on the road?”
“Most times. We lived in the same building complex and talked things out from our jobs. She gave me suggestions, I gave her some. Then all of a sudden, we ended up at the same client. Doing different things and at different times, but then we could set it to be there together.”
“Bet that gave them a shock to see you both come in.”
“Yeah. And we worked well together. I mean great. Smooth as butter. Creamy as that cheese sauce on my lobster mac and cheese tonight.”
He laughed. “Did you think it’d be otherwise?”
“I didn’t. She did. We overlapped several times in the past few years while we made this plan. We put money away to get started. Both of us had been to New York enough times.”
“And there was West?”
“It wasn’t really in our thought to ask him. Not like you think. But my brother Phoenix was struggling more than he wanted to admit.”
“Nix Plastics,” he said.
“Yes. West really does his research. Phoenix reached out for advice, not a partnership. It was hard for him to give up shares of the company.”
“It’s hard to let go of anything you’ve put a lot of blood and sweat into.”
“I hadn’t gotten there yet. I think that is why Paris could talk me into it more. She let me see it could benefit everyone.”
“So it was her idea?”
“She and my father talked it over. My father, he invested in the company. We didn’t need start-up costs like many would think. But we reached out to West and asked his opinion on office locations. Maybe there was a tiny part that we hoped he’d bite and he did.”
“A good way to do it without fearing rejection.”
“Rejection sucks,” she said, gulping her wine. “In more than the workforce.”
He lifted his eyebrow at her over that statement. She wished she could have locked those words in a vault rather than open the door and have them fly out the way they had.
Too late now.
“It can and it does. More so when you don’t see it coming.”
“Like what happened to you?”
“I suppose,” he said. Which made her think there was more to it and he wasn’t volunteering. That was fine for now.
“So West had a few phone conversations with us. Said that with Laken and Lily being out or going out, they were working less. Abby had already cut back. The department was taking a hit and they were already overworked. It was hard to get good trusted employees.”
“So why not bring a firm in under his umbrella with family members who were competent and trustworthy?”
“That was his thought. But make no mistake. He vetted us the same way he does every business venture. We came up with a business plan.”
“Good for you.”
“We aren’t riding on West’s name or charity.”
“I never thought you were.”
“Some will when they find out the relationship.”
“There is no stopping lips from flapping,” he said. “I heard enough whispered words about my promotion and then when I left.”
“I bet you couldn’t wait to walk in and put your resignation on Ryker’s desk.”
“It would be petty of me to say that I wished I could have filmed his reaction.”
“Not petty in the least. I bet he was threatened by you and it’s why he was shipping you across the country.”
“That was always my thought, but could be my ego is big.”
Her eyes drifted over him where he sat in the chair, and, heaven help her, everything about Spencer Jensen was big.
Long legs, like hers, but packed with more muscle than she’d expected. Broad shoulders. A body that looked deceptively lean…right until last night, when he’d pulled his shirt off to crawl into bed.
Yeah. She’d killed the light and rolled over so fast she almost gave herself whiplash. Then she spent the next five minutes fighting the urge to shove her feet out from under the sheets and air out the sudden heat crawling and sticking to her skin.
She had not been prepared for that. For him. The abs. The chest. The definition.
Not bulky, thankfully. Just strong and toned. Exactly the way she liked it. Which just stunk worse than the lobster in the plant that it was him she was so attracted to.
Being tall, she never had much interest in men shorter than her.
Spencer? He had a good five inches on her five-nine frame. Even in heels, she hovered just under his height, practically eye level. And he didn’t seem to mind one bit the few times he’d stood in her office, close enough for her to see the flecks of gold in those infuriating blue eyes.
“Nothing wrong with a big ego,” she said.
“Fast forward, we went through all the paperwork and legal channels to get the business set up. It took time while Paris and I continued working. But we had a few clients on our own outside of our jobs. With approval from or employers. We also didn’t have a competition clause. ”
“I bet your employers weren’t so happy about you leaving to start your own firm.”
“If we had stayed down south, maybe not, but moving north, I don’t think they cared all that much. And as we know, right now, the bulk of our clients are West’s. We didn’t steal anyone... not yet.”
He smirked, his blue eyes dancing over her face. “I’ve read your past employment contracts. You’re good even if someone wants to fight it. I don’t think they will risk going against us.”
“No. I’ve got someone on the hook. They are checking references. I know West will be the first one called and I’ve got to accept that he is the one pulling a lot of strings. But Paris and I are good at what we do. I know you think I turn people off.”
“I don’t think that at all.”
It was the velvety way his voice slid over her body with those words. Telling her they were off the clock. She wasn’t sure if he meant to let it slip.
She gulped the rest of her glass down. His beer was almost gone too.
“Do you want another?” she asked. “There are two left.”
“One more. I shouldn’t, but maybe it will help me sleep better tonight.”
“So it wasn’t just me tossing and turning.”
“No,” he said, his voice almost a whisper.
She stood up and reached for his glass, then walked inside the hotel room. The blast of cold air from the AC wasn’t strong enough to cool the internal heat that being in Spencer’s presence caused.
She opened the second bottle of wine and only poured half a glass. It’s not like she was going to bring the unopened bottle on the plane with her, so might as well try it since he bought it. Reds weren’t her preference, but she’d like to get some sleep tonight also.
He opened the door for her before she got there; she handed over his glass and took a seat. She had to scoot her chair closer to get the sun out of her eyes. Right now their arms were almost touching, but it was fine.
He was nicer than she thought he’d be.
More her type in this kind of environment.
But tomorrow would roll around and they’d be back at work and rubbing each other the wrong way.
“Back to me,” she said, clearing her throat. “It took time to get started and here we are. There is so much on the line. I’m sure you know that.”
“I do. I feel the same. Not because I don’t want anyone to think I got an extra nudge to get this job.”
“And we both know it’s probably true but no more than what we’ve got. And anyone who knows West knows we wouldn’t have gotten this far if we didn’t have what it takes.”
“I keep trying to tell myself that, but then say I shouldn’t care what anyone thinks,” he said.
“We all say that but know it’s not true. Just like I’m sure you loved proving to Ryker you could land on your feet.”
He laughed. The smile softened his features, the growth of beard on him since they arrived just another appealing fact. He’d forgotten his razor and just said screw it. She was good with that also.
She wondered if he did it on purpose so that the men in the plant didn’t think he was some stuck-up attorney coming in and throwing his weight around.
The same reason they had jeans on today while working. It made no sense to dress formal.
“I didn’t tell him where I was going.”
“You didn’t?” she said, her eyes wide. “I would have rubbed it in his face.”
“We aren’t the same people.”
“We aren’t. But I’m sure he knows now.”
“One hundred percent.”
Yeah, she didn’t think she could do that. She’d have to almost smear it in the guy’s face.
Guess that made Spencer a better person than her.
She drank more of her wine. Between the setting sun, the alcohol, and a full belly, she was relaxing much more than last night.
Preparing herself for seeing him shirtless again.
Her head was back on the chair, the silence probably bothering her more than him.
For someone who grew up in a house full of nine kids, you’d think she’d welcome it.
But she didn’t. She never had.
She turned to look at Spencer’s profile.
He was really handsome.
His head moved, and their eyes locked. “Problem?” he asked, his voice almost a whisper in the wind.
“More than I care to admit.”
“Meaning?”
The last thing she was going to do was admit she was drawn to him.
“Meaning that some things are better left unsaid.”
He lifted his drink to his lips and brought it back to the arm of his chair, his skin lightly brushing hers. He hadn’t meant it, she was positive.
“Sorry,” he said.
“Don’t be. It’s fine.”
“Is it though?”
“We aren’t talking about the same thing, are we?” she asked.
“I think we are.”
Her eyes were moving over his face some more. Maybe it was the wine. Or her reckless behavior that often got her in trouble.
“You want to kiss me, don’t you?”
If she thought she’d get a rise out of him—a look of surprise, a shift in his chair, anything—she was wrong.
He just continued to gaze at her as she was doing to him. “Does it matter what I want?”
“It does if it’s the same thing as me.”
“So you are thinking about kissing me?” he asked.
“I wouldn’t have brought it up if I wasn’t.”
She blinked, he didn’t. Man, he was a tough one.
“It’s not right.”
“It’s not wrong either.”
“Our jobs,” he said.
“We don’t work for each other.”
“We have a shared boss,” he pointed out.
“It can be our secret,” she said. “Just to get it out of the way. You know, maybe once we know we’ll be good. It could be a lousy kiss.”
He laughed. “You’re trying to bait me.”
“Is it working?”
He leaned closer to her, almost as if teasing. Tempting. Calling her bluff. Could be all the above.
She never shied away from a challenge and met him halfway.
Big mistake.
Their lips touched, the softness not just in his personality tonight, but in his skin.
In the way he gently brushed his lips to hers, the way he parted his mouth as if challenging her to taste more, go deeper, surrender more than she should do.
Challenge accepted!
Her tongue slipped in, and the taste of him was intoxicating. What she’d love more than anything was if he’d slid his fingers into her hair.
But he didn’t. He wouldn’t.
He was leaving her in control. It was better that way.
And that meant that if she didn’t lean back now, she’d be in some serious trouble.
When she did, he asked, “Is that the answer you hoped for?”
She remained silent because the truth was, she didn’t know what she hoped for. But it sure the hell wasn’t going to make sleep any easier tonight!