Page 106 of Strictly the Worst

“Here?” I ask, looking around.

“Here,” he agrees, sliding his hands beneath my top.

And I kiss him back, because I think we both need this.

CHAPTER

TWENTY-SIX

LINC

I’m picturing you naked, riding me, your hair flowing down your back, your skin all fucking shiny. The way it was this morning. – Linc.

I send the message, smirking when she pulls out her phone to read it, her eyes wide before she quickly turns the screen off and pretends to listen to Roman as he goes through our quarterly reports.

He’s still pissed with me. And I’m absolutely okay with that. Yes, I’ll fly to London next week, and then on to Paris and Rome like he’s asked me. But after that, I need to find some kind of equilibrium in my life. If I have a shot at a relationship with Tessa, I’m not going to mess it up. She doesn’t need another person in her life who’ll flit in and out on his own schedule.

She deserves my full attention.

The last few days with her in my apartment have been the best of my life. That’s no exaggeration. Waking up to this woman in my bed, eating breakfast with her, talking shit about our day.

It’s been perfect. And yeah, we’ve kind of jumped the gun by having her move in. And I’m absolutely okay with the fact she’ll be going back to her own home with Zoe once they have a bathroom.

She needs to put her kid first. I like that. Heck, I love that she does. But the weeks when Zoe’s with her dad, I’m determined to be here to spend time with Tessa. I can’t do that if I’m flying all over the damn world.

“What do you think, Linc?” Roman asks.

I glance at Tessa. She’s trying not to smile.

“Ah, maybe…” I say, trying to give myself time as I move my phone beneath the table and tap out a message.

Give me a clue. What am I supposed to be thinking about? – Linc

It’s a good thing I’ve got nimble fingers.

Roman wants to open a Paris office. – Tessa

I pull my lip between my teeth, taking in her words. “Yeah,” I say, “We have enough work there to justify it. I guess having some full time Hampshire staff in Europe would be a good thing. It’ll help to have more French speaking employees.” Right now, I’m the only one. Which means that the majority of the client-facing work falls to me. There’s no way I’m going to disrespect our clients by not speaking their language.

Roman smiles. “Exactly. You and I can talk more about this later, but I see it as a growth opportunity. You’ve built excellent relationships with our clients there. We’re beginning to make our own name in the city. Plus, Paris is close to Rome and London. We have a lot of business there, too.” He gives me a nod. “I’ve been thinking a lot about what you said regarding our environmental impact. This should ease that. So you’ll fly over next week to start things off. Schedule a meeting with me before Friday and we can run over the budget and the project timeline.” He looks around at the rest of the management team. “Good work, all of you,” he says. “It’s been a great quarter, with the Exuma project and now this.”

Roman stands and goes to walk out, before realizing he’s left his laptop on the table. He grabs it and smiles at me. For the first time since I told him I wasn’t flying anywhere this week.

Looks like I’m back in his good books. That’s one thing at least. My phone flashes as I stand up and roll my neck to get the kinks out of it.

The group chat with my brothers seems alive and well.

What time is everybody arriving at Misty Lakes on Friday? The wedding planner wants to know. – Holden

Misty Lakes is my father’s estate. Where Holden and Blair’s wedding is taking place this weekend. The rehearsal dinner is actually a cookout. A big one, but at least it’s not a formal affair.

We’ll be there in the afternoon. Just after lunch. – Myles

Ditto. – Liam

Probably a bit later for us. Maybe around 3pm? – Eli

Not sure. Need to talk to Linc. What time are we traveling down, bro? – Brooks

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