Page 13 of Strictly the Worst

This would be fine if he had two treadmills. But he only has one so I have to kind of stand next to him, around a foot lower than he is, and pretend to walk while he does the real thing on the rubber belt of his machine.

And yes, this is weird. But this is Roman. And I have bigger fish to fry than worry about looking like an idiot while I walk in place.

“So how can I help you?” he asks me. He’s out of breath. And I can smell his sweat. It’s not pleasant.

“I wanted to talk to you about the Grand Exuma project.” I glance over at his face. Am I supposed to be looking at him? Or are we supposed to both be facing ahead?

I’ve no idea.

“I know you’re disappointed. But there’s nothing we can do. We need somebody who can travel there.” He tries to shrug but it puts him off his stride. He slips back on the rubber belt and has to grab the rails to steady himself. “Damn, this is a tricky course.”

“I can travel there,” I tell him. “That’s what I wanted to tell you. There’s no need to send anybody else. I can still take the lead.”

“What about your little girl?”

“Zoe,” I remind him. Again. I don’t bother pointing out that she’s not little anymore. “Her father will watch her.” I spoke with him on Sunday. He huffed and puffed but finally agreed to swap our dates. Or rather Melissa did, because she was the one who told me they’d do it.

Roman leans forward to hit the off switch, as though I’ve finally grabbed his attention. When he turns to look at me I can see how red his face is. I let out a sigh of relief because I can finally stop pretending to walk too. It’s harder than it looks.

“Have you spoken to Linc about this?” Roman asks me.

“No. I wanted to speak to you first.”

“Call Linc. He’s probably already made his flight arrangements.” Roman presses his lips together. “Actually, I’ll call him now.”

“Okay. Thank you.”

I follow Roman to his desk, where he grabs a towel to wipe his face. Then he takes a long swallow of mineral water. He hits the intercom button. “Can you get me Linc Salinger?”

“I think your assistant has left for the day,” I tell him. He screws up his face.

“Damn.” He grabs his phone and it takes him about a minute to actually find Linc’s contact details and hit the green phone button. Within a moment, I hear Linc answering.

“Hey. Good to hear from you. Ignore the wind sounds. I’m on a boat.”

Of course he is. Probably in a pair of swim shorts and nothing else, his stupidly toned chest looking bronzed in the sun. I try to keep my face neutral.

“No problem,” Roman says, as though he constantly has to track his staff down on expensive floating devices. “I was wondering, have you booked your flight to Grand Exuma yet?”

“Your assistant booked it. Why?”

“Turns out Tessa can make it after all.” Roman clears his throat and looks at me. Then a big grin pulls at his lips and his eyes widen, like he’s just discovered the meaning of life. “Hey,” he says, slowly, blinking those same eyes like he can’t believe his luck. “I have a great idea. I’m going to send you both. The dream team. Between the two of you, you’re sure to get the deal closed.”

My jaw drops.

What? He can’t be serious. There’s no need to have two of us traveling to Grand Exuma. “Roman,” I whisper. “I can deal with it alone.”

“Sorry, the wind is terrible.” Linc is shouting now. “What did you say?”

For a moment, the only thing that’s keeping me going is the thought that he’ll be as horrified as I am at Roman’s suggestion.

The thought of us spending a week together on an island makes every drop of my blood run cold.

“I said you and Tessa are going to Exuma together,” Roman shouts back. I’m pretty certain the entire office could hear him, if any of them are still at their desks. “You’re my dream team. Gonna bring that baby home.”

“Still can’t hear you,” Linc says. “I’ll call you back.”

It doesn’t matter. Because I heard him. And I’m pretty sure that Roman will make sure that Linc does, too.

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