Page 64 of Trouble Walked In

Rmbr Jacob @ 2 today!

Nate needs contract. Now!

You in jail? Alien abduction?

Bleeding out in hospital?

He winced. Between talking to Della and helping around the inn, and then being distracted with Lizzie, he’d completely forgotten to revise the contract. Before he couldtap out a response to her questions, the phone rang. Morgan’s face popped up on the caller ID. He put the call on speaker instead of video.

“Hey,” he said, and hauled himself out of bed. “Can this wait until after I shower?”

Morgan’s voice came at him in a rush. “Seriously, what the hell is going on up there? You’re never out of touch this long. Ever. And where the hell is the contract?”

“There’s been a lot going on.” He pulled fresh clothes out of the drawer as he spoke. “I’ll get Jacob signed today. Jordanna’s still here. I’ll hook them up. Can you set up an account for him? I want to send him a signing bonus to prove we’re serious.”

“What kind of assistant do you take me for? It’s already done. Let’s go back to the part where you’ve been ignoring my many helpful texts and phone calls. Is it Lizzie? She still giving you a hard time?” Something clanged in the background. “She banging you like a cheap drum?”

He tilted his head, trying to figure out where she was and what the sound could be. He wouldn’t be shocked if she’d brought a drum set to the office. “What the hell was that?”

“This?” Whatever it was clanged again. “That’s your chair. Did you know when you tilt it just right it almost falls off the pedestal? You could really hurt yourself.”

“Get out of my office, and take a stab at drafting a contract that won’t make us both sick.”

A tapping sound started, like she’d picked up a pencil and was beating his desk with it. “You wantmeto do that? Who are you and what have you done with Jackson Renic?”

He snorted a laugh. “You got this. You know what we need as well as I do. Better, actually. Besides, I just want it for leverage. I think Della might change her mind.”

The tapping stopped. “Oh, really? How’d you manage that?”

“By using my amazing skills of negotiation.” He tossed the pile of clean clothes onto the bed and carried the phone into the bathroom.

“Uh-huh. Seriously, what did you say to her?”

“I got her thinking, that’s all. It feels like she’s coming around. So just write the contract you think we should have. Think big.”

“I don’t think we should have one at all,” Morgan said in a flat tone. “I think you should tell them where to stick it.”

“They have resources we could use, especially for advertising. Take the parts we need, toss the rest, and make sure we stay us. You can do it. I’ll look over it tonight.”

He reached into the shower and turned on the water.

“What’s that sound?” Morgan sounded suspicious. “Are you in the shower?”

“No. It’s raining really hard.” Renic pulled off the shorts he’d slept in and dropped them on the floor.

The pencil tapping started up again. “You were still in bed when I called, weren’t you.”

“Not exactly.” He pulled the shower curtain closed to minimize some of the sound of the water.

“So,” she said, in the thoughtful tone of a close friend connecting too many dots, “you’ve been avoiding me, and you slept in, and now you’re taking a shower while we’re on the phone because you want to be fresh for someone.”

“Your point?” Renic turned the sound up on his phone as high as it would go.

“My point is I think you and Lizzie have been doing the nasty. That’s why you won’t answer the phone.” Her accusation echoed off the bathroom walls, and the tappingincreased. “You’ve been busy my ass. You’ve been busy all overherass.”

“That’s just crude, Morgan.” He stepped into the shower but kept the curtain slightly open in case his assistant said something he really needed to hear. After ducking his head under the stream for a second or two, he poured shampoo into his palm and started to lather it up.

“That’s not a denial.” Something clattered and the tapping stopped. He pictured her throwing the pencil. “Wow. Just wow. How was it?”

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