Page 43 of So Wrong It Must Be Right

Damn.

But here he was, and he didn’t know how to go back. Reversing had never been something he’d managed to do. He was all plowing ahead, forward motion, pounding against the world until something worked in his favor.

Why should this be any different? “If we can agree on some terms, then I don’t think it would be a terrible idea.”

She flung her arms around his neck, nearly knocking him into the grill. Her grip around him was so tight she practically squeezed the breath out of him.

“You don’t know how much I needed to hear this tonight,” she said, her voice a little rough. “This is fantastic.” She pulled back, a broad smile on her face, but something nearly manic in her expression.

She started pacing in front of him like some sort of whirling dervish. “This is going to work. I know it’s going to work, and it’s going to really be great for everybody. I promise you, I will not let you down.” She grabbed his arms again, squeezing. “You will not regret saying yes. I promise. I promise.”

“Baby, you can’t promise that. That’s all beyond your control.”

She looked at him with a kind of horror in her expression that didn’t fit the situation.

“Things might not work out, but we’ll give it a try. You don’t need to promise things. We’ll give it a shot.”

“Things are going to work out. I believe that with my whole heart.” She covered her heart with both her hands and he wanted to reach out and soothe some of this overly serious earnestness.

He opened his mouth to argue with her before realizing it was futile. Maybe she needed to believe everything would work out. One of those optimists. He should probably let her keep that delusion.

“There’s a board meeting on tomorrow night. I think the best course of action is to work on a presentation to give them. Together. Work on it together. Present it together.”

It was his turn to step back in horror. “Board meeting? Me at a board meeting?”

“You should be the one to present the safeguards you want. We should work together to come up with a presentation, fine-tune what we’re each going to say, but I don’t want to speakforyou. I think it’s important we’re separate entities.”

He grimaced. Dinah had a point about the separate entities thing, but the absolute last thing he wanted was to be in a boardroom full of Gallaghers.

“It’s not going to be easy,” she said somewhat cautiously, wringing her hands.

He wasn’t sure he’d ever seen such a nervous gesture from her before. “What’s not going to be easy?”

“My uncle, Craig Gallagher, the director of operations, he, um, knows about us.”

“About . . . us?”

“He followed me at some point and worked out that we’ve been . . .” She shook her head. “I can’t believe he did it, and it’s gross and creepy that he did, but the bottom line is he knows we’ve been involved, and he’s made it very clear he’ll use it against me.”

“Which will make the board question your judgment on me as supplier.”

She stiffened considerably and he was sorry to have said something that clearly hit a sore spot. But it was also clearly true.“We don’t know what they’ll think, and we won’t know their opinion on the business matter until we’ve presented this to them. It’s such a good idea.”

“Not all good ideas come to fruition.”

“It will. This one will. It has to. Carter, I . . .” She took a deep breath, back to pacing, back to un-Dinah-like behavior after un-Dinah-like behavior. “Kayla was always my ally,” she said softly. “She always had my back, and she quit.”

“Over this?” he asked incredulously. Jesus H, the last thing he wanted was to get deep into Gallagher-family crap.

“No,” Dinah replied firmly. “She’s having her own weird thing. Hell, half the Gallaghers are having their own weird thing.” She shook her head before straightening her shoulders and quelling her nervous hands. She met his gaze fiercely. “We are definitely going to be up against some opposition, but we have right on our side. We have the best interests of Gallagher’s on our side. There’s no reason not to do it, I just wanted you to know so you’re prepared.”

She crossed the distance between them, curling her fingers around his forearms. “Don’t change your mind. Please, don’t change your mind. I can see the wheels turning.” She gave his arms a squeeze, her expression imploring. “I just need someone to stick with me on this. Because I know that it’s therightthing.”

He wanted to tell her no. He wanted to put the kibosh on the whole stupid idea. What were they thinking? This idea was idiotic and probably going to bite them both in the ass, and yet she looked at him with those big hazel eyes and clear desperation. He couldn’t say no to her. He couldn’t run away from someone who needed him to stand up with her. He’d been there. He had felt that desperate need for someone—anyone—to stand with him, to fight by his side.

“I’m not going to back out,” he said.

She squeezed him into another hug. “Thank you. I promise—”

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