Page 19 of A Hard Fit

She pursed her plum lips. “Design team meeting after lunch.” She turned to go, then paused to look at him again. “That means one o’clock sharp. And can you change?”

Finn blew out a breath on Luka’s behalf as she whirled away. “What happened, man?”

Luka groaned. “I slept in, then”—he gestured at himself—“did everything else in a blind panic. And then my fucking train broke down.”

“It’ll be okay,” Tawney encouraged him. “You’ve just got to get it together for the next meeting.”

Finn nodded. “Yeah, try not to fuck it up again.”

Luka shook his head, chuckling despite himself. “Great advice. Thanks, Finn.”

“You’re so welcome.” Finn’s phone buzzed in his pocket and he pulled it out to see a text from Rory.

Is Luka okay?

“What are you smiling at?” Luka asked.

“Oh, nothing. Just…nothing.” Finn went off down the hall, whistling, in the general direction of Rory’s office.

Chapter Five

Going for a Ride

Finn gathered up his designs and made his way to the conference room for the ‘Get It Together, Luka’ meeting after lunch. He stopped by Luka’s office to make sure he wasn’t about to miss it again, and found Tawney doing the same thing. Fortunately, the office was empty.

“Looks like he made it this time,” Tawney said.

“We’ll see,” Finn replied. “Maybe he went for a wank first to calm his nerves.”

“Finn!”

“What? It helps! Hey, that reminds me, did I tell you the one about the three friends on a skiing trip who had to share a bed?” He and Tawney had an inappropriate joke exchange going on, and it was his turn.

She laughed. “Not yet!”

He relayed the joke on their way and finished with the punchline as they filed into the conference room. “‘Weird,’ the guy in the middle says. ‘I dreamed I was skiing all night!’”

Tawney rolled her eyes, snickering as they found seats. Finn was relieved that Luka was in fact already there, looking like his usual gorgeous self. He had changed into a light blue dress shirt that coordinated with the burgundy pants and sorted out his hair situation.

Thomas’ suit jacket was off and he had rolled up his sleeves to reveal rather prodigious forearms. Morgan was already there too, blabbing away about himself as usual, this time to Thomas. Finn didn’t know how Luka managed to spend so much time talking to Morgan without throttling him.

“Thanks for gathering again, everyone,” Ilona started, joining Thomas at the head of the table. “Luka?” She wasn’t one for preambles.

Luka took a breath as he spread out his designs.

Finn relaxed about ten seconds in. Luka was back, charming and confident…although maybe a little nervous because he was speaking rapidly and kept wiping his hands on his trousers. His ideas were fantastic, and Thomas had to be impressed, although every time Finn snuck a glance at him, his face was unreadable.

Thomas offered only a small nod when Luka was finished. Then it was Morgan’s turn. Not that Finn was a musical expert, but he really liked what Morgan had composed. It had an emotional depth that he did not expect Morgan to be capable of reaching. If he had to be an insufferable dick, at least he was good at his job.

“Did you need anything else, Thomas?” Ilona asked when they were finished sharing.

“I’d like to take another look at everything, if you don’t mind. I’ll find you if I have any questions.”

They stared at him. He stared back. “Does anyone have any questions for me?”

When no one said anything, Thomas nodded once. “I appreciate your hard work. We’ll meet again soon.”

“Thanks, everyone,” Ilona dismissed them.

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