Page 24 of Bad for Business
“You can talk to me,” Jude interrupts, tucking his hands into his pockets with a smile.
“Stop flirting with my publicist,” Ryker pipes up before taking a drink of his own mimosa.
Jude throws his hands up defensively. “I’m not flirting. I’m doing the right thing and telling her she can talk to me. I wouldn’t want Camille to be lonely while you go out there and schmooze your board.”
Ryker grunts before tossing back the rest of his mimosa. “Sure. Where’s Cal?”
Jude shrugs, his eyes scanning over the crowd. “He’s grumpier than normal this week. I don’t know why. He won’t stop looking at his phone and is grouchy as hell. I think he’s coming this morning, but I can’t be sure.”
“Oh.” I reach out and poke Ryker in the side, making sure I have his attention. “There’s Harrison O’Neill.”
“I know who he is,” Ryker counters, tucking his hands into his blue dress pants.
I hate to admit it, but he looks good this morning. Despite him sleeping through all of his alarms and needing me to intervene to make sure he got out of bed, he cleaned up nicely. His brown hair is slicked back, making his light brown eyes stand out even more against the white of his button-up shirt.
“Then go talk to him. He’s got the ear of almost everyone on your board. He’s a tough nut to crack, but if he likes you, I know most of the other members will follow.”
Ryker and Jude share a conspiratorial smile. They shake their heads at each other before looking back at me.
“What?” I ask, straightening my spine defensively. Whatever they’re laughing at, I know it’s at my expense.
“A tough nut to crack…really?” Ryker laughs. It’s deep and throaty, and I hate that my body reacts to it. I think it’s the fact that I know the laugh is genuine. I’ve seen him talk with enough people in the last week to know when he actually finds something amusing and when he’s just laughing for show. Thislaugh was real, and for some reason, my body loves the sound of it.
“It’s a saying,” I explain, my eyes bouncing to Jude for help. He’s the joking type—actually, so is Ryker—so I don’t understand why both of them are acting like the saying is weird.
“I know. I just didn’t know people still said it.” Ryker laughs again and continues to shake his head. “A tough nut to crack,” he repeats. His smile is so wide that deep lines frame his mouth on both sides.
“Stop laughing at me and go talk to him,” I demand, giving both of them a dirty look. I haven’t had enough caffeine—or mimosas—to allow the two of them to laugh at whatever sayings I choose to use.
“Yeah, go crack that nut,” Jude offers.
Ryker laughs so hard that he has to cover up the sound of it with a cough after some members give us a dirty look. My cheeks feel hot with the focus being on us.
“I’m going to kill you both,” I mutter, wishing people would go back to their own conversations and stop looking in our direction.
“No time for murder right now,” Ryker quips. He doesn’t seem bothered in the slightest that people are staring at us. “I’ve got to go crack a nut.”
Jude chuckles, his entire face lit up with amusement as he watches Ryker walk away. “I didn’t realize this morning would be so fun,” he notes, shaking his head with amusement.
“We have very different definitions of fun,” I spit, wishing I hadn’t worn my hair in a ponytail. With all of my hair pulled from my face, I can’t hide the pink tinge to my cheeks behind the long, dark strands.
Ryker, surprisingly, does exactly what I want him to. He strolls over to Harrison and immediately strikes up a conversation with him. I watch the two of them closely,inspecting their body language to try and figure out how the talk is going.
“Ryker might be right,” Jude offers, catching my attention.
I turn my attention to him. “Right about what?”
“You might scare people away.”
I roll my eyes at him. “I don’t care if people come up and talk to me. Better yet, I hope they don’t talk to me. He’s the one who has to do the impressing, not me.”
Jude nods in understanding. “Yeah, but you intensely staring at whoever he’s talking to probably doesn’t help things. You’re going to scare them away. Davenport’s got this.” He reaches out and grabs me by the elbow. “C’mon, let’s go mingle.”
I feel my entire face pinch together. “Mingle? No, thanks.”
Jude doesn’t let go. His grip is light enough that if I wanted to break free from it, I easily could. But something about the gentle look in his eyes and his friendly smile makes me want to listen to him. “I see Beck over there with his wife, Margo. Let’s go talk to them. I think you’d love her. Preston’s girlfriend is there too, and Emma’s hilarious.”
With a sigh, I let Jude lead me over to the group of people. He might have a point; if I stare too long at Ryker and Harrison, I might make things weird. I’ve gone over the plan and what to say—and whatnotto say—with Ryker so many times that maybe it is time I stop hovering and trust him.
