Page 3 of Deal Breaker
Her eyes flash, but she holds her ground. “I’m here to lead a campaign to revamp Cove’s brand image. I signed a contract. I moved my life here. I didn’t know I’d be reporting to you.”
“That makes two of us.”
We stare at each other, the silence between us louder than shouting could ever be. My pulse is a kick drum in my ears. She’s so close I can see the little freckle just above her jaw. The one I used to kiss every morning.
I thought I buried this.
I thought I buried her.
Landyn crosses her arms, eyes narrowing slightly. “I get that you’re pissed,” she says, voice low. “I get that you’re not happy to see me, but I’m here, so we should try and find a way to work together.”
The steel in her voice surprises me.
I stare at her.Work together?She actually thinks we can work together? Everything about this is a mistake. Her being in this room. In this building. In Deep Cove. It’s a bad idea. How can we work together when just looking at her knocks the ground out from under me? When the sight of her makes my pulse do something I don’t fucking understand? When I’ve spent the last seven years trying to forget the sound of her voice?
“This isn’t going to work,” I say flatly. “You and me working together. It won’t work.”
Her eyes flick away for half a second before she pullsthem back to mine. “I’m not asking you to like it, Ford,” she says cooly. “I’m just asking for you to try.”
My jaw locks. A big part of me wants to tell Landyn that there’s no way in hell she’s working for my company. But she signed a contract. Jesse obviously thought she was qualified for the position and right now, Cove needs her.
“Fine,” I spit out, the word like gravel on my tongue. “You’ll work under Jesse. Not me. This isn’t going to be easy.”
“It never was,” she says quietly.
I grit my teeth and step back. “I want weekly reports. Every detail.”
“Done.” With that, she turns to leave the room.
“And Landyn?”
She pauses near reception. Doesn’t look back.
“Stay in your own lane.”
She leaves without a word.
And I don’t breathe until she’s gone.
TWO
Ford
I don’t slam the door behind me.
I close it. Calm and controlled. But the soft click as it shuts behind me does nothing to quiet the storm brewing under my skin.
She’s here.
Landyn Sinclair was just standing in my conference room, asking me to be professional like she didn’t vanish off the face of the earth seven years ago.
I make it halfway down the hall before I hear Jesse’s voice.
“Man, that went well.”
He’s leaning against the wall with a smug grin on his face like he’s waiting for me to blow a gasket.
“You knew,” I say, rage slowly simmering just beneath the surface.
