Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 66753 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 334(@200wpm)___ 267(@250wpm)___ 223(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66753 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 334(@200wpm)___ 267(@250wpm)___ 223(@300wpm)
Chapter Twenty-Two
Tyler
Fuck.
Fuck.
Fuck.
I pace back and forth in my office, trying to calm the hell down. I don’t know what happened to me in the café. I lost it. I really lost it. Never in my life have I felt jealous, but it’s a brutal emotion. It’s not even close to gentle.
There’s a knock on the door and Debbie pops her head into the office. “We’re ready.” Her eyes narrow, and her head tilts. “You okay, boss?”
Holy fuck, Debbie is asking me if I’m okay. No, I am not fucking okay when she has to ask if I’m okay. “I’m coming,” is all I say. “Give me five. I’m waiting on a call I have to take.”
“Oh, of course.”
She disappears behind a shut door, and I scrub my jaw. I have to get it together, I really do. My cellphone rings and while I’m not waiting for a call as I told Debbie, I snake my phone from my pocket to find my mother calling. Oh, hell no. I do not have the patience for her and Becker in one day. He will not sign with us, ever. That is not happening, so Bella can just forget that idea here and now, and I don’t care if she’s pissed off about it.
At all.
I’ll pay her for the loss, but even that will probably insult her. While I appreciate her independence on the financial side, there are times she’s too extreme on that point. I slide my phone back into my pocket and decide I have to go to this Zoom meeting.
And I will behave.
Until after. Then, I won’t have to.
Bella and I need to have a conversation, and while I’d prefer to do that naked, she’ll just tell me I’m making her a whore again. It’s time to step back and start over. It’s time I ask her on a date, with dinner, flowers, and all the things I never do, but will for her.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Bella
Me and Dash arrive at the conference room a moment before Tyler, with Debbie following us. “They’re already live, waiting on us. Hurry, everyone. We need to connect.”
Hurry translates to claiming a spot in front of a long conference table. We’ll all sit on one side, facing a big screen on the wall in front of us. I place myself on the far right of the Zoom screen, as far from Tyler as I can get, but as Dash steps to my side and I turn in his direction, somehow my eyes collide with Tyler’s, and the zip of awareness between us steals my breath. I can’t breathe and there are butterflies in my belly, a reaction he doesn’t deserve from me. Not after all he has done to treat me like I’m an employee he pays to sleep with him. Even if it’s not true, Tyler doesn’t seem to have it in him to do anything in a way that isn’t cold and hard.
I’m not sure he’s capable of love.
Just owning things.
Like me.
Angry all over again, I jerk my eyes from his and when Dash sits down, I follow. Tyler is now forced to sit on the opposite side of Dash to be visible on the screen. This worked out as planned. Nothing else has, but this did.
The screen flickers and I lean over to Dash. “Follow my lead.”
“Unless they piss me off,” he says.
I scowl at him. “Oh, my God, Dash—”
“I’m kidding. Chill, Bella. Chill.”
Tyler says something to him, and Debbie calls out, “Sorry, technical issues. I think I’ve got it handled.”
The screen goes live and we’re instantly in the presence of three Hollywood executives. Just like that, my business side comes out to play, and the personal stuff between me and Tyler disappears. In fact, as always, as we did back in LA, we play off each other and it’s magic. Dash follows our lead, and while the call extends a good hour, it ends with an agreement to sign the contract tonight. The call ends and Debbie says, “They just sent the contract. I’ll go print it out.”
This leaves Dash, Tyler, and me alone in the room, but we’re all still focused on business. Dash rolls his seat back to allow a conversation with me and Tyler, and Tyler eyes Dash, not me. “How do you feel about how that went?”
“I think I need to ask you and Bella that question. How did it go?”
“The talking points are good,” Tyler concludes, “but I always hold my judgment until I see it in writing.”
“Exactly,” I agree. “We never know the answer to that until we read the contract and make sure they didn’t sneak anything in on us.”
We debate for a few moments about the meeting but then Debbie is already back and sliding copies of the contract in front of us all. “Does anyone want anything to drink?” she asks.