“God, can you imagine what life would look like with a more relaxed Liam?” David asked.
Becca narrowed her eyes as if considering it. “Honestly, no. He’s been like this since day one on Wall Street. Always tense and a stickler for rules. I don’t think he’s ever even wanted to break any.”
That statement had been 100 percent true until I met Tess. Something about her just made me want to disregard every rule. But Becca and David didn’t need to know about that.
“Are we already deciding who will be Soho Lingerie’s mentor?” Becca asked.
I shook my head. “Let’s wait until after the contract is signed.”
Sometimes deals fell through, and if that happened, we would need to approach our second most promising candidate. I didn’t want to get into the nitty-gritty of who would mentor them until everything was signed.
“True,” David said. “Well, since you’re a stickler for rules and are going to make me stay here until midnight if needed, I’ll get started on reviewing what’s been done on the contract.”
“Perfect.”
Becca groaned. “Why are you indulging him? He’s only going to get more insufferable.”
“That’s impossible.”
I threw my stress ball right at David. It bounced off him and smacked into Becca’s ear.
I fist-pumped the air. “Two in one shot.”
Becca laughed. “Fine, I’ll get started on the contract as well. But I’m claiming the rooftop for myself today.”
“Good for me. Dexter, come on. Let’s go downstairs.”
“Sure thing.” On the way to my office, he added, “I sure hope you get to mentor Soho Lingerie. That Tess is something else. I’m gonna ask her out as soon as the papers are signed.”
I froze midstep. Drawing a deep breath, I turned around slowly. “No, you’re not.”
“What?”
“Tess Winchester is off-limits.”
“There’s no ring on her finger.”
I stared at him, jamming my hands in my pockets. “She’s going to be a business partner.”
“There’s no clause that says we’re not allowed to ask applicants out.”
My jaw ticked. I just stared him down.
“Okay, boss. Got the message. I’m backing off.”
“Good.”
I stalked off to my office, fully aware that I was a hypocrite. It had been five days since I’d seen her at that dinner, and I still couldn’t stop thinking about her. I couldn’t take my eyes off that woman the whole evening. She was a sexy goddess and an awkward goofball rolled into one, and while I never thought I’d find the latter charming, I did.
She was so refreshing, so different from any woman I’d gone out with. It was also not a coincidence that I hadn’t gone on a date since the day I met Tess. I could chalk it up to my workload, but the truth was I only wanted to go out with her. And yet I couldn’t, especially now that we decided to take on Soho Lingerie.
I sat down in my chair, but instead of reading the contract, I searched for Tess’s number in their application and punched it in my phone. Our interns were always tasked with contacting the applicants we selected, but this time, I wanted to do it myself.
I sent Dexter a short email, informing him that I’d break the good news to Soho Lingerie. He’d probably think I was doing it because of his earlier comment. I was pissed at Dexter, yeah, but I wanted to be the one to tell Tess the good news. I wanted to be the first one who heard her reaction.
Tess didn’t answer right away, and when she did, she sounded breathless.
“Hi!”