Total pages in book: 121
Estimated words: 115308 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 577(@200wpm)___ 461(@250wpm)___ 384(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 115308 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 577(@200wpm)___ 461(@250wpm)___ 384(@300wpm)
Switching off the engine, I turned to see Maia’s eyes were bright with unshed tears. I reached over to pat her knee. “I know. It’s shit.”
“It’s beyond shit,” she whispered, blinking rapidly. “Poor John.”
“Callan and I asked him to join our company so he could stay here.”
“That’s a great idea.”
“I don’t know. Property management isn’t his passion.”
“But it’ll give him a legal reason to stay until he figures out a way to remain in the country doing something he loves.”
“I tried to tell him the same thing, but he’s just … wallowing right now.”
“By himself?”
“That’s what he wants.”
Maia leaned into me. “There are times when we leave the people we care about to wallow, and there are times when we don’t. Let’s go get him.”
Surprised by the suggestion, I quirked an eyebrow. “Now?”
“Yes. It’s only four o’clock. Let’s see if Callan’s free and we’ll all go out to dinner. Me being there will make it seem less like an ambush.”
“Is it an ambush?”
“Kind of. We’ll lull him into a false sense of ‘We’re just here taking your mind off it’ and then hit him with the ‘Come work for us until you discover what it is you want from life now.’”
My chest fucking ached as I stared into her beautiful face because it wasn’t only the perfect arrangement of Maia’s features that made her gorgeous. She was gorgeous right down to her very soul. “Okay. Let’s do it.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
MAIA
“You must be pleased with how the campaign is starting.”
I glanced up from the latest national sales reports, my brain still on my last thought about meeting with Christina to discuss ending our relationship with a certain designer. This was the fourth season we were at a loss on sales for the items. I knew the designer was a friend of the Erstwhiles, but the clothing was much too punk rock for our clientele, and we were continually putting what items we had into sales stock, sometimes having to slash eighty percent off the retail value to move it.
The sound of Becky’s voice was the last thing I wanted to hear when I was contemplating such a difficult conversation with my boss.
And the catty look in Becky’s eyes was the last thing I wanted to see when I’d had my fill of cattiness for the day. Usually, Eli was there to block her entry, but they’d already left for the day.
I made a noncommittal sound of agreement. “I’m sorry, Becky. I really need to get this report finalized before I finish up.”
“Finishing early again?”
What a little … “Technically, I’m already into my overtime. You and I are the only ones left at the office.”
“Yes, well, I’ll be staying until the work is done.”
“My work will be done once you go back to yours.”
Her eyes flashed at my rare bite back. It was clearly taken as antagonism because she leaned her arse on my desk and said with saccharine falseness, “You mustn’t pay attention to all the comments online. You know how people enjoy tearing others down.”
“I’m not paying attention to the comments.”
At noon, the first video went live on Pennington’s social media. The team had edited it together well. It showed us on the hot air balloon, Baird pressing his chest into my back as we looked out at Edinburgh. Music played over the edited videos as I pointed down at the field where the announcement had been spelled out. The drone camera footage had been knitted in nicely between that, and then a voiceover actor explained to the viewer who we were and how they were following our journey to marriage. The music died down so Baird and I could be heard introducing ourselves … and then our kiss.
A kiss that looked pretty realistic. In fact, my whole body had flushed hot from top to toe when I watched us. We looked … right together. And that freaked me out.
The video went viral. Hilary was ecstatic. The follower count on Pennington’s socials had already seen a huge bump. So had my own followers. And Baird’s.
An hour ago, I made the mistake of checking the comments. There were so many girls crying over Baird being off the market. Literally. The comments were filled with the sobbing emoji. Then there were the catty comments about how I’d never hold his attention and eventually he would cheat. There were even volunteers to help him cheat! Lots of people placed bets on how long the marriage would last. Then there were the comments about how disappointed in Baird they were for choosing “a typical WAG.” What did that even mean?
In among all that were comments about how our chemistry was fire. People defended me. My DMs exploded with a mix of congratulatory messages from complete strangers and disgusting sexual overtures from people who wanted to hook up with me.