Page 17 of Last Chance Seduction (Montgomery Ink Legacy #9)

“How many fluids are you getting a day?” Dash asked as he walked into the main conference room of our building, Reece right behind him.

“I don’t think that’s any of your business.” Jamie lifted her nose.

Brooklyn snorted. “Seriously though, how did it go?” Her phone chimed for a text, and she held up one finger. “Hold on. It’s Duke.”

“Oh yes, let’s stop our work conversation to talk about your boyfriend,” Dash drawled.

“We have four minutes until the meeting starts, and I promised I would text back right away.”

“That doesn’t sound controlling or anything,” Reece bit out as he headed over to the coffee machine. He pressed a few buttons, and a latte started up. I raised a brow as the man added caramel to it but sighed as I realized he was making a second cup. This one just black coffee.

Without another word, he handed the caramel latte to Brooklyn, who just beamed at him.

“Thank you. Though this does not count as the coffee you owe me.”

“You didn’t say I had to pay for it.” Reece shrugged and met my gaze.

“I lost a bet on a football game, and here we are.”

“Okay then. Seriously though, I want to know about the controlling part,” I put in, worried.

Brooklyn just smiled widely. “It’s not what you think. Promise. He just got his new promotion, and I said I would text back as soon as he told me because I wanted to celebrate with him. But I have to sadly go to work and be an adult. But Duke got his promotion.”

Jamie cheered for her as the rest of us made rumblings of happiness.

I didn’t know Duke, but Brooklyn seemed happy with him. And from the way that Nash already had his phone out, I had a feeling that one of the many group chats would be doing their own Montgomery search on the man.

You didn’t get to date into the Montgomery family without a full background check.

We had principles.

“So how did it go?”

“Yes, how did the fake girlfriend thing go?” Reece asked, the smile in his eyes making me want to punch him.

“Everybody bought it. And Mercy did great. It turns out that Mr. Arnault’s wife likes Mercy’s work, and so it came full circle.”

“Did we get it then?” Jamie asked, clapping her now empty hands together.

“I don’t know. I think we pretty much have it settled, but not fully.

I was too late last night after we got home going through all of my notes, and I emailed you guys everything that I know so far.

There are a few other projects that we could be good for, as well as some I don’t think work for us, but I want you guys to go over it too because I’m not actually the boss. ”

“You say that and yet I don’t believe you believe it,” Dash said with a flutter of his eyelashes.

“Honestly, I’m with him on this,” Reece added as he gestured towards Dash. “Which doesn’t happen often.”

“You are boss-like,” Brooklyn agreed.

“But I want to know if he’s bossy when it comes to Mercy,” Jamie added, and I rolled my eyes at her as the others whistled.

“Mercy’s my friend, my neighbor, and if the Arnaults ask, my girlfriend.”

“What are you going to do when they realize you’re not together?” Reece asked, worry in his tone.

My mouth went dry. Were we together? I didn’t fucking know.

Because what we’d done in that hotel room wasn’t something two people who didn’t want each other would do.

I wasn’t about to explain that in this office, however—even if Jamie gave me a knowing look.

“It won’t be a problem. By then, maybe one of you guys will be married and will take the pressure off me.

” I tried to sound as if I knew what the hell I was doing, but everyone in that room knew the whole gamble had been idiocy at its best.

An awkward silence settled over the group, and I had no idea what the hell to say.

“We’ll go over everything that you learned at the event,” Brooklyn said. “And we’ll table everything for Q1 and Q2 when we’re ready.”

“Yes, because in addition to this, I guess we do have to celebrate the holidays,” I said dryly.

“Are you guys hosting a New Year’s party?” Reece asked before he took a sip of his coffee.

I looked down at my now cold cup of coffee and shrugged. “I don’t know. Are we?”

“I don’t think there’s a set one. Everyone’s just doing their own thing. The Christmas party was a lot,” Jamie answered.

I nodded. “But Reece, if you need someone to celebrate with, you’re welcome to join us. We’re just going out for part of the night but planning on celebrating midnight at home.”

“We’ll see,” Reece answered.

I rolled my eyes. “I love that we’ll see . You have it down like my mom did.”

“A mom’s we’ll see is the best out there. But thankfully I mean we’ll see.”

“What are your holiday plans?” I asked as we settled into our seats.

“Nothing much. Same old, same old. Not all of us have a stadium full of cousins.”

“Well, you’re welcome to come and hang out with us.” Brooklyn beamed. “Mom and Dad and the twins always go all out. Not to mention Duke will be there too.”

“For Christmas morning?” I asked, surprised. I hadn’t heard when he’d met the family, but things seemed to be progressing.

Brooklyn looked like she lived on Cloud Nine as she bounced in her chair. “Yes! Mom and Dad already love him.”

“You don’t need to take care of Little Orphan Reece,” he said.

Brooklyn rolled her eyes, not taking the man’s usual grouchiness to heart.

I didn’t know if Reece was an orphan, or if he had any siblings, or any family.

I knew he was single, just because the man had mentioned it recently, and had no kids from what I knew.

But Reece was a co-worker, so it wasn’t as if I was going to pry completely.

“Do you know what Mercy’s doing for Christmas?”

I shrugged, though I’d already had the idea on my mind. Trying not to think about Mercy at work was starting to become a full-time job. One I was clearly failing. “I don’t know. We didn’t talk about that.”

“So what did you two talk about?” Dash asked.

I flipped him off, ignoring his laugh. “Enough. Let’s get to work.”

“I have questions,” Jamie teased.

I ignored the group calling after me as I headed back to my office.

I answered phone calls, went through paperwork, and worked on a few sketches.

But the phone never rang with the one I wanted.

Not a single call from the Arnaults. I knew it was the holidays, and I probably wouldn’t hear anything until after the first, but still, I wanted to know if all of that lying, and stress, got us our dream bid.

I made my way home, before the others did, to finish working on sketches, and I knew it was not that big of a deal. It was rare that we all worked underneath the same roof anyway in this line of business. Music blaring, I tried figure out exactly what the hell I was going to do.

Because all day, while trying to think about the stress of the project, and the actual projects we had on hand, I couldn’t help but think about that kiss.

And Mercy.

Damn it.

I pulled into my driveway, only to see the object of my traitorous thoughts standing in her front yard, frowning at her mail. I got out of the truck, and I knew if I went inside and ignored her, I’d be a dick, and frankly, I didn’t want to ignore her.

I moved around the truck and came to her side of the yard.

“Hey there.”

Mercy looked up, her frown disappearing. “Hey. Why do they send so many bills that I have on e-delivery and automatic payment? It scares me that it’s like they’re going to shut off my heat or something.”

“I think they enjoy the stress, even if they can’t see it.”

“They’re probably watching us right now,” she teased.

I stood too close to her, and we both knew it, but instead of moving back, I brushed her hair back from her face and then cupped her cheek.

“Hey,” I repeated.

She blinked up at me, mouth parting. “Hey.”

And when I leaned down and captured her lips with my own, she didn’t push me away. Instead she put her hand on my chest, and just let it rest there as I explored her mouth, and her taste.

It wasn’t until I realized that probably every single neighbor in the cul-de-sac was watching me make out with my neighbor, that I pulled away.

“Hey.”

“I think we’ve got that down.” She frowned at me. “What was that?”

“I have no fucking clue. But I want to do it again.”

“So do I. And I think that should scare me.”

“Does it?”

“Not as much as it should.”

A wide smile spread over my face before I leaned down and kissed her again.