Page 28 of Love.V2 (Occupational Hazards #2)

Dylan

“I swear, this is the first presentation this week that didn’t make me yawn all the way through it.” Botto’s head of U.S. markets, Angela, pumped Tess’s hand so hard her shoulders shook. I had to stop myself from reaching over to stabilize her.

Then again, I hadn’t had to interfere much during the presentation earlier. Why start now?

Tess had been charming, bright, and smart.

She’d led the Botto team through the presentation thoughtfully, her quiet voice forcing the people in the room to sit up and pay attention.

The concepts were distinct, well-thought-out, and dramatically different from what any of Botto’s competitors were doing.

She even managed to spin Victoria’s metal design into something mildly interesting.

I had to stop underestimating her.

“Obviously, we’ll need to accommodate for our other markets, but as we discussed, we should easily be able to add in the other business verticals. Right?”

Tess’s soft smile hid a wince only I could see. No presentation was perfect, though I knew Tess had been hoping this one would be. The chef character was a hit, but Botto also wanted to continue promoting their other manufacturing products .

“Of course,” Tess agreed, still gripping the other woman’s hand. I was getting seriously concerned about a traumatic brain injury. Angela needed to tone it down. “I already have a few ideas.”

Angela beamed. “Brilliant. We have one more presentation to sit through on Monday morning, but then we’ll make our decision about who we want to present in the next round. Probably Monday afternoon. We’ll give you a call.”

“We’ll keep our phones on,” I assured her, offering my hand, sacrificing myself to spare Tess from any more shaking. And they say chivalry is dead.

“Other products,” Tess groaned the second the elevator doors shut behind us. “I should have added a few sketches and covered those bases.”

“Were we in the same meeting? Where they were glowing about your ideas?”

Our eyes met in the elevator’s reflection, and Tess’s cheeks turned pink. Adorable .

“It was the team’s ideas. Group effort. And you handled all the business-y stuff.”

“Mmhmm. Sure. And was it the team who just had Angela practically salivating at the idea of putting this creative out in the market?” A slow grin made its way across Tess’s face. “That’s what I thought. Nailed it, Livingston. Fucking nailed it. Botto is in the bag.”

“You think so?” Her whisper was so high it sounded like a squeak. I bit my lip to keep from smiling as we walked through the big marble-and-glass lobby to stand on the busy New York sidewalk .

“Trust me, Angel. We should start getting the next round presentation ready.” My head tilted towards the building. Tess followed, her eyes tracing up the glass like she’d be able to sneak a peek at the conference room where she’d very likely just doubled Jinx’s annual revenue in a single proposal.

“Yeah.” She had a happy, far-away look in her eyes. “We’re a good team. We should have done this more together at Worther. That was fun.”

“Very fun,” I agreed, just as our car pulled up to the curb. I opened the door and let her slide inside. “And still more to come.”

She stilled as she pulled her seatbelt over her body. The heat of her gaze seared across the seats. “Oh, yeah?” Her lips tugged into another smile. Not quiet, or happy, like before. Hot . The smile of someone who knows they’re about to get something they want.

“Oh, yeah.”

***

“Adjoining rooms? You could have just canceled mine altogether.” Tess thought she knew what was going on, but she had no idea.

The Botto meeting had been late in the day.

Too late to hop on a plane and come back afterward.

Or at least, that’s what we told ourselves, fiery eyes roaming each other as we booked our flights and rooms. I’d just happened to call ahead this morning and make sure those rooms were as close as possible.

“Seemed presumptuous.” My eyes snagged where Tess was pressing her teeth into her bottom lip. I was so busy staring at her—bright eyes, flushed cheeks, and the long, loose stride of a woman thinking about sex—I almost flew right by our rooms.

“Presume as much as you want. All over me, even.”

God . She was so funny. And sexy. How did she deliver such ridiculous innuendo and still manage to turn me inside out? Her eyes traveled from my bobbing throat down the row of buttons on my shirt. Lower. Her finger stroked the same path.

“So…your room, or mine?” she practically whispered, tilting her head back to look at me with enough heat to start a blaze. I nearly groaned.

“Your room,” I started, pointing to the door on the left. Tess opened her mouth. “And, my room. I’ll be in touch.”

I swiped my keycard, leaving Tess, a cloud of lust, and her baffled expression in the hall behind me. My suitcase landed on the bed before I even looked around.

Didn’t matter. Hotels were pretty much all the same. Next door, I heard Tess’s latch click closed. The muted sounds of her moving around her room filtered through the wall as I yanked two garment bags out of my suitcase.

For this to work, I needed surprise on my side. A little awe didn’t hurt, either.

Only a minute or two had passed by the time I rapped my knuckles on the adjoining door. But when she opened it, her gaze widened, running up and down my body and the suit I’d donned with lightning speed.

Ah, there was that awe. Excellent.

“Um, hello? ”

“Told you I’d be in touch,” I answered, grinning at the way she kept looking at me. Like I was an unexpected room service order, but she was going to devour me, anyway.

“Ri-i-ight,” she drawled, glancing behind me, like that would hold the answers to why I was in her doorway looking like I was about to walk a red carpet. “I guess I didn’t realize I’d be so underdressed when you came knocking.”

“Easily remedied.” I handed over a garment bag, praying like hell the dresses in her closet hadn’t lied and she could fit into this thing. She stared at the bag before delicately looping the hanger over her fingers. I checked my watch.

“It’s almost five-thirty. You have two options. Get ready fast, and come have a drink at the bar with me. Or…” I trailed off, allowing my attention to wander all over her. I had so many plans tonight, it was hard to keep my thoughts straight.

“Or?” Tess took a step forward, her eyes darkening a shade. The lavender of her hair caught the light streaming from the window. She was perfect. And I was getting distracted.

“Or, get ready slowly. And let me watch.”

“Ready for what?” She sounded breathless. A glance at the mirror behind her showed me I was baring my teeth, wolfish. I wanted to eat her whole.

Instead, I reared back. “Tess, it’s the sixteenth.”

Her brow furrowed. I could practically see the wheels turning in her head. The moment she came up empty. “So? ”

“You think I’d forget your half-plus-a-month birthday?” I paused, but her face still looked blank. “I’m not missing such an important occasion just because we’re in a different city.”

Understanding dawned. She looked down at the garment bag dangling from her finger. “We have reservations or something?”

“Or something.”

“It’s a work trip. I just assumed we’d eat at a Chili’s and then go at it like bunnies.” She slid the bag’s zipper down while I laughed.

“For your seven-twelfths birthday? Give me some credit. Though, maybe the second half of that is still doable…” I was still laughing when her breath caught in her throat.

She stroked the material of the dress. Simple, elegant.

It shifted when the light hit just right.

Blue like her eyes, then a faint sheen of lavender caught a stray sunbeam.

“Dylan.”

“If you hate it, I have a backup.” I wasn’t laughing anymore. Not when she looked at me like I was the one shining warmth and light down on her, not the sun. I would have given every one of my stock options to freeze this moment and live in it forever. My palms grew sweaty.

“I don’t hate it,” she whispered, stepping even closer. The backs of her fingers brushed the fabric of my jacket.

“Good.”

“This is a little crazy.”

“Maybe. But I owe you.” I grabbed her fingers, bringing them up to my lips. Feeling her was a compulsion. A vital function of my body. She melted against me, the dress crushed between us. My lips grazed her forehead. “Now, Angel. What’ll it be? Fast? Or slow. ”

She only had to think for a second before she rose on her toes to plant a kiss on my lips. “Fast.” I caught a flash of her smile before the door between us slammed in my face. I tipped my head back and cackled.

***

“Butter,” Tess murmured, her head propped on my shoulder, one hand resting on her stomach.

She’d moaned that she couldn’t eat another bite, but the whole time our car sped around the city, she’d been talking about every single thing she’d consumed.

“The French just know how to use it better than we do.”

“Magic. That paté…” I trailed off, running my fingertips along the slope of her neck, where it dipped to meet her shoulder. Every inch of her could be a work of art. The shadow of her clavicle, the soft skin around her throat.

She groaned, and the sound went straight to my cock. “So good. It reminded me of that French place in Nashville. You remember that place?”

Your favorite restaurant with that chardonnay you always ordered? That time we dared each other to try the escargot, and you liked it so much we went back three times that month? “Yeah. ”

“That was a good place. I think I liked this one better, though.” When she smiled up at me, she looked soft, dreamy. She’d had three glasses of champagne, and the bubbly went to her head faster than regular wine. “Even the band was phenomenal. Am I into jazz now?”

“We could be jazz people.”

“You think?” Her nose wrinkled when she was thinking hard about something.

“Oh, yeah. We’ll be very hip. Listen to everything on vinyl.”

“We’ll need to buy more turtlenecks. Jazz people always wear turtlenecks.”