Pride and Papercuts (The Austens #5) - Staci Hart Page 0,85

hope I had with her, written in stone when she kindly informed me that I was the last man she would ever choose for hers.

I didn’t know how much clearer she could make it.

Although the time for Laney and me had passed, there were two important matters that needed to be addressed—Wickham and my involvement regarding Georgie and Jett. And since I couldn’t find the right words with my lips, I laid them down with pen to paper where there would be no interruptions.

Now all I had to do was give it to her and leave.

Because I was leaving.

Not forever, though it was tempting. Georgie and I planned a last-minute trip to the cities Wasted Words would expand in under the excuse of getting a flavor for the cities and tweaking our final campaign to meet each location. Caroline would run the team while we were gone, and given that the competition was over today, I suspected we would go back to Laney coming in twice a week for meetings.

I wanted her here every day. I wanted her to leave—it was the only way I could escape her. Even now, as we sat in the conference room and she gave her presentation, I could barely stand to share space with her for the longing. A beast rolled and roiled in my skin, the desire to do something, anything, alive and hungry. I wanted to explain and to apologize. To yell and to argue. To kiss her and hold her. To tell her the truth.

I could do none of those things. So I sat in that chair, barely hearing what she said, my fist opening and closing under the table where it rested on my thigh.

Her final product was genius, just as I’d known it would be. The fill-in-the-blank slogan worked for everything, and her artwork, the palette, it was all not only on-brand for the bookstore, but firmly in the vein of current design trends. She’d taken my suggestions, and I was even more certain she’d win than I’d ever been.

Add that to the list of things I should have told her.

The meeting ended with a small speech from Georgie, then Cooper, thanking us for our work. We all stood, the team dispersing, but Georgie waved Laney and me over.

“Knew you could do it,” Cooper said with a sideways smile, extending his hand for a shake.

“I’m nothing if not consistent,” I joked.

“And how about Laney?” He pulled her into a side hug. “She’s something else, isn’t she?”

Laney’s lips flattened, her eyes sharp with warning when they met mine. One tick of the clock, and everything about her shifted to defense.

“She is,” I answered, noting the many ways that was true.

“How’d you guys get along?”

Laney answered for us, “Well, we ended up competing with each other just to shut the other one up. So about that well.”

Cooper appraised her, then glanced at me. “She’s not afraid of you at all, is she?”

“Not even a little.”

“Brave,” he noted.

“I have four brothers his size and with bigger mouths,” she said. “Very little scares me.”

He chuckled. My chest ached.

I said nothing.

“I’m really impressed,” Cooper said. “I’m not sure how we’re ever going to choose.”

“Then do me a favor and pick mine,” Laney suggested. “Destroying Darcy has become my new personal and professional mission.”

They all laughed like she was kidding. Maybe she was.

I supposed she didn’t realize she’d destroyed me already.

Georgie picked up the conversation, discussing subsequent steps and a meeting we’d have at the end of next week to determine our final direction, not mentioning she and I were leaving. No one knew, not even Caroline, and she’d be taking over. But I wanted to slip out quietly so I didn’t have to answer any questions. Because if they asked, I’d have to lie and say I was leaving for work. And I refused to lie.

Everyone said their goodbyes, and Laney led the charge out of the conference room as Cooper turned to me for idle conversation. I’d already taken a step to follow Laney.

“I’m sorry,” I said, “but there’s something I need to take care of. Will you excuse me?”

“Of course,” he answered with that smile on his face and his eyes bright with whatever he saw in me. “Let’s have lunch, catch up.”

“I’ll text you.”

And I was off as quickly as I could go without looking urgent. Even if it felt like the last chance I’d ever have to speak to her.

Georgie stood in her office with Laney, the two of them