Second Chance Mess (Bad News Billionaires #1) - Lucia Jordan Page 0,19

I explained the situation.

“But what about my job at the coffee shop?” I asked.

“Screw that menial job. You know working at Cubed is an actual career, there’s no comparison.”

“But you got me that job, and I don’t want to just bail on it.”

“Oh, please,” Kate laughed. “The baristas are a dime a dozen. Not that I don’t love working with you every day, but you deserve a better job. So do I. I’m interviewing for a marketing position next week as well.”

“Really? That’s great!”

“Yeah, so honestly, Brooke, I think you should take your old job back. People would kill to have that job, and no matter what happens with you and Tim, I don’t think you should ruin your career over it. You might just need to suck it up buttercup and get to work!”

I laughed at how cute Kate was, even when she was profoundly serious. She was completely right. I needed to take my job back.

“Thanks, Kate,” I said as I gave her a big hug.

“Always,” she smiled. “Okay, now tell me about what’s going on with Tim.”

“Nothing,” I said. “I delivered the coffee, and the three of us talked about the Spokane project, and then he offered me my job back. That was all.”

“Yeah, but that’s not all. He cares about you, Brooke, a lot. I think you need to give him a break.”

I was about to say something in rebuttal to that idea, but Kate didn’t let me. She put her finger over my lips so that I didn’t give an answer tonight. Then she gave me another big hug and told me just to think about it for a day or two.

“You know what we need to do?” she said as she hopped up off the couch and over to the television cabinet. “We need to watch a movie. Just an old cult classic, vegging-out, girl’s night flick. Want to?”

“Hell yeah! I’ll go make the popcorn,” I said as I bounced off to the kitchen.

10

Chapter Seven (Tim)

I felt as though I was at least halfway successful since Brooke texted late last night and agreed to return to her job. I wanted to text her back a million things and ask when I could see her again outside of work, if ever at all, but I knew that it wasn’t the right time for me to push that. So instead, I just texted her back a simple. Wonderful, see you in the morning. And I left it at that. At least she would be returning to the office, even if she wasn’t yet returning to me.

Brooke laid out some pretty clear parameters outlining her agreement to return to the company. I was starting to wonder who the actual boss was. She said she would come back on a temporary basis to see how things went, which I translated to mean that she was feeling out to see if we could work in the same space together without things getting weird.

During the course of the week, Brooke and I worked alongside each other on the big Spokane project. Although I made sure to stay professional and reign in anything that could be misconstrued by her as anything less than a platonic work relationship, the sexual tension between the two of us was reared up at every turn. And it wasn’t just from me; it was emanating from Brooke as well. She would reach across the table for something and accidentally brush against me, and I could hear the tiny gasp that she would make. When we rode the elevator together, if we arrived or left work at the same time, it was impossible not to hear our labored breathing inside the enclosed container. I was trying so damn hard to resist her and wait for her to be ready to talk to me about our relationship again, but the fact that I could see the angst on her face, too, made it a million times more difficult.

As we got further and further into the project, Brooke was showing a real interest in the tiny homes that we were building. Her interest seemed to go beyond the marketing and design level that was a part of her job and encroached more into a personal appeal. I even heard her mention something to Max about wanting a container home for herself one day. That’s when I knew I had to take her to the mountains.

“Brooke,” I said as we were sitting in the meeting room together after Max had