looks down at me, his eyes narrowing and he presses his lips together. “No,” he barks. “You’ll be next to me, where you belong.”
He doesn’t mean for this one meeting, he’s saying it’s my place. My place. Beside him. I don’t know what to think, what to believe, but I want it. I want it all and the way he’s looking at me with sheer determination like I’ve never seen before, it makes my heartbeat skip.
“Okay,” I rasp.
He turns his head, his gaze sliding back over to Bash. “We done with this shit now?” he asks.
Bash is quiet for a moment, then he clears his throat. “We’re done, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
“Yeah, I’m sure,” he mutters.
Then it happens. I hear high heels clicking on the floor and I slowly turn my head in the direction of the noise. It’s her. Susan Astor. She’s beautiful. Tall, blonde, heavily made-up and dressed to perfection.
I look like a slob next to her with my long brown hair pulled back in a low ponytail and my barely-there makeup along with my cheap clothes and my mom’s pick of bright hot pink high heels.
Lifting my hand, I tuck a piece of hair behind my ear and shift my gaze to the floor. Her expensive pointed heels come into view and she clears her throat. Slowly, I lift my gaze to meet hers, but she’s not looking at me. In fact, she’s looking past me. Her gaze is fixated and focused on Landry and nobody else.
She purses her lips together and tilts her head to the side before her lips curve up into a shit-eating, cat-ate-the-canary grin. “Are you ready to part with most of your money, Landry? That is, unless you want to forget all of this and continue to live separate lives?”
“I’m not backing down. I can make more money, Susan.”
She hums, then leans forward. Her eyes search his and she smiles even more before she licks her lips. “Not if I have anything to say about it, you won’t.”
Landry snorts. “Okay, Susan. You can retract your claws. Let’s get this handled.”
Without another word, he takes a step, looking back at me, he winks. “Shall we?”
“Wait a minute, what’s this?” Susan demands.
Bash groans softly behind us, but Landry turns to Susan. “This is Tennessee, she’s going to be taking notes for me, you’re okay with that, I assume?”
Susan finally looks to me. Her gaze roams over me and her lips press together before they turn up into a grin. “Oh, Tennessee Bradley? You look just like your mother.”
Her words would probably seem harmless, or perhaps even a compliment if it wasn’t for her tone. She obviously thinks my mother is unattractive and that I am the same. Or maybe it’s because we don’t have a lot of money, and I’m dressed cheaply, just like my mother.
It doesn’t matter because Susan Astor is a bitch.
“Thanks, I’ll make sure to tell her you said that.”
She narrows her gaze at me, then her lips turn up into a sweet, fake smile. “You know, I suggested that Landry hire you. Your mother called and begged me to get your foot in the door. It was the least I could do, after all, we were once friends.”
Her words are probably meant to make me feel grateful to her, or maybe she thinks I’m trying to seduce Landry, which isn’t completely off base. I never set out to seduce Landry, but I can’t deny that now we’re together, it’s better than I could have ever imagined and he makes me happier than I thought any man could.
It should feel wrong.
I should feel guilty standing here in front of his wife, my body still aching from him being inside of me—I don’t.
LANDRY
Uncomfortable.
Is there a bigger word for the meaning? I’m not sure. If there is, then that’s what this meeting would be. Tennessee’s back is ramrod straight as she sits next to me. Bash is fuming on the other side of me and Susan is trying to figure all of this out. Her gaze is nothing short of assessing.
Keeping both my hands on the table, I make sure to press my thigh against Tennessee’s, my only way of showing any kind of support or having an anchor. She is just that too, my anchor. I don’t know when it happened, but it did. She is who I look forward to every morning. Before we slept together, I just looked forward to seeing her. Now, it’s even more so.