When he went by Sloane’s office a short time later, she wasn’t there. He saw her speeding off to a meeting later, but it wasn’t until after five o’clock he finally managed to corral her in her office alone. He shut the door and walked behind her desk where she sat, propping his ass against the desk, nudging her chair with his knee so she faced him. “Hey, beautiful girl. Are you okay?” He reached out and brushed a strand of hair off her face.
“Of course.” She smiled at him.
She was lying.
“Why didn’t you answer my text last night?”
“God, I didn’t even see it until this morning. Sorry. My phone was off.”
He frowned. Her phone was never off. He knew that because one time she’d tried to get out of bed to answer it when they’d just had sex. He’d put a stop to that pretty goddamn quick. There was more than one reason for the restraints fastened to his headboard.
“What were you doing last night?”
“I just, um, went to visit my dad and stepmom.”
“On a weeknight? You drove all that way there and back?”
“Uh-huh.” She smiled and looked at her computer screen.
“Are they okay?”
“Yeah, of course.”
He paused. Something was up. But she seemed okay. Mostly. “So. Dinner tonight instead?”
“Yeah, I don’t know…I have so much work to do.”
“Me too, actually.” He grimaced. “How about we work a couple hours more, grab a pizza and take it back to my place. We can…unwind…together.” He winked at her.
She smiled. “That sounds great. But I just had pizza last night.”
He shook his head. “Fine. We’ll get sushi. Whatever. I’ll swing by in a while.”
She pressed her lips together, then nodded.
A couple of hours later, they drove in separate vehicles to his place. He picked up the sushi on the way and she was waiting in his lobby when he got there. “I have to get you a key,” he murmured as he kissed her, then moved past her to the elevators. “You could be up there waiting for me. Naked.”
She laughed.
He was relieved that she seemed okay now. Maybe she’d just had some kind of disagreement with her folks or something.
They ate edamame and dynamite rolls and spicy tuna rolls while watching Two and a Half Men and laughing. Warm affection rolled through him as she fed Chuck little pieces of shrimp, even though she knew Chuck wasn’t supposed to get people food. Then she picked up his dog and snuggled him against her chest. He loved that she loved Chuck. He loved…having her there.
Friday morning, Sloane looked up from an email from Derek at Verhoeven to see Bailey in her office door, her eyebrows pinched together and her mouth tight.
“Good morning,” Sloane said.
“Do you have a minute?”
“Sure. Come on in. What’s up?”
Bailey pressed her lips together. “I have a problem. I have a revision to a billboard campaign that’s supposed to be at the printer Monday and it isn’t ready yet. A hundred billboards, across the country.”
Sloane frowned. “Which one?”
“The one for Steel.”
“Shit.”
“Yeah.”
“Who’s the printer?”
“Bowes. They’re waiting for it. If we don’t get it to them by Monday, there’s going to be a rush job penalty.”
“Why isn’t it ready? Where’s the hold up?”
“Isaiah. Hunter got the copy written and it’s been approved, but Isaiah hasn’t finished the layout.”
“Did you talk to him?”
Bailey sighed. “Yes. He blew me off.”
“Shit.”
This wasn’t the first time one of the guys had dismissed Bailey and it pissed Sloane off.
“Yeah. A rush job penalty will put us over budget on this job.” Bailey’s face tightened with anxiety. “I’ll get the blame for that.”
“No, you won’t. I’ll go talk to them.”
“Should I come with you?”
“Yes. You should.” Watch and learn, little girl. Sloane smiled as she rose from her chair. “Come on.”
They hiked through the office to Isaiah and Hunter’s cubicle. “Hey guys. The billboard ad for Steel. Where’s it at?”
“We don’t have time to get it done.” Isaiah frowned, looking up from his computer screen. “We have too much other shit to do. We don’t have time to spend all day dicking around with a billboard. Push it back.”
“We can’t push it back. It’s already been revised once and it’s due at the printer Monday morning.”
“There’s no way we can get it done by then.” Hunter leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms.
“Look, this’ll take probably four hours of your time. Not a big deal. But to Bailey and to the client, this is hugely important.”