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Angelina knew her mouth was open, but she couldn’t seem to close it.
“Sweetness,” Jake called a second before the door rolled open.
Angelina groaned. Today was going to get a little weirder. Not only were Gary and Mack introduced to Ben, but they were also going to meet Jake and Max. Her professionalism had been blown to smithereens. There was no good way to explain this.
“Oh, sorry,” Jake stopped when he saw Gary and Mack. Max scowled at them but said nothing.
“Come on in,” she sighed. “It appears my professionalism is gone.”
“I just wanted to let you know we are going home. I cleaned up the mess we made, and Max made you dinner.”
Mack looked at Gary and then at the table.
Angelina could actually visualize her career floating away in the breeze. No more magazine features. No more waiting list of clients. Not even a snip-it on social media to proclaim her awesomeness. No one would boast they had one of her creations. Her reputation would revolve around the number of men she had in her house. Those letters were going to be full chest size. The possibility of front and back was not out of the question. She could have a T on the front and an S on the back. It was going to be great.
“Thank you,” she managed to get out.
“Jake Benson,” he introduced himself. “This is Max Garrett.”
“I’m sorry,” Angelina stood. “My manners flew away this morning. Gary and Mack Grant, this is Jake Benson and Max Garrett. Jake has a law office in town, and Max owns The Place. It is a restaurant and a tiki bar. Gary and Mack are real estate developers.”
“We are in the market for new representation,” Mack told him.
“When you are done with our girl here, why don’t you meet me at my office? We can talk about the details.”
“How about we talk about it over lunch?” Gary rubbed his stomach. “I want to see this tiki bar. Mack always buys lunch. Do you know the last time we were out here, he made me eat at the gas station?”
“Send us the bill,” Mack told her. “Make sure it includes everything. That one is paying,” he hooked a thumb at Gary.
“Two years older, and I still have to pay everything for you,” Gary ribbed.
Mack ignored him and walked toward the door with Jake and Max.
“Wait,” Gary called. Peeling five more bills from his wallet, he placed them on the table. “With all the men running around here, our boy isn’t going to wait. He is going to want his position locked down yesterday. I have a grand on the Fourth of July.”
“Crazy old man,” Mack walked back to the table. “I will be glad to take your money because any one of these guys will have to work their ass off to get her attention and keep it. One grand for Christmas, and I am keeping the guy from the Army.”
“Keep a hold of this for us,” Gary winked at her. “Send me the bill. Let us know who won if we aren’t back before you send the wedding invitations.”
Angelina watched in shock as Gary and Mack strolled out her door chatting with Jake and Max without a care in the world.
“How is this my life?”
Chapter 10
A wailing siren had her jumping out of her chair. Reaching for her phone, Angelina silenced her alarm. It was the first of three warnings. There were always three. The first was to finish up what she was working on. When the second rang, she knew it was time to finish and hit save. The third was the five-minute warning. It was a system she started in college to get to class on time. She continued to use it because it worked.
Everything was ready to go for her new client. The house was enormous. It was almost as if the outer shell was meant to encompass a small city. It could be a multi-family unit or maybe a multi-generational home. Whatever it was going to be, it would be beautiful. It was unusual that today was their first meeting. All the details had been discussed and worked out over email. It really couldn’t be counted as odd on today’s scale.
Angelina shrugged it off. This afternoon couldn’t possibly compare to this morning. She was fully dressed and prepared. It was the first time in her career that being fully dressed was a measurement of a successful day. All kinds of firsts happened today. The first time she was kissed in front of a client. The first time selling two designs at the same time. The first time her clients bet on her love life. Fingers crossed, there will be no more firsts.
Clicking the save button, Angelina exited. She had time for a quick check of her email. Clicking the icon, she scanned through the messages. One caught her eye. She hovered the mouse over it. It appeared Reginald Arthur Regent the Third was not going away. Should she open it or toss it in the trash and hit block?
Angelina gave in to curiosity and clicked on the message. Scanning through the lengthy text made her groan. In formal legal language, spelled out in great detail, Reginald sent her a list of changes he was willing to make to his coitus contract. It couldn’t have been mistaken for a non-disclosure agreement when there was a clause for additional party experimentation with the option for viewing.
Angelina had to laugh. Who made sex contracts? The same guy who had a white house because he wanted to be the most interesting thing in the room.
Jake told her he had taken care of this. The cautiously worded response he sent would need to be reworded. Curiosity had her scrolling down. She read the list of negotiations he included. The man was not taking no for an answer. The changes he made had her stomach twisting. She had no idea what was in section A, subsection two of his playroom, and she didn’t want to know. Whatever it was, he wanted to use it. The amount of money he was willing to pay made her queasy.
