Page 128 of Bottles & Blades
I get to watch Jean-Michel come apart too.
Forty
Jean-Michel
Beyond those gloriousfew days in Paris, Tiff and I aren’t able to find much opportunity to relax together.
Between her classes and nannying and my work—ironically enough, I had ended up with an emergency meeting that sent me to Germany and Tiff home on the plane by herself—and the Eagles gearing up for the playoffs, we’ve been cobbling minutes and hours together rather than days.
But tonight is different.
I’ve put out the fires.
She doesn’t have a class, isn’t needed at Stefan and Brit’s house.
We’re going to eat and fuck and then maybe eat and fuck again.
Okay, nomaybeabout it.
Because I couldn’t keep my hands off her before I had that tight little cunt squeezing me until stars flashed at the corners of my vision.
Now that I know how good it is to have her?
Impossible to do anything but attempt to satiate the hunger between us.
Allwe’ve been doing is fucking and eating and sleeping.
She’s due a little romance.
I stand up from my desk, pocket my phone, and get exactly one step toward the door as I realize that plan is about to go out the window.
Mostly because Marie’s sprinting in through the door, her expression unreadable, a man on her heels that I haven’t seen in several years.
“Jace,” I say, moving toward the pair, hand extended for him shake. “Just a second,” I mutter, turning to Marie and taking her arm.
“No,” she says, stopping as I start to guide her away and turning back to Jace. “Mr. Henderson is the reason we found the connection.”
I frown. “What connection?”
“Duarte tried to fuck us over too,” Jace says, handing me a stack of papers that I quickly flip through—contracts, emails, and?—
Everything in me goes still.
Angela’s name is all over these fucking papers.
Not a connection via connection via a connection.
But her name written in black and white.
“I called Attie and she’s coming down to talk while her team heads to Mr. Henderson’s office.” There’s excitement in Marie’s eyes, but it’s mixed with something else that has the hairs prickling on my nape. She’s not looking at Jace—but also she’slookingat him, her gaze sliding to the side, drifting to him then quickly yanked away again.
Hmm.
“Suzanne and I have been looking for a connection between all of this,” she says gleefully, “and we finally have one that will actually pay off?—”
“Roll this back for me,” I say carefully. “Last I heard, all we had proof of was her bugging the shit out of me and fucking with our contracts. It’s bad news that she’s doing that shit with other companies”—I flick my eyes to Jace’s—“sorry she’s being a pain in the ass for you too.”
He lifts one shoulder, drops it.
