Page 42 of Do It With Me

“Do it,” I said before tossing back the rest of my champagne. “Let me know if we hit any roadblocks or holdouts. There are bound to be one or two who are going to try to stand in the way of progress. Don’t let them, but if you need me to step in, tell me.”

“You got it.” He poured himself another glass of champagne and leaned back in his chair, the wide grin never leaving his face. “Man, you smashed it back there. For a second, I thought Prescott might get in their heads, but you handled him exactly right.”

“I’ve been handling that man since I started here. He’s part of the old guard. He bought his childhood home from his mother when she got too old to maintain it and he’s still living in it. He’s one of those real community-minded people. Probably buys his morning coffee from the same guy he’s been buying it from every morning for the last forty years, and if that guy ever just didn’t show up that day, he’d perish.”

Jimmy chuckled. “I’m sure we’re going to run into a few more of those on this project. None of the people we’ve approached so far have been eager to sell, but the generous offers have helped. That block has been falling behind the times for too long to catch up any other way and they know it.”

“That’s why we chose it. Well, that, and it’s a prime location. It should never have fallen as far as it has.”

“The economy, man. What are you going to do?” He winked at me and sipped his champagne. Then he leaned forward and talked me through the remainder of the contracts that still needed to be signed.

After his third glass of champagne, he left me with a stack of paperwork to review, but I turned my chair, staring out at the city again but from my office window this time. The skyline hadn’t changed in the last few hours, but somehow, it felt smaller.

We’d finally done it. After months of research, planning, and convincing the board this wasn’t just another vanity project, they’d said yes. I had the official go-ahead for the project that would be my legacy. Leave another part of me etched into the very skyline I was looking at right now.

It should’ve felt bigger than this. Instead, the victory felt thin. Hollow around the edges.

Jimmy had hurried off to get started just like I’d wanted him to, but now that I was sitting in my office alone, it dawned on me that this was, perhaps, the greatest anti-climax of my life. There was no party planned to celebrate. No fancy dinner. Not even drinks with a few friends. I’d been so focused on getting it done that I hadn’t thought about the after at all.

I pulled out my phone before I could talk myself out of it.

Me: I know there’s no class until next week, but I just had a win at the office. I thought maybe we could celebrate. No complications.

I stared at the message, debating whether to hit send. Ellora had been distant in class. Polite but cold. I couldn’t blame her. I’d made things messy when I’d ordered that breakfast for us, I supposed, but damn it, I missed her, so I hit send.

For a few long minutes after that, there was nothing but the soft hum of the city below and the ticking of the clock over my desk, but then my phone buzzed.

Ellora: I can get away for a few hours.

The effect of her message was immediate, the hollowness cracking open and something warm filling the space it’d occupied. I grinned. Board approval, a multimillion-dollar project, and my legacy for the future cemented, but none of it lit me up the way that single text did.

It was dangerous territory, but with her, danger didn’t feel like something to avoid. She was worth the risk.