Page 83 of Do It With Me

“Now?” She blinked hard. “You want us to prepare a whole pitch overnight?”

I shrugged. “It’s either that or we risk things going even further than they already have. We need to put a stop to it as soon as possible. Once the demolition crews hit the ground, that’s it. There’s no more convincing them to pull the plug.”

Ellora stood up immediately, sliding her backpack over her shoulder and moving down the few steps toward me. “Alright, then. What are we waiting for? Let’s go do this thing.”

We went back to my office at Langton Development. The city was spread out below in a glittering grid of lights. The view from up here usually made me feel powerful but not tonight. Tonight, I was too busy looking at her to really notice the view.

Ellora kicked off her boots the moment we walked in and padded across the polished floor in her socks, like she owned the place and didn’t give a shit what anybody else thought. I liked that. Too much, probably.

She smiled when she caught me staring. “Close your mouth. We’ve got work to do, remember?”

“Yeah, but it can wait just one more minute.” I kicked the door shut behind me even though everyone else had long since gone home. I strode across my office and didn’t stop until one of my arms had slid around her waist and the other around her shoulders.

I pulled her into me and kissed her hard, pouring every ounce of relief, longing, and gratitude into every stroke of my tongue against hers. With her soft curves fitted to my body and her fingers stroking through my hair, I groaned and wished I could take it further, but we seriously didn’t have time.

“God, I missed you,” I murmured against her lips when I broke the kiss. “I’m so fucking sorry, Ella. I never meant to hurt you and I know it happened anyway, but I swear to you that I’ll never do it again. Never.”

She brushed the backs of her fingers across my cheek, her eyes fluttering closed. “Please don’t. I don’t know that I could take it, Holden. I really don’t. These last few days…”

“Are over,” I finished for her, resting my forehead against hers for just a beat. “They’re over. We’re putting them behind us and focusing on the future, okay? I wish I could somehow make you forget that they’d ever even happened, but the best I can do is to make sure there are no more days like them in the future.”

“That would be good.” She pulled in a deep breath, her chest expanding against my own, then she let go and took a step back. “So, what do we do first?”

My heart was racing after having her in my arms, my thoughts scattered, and my dick was trying its best to join the party, but I took a breath of my own, stood still for a minute, and then walked to my desk. Turning the large monitor on top to face us, I sat down on the edge of my desk and powered up the computer.

“I think we should start with the community angle,” I said. “As soon as this thing is on, I’ll pull up the plans, but I suspect our best bet at selling this is going to be community and savings.”

“Do you really think that will soften these vampires?”

“They prefer the term investors.”

“Same difference.” She smirked. “Okay, so we show them the people side, but then what?”

“Then we make it clear it will be profitable,” I said. “Because that’s the only language they speak fluently.”

She leaned back a little, her eyes scanning the blueprints on the screen after I’d opened them up. “You know, if you actually cared about profits first, you could’ve just kept your mouth shut and gone along with the original plan.”

“I know, but then I’d have to live with myself without you and it turned out that prospect was harder than facing the vampires.”

“Investors.”

I pumped my eyebrows once. “Now you’re getting it.”

She nodded again, slower this time, but when she scooted forward and really focused on the plans, I knew she was in. Right now, she trusted me again. She wasn’t doubting me or my intentions anymore, and that made it all so fucking worth it.

We worked for hours after that. She had ideas that I never would’ve thought of. Small things that made the whole proposal more human, like suggesting that the shop owners could each contribute something to the public space, art, workshops, or even performances, to make it not just beautiful, but alive. Connected to the people. Give them a reason to show up.

Every time she got excited about an idea, her eyes lit up and I forgot to breathe. Around one a.m., she glanced over at the clock. “You realize we’ve been at this for five hours, right?”

“Yeah, which means we’re either geniuses or completely delusional.”

“Maybe a little bit of both,” she said, smiling tiredly and looking up at me through watery, reddish eyes. “Do you think they’ll go for it?”

“I think if they don’t, I’ll have to find myself a new board.”

She snorted. “You say that like it’s easy.”

“I’m rich, not reasonable.”

She laughed and everything in me felt like it’d been cracked wide open, allowing every bit of happiness and joy she brought me to permeate the deepest recesses of my being. “God, I’ve missed that sound.”

“So did I.” She reached for my hand, but her gaze drifted back to the computer screen as she threaded our fingers together.

We kept at it a little longer, polishing the slides and rehearsing the transitions, making sure we could anticipate every objection. Eventually, she yawned and rested her chin on her hand.

“Do you ever stop working?” she asked.

“Not really,” I admitted. “But if you’re offering to teach me how, I’m a quick study.”

She rolled her eyes, but the corners of her mouth lifted again. “We should get some sleep. All this work will be useless if we’re too tired to make the actual pitch.”

“I don’t know about you, but I think we should just crash here.” I inclined my chin toward the couches in the sitting area of my office. “It’s not exactly romantic but those are comfier than they look and I have blankets in my bathroom. I’ll have Maia get clothes for us in the morning. What do you say, should we save time on the commute and not have to worry about traffic in the morning?”