Man in Love

by Laurelin Paige

  And they were both in the same position Scott and I were in. Unable to really be together, even if Kendra decided to ignore her parents and choose herself. Not without sacrificing the DRF. None of us were willing to do that.

  I was so mired in feeling glum about the situation—along with admittedly having butterflies about the prospect of seeing Scott—that I neglected to notice the floor number when we got off the elevator until the doors had shut behind us, and I didn’t recognize anything around me.

  “I think we got off on the wrong floor,” I said to Kendra.

  “No, we’re here today. I know where the room is. Follow me.” She brushed past us to lead us down a long hallway past offices with signs like Media Relations, Production Development, and Director of Digital Content.

  “Something’s weird,” I whispered to Teyana.

  She was gazing forlornly after Kendra and took a moment to look at me. “What? Why?”

  “Because this is all media related. Sebastian Industrial shouldn’t have offices like this.”

  “But we’re at the Sebastian Center.”

  “Do they rent out space in the building to other companies?” I didn’t know why I was asking her. She wouldn’t know the answer any better than I would.

  Before I could direct the question to Kendra instead, we were at a large conference room, being ushered in by an assistant or receptionist-type person who was definitely not Eden or anyone else I recognized. In fact, there wasn’t anyone at all that I recognized, and there were quite a few people in the room. Where were Paris and Anthony and the Matts? Where were the lawyers? Where was Brett? Where was Scott or his father, Henry?

  “It looks like we’re the last ones here,” Kendra said, looking around the room. With a nod from an older gentleman standing at the door, she gestured for us to sit. “If you will all take a seat, I’ll get us started.”

  I hesitated, wanting to get in a private word with her first, but she beat me to it. “In the future, you’ll handle this next part. Just, since you’ve been out of the loop, I’m going to step in today.”

  “Uh. Okay.” Considering that I’d never actually been a liaison, I was happy to watch and learn. “But—”

  I couldn’t say more since she’d already crossed the room to the head of the table. I exchanged a glance with Teyana, then we sat down in two of the empty chairs remaining.

  Immediately, Kendra welcomed everyone. “I think there are a few people here who might not know me, so I’ll introduce myself. I’m Kendra Montgomery, owner of Conscience Connect, and I am very excited that we have finally arrived at the day we seal up this wonderful partnership between the Sebastian name and the Dysautonomia Relief Foundation.

  “While we did set out to court Sebastian Industrial for this union, led by my friend and partner Tess Turani…” She paused to gesture toward me. All eyes swept in my direction, and I waved awkwardly. “Our negotiations broke down a week ago when their high demands forced us to abandon our hopes of compromise.”

  Wait...what?

  Teyana slanted close to whisper, “High demands?”

  “Demanding someone marry someone they don’t love is kind of a high demand.” Though, that probably wasn’t what Kendra was alluding to in front of all these people.

  ...or hold on.

  I leaned forward, eager for her to go on, my stomach fluttering with tentative exhilaration.

  “Fortunately, due to innovative thinking, a passion to succeed, and the support of the empire founder himself, Irving Sebastian, our teams were able to shift directions and secure funding with a corporation equally capable of sponsoring the DRF at the same level we could expect from the SIC. For more on that, I’ll turn the floor over to Sebastian News Corp president, Samuel Sebastian.”

  Sebastian News Corp? Samuel?

  I vaguely remembered Brett mentioning Samuel as one of Henry’s younger brothers. And News Corp was another branch of the Sebastian holdings, a corporation that had split off from SIC in the nineties and was led by Samuel and another brother, August.

  Which meant they were a Sebastian company not run by Henry.

  Which meant they had Sebastian money and possibly no interest in who Scott married.

  That tentative exhilaration lost its uncertainty and burst into full-blown excitement. Oh, Scott! What glorious thing have you done?

  But where was he? And how on earth would his father let him get away with this?

  My knee bounced under the table as the older gentleman who’d been standing by the door came forward, and Kendra took one of the other empty chairs. “Thank you, Ms. Montgomery. I’ll make my speech brief and let the people who really know what goes on around here handle the actual business.”

  A polite chuckle spread through the room.

  “In all seriousness, I just wanted to stop by and welcome the DRF to the family. I’m excited to bring awareness to this important issue and to hopefully change the world for those suffering from dysautonomia-related syndromes. It’s high time SNC was involved with more public outreach, and we couldn’t step out in the limelight with a better partner than the DRF, so thank you all for being part of this. With all that said, let me turn this over to the man in charge from here on out, our newest board member and VP of public integrity.”

  On cue, the door opened, and in walked the man I loved.

  Twenty

  Tess

  After a month of not seeing him, I thought I’d exaggerated how attractive Scott was in my mind.

  Nope.

  Stupid hot.

  That had been my first impression of him, and now I was reminded why. His blue eyes set against light brown hair. His chiseled jaw. His sexy beard. And oh my God, he could wear a suit like no other man I knew. Today’s was especially well-tailored. A three-piece gray that wrapped around him like a glove.

  But the most beautiful thing about him at the moment was his new title—VP of public integrity for Sebastian News Corp. This was why Kendra wasn’t wearing her ring, wasn’t it? This was why Teyana was here. This was why Scott’s text had said It will all be over soon.

  Still, I was a little gun-shy. Afraid of getting my hopes up, and even though the expect-t-to-get-it mantra was standing as living proof right before me, I refused to let myself get carried away with what Scott’s new position might mean.

  I would listen and wait and see.

  Teyana was not on board with that approach. Leaning toward me, she whisper-hissed, “Oh my God, Tess, did—”

  “Shh,” I cut her off.

  “But—”

  “Shhhh.” This time I added an elbow to her ribs for emphasis.

  I was having a hard enough time concentrating on Scott without her buzzing at my side. What was that he’d said about the timeline? And the documentary? And why had he yet to look at me?

  My phone buzzed on the table in front of me, causing a few sideways eyes from others in the room. I picked it up and threw it in my lap without looking at it so any further buzzing wouldn’t be a disturbance. The text was obviously from Teyana because even though I’d missed watching her type anything into her own phone, she was now staring at me with that don’t-you-dare-ignore-me look she was so good at giving.

  Giving in, I picked up my phone and read her text.

  Did your guy just quit his job for you?

  It sure looked like he had.

  For US, I texted back. This meeting was about the DRF, after all.

  Uh-uh. The DRF had a deal when he was still at SIC. This is all about you.

  Breathing felt shaky, like my insides were twittering too much to draw in the right amount of air. This was all about me. This was all for me.

  Nope. Nope. Not getting my hopes up. I texted back. Maybe he got fired.

  This earned me a kick to the shin, which I thought was uncalled for. It was a fair concern because what if he did get fired? What if all of this was his attempt to salvage a bad situation rather than making a situation where he could be with me?

  Maybe it was d
umb to nitpick about it, but now that I’d gotten hung up on wanting to be put first, I wanted to really be sure that I had been.

  I gave Teyana a glare, hoping to communicate all that, to which she responded by rapidly typing into her phone.

  But I was done with the conversation. I powered my phone off and tossed it back in my lap. Pointedly, I angled my chair so that it was harder to see Tey in my periphery and willed myself to focus on Scott’s words, which was easier said than done with how distracting his lips were.

  “One of the hang-ups we had with the SIC contract was the distribution schedule,” he was saying now. “We’ve firmly put that in place in this version with a lump sum delivered at the beginning of each year so that the DRF can plan their budget accordingly. Furthermore, we have added a clause binding SNC to at least the first three donations of the five-year contract.”

  Five years!

  An annual lump sum!

  A clause binding SNC to the payment!

  Scott had addressed every issue I’d had with the previous contract and more. My salary was, as Peter had suggested, outrageously generous. The commitment to outreach on SNC’s part had been doubled. The documentary budget had been increased and now would be debuted exclusively on one of SNC’s primetime networks. I’d seen most of the contracts that Kendra had eventually settled on, and I could say without a doubt that this was Conscience Connect’s best deal ever.

  Which was probably because of me but also would be understandable if he was still engaged to Kendra, and seriously, I was going to die before this meeting was over and I got to talk to him alone to find out.

  After what felt like ages, the pens came out, and the final contract and all its copies were passed between Peter and Scott and signed by both.

  Of course, then someone mentioned we should get pictures for publicity, but Scott (thankfully) quickly nixed that. “I’ll have my assistant set up a photo shoot where we can stage another signing. Better quality than phone snapshots and all that.”

  Still, people lingered. Everyone, it seemed, wanted a moment with Scott, which was maybe the downside of being the man in charge. I stood waiting not-so-patiently, pretending to play on my phone while eavesdropping on Teyana and Kendra.

  “Does this mean you’re not engaged?” Tey asked.

  “Definitely not engaged.”

  My belly fluttered so dramatically, I thought I might throw up.

  But had it been Scott who broke it off or Kendra? Did it matter?

  “What does this—” Tey said behind me, interrupting my thoughts.

  At the same time, Kendra said, “Do you think—”

  Awkward apologizing ensued, followed by a ridiculous back and forth of you go first, no you.

  It was Kendra who won the right to speak. “Do you think you would be willing to talk sometime about what it might look like if we were...openly...together?”

  “I’d be willing, but I can already tell you what it would look like. It would look like this.”

  They stopped talking, and when one of the old stuffy lawyers made a face, my curiosity forced me to turn around.

  I found them in a lip-lock so heated it made me blush.

  When they finally broke for air, Kendra was blushing too. “People are watching.”

  “And neither of us burst into flames,” Tey said. “Weird how that didn’t happen.”

  “Real weird.” Kendra pulled my friend back in for another kiss.

  “Get a room,” I teased, but I kind of half meant it because I’d noticed the crowd in the room had dwindled in size, and I was mildly afraid the two of them would suggest we all go out to lunch when I very much wanted to only be with Scott.

  “Your place or mine?” Kendra asked.

  Tey rolled her eyes like she was ridiculous. “Yours, of course.” She called to me over her shoulder as she left. “Don’t wait up, honey. I’ll be home late.”

  “If she comes home at all,” Kendra added.

  “So Teyana and Kendra,” Scott said behind me as the conference room door shut behind the women.

  I turned around and realized everyone else had gone. It was just me and him now, and the last thing I wanted to do was talk about Teyana and Kendra when I was already wondering if the conference room door had an automatic lock.

  “You’re not engaged,” I said rather than asked.

  “I’m not engaged.”

  We were separated by several yards and a wall of pure heat, but the only thing that was keeping me from running to him was a tiny strand of willpower.

  There were things that had to be said. Things that had to be asked. Things that had to be sorted, and all of those things required talking, which wasn’t generally the activity the two of us were drawn to when we were together.

  As demonstrated with the way he was prowling toward me.

  “And you no longer report to your dad.”

  A simple shake of his head. Another prowl-like step in my direction.

  “So...how did all that happen exactly?” I asked, keeping my feet planted.

  “Well. After my grandfather reminded me that I was thinking too small and a reminder from Brett that there was more than one Sebastian corporation with power, I approached my uncle Samuel and just asked.”

  “Asked for…?”

  “The sponsorship. A job. He created the position just for me, at my suggestion. He jumped at the idea because who wouldn’t? I mean, I’m a catch. At work and otherwise. But also because he knew it would piss my father off. Uncle Samuel is not a fan of Henry Sebastian. And even if I decide to leave him and find a job that’s not Sebastian-related at all—which is an option I’d never considered before, a really freeing option—the DRF will still be funded so we don’t have—”

  I cut him off, needing to stick to the most important details since my restraint was wearing thin. “You quit your job. For me. You chose me.”

  I didn’t need a response—not that I had the strength to wait for one, anyway—I ran into his arms, my mouth crashing against his with an intensity that made Kendra and Tey’s make-out session look like a peck on the cheek. His arms wrapped around me, and within seconds we were grinding against each other in the not-suitable-for-work way we generally did whenever we were together which was often, ironically, at work.

  That was the way with us, though. Fireworks and heat.

  There was substance too. A connection that went beyond lust. One that we could explore and strengthen and grow now that we didn’t have any stupid restraints on our relationship.

  But first, after a month of not touching, there needed to be a lot of it to make up.

  Except, we were barely breathless and our clothes were all still disappointingly in place—damn the outfit I’d chosen, Kendra was right!—when Scott pulled away.

  Instinctually, I followed after him, my lips chasing him as he drew back, until he cupped his hands on my cheeks and held my face in place.

  “Hey,” he said. “I always chose you. From the very beginning. Over and over, I never stopped choosing you.”

  Whether or not it was technically true, it was a sweet thing to say, and I was happy to accept it for that and get back to the physical stuff, but something about the sincerity in his eyes made me stop and actually think about it.

  And realized he was right.

  He had chosen me. Over and over. He’d chosen me on that rooftop. He’d chosen me again when I’d showed up at his office with my pitch. He’d chosen me when he let me push the foundation I wanted SIC to support. He’d chosen me when he’d gotten Tey a specialist and when he’d introduced me to his grandfather and when he decided he had to stay engaged to Kendra in order to get the DRF sponsored.

  “You did choose me,” I said, letting it really sink in.

  “It just took me a minute to realize I also had to choose myself.”

  Huh. Seemed we’d been on the same spiritual journey this past month. I was excited to continue it with him at my side.

  I pushed forward out of his grasp
so I could brush a kiss across his lips. “I choose you back, Scott Sebastian, man that I love.”

  “I love you, Tessa Turani.” He pulled me tightly against him, the mood quickly reverting to the lust-filled one from before our declarations were made, the thick bulge in his pants a sign of where things were obviously going. “Now if I could just figure out how I’m going to get my cock inside your pantsuit…”

  “You’re a man of resources. I’m sure you’ll figure it out.”

  Epilogue: Scott

  The following September

  * * *

  I watched as Tessa climbed the ladder above me, tensing with every one of her steps. “I can’t believe you’re doing that in those heels.”

  “The heels I wore last year were even higher.”

  I waited until she was safely on the next level before hurriedly climbing up myself, only breathing easily when I was standing on solid ground at her side. Loving Tess had brought out a protective urge in me that hadn’t existed before her. Just another one of the ways she’d changed me, all for the better, though she could probably do with a little less of my machismo.

  Fortunately for me, she insisted it was a turn-on.

  I took her hand in mine, slowly walking toward the silos that housed the building’s mechanics, pausing when a wave of cheering erupted from the bar below us.

  “They must be announcing the happy couple,” she surmised.

  “Do you want to be there for this?”

  She didn’t even take a second to consider it. “It’s their engagement announcement, not a wedding reception.”

  “Making a mental note not to steal you away to fool around at the wedding.”

  Here, she paused, thinking. “Well, I didn’t say that.”

  “That’s my Tess,” I said with a laugh, resuming our trek. She was such a dirty girl, in all the right ways. Always ready to role-play and experiment and lean into the kink. It had been a year since I’d first gotten into her panties, and I already knew I’d never not want to get into her panties.