Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 102781 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 514(@200wpm)___ 411(@250wpm)___ 343(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 102781 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 514(@200wpm)___ 411(@250wpm)___ 343(@300wpm)
I restarted the car. “Fine by me.”
***
One hour didn’t help. Two did nothing but make my arms and calves ache.
Not even a half-hour power nap and shower with steaming hot water and a massager setting helped me relax. Every muscle in my body was still tense.
As fucked up as it was, I was not dreading dinner. In fact, I looked forward to it. I couldn’t wait to see how Annalise acted after I’d called her out on whatever was going on with that dick.
At quarter to eight, I went downstairs to the bar where we were meeting the crew from Star Studios in fifteen minutes. I was glad our dinner plans were at the restaurant in our hotel so I didn’t have to drive and could have a drink or two. God knows I needed it.
The VP of Production and the head screenwriter were already seated at the bar. They extended a friendly welcome.
“What are you drinking, Bennett?”
I glanced at their glasses, both filled with amber liquid. “I’ll take a scotch.”
The VP patted my back. “Good choice.” He turned and ordered another of whatever year and brand the two of them were drinking and swiveled back to me. “We did all the talking today. Tell me a little about you.”
“Alright. Been with Foster Burnett going on ten years, started out as a graphic artist and worked my way up to creative director. I spend too much time at the office, try to play a little golf on the weekends, and my assistant hates me because I once ate her peanut butter and jelly sandwich from the refrigerator when I was on deadline and working at midnight.”
The last part got a laugh. It was funny to say, and I assumed they thought I was exaggerating. It just wasn’t funny that she actually hated me.
“Graphic artist, huh? Do you still draw?”
“Does doodling while I’m on the phone with my mother count?”
The men’s laughter was interrupted by a woman’s voice. “Bennett here is just being modest. He’s quite the artist. You should see some of his work—especially the cartoons he creates. He has quite the vivid imagination.”
I turned to find Annalise—wearing a blue dress that fit her body and made her tits look fantastic, yet somehow was still appropriate business attire. She looked gorgeous. It almost made me forget the little war we were having, and that she’d just attempted a dig at me for my sexy cartoon doodles.
I sipped my drink. “Speaking of modest...when it’s Annalise’s turn to tell a little about herself, don’t let her forget to mention her car hobby. She can take apart a car like no one’s business. Hell, on her second day at the new office, she took care of a windshield wiper problem I didn’t even realize I’d had until the day before.”
Annalise maintained the broad smile on her face, but I caught the little shiny daggers she shot my way from the slight squint of her eye. I beamed my pearly whites right back, only my amusement wasn’t fake. I enjoyed screwing with her. I could’ve gone on all night like this, trading barbs dressed as compliments. It did more in two minutes to relieve the tension I’d felt than hours at the gym and a shower had done.
After a few more exchanges, where she disguised a knock about my dating life as being dedicated to my work, and I hit her with a knock about her being naïve disguised as her being open-minded, my neck loosened for the first time all day.
Although the pain returned less than five minutes later when her buddy showed up.
“You made it,” I said.
I watched his eyes do a quick sweep over Annalise before answering. “It was too important to not make it happen.”
Yeah. Sure.
Within a few minutes, the rest of our party had joined us, including the board member who was friendly with the VP at Star and had gotten us the invite to come today and pitch for their business. We moved our discussions to a table over dinner, and I wasn’t surprised to see that somehow Annalise and Tobias managed to sit next to each other again.
Although I was lucky enough to be seated next to the board member who would soon decide where the hell I lived, I couldn’t focus enough to take advantage of the opportunity to properly talk him up. Instead, I found myself scrutinizing every gesture between the happy-looking couple sitting across from me.
The way she threw her head back to laugh when he said something that was supposed to be funny.
The way her mouth moved when she talked and her tongue wiped the remnants of wine from the top of the glass each time she took a sip.
The feminine way she dabbed the corners of her mouth with her cloth napkin.
The way the asshole kept touching her arm and bumping shoulders with her.