He was so damn pretentious. I wanted to slug him in the back of the head again.
“It isn’t very professional to wait until the end of the workday to give a decision. We were walking out of the building. Our whole office is shut down.” I waved my arm behind me so he could see the darkened office.
“Yes, well …” Mr. Easton cleared his throat. “Up until this moment, I’d been trying to convince Aurora to go with another company.”
“Well, isn’t that special,” I drawled, my fingernails digging into my palms.
What the hell is wrong with this man? I mean sure, I knocked the shit out of him, but did he really have to be an asshole?
“What she means is, thanks for stopping by.” Jules’ smile stretched across her entire face, making her look like a maniac.
“No, I don’t think that’s what she meant.” Mr. Easton’s eyebrow quirked even higher. He continued to stare at me, not paying Jules any attention.
“I see I didn’t knock all of the sense out of you.” I smiled, wanting to pull off the sweet innocent act, but I assumed I looked more unhinged than Jules did.
He cleared his throat, but we continued our stare down without blinking. When the elevator dinged behind him, I refused to look away first.
“Bradford.” Jules’ voice was high-pitched, pulling me out of my stare down with the insufferable douche.
“Hey,” Bradford said, coming into view, a large bouquet of red roses in his hand.
“Bradford, this is Mr. Easton, he’s Aurora’s uncle and helped her decide who to choose for her project. He so graciously came down here to tell us in person we got the indie author account.”
I sucked in my cheeks, biting them at Jules’ voice. She sounded as if she had in fact seen a unicorn.
“That’s amazing.” Bradford leaned down and kissed me on the cheek, handing me the flowers.
Tearing my gaze from Mr. Easton took more willpower than I wanted to admit to.
“Mr. Easton, this is Bradford, Rachel’s fiancé,” Jules stated in a conspiratorial voice.
I snapped my face toward her, Bradford chuckled under his breath. “Sorry, her boyfriend,” Jules corrected without an ounce of apology in her voice.
Bradford leaned down and kissed me again as if the fake mislabel didn’t bother him at all.
“It’s nice to meet you.” Mr. Easton reached out his hand, which Bradford took.
It shocked me to watch Bradford’s hand get swallowed by Mr. Easton’s stupid hand.
The contrast was almost comical. Bradford was a golden god, all tanned skin and sun-kissed, curly blond hair. He had a smile, which made everyone nearby feel comfortable, and his sparkling blue eyes had people expecting a good time.
Mr. Easton was dark and broody. His hair was almost black, thick, and luscious. It was neatly trimmed, not daring to curl too much under his strait-laced demeanor. His dark green eyes, unlike my light green, were sharp and assessing, willing anyone to lie in his presence just so he could call them out. And although he had nice lips, the constant frown ruined the effect his chiseled jaw, which was covered by a shadow of a beard, could have evoked.
“Yes, well, I was just congratulating the two of them for a job well done. Aurora was thoroughly impressed and refused to work with anyone else. I will allow you to go about your evening. Expect to receive the contract from Aurora’s lawyers on Monday.”
“Should we be expecting them at the end of the business day?” I couldn’t help but dig into him, wanting to continue our banter.Verbally sparring with him hurts a lot less than physically, I thought, flexing my still bruised hand.
Mr. Easton’s hawk-like gaze caught me, and a flicker of movement on one side of his pouty lips could have been a ghost of a smile.
“I think we can get it to you before end of business day. I’ll let you go. Ice that hand.” He nodded toward the hand without the flowers and turned on his fancy shoes, not making a noise as he headed toward the elevator.
“We’ll follow you out,” Bradford said, placing his palm on my lower back. “Do you have everything you need?”
I nodded, my eyes straying back to Mr. Easton. I wanted to flip him off, but I refrained since he did just offer us our biggest account to date.
Mr. Easton quirked his eyebrow when he stepped in and turned toward the open elevator door. I put on my biggest smile, allowing Bradford to lead me into the elevator.
“We should celebrate,” Bradford stated.