Page 107 of Rebooting Conor Flynn

“I am not going to tell her, and I suggest you don’t go running to her with your confession, either. Who else knows?”

“Me, you, and Rhys.”

“Keep it that way. I’ll deal with the fallout.”

Jade clutched her drink, a sprinkle of red spice on her upper lip. “I figured you could fix it, Noelle.”

As she walked away, I tapped my laptop.

Everyone expected me to fix this.

I just wasn't sure there was anything left worth fixing.

***

I prepped for my meeting by taking a shower after the pool, not bothering to blow out my wavy hair, not putting in my contact lenses, and throwing a blazer over my tank top and shorts.

Ashley and I would be on Zoom with Dina, Orlando, and a suit from 92 West. Everyone but Ashley would see me from the shoulders up, but for a more professional background, I reserved a small conference room at the hotel.

I stopped at the coffee shop in the lobby to grab a chamomile tea. There would be more than enough type-A energy in the meeting. I didn’t need a caffeine jolt to deal with these people.

I beat Ashley to the conference room and set up my laptop. She wouldn’t have a computer, so she planned to sit beside me to chime in whenever she had a brilliant idea to contribute.

I accessed the Zoom meeting and joined it. Dina’s face appeared immediately.

“Hi, babe. You look...tired, and your nose is sunburnt.”

I rubbed my crispy nose. “Uh, spent the afternoon working by the pool.”

She lowered her voice, although nobody else was in the meeting. “I’ll do what I can, Noelle, but you had one job here.”

Before I could respond, Orlando joined the meeting, followed by Nash, one of our senior account executives.

Orlando spoke first. “Is Ashley there yet? How’s she doing?”

She’s been doing Tomo.

My lips stretched into a smile. “You know Ashley. She’s a trooper. She’s on her way, probably just getting a coffee.”

“Did I hear my name?” Ashley strutted into the room, shaking a plastic cup filled with ice and cream-colored coffee. “I’m here. Austin is deadly hot and humid. Whose idea was it to take this tour across the South in the middle of the summer?”

Nash snorted. “Probably the same person who came up with the tired fake dating scheme.”

Ouch. The suit had me in his sights already.

He continued. “Dina, you run the show. I’ll sit back and...observe.”

Nash probably had a secret code word to use that meant fire Noelle Martine now.

“Okay, we have a few problems.” Dina pursed her lips. “The first is Ashley’s image. We need to fix that right now. I’m taking suggestions.”

“I’ve got one.” Ashley scooted her chair close to mine and raised her finger to the laptop’s camera. “I was thinking sex addiction.”

My mouth dropped open. I thought she was kidding when she mentioned it on my balcony.

Orlando stroked his goatee. “Okay, okay. Tell me more.”

“I got the idea from my ex, Nico.” Ashley nudged me out of the camera’s view. “It worked for him. We could say I’ve been battling this addiction ever since the breakup of my marriage. Tomo was a temptation I couldn’t resist—despite my love for Conor.”