Page 7 of Open To Negotiation

“Nice to meet you all.” I tucked a piece of hair behind my ear and ignored Knight’s intense gaze. He was watching me closely with his grey eyes and it was putting me on edge. Not in a bad way, but just… off. I focused on Oliver since he was the last one forward. “Welcome to Elevate. Do you, Mr. Hutchinson, and Mr. Knight—”

“Call me Theo,” Knight interrupted. His voice was low and grumbly, like he didn’t use it often enough. I never had that problem.

I gave him what I hoped was a normal smile, but I’m sure it made me look a little crazy because it was way too big for our current situation. “Would you all like a tour of the office before we head out?” I asked, trying to slip back into my professional mask.

I’d been tasked with touring men around this office more times than I could count. They were just much more attractive than normal… but that didn’t change anything. I was a professional.

Kind of.

I did tend to ramble when I was nervous, or excited, or upset. So really, most of the time. Right now, I was physically biting my bottom lip to try and keep that under control.

Noah leaned forward slightly like he was about to share a secret with me. “Please spare us,” he said quietly with a smile.

“Are you sure?” I looked behind me at the office. I always walked the businessmen through and introduced them to important people, especially since I wasn’t one. “There are a few executives we could stop by and see. I think that—”

I stopped when Theo put his hand lightly on my elbow, my eyes moving over to him for the first time since we shook hands.

“I have no need to meet any executives here.” With that, he dropped his hand to my lower back and started pushing me out of the office.

I should be weirded out by a random man I just met touching me, right? But I wasn’t, instead warmth spread through my body at his touch.

The second the office door closed behind us, Theo dropped his hand and fell into step beside me, Oliver on his left and Noah on my right.

Noah let out a sigh and started tugging on his tie to loosen it as we walked out of the office onto the street. “I hate these things,” he grumbled and left it hanging around his neck.

“No one forces you to wear them, mate,” Oliver shot him a grin as Noah glared. Easy to do over my head since they were all so tall.

“We could at least pretend to be professionals for five minutes,” Theo muttered to interrupt whatever Oliver and Noah were going to start to argue about.

“What fun would you have in your life if not for us?” Noah asked, wiggling his eyebrows.

I felt a little out of place. I knew almost nothing about these men. They were in business together, but I doubted that was all it was. They were too comfortable with each other, an ease that came from spending a lot of time together. And I was basically just crashing their lunch now. I chewed on my lip wondering if I should just offer for them to go on without me.

“Where are we booked?” Theo’s question interrupted my overthinking, and I looked up to find him waiting with a raised eyebrow.

I could tell from his tone he was used to being answered when he asked a question, and I didn’t hate the gentle command behind his words.

“Ruby House,” I replied. Oliver let out an unsatisfied grunt and I frowned at him. “I’m sorry, is that a problem?”

“It’s stuffy,” Noah muttered, the anxiety grew in my stomach.

“It’s a nice spot but if you prefer, we can call another restaurant for a reservation. There are a couple of other places around here. If you let me know what kind of food you're thinking, I can find something. Or you guys can go on your own if you don’t want me to—”

Theo’s large frame stepped in front of me. I just managed to stop myself from running into his broad chest. I looked up, meeting his waiting eyes “We’ve had a long day and it’s only lunch. We were prepared for a business meeting where some old man tried to sell us something.”

“You can’t tell this from his tone, but we’re thrilled that isn’t how this turned out and we definitely want you to join us for lunch,” Noah jumped in with a sly smile.

Theo continued like his friend hadn’t spoken. “So, the last thing we want to do is have lunch at a business restaurant where the music is too loud, the food is mediocre, and we’re surrounded by a bunch of stuffy men in suits.” I lifted my eyebrow and made a point of looking them all up and down one at a time. “The irony isn’t lost on me.” He didn’t even crack a smile. “How set are you on Ruby House?”

“I mean my office booked it… I don’t really care.” The other two men broke out into smiles and started walking again, while Theo’s face remained impassive as he took a few steps backwards. “But you have to let me pay wherever we go since it’s a business lunch,” I called as I took a few quick steps to catch up to the men who had turned down the street. The mood around them had lifted and it was contagious.

“Good luck with that, babe,” Theo said, the nickname sounded sinful in his accent. Oliver spoke up before I could respond.

“Pedro’s Tacos?” Oliver offered as Theo shrugged his suit jacket off and slung it over his shoulder. I only managed to see it from the side, but damn, that was a sexy move. He was definitely older than me; I could just tell from the confident, sure way he carried himself.

“Will is going to be pissed!” Noah sounded more excited about that than anything as he put his phone to his ear.

“Who is Will and why is he going to be pissed?” I asked, looking over to Theo who was walking beside me.