Page 20 of Brighter Together

“Exactly what he said. You arrived before he got around to asking me out again.”

My jaw clenches.

“You two aren’t dating?”

Her eyes go wide.

“Fuck, no. No, no, absolutely not. I would rather run naked through Fellside.”

And now I’m thinking about Ella running naked through Fellside.

Excellent.

My imagination provides entirely too much detail.

I drag a hand through my hair just as her phone rings.

She studies me for a second before picking it up.

“Thank you,” she says with a smile. “Tommy will be down in a minute. Could you put them in the Oak Room and let Sheila know, please?”

She hangs up and looks at me.

“Virginia from the Rotary Club is here.”

“Right.”

Fantastic.

Exactly what I feel like doing today.

Smile.

Shake hands.

Convince a room full of people that Greenview Manor Hotel is the only possible place for their fundraising gala when my brain is still busy removing Ella’s clothes.

Good thing Sheila will be there. As Operations Manager, she can fill in any gaps if my concentration slips, because the last thing we can afford is to lose this event.

The gala would bring in a decent amount of money and, more importantly, help when I go back to the bank about financing the extension.

We have plenty of function space but not enough bedrooms for the larger events we’re attracting now. Twenty more rooms would make a huge difference.

The architecture firms are presenting next week, and I’ve been looking forward to it for months.

Probably because I’ve made the poor bastards work from a tender document that ran to thirty pages.

I nearly cut it down before sending it out, but Ella talked me out of it.

If I know exactly what I want, she said, there’s no point pretending otherwise and ending up disappointed later.

Annoyingly sensible woman.

“Have you got the brochure?” I ask.

“Yep.”

I make an effort to smile.