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“When is the extension up?” Annie asked.
“Tonight.”
“Oh good. Then it’ll all be over.”
For some reason, I didn’t think so.
Cézanne stood from her seat. “Duty calls. Are you still coming over for the study session tonight?”
“I’ll be there,” Annie agreed.
Cézanne left, and Annie stood, too, with a yawn.
“So, I won’t see you tonight?” I ventured, collecting her empty lunch.
She shot me a mischievous grin. “Maybe when I need to sleep.”
Fuck, I wanted to kiss her.
“Why do I think we’re not talking about sleep?”
“Because tomorrow is Saturday. So, no work tomorrow,” she said. “We can actually sleep in.”
“My little vampire wants me to keep her up all night.”
She twirled her claddagh ring around her finger. She did it all the time. Especially when she was trying to make a decision. Then she bit her lip and nodded.
“It’ll be late,” she warned me.
“I’ll be up.”
It took everything in me not to wrap my arm around her waist and pull her into me. But we weren’t dating. We were friends. And friends didn’t kiss in front of coworkers. The benefits were reserved for less public places.
“Then, deal.”
“Don’t forget to bring your workout clothes.”
She pouted. “I hate that I told you I wanted to work out more. Don’t you know I’d rather sleep?”
I laughed, and despite myself, I stepped forward and hooked my pinkie around hers. Her eyes shot up to mine. For a second, we just stood there. Questions in her emerald-green eyes. A heartbeat too long for friends. A breath too long for benefits.
She swallowed and then pulled back, breaking contact and running a shaky hand back through her hair. “Change of clothes. Got it. Let me know how it goes with the winery extension.”
I nodded. “I will. Good luck at the study session.”
Annie smiled again. It was only half as bright as when she’d first seen me, and then she disappeared back to work. Still, I couldn’t bring myself to regret that one bit of contact. Even though I knew she’d found it more forward than the hours lost in my sheets, where I fucked her brains out.
Did you hear from Larissa?
Julian texted me for the tenth time today. But no, in fact, I hadn’t heard from Larissa. And I was starting to get pissed off. It was nearly five o’clock, and I could hardly concentrate on my own work while waiting for her call about the winery.
I hadn’t even wanted this stupid winery, and now that I was invested, it seemed to be taking over my life. I was about to text Larissa for an update when her number flashed on my screen.
“Hey, Larissa,” I said.
“Jordan.”
“Cutting it a little close.”
She exhaled in frustration. “I’ve been trying to sort this mess out so that you don’t have to.”
I sat up straighter. “What mess?”
“The winery has had a second offer come in. It’s higher than yours. Though not significantly so. We could go over it easily.”
“Who is it?”
She sighed again. “That’s the tricky part. They won’t tell me. They said it was an anonymous offer. No matter how much I tried to find out, they stuck to their guns.”
“Frustrating. What do you suggest?”
“I think we need to go big or go home. If this is the property you want, we should show that we’re serious. Scare off the competition.”
“How much?”
She threw out a number, and I gritted my teeth. Of course. Some asshole had had to come in and mess up the plan that I’d set up. I’d have to rerun the numbers to make sure it was feasible. We had the money. That wasn’t really the problem. But I wanted it to still be a sound business decision.
“If you don’t want to go that high, we can always go lower,” Larissa said instantly. “The property has a history of problems, as you know. So, it could be that we skirt the issue and see if the anonymous person comes back with something else.”
“No,” I said at once. “Your idea makes sense. I run it by Julian and Hollin. How long do we have?”
She paused a little too long. “They want an answer today.”
“What?” I ground out. “They made us wait an extra week, and now, they’re riding us hard?”
“I did say the property has issues.”
Haunted. That was the word she wasn’t using. I’d heard that from multiple people since I’d looked into purchasing it. The property had had too many issues over the years for it not to get a reputation for being haunted despite the fact that no one had ever died at the place. Well, as far as I knew.
“Give me an hour,” I told her. “I’ll get back to you.”
“Sounds good. Thanks, Jordan.”
I hung up the phone and stood with such force that my chair smacked hard into the bookshelves behind me. This was all Julian’s and Hollin’s fault. They’d dragged me into it, and now, I had to deal with all the fallout. Story of my fucking life.
