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Sophie smothered a laugh, and Jenna tilted her head to the side and eyed him suspiciously.
“Actually, we need to fly out tomorrow morning,” Peter said. “It’s my wife’s birthday tomorrow, so we need to head back to the islands. But no need to schmooze us over dinner. I think we’ve come about as far as we can in this discussion, don’t you think?”
Shit, Gray thought, his mind reeling for ways to save the deal. “I have just a few more points to wrap up if you have the time,” Gray said hastily. “Jen, I should be done here within a couple hours, if you want to grab drinks.”
“Sounds great,” she said with surprising agreeability.
“Unless…” Sophie began.
Oh no. No. No. No. But, of course, she kept going.
“Well, I’m just thinking, neither Jenna nor the Blackwells here have really seen Seattle. No harm in killing two birds with one stone. We could all see something of the city, and finish the evening with a dinner? Gray’s buying.”
Great. Now she was a fucking Girl Scout troop leader using company money?
“I’m game,” Jenna said.
“I could probably find the time.” Alistair looked ridiculously pleased with himself.
“Well,” mused Peter, “I suppose we all need to eat, and I wouldn’t mind hearing a local’s opinion on Seattle. Especially a beautiful local.”
Sophie laughed prettily, and Peter blushed slightly, smiling at her like a fond father.
The realization settled over Gray like a storm cloud. He had to do this if he wanted to save the deal. Sophie was the key to this whole damn thing. The Blackwells weren’t interested in the bottom line. They were vain, old-school fools who wanted to be flattered, pampered, and appreciated. They wanted someone to tell them that their property was special and important, regardless of its price tag.
He needed Sophie. And this dinner.
“Fine,” he said, dreading the impending painful evening. “If nobody minds, I’d like to include my brother, Jack. He’s expecting to see Jenna.”
“The more the merrier,” Sophie cooed.
Barf.
“I’ll call Jack,” Jenna said.
Gray closed his eyes briefly and counted to ten. He could do this. It would be hell, but somehow he was going to have to find a way to spend the evening with his estranged siblings and his two most difficult clients.
At least Sophie would be there.
Although for the life of him, he didn’t know if that would make the evening better or worse.
* * *
An hour later, Gray was drinking a lukewarm beer and watching his client hit on his sister, and his brother hit on his assistant.
He wasn’t sure what bothered him more: the way Alistair was staring at Jenna’s chest as she ran verbal circles around him, or the way Jack’s and Sophie’s heads were tilted together as they laughed over their beers.
“I had no idea that Seattle was a bowling town,” Peter said as he sipped his whiskey.
“I don’t know that it is,” Gray admitted. “But tourist options are limited on rainy days, and Sophie insists that this is a Seattle classic.”
Sophie’s head snapped around and she gave him a defensive glare. “What was I supposed to do, drag them through a soggy Pike Place Market? Maybe show them how much they can’t see in the fog from the top of the Space Needle?”
“Calm down,” Gray muttered. “Nobody’s attacking your bowling idea.”
“Are you having fun?” she asked him in a warning tone.
Fun? He should have been having fun. Everyone else was. But instead of joining in with the laughter and the flirtation, Gray had somehow ended up pairing off with the elderly Peter instead of chatting with his brother and sister. Instead of flirting with Sophie.
