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d the project to my colleague, Martin?”
Abso-fucking-lutely not!
She would rather never pick up a pencil again than give her ideas to the enemy.
“If Kelly Design was your choice for your project, Martin would take over as lead designer and you would be able to keep everything Carson has just offered.”
Bower looked over at his colleague. Again, no indication as to what was going on in his head.
“This wouldn’t solve the fact that my company does have a blemish…” Her father gave her an evil stare. “But it would solve the problem of your working relationships and remove any doubt of selfish motivation from the equation.”
She had done this to herself. She had slept with her client and ruined her chance of impressing her father.
She wished it didn’t matter to her so much.
Right now she just had to figure out which was the lesser of two evils. Having Martin in charge of a project that was near and dear to her heart or risk Bower taking her ideas to another architect who would take the credit. At least if Martin took over, at the end of the day, both she and Kelly Design would get the credit. And maybe the success of this project would somehow lessen the black cloud she had pulled over the company.
She also noticed that her father wasn’t asking permission. He would simply cast her aside to save face. But in this room, she wasn’t his daughter. In this room, she was his employee who’d majorly fucked up.
She couldn’t blame him. Not for that.
“I’m going to have to think about it. I did contact another firm for a consultation when all of this transpired, so I’d like to see what they have to offer.”
“I understand.”
Her father nodded and stood from his seat at the end of the table. Martin followed his lead. While pleasantries were exchanged at the front of the room, Carson packed up her things.
She had some soul-searching to do. Some major decisions to make.
But the one she didn’t have to contemplate was her relationship with Neil Harrison. Good thing they had already called it quits. There could be no real relationship—if there ever was one in the first place. That she would guarantee.
…
Neil placed his license in his wallet and walked out of the government office, a little more pep in his step.
He was free to ride all on his own. He didn’t need Carson Kelly to drive his sorry ass around anymore. Not that she’d done so in the last few days. She had completely fallen off the grid and hadn’t returned one of his phone calls. Did he expect differently? They had both agreed to end their agreement that day at the cottage. But he wanted to keep her abreast of the search for invader of their privacy. They still hadn’t found out who posted the sex tape. He had called the security company and was waiting for copies of the sign in list for the date of the incident. The company was dragging their feet. No doubt trying to figure out the best way to run damage control for their company’s violation of a client’s privacy. But Neil was getting fed up.
He walked out of the building into the sunlight where his brother Finn waited for him outside. He had only been gone fifteen minutes and the man was already stuffing his face with street meat. He was always eating. Neil had no idea where he put it all.
“That shit will kill you.”
“S’why it’s so good.” Finn mumbled through the wad of food in his mouth.
Neil shook his head. “You’re an executive chef with years of training and you eat processed cow parts, possibly even hooves. I don’t understand it.”
Finn swallowed audibly. “Sometimes the taste of something outweighs the fact that it’s not gourmet. Not everything has to be about perfection.”
He took another huge bite of his hot dog. Ketchup dripped from the end of the dog narrowly missing his black graphic T-shirt.
“Says the man who won’t even allow his sous chef to make simple stock.”
“That is not the same thing.” He wiped his mouth. “There is no sense messing with a system once you have it down to a science. It’s not that I don’t trust him.”
Neil nodded and hummed in acknowledgement.
They started toward the underground parking lot.
“Is it the same feeling as when you’re a teenager?” Finn asked. “Getting your license again?”
