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I grit my teeth. “It isn’t necessary. The family stuff, the kids, that’s all necessary. She can have her own interests, and I can have mine. We don’t have to always be in each other’s pockets.”
“How romantic.”
A sharp pain twisted between my ribcage. She was the last person who should be coaching me on romance. “Look, if my wife wants to be a part of it, she can. But it isn’t a deal-breaker. I’m sure you and your boyfriend have different interests.”
Nothing. No clever response or sarcastic jab at me being jealous. It was just as well. I was being jealous. Hell, I was being irrational. Who Lyndsey chose to see was none of my concern.
It didn’t change the fact that seeing her with Flynn struck a nerve embedded deep within my primitive instincts. One that incited me to react in ways no upstanding gentleman would. He was her choice. She made that quite clear, and it was my duty to respect those wishes, no matter how badly I wanted to ignore them.
“What about Crystal?” Lyndsey said suddenly. “Is she into all of this?”
I rubbed a hand along the back of my neck. “She is actually. She’s already brought on a few hefty donations as it is.”
“How wonderful for her.” She grumbled beside me.
Apparently, I wasn’t the only one repressing irrational feelings.
“What is this?” I asked, restraining the smile tugging at my lips to no avail. “Jealousy? Are you actually jealous?”
She huffed and wrapped her arms around herself. “Don’t be ridiculous.”
“You’re the one who said you didn’t want to be with me. You’re the one pushing me into this thirty-days-or-less marriage.”
“That isn’t my policy. It’s the company’s.”
Right. Because that made all the difference in the world. My first instincts about her were correct. The girl was completely delusional. “Isn’t it technically your company?”
“My parents own it, and Vanessa and Kyle run it. So, as you can see, I have no say in how the company is managed.” The undertones of helplessness were laced into her words. Perhaps, she was right. Perhaps she didn’t have any control over the policies of the company itself, but she certainly had control over her own actions.
“No, you just enforce the rules,” I said.
“Exactly.”
“And how’s that working out for you?”
She glared back at me.
The sheer ire in her gaze was enough to make even the bravest men crumble. But I was beyond letting her get her way. She couldn’t stand there and tell me she had no other choice. If she didn’t believe in the policies of the company, then why force-feed them to others? Why work for the company at all?
“Lyndsey?” A woman’s voice wove through the clamor of the dance hall.
I lifted my gaze from her, noticing for the first time how close we stood to one another. The voice belonged to a young woman, likely the same age as Lyndsey, with striking red hair. She stood about a whole foot shorter than the man beside her. Both looked completely out of place in a simple fundraiser, too smartly dressed and worth way more than our usual clients.
“Aly, Zach.” Lyndsey slid a hand between us, gesturing back and forth for introductions. “This is the person in charge...apparently. Hunter Carson.”
“Hunter.” The man reached a hand forward, and I accepted without hesitation. If he really was interested in supporting the charity, we could use all the help we could get. “Nice to meet you. We’ve heard a lot about you.”
“Have you?”
A tight cough erupted at my side. Lyndsey’s eyes narrowed to thin slivers, regarding the man before us like an insurgent stepping out of rank.
I, on the other hand, could not help the smile spreading across my face. She hadn’t known I was the man in charge of the charity, so that couldn’t have been the course of their conversation. Just what had Lyndsey told her friends about me? And why did it force such a bemusing blush to grace her cheeks?
“Why don’t we let the boys discuss business in peace?” the woman asked, visibly yanking Lyndsey away.
After several minutes of discussing the potential for charity work in both local and surrounding areas, along with a sizable donation, I no longer questioned Lyndsey’s motives for coming. In fact, there was plenty to celebrate, to the point that I put all my irritations to the side.
Almost all of them.
