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She looks over at me and I can tell from her face that I haven't impressed her. "For three years."
That definitely seems like the kind of thing I should have known, and I'm acutely aware of Jerome studying the two of us. I'm sure he can tell something isn't right with our dynamic. I don't know what I was thinking bringing her to a meeting this important. She's nothing but a distraction.
"This is an easy fix." Tess leans past me to look at Jerome.
"It is?" Jerome and I both ask at the same time.
She shouldn't be speaking up at a meeting like this, but a part of me is curious to hear what she has to say. Since Jerome looks interested and not put off, I sit back and hope like hell she doesn't make me look like a complete idiot.
Tess points at the layouts for the second and third floors of the resort's main hotel. "These floors aren't going to bring in as much anyway because the views aren't quite as good as the upper floors, so make these conjoined rooms. That won't affect capacity, but it gives you more family options."
She purses her lips for a second before pointing at the corner of the layout. "And add a couple cabanas here."
"There's too much foliage blocking the beach over there," I explain. That's why we left that area undeveloped in our plans.
"Families aren't going to be as bothered by that. The kids are going to want the pool anyway. Especially once you add…" She thinks about it for a second before nodding enthusiastically to herself. "A lazy river."
"A lazy river isn't exactly high end," I point out, leaning closer to look at the plans myself. There would be plenty of room for one if we shifted things just slightly.
"Not at first glance maybe," Tess agrees, "but I think you'll find everyone likes a good lazy river. Make sure your lifeguards actually enforce rules about splashing and noise levels and you'll end up with a space that executives are just as happy with as the kids."
Jerome is notably quiet. My mind spins wondering how to backtrack Tess's suggestion before he decides to pull the project right out from under me.
"It's genius." Jerome snatches the plans closer and touches the places Tess suggested changing. "It's just the thing to make us an elevated family destination, which is exactly what the Peace Packs were hoping to accomplish."
He looks to me, seeming far more impressed than any of the other times I've called in the past to talk about this project. He offers me his hand, and I shake it before he can change his mind.
"Make those changes and the project is yours." He looks between Tess and I. "I'll admit, the two of you are a good pair. I guess there's no denying that the fates know better than any of us."
We finish working out the rest of the details, Tess on her best behavior the whole time—helping the talks along, even. But when we leave with a verbal agreement in place at the end of the meeting, it's those words that haunt me on the silent drive home.
"I guess there's no denying that the fates know better than any of us."
Chapter Sixteen
Tess
"You're smart," Dominic says after a moment of stony silence in the parking lot outside the pack house.
"Gee, thanks," I deadpan.
He glances over at me, and for a second, his fingers twitch like he might reach for my hand. I pull my hands into my lap so that there's no risk of that. There have already been too many lines blurred. I won't take any Stockholm Syndrome today, thank you.
"Maybe tomorrow you could come to the office so you're not stuck in the room all day."
It's not the offer itself that offends me. It's the way he sounds like he's so freaking proud of himself for offering this concession. As if I should be thankful for the chance to come file his paperwork instead of staring at the blank walls of his bedroom.
"Fuck you, Dominic."
I shove the SUV door open and leap out. The grounds around the pack house are crawling with pack members, so I don't even bother trying to shift. They'll only block me before I can get my feet under me. Instead, I stomp off on human feet across the lot toward the backyard.
After staring at the yard for hours on end, I'm desperate to see it close up. In particular, there are a cluster of ferns at the edge of the yard that make me feel nostalgic. I'm halfway to them when Dominic catches up, falling into step beside me.
"Where are you going?" he asks, his voice surprising me because he sounds curious rather than angry. I clearly underestimated how much he would let his guard down after I stuck around at Jerome's.
That was a calculated move on my part, which I worried might be too obvious. But maybe not. Now his guard is down just like I hoped, and that means sooner or later he's going to give me a chance to run with a better head start. At this point, with whatever weird obsessive thing he has going on with me, I’ll need more than the length of a business meeting.
I don't answer Dominic because I'm genuinely frustrated by him—the least I can do is return the favor and frustrate him back.
