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"You said you trusted me." Ella looks up at me.
"I do but why do I have to do this? I know what he wants and he wants what's mine. I don't think I can be cordial with someone that's actively trying to get in your pants." I say through my clenched teeth. When she said that she was hungry, I figured we'd go to one of the restaurants or get something to bring back to the room. Ella had other ideas in the form of me sitting down with Linc. She was expecting me to be nice when all I actually wanted to do was throw his ass overboard.
"Look, I've already told you that he doesn't want to get in my pants. It was a passing thing and since then the both of us have become friends. I'm going to continue to talk to him even after the ship docks. If you're upset about it now, imagine what's going to happen when I start inviting him places or meeting him for lunch? You're going to have to trust me completely in all things." She starts to walk away from me but I grab her arm to stop her.
"I'm going to do this because you're right. I'll be even more pissed later but if he looks at you for too long or says something out of line I'm not going to hold my tongue. I'll be respectful until the minute he's not. Is that understood?" I keep her gaze just so she can see how serious I am. I've never been called an insecure man but I'm not going to play a fool to anybody.
"Yes, I don't think it'll be a problem but I understand." She nods once and I let her go as she leads us to a table where Linc is sitting alone eating a big plate of fruit.
I fist my hands in my pockets when he turns around and sees Ella. He smiles wide until he sees me standing behind her.
"So in order to get the awkwardness out of the way now, I figured we do this early this morning." Ella says standing in front of me until Linc stands at his full height.
"What exactly is this you'd figure we do?" Linc asks, now keeping his eyes squarely on mine. He's not going to back down and neither am I.
"First of all we're going to bring down the alpha male testosterone at least four notches." Ella hits both of us and we break our stare down.
"I'm not sure what's going on here Ella but I'm feeling a little ambushed. Is this going to be an argument because it's too fucking early for that." Linc crosses his arms over his chest.
"No, of course not." Ella presses her lips together for a second before she starts talking again, "Linc, were you serious when you said that we were going to keep things completely platonic between us?"
"Yeah, getting turned down once is enough for me." He smirks.
"Good, because I wasn't planning on letting you off the ship without finding a way to stay in contact with you. This man is Percy, and we're together." Ella explains.
"So you're saying you want us to be besties or what?" He tilts his head and I'm fighting the urge to say something sarcastic.
"Not besties but maybe civil?" She says. Her face is getting red and she's fidgeting. She's nervous and I'm helping make her that way.
"Look, I'm not going to be an ass, though you're making it very easy, "I say directly to him, "Ella says you and her formed a friendship while on the boat. If you're a friend to her then I have to respect that."
He stops smirking and lets out a huffing breath, his chest deflating a bit, "All right, I'm with that. Come on let's have some breakfast."
I'm surprised by how easy it is to fall into a conversation with him. He's very charismatic and within a few minutes I see how they interact and I feel better. They do seem to be just friends.
"So what do you do Percy? Ella said you worked in the media but didn't tell me much more than that." Linc picks up his coffee and takes a sip.
"Yeah, I'm the CEO of Snow Chronicles. It's one of the-" I don't get the words out of my mouth before he spits the coffee he's drinking out to the side. Coughing slightly.
"You're that Percy Snow? Holy fuck!" he picks up his napkin and wipes his face. "Maybe I should have kept being a dick to you" He tosses his napkin back down on the table and chuckles.
"What? Why?" Ella asks clearly as confused as I am too.
"Snow Chronicles ran a story on my company. How my construction company was making it almost impossible for local workers to compete with my contracts. You said that I was a tyrant of a boss. Oh and that it was unclear if I had ever worked an honest day's worth of labor in my life. "
Oh fuck. Lincoln De Leon. I didn't even recognize him.
"Wait! I remember that article." Ella gasps loud and smacks him in the arm, "You're Lincoln De Leon, like the owner of Lion Construction and Resorts? I hate you so much! Why didn't you tell me that?" Ella screams at him.
"You told me you were a reporter, if you didn't already know who I was I didn't want to push my luck." He laughs.
"Look man, I only go with credible sources. So maybe you are more of a tyrant than you think you are." I shrug and sip my own coffee.
"No, I know I am. I push my people hard and they produce good work. But I also make sure they take care of them as well. I'm not going to apologize for being the best." He says and I raise my cup to his. I can't hate on him for that. When I look over to Ella I see she's shaking her head.
"What?"
