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Not today.
For a moment, Meghan stared at me and didn’t say anything. Then she picked up her own drink and took a long sip, her eyes never leaving my face. I reached for my own drink and held her gaze, one eyebrow rising slightly. With a little more force than necessary, she set her drink down and folded her arms over her chest.
“That doesn’t mean we can’t find another way,” Meghan argued, color rising up her neck and staining her cheeks. “I’m sure you can agree that keeping the peace is important, Mr. Holt. So is keeping locals, many of whom will be our employees, happy.”
“Maintaining peace is one thing. Giving too much leeway in our plans in order to ‘people please’ is another. It’s more important to make sure that locals are not given too much leeway and see how we can boost their tourism economy. Otherwise, their complaints will become too much of a headache.”
Meghan snapped her mouth shut and didn’t say anything.
“And buying up more of the beach is better for revenue. The board is more interested in the bottom line. In fact, I’m more interested in the bottom line. I’m not willing to compromise the bottom line just to avoid ruffling a few feathers. I would think as the head architect you’d also be more concerned about the bottom line of our company. You may be a people pleaser in your own life, but you should run your decision making through a different line of thinking at work. That kind of thinking just won’t cut it in the company.”
A murmur of agreement rose through the crowd.
I leaned back against the chair and gave her a pointed look and a half smile. “Don’t you agree, Ms. Gomez?”
Meghan muttered something unintelligible underneath her breath. Then she pushed her chair back with a screech, snatched her purse off the table and walked away. A few murmurs rose up through the table as she stalked off, her head held high. She didn’t look back as she walked through the doors and in the direction of the outdoor pool.
6
MEGHAN
I hated Killian.
With a burning passion that surprised even me.
Not only did he go out of his way to push my buttons, but he also had the ability to reduce me to nothing with a single look and a single sentence, and I didn’t like being at his mercy. Having to sit across from him at the dinner table while he humiliated me kept playing on repeat in my head. I kept envisioning myself sitting there, hands folded tightly in my lap while he goaded and poked, oblivious to the war raging inside of me.
Red-hot anger coursed through me as I recalled the tense looks the rest of the team exchanged while lapsing into silence. Not a single one of them said a thing or acknowledged what was happening, and I couldn’t decide if I was worried or relieved. On the one hand, the thought of enduring their pity didn’t sit well with me. On the other hand, being forced to sit there while Killian made passive aggressive remarks aimed at me that were meant to push my buttons and undercut my success while they did nothing made me sick to my stomach.
But I knew why they hadn’t come to my defense.
Killian might’ve let me get away with not being intimidated or simpering when he was in the room, courtesy of my friendship with Serena, but he wasn’t going to extend the same courtesy to anyone else. As far as he was concerned, he would be well within his right to react if one person stepped a toe out of line.
It was unfair.
And I couldn’t escape what he said.
I couldn’t escape him.
Even though I desperately wanted to.
Tears burned the back of my eyes, and it took every ounce of control I had not to break down and cry.
I darted down the hallway to the outdoor pool, knowing it would be dark outside and I would avoid the brightly lit lobby where someone might see me unraveling. The last thing I wanted was any of my colleagues seeing me crying to myself.
Or worse, Killian himself.
Because he would never let me hear the end of it, considering how hard he rode me to be the best, be at the top of my game. While I didn’t want to be as affected as I was by his words, I couldn’t deny the bad taste they left in their wake.
Or the unease that had settled in the pit of my stomach.
After circling the length of the pool a few times and receiving a few looks from the other guests, I went back inside. With my head held high, and my purse caught in a death grip, I stormed off in the direction of the elevator. I jabbed the button impatiently, ready to go upstairs and wash my makeup and my tears off my face. Once the doors pinged open, I breathed a sigh of relief and got on.
The doors were almost closed when a hand darted out, and the doors flew back open.
Killian got into the elevator, his dark hair tossed haphazardly to the side, and his blazer draped over one arm. The top button of his shirt was undone, revealing more of his neck tattoo. The dark imposing tendrils wrapped in a spiral around one side of his neck, before snaking down and disappearing around his back. Already a towering figure, the sight of his tattoo winding across his rippling muscles made him look even more powerful. He came up right next to me, and sat on the handrail. As soon as the doors pinged shut, he twisted to face me, and I dug my nails into the inside of my palms.
“About what I said at dinner….you know it wasn’t personal.”
