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He held back his grin saying that, knowing his father would be annoyed. “I’m feeling great,” his father said. “But I did forget to tell you about the meeting. Well, not really. It just happened so fast and then it slipped my mind and I knew you’d be there. I stayed on and finished up for you so you didn’t get behind.”
“You did, but you aren’t still there and I’d be there,” he pointed out. Might as well play with his father a little since he was being blindsided and thrown into some matchmaking game he didn’t even know existed.
“I knew you’d be back here and I had to come and talk to Elise too,” his father said. “But I can go back if you want.”
“It’s fine,” he said. “I’ll meet with her and I talked to the foreman there before I returned. It’s all good.”
“Because we’ve got good men working for us,” his father said. “And good women too. I can’t forget to say that or your sister would throw a fit.”
“Chloe might too,” he said just to see his father’s reaction. Yep, his father was in on this based on that smirk.
Son of a bitch.
8
The Next Step
Chloe just watched Megan and Jonah leave Diane Fierce’s house during the Christmas Eve party. She’d never been invited to this before and was positive the only reason she was this year was because she was their target.
She’d been here over an hour and moved around talking to many. She was thinking it was time to leave when she saw Royce enter.
Maybe not now.
The two of them had been working together for the past three weeks on Tony Water’s office space but not talking about anything else other than that.
If she was frustrated that she put so much of herself out there, she kept it sealed tight. No way she was sharing her embarrassment with anyone else.
He’d said he was interested but obviously not as much as he let on.
Grant and Garrett had been dropping hints more than ever before, but she really had nothing to contribute and changed the subject every time.
“Chloe,” Royce said, making his way over to her. She’d just gone to get some more snacks and hoped to make her way back to him.
He’d made the first move and there was part of her that thought he’d done it so he wasn’t standing there alone.
“Royce,” she said.
They stood there with an awkward silence that neither of them wanted to have. She knew. She saw it on his face.
“About a few weeks ago,” he said.
“Yes?” she said.
“Work is crazy busy and there has been some family drama I’ve been sucked into. It’s nothing more than that.”
She wasn’t going to ask him to elaborate. “You don’t need to explain anything,” she said. “You said you were going to think about it and maybe you need more time than most.”
He laughed. “I don’t need that much time. I know what I want.”
She looked around and didn’t notice that many eyes on her. “What is it you want?”
“I think you know,” he said, taking a sip of his beer.
“And it’s not the time to get into it,” she said. But her heart was racing again and she was thrilled that this might be going forward.
“No,” he said. “Though maybe we could play with everyone else here if you want?”
She grinned. She didn’t expect him to be that way. “You figured out your father is an active part of this project?”
