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He tosses back his head, letting out a hearty laugh. “Well, now I’m really intrigued. But yeah, I do have work to do—I need to go tell the finance team to find a few spare million in the budget they just spent two months putting together.”
I wince, knowing it’s going to cause more work for everyone, but this is what we have a finance team for, after all. “Make sure they know it’s a simulation—we’re not committing to anything just yet. And we don’t know what our outlay will be.”
“You know, we wouldn’t be pinching pennies if—”
“Please don’t finish that sentence,” I tell him, rubbing my forehead in frustration. “It’s not an option.”
“I’m just pointing out that it’d be nice to have an extra two hundred million to play around with.”
I’m more than aware of this fact, but it doesn’t change my answer. I’m not selling Leah’s company. I hit RJ with a hard stare and we lock eyes for a long moment before he finally backs down, sighing in defeat.
“I’ll go talk to finance,” he mutters.
“Thank you.”
Once I’m alone in my office, I remove my suit jacket and hang it on the back of my desk chair. Then I roll back my sleeves and pour myself a scotch, taking it over to the sofa by the window.
I gaze out over Fifth Avenue as I mull everything over. I don’t like how distracted I was today—RJ was right to call me out on it. But it seems I managed to salvage the situation well enough, even if I have committed Grimco Media to potentially throwing millions it doesn’t really have to spare right now at a venture that might not work. But itmightwork. And I have faith that Grimco will turn back around soon enough. I’m not usually a huge risk-taker when it comes to business interests, but many of my biggest wins have come from gambles with chancy odds. I guess we’ll just have to see how it pans out.
And as for the other thing…well, I’m sure once the lingering physical effects of Monday night are gone, the daydream-inducing memories will disappear too…
I hope…
CHAPTER9
DEACON
I’ve been going insane for a week. Ever since last Monday when I brought Tanner Grimsay back to my place, I keep expecting to wake upWizard of Ozstyle and discover the whole thing was a dream. A really, really,reallygood dream.
Because that’s the thing that makes the most sense, right? Definitely more sense than the billionaire silver fox father of one of my kindergarteners propositioning me at a gay bar and letting me fuck him so hard he almost broke through my bedroom wall.
I haven’t seen him since he left my place last Monday night. Every day since then, my gut twists and tangles with nerves as we get closer to pick up time as I wait to see if Tanner will show up to collect his daughter; but every day Isobel’s been collected from school by her nanny, Kit. And I’m left torn between feelings of immense relief, and bitter disappointment.
It’s not all that unusual for Kit to take Izzy home. In fact, it’s probably the more common scenario—from what I can gather, Tanner’s a pretty involved parent but he does have a billion-dollar business to run. Of course, that doesn’t stop me from readingwaytoo much into his absence over the past week.
I just can’t help worrying that he’s too embarrassed to face me or something like that. Not that he has anything to be embarrassed about—believe me—but I can imagine a guy like Tanner having a total freak out after what happened. He said he’d done it before, but what does that matter? That doesn’t mean he’s totally comfortable with it. And even if he is, I bet it’s never been with one of his kids’ teachers.
Fuck, I’m such an idiot. Why the hell do I let my dick make decisions for me? Just because Tanner’s sexy, and smells amazing, and has gorgeous eyes, and ran his hand up my leg, and begged me to fuck him… okay, now I remember why.
But it was a mistake. Definitely a mistake. And clearly he thinks so too if he’s been avoiding me all week.
Maybe avoiding me.
Fuck, I’m confused. Yet another reason why sleeping with a student’s father was an incredibly dumb move.
School let out a while ago, but I have rugby practice tonight so there wasn’t much point going home. Sully’s office building is on the way to the park so I’m planning to meet him there in about half an hour so we can head down together. Knowing Sullivan, he’ll be caught up with something or other and I’ll be waiting in the lobby for at least fifteen minutes, so I don’t feel the need to rush too much. I’ve been taking the opportunity to set up some projects for the kids tomorrow. We’re doing the letter E this week, so they’re going to be making some egg people. Should be fun, even if I have to listen to Daniel Kramer complain the whole time that egg people don’t actually exist. I give a wry shake of my head as I finish organizing all the stuff we’ll need. There’s an obnoxious pain in the ass in every class; it’s kind of a requirement. I’m pretty sure Danny will grow up to invent whatever saves us from global warming—or maybe invent an AI program that destroys the human race—so at least I can claim to have nurtured a bright young mind.
Once I’ve finished what I need to in the classroom, I grab my sports bag with my rugby gear and head to the staff bathroom so I can change.
Remembering I left my phone in my desk drawer, I head back to my classroom after I’ve changed, stopping in my tracks when I catch sight of a familiar, incredibly sexy figure standing in the hallway just outside my classroom door. He looks fucking incredible as always in his tailored navy suit, and I take a moment to greedily soak in the sight while his attention is diverted with something on his phone.
“Uh…hi.” Wow, way to be original, Deacon.
Tanner snaps his head up at the sound of my voice and puts his phone away in the inside pocket of his suit. Then he takes a moment to scan his eyes over me, no doubt taking note of my gym shorts and hoodie. “You look very…casual today.”
I offer a wry smirk. “I have rugby tonight.”
His brows shoot into his hairline. “Rugby? With all the mud and tackling and no padding or helmets?”
