Page 37 of Mr. February

He refused to allow her to hide away when his friends waved them over to sit in the auditorium seats. After a little while, Jenny loosened up further and became more like her usual self, which helped him relax.

Throughout the opening session, the group exchanged commentary about other attendees, industry rumors, and upcoming sessions plans. Wade used this as an excuse to talk more to Jenny since he wanted her to feel included, but he also just liked talking to her. She gained confidence as time passed, and it became clear no one thought she made a fool of herself the previous night like she worried.

When Suzanne showed up during the networking break, things became a bit more stressful. She tried to single Wade out of the group. He was not having it.

“Sweetheart, do you still need to call Gloria?” he asked Jenny. “Wasn’t there some issue you needed to resolve, but you had to wait to log in to the VPN?”

She looked at him blankly for a moment before she realized he was giving them both an easy way out.

“Yes, thank you. Do we have enough time to take care of that?”

“It’ll be okay if we’re a few minutes late,” he assured her.

“Or,” Suzanne offered in a helpful voice, “Jessie can toddle along to do her thing. I need to talk to you, Wade.”

“It’s Jenny, and she needs my help.”

“She can’t do her job by herself and needs you to do it?” Suzanne sniped back.

Wade simply looked at her, and Suzanne had the decency to blush considering their history. He put his hand on Jenny’s waist, and she shivered. He hoped no one else noticed, or that they attributed it to excitement rather than anxiety.

“I need to check in with the office myself. I was… distracted earlier this morning and ran out of time before the opening session started. I need time to finish up what I started earlier.”

He let his gaze linger on Jenny until her cheeks turned pink. He hoped his words reinforced the idea that they were a couple.

“We need to head back to our room to make some calls, so we’ll see you guys later,” he said to his friends as they made their escape.

“Ugh, that was so uncomfortable,” Jenny said once they were on the elevator.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have touched you, but I thought it would sell it.”

“Oh, not that. Suzanne tried to humiliate me, but I already did it to myself. I’m mortified I drank so much.”

“You have nothing to be embarrassed about. I’m sorry that I put you in a position where you had to drink so much because you were bored or stressed.”

“But I wasn’t. Your friends were funny and nice, and I had a good time. I guess I wasn’t aware of how much I drank. It always seemed like my glass was full, but obviously I drank too much. There’s no need for you to feel guilty.”

Wade frowned at her words, but they arrived at their suite. Jenny excused herself to talk to Gloria, so he called Kyle.

“Is everything okay?” Kyle asked.

“I’m not sure.”

He quickly brought Kyle up to speed on the various embarrassing incidents, though he skipped over the mutual masturbation.

“Wow, you’ve been busy,” Kyle teased.

“I don’t know what to do. It’s three steps forward, two steps back. The more time I spend with her, the more I like her. She’s funny as hell, super smart, considerate, loyal. She has no poker face, which is hard for her, but it’s a relief after Suzanne. And Suzanne keeps trying to talk to me. We escaped her by implying we were coming back to the room to have sex.”

“What?” Kyle laughed. “That’s hilarious. How did Jenny react?”

“She turned the color of a tomato, but she didn’t contradict me.”

“What are you doing talking to me, then?”

“Ensuring you’re holding down the fort okay.”

Kyle scoffed. “Rude.”

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