Page 122 of Not Safe For Work

He grins, like this is all just a game to him.

“Is this a kidnapping situation, Olivia? Are you about to lock me in the cellar until we agree to sign?”

“No,” I breathe out, exasperated. “You’d enjoy that way too much and this deal would probably go on forever.”

He laughs, nods in agreement. Does this man take anything seriously?

“Look,” I continue. “This might all be one big joke to you, I honestly can’t tell. But my job is on the line, and I need to know if this is happening or not. Darnell is frothing to get his hands on our platform, I can tell. It seems like the only blocker in this deal is you.”

“You’ve got tenacity, Olivia. I might ask you to come work for me if you weren’t so tempting.” Oh, for the love of god. Another man treating me like Eve with an apple. “The truth is, I’m working on getting us out of our current contract. As soon as I do that, we’ll sign with you. Patience is a virtue, even for someone as gorgeous as you.”

“Are you for real?” The words come out abruptly, not exactly the professional tone I’ve been going for.

“That you’re gorgeous? Of course.”

“No, about the contract. You need to get out of your contract with MarketingStream?”

“Yes. They’re being…difficult. We still have fourteen months left. The idiot who signed before I joined the team locked us into a five-year agreement.”

“So,” I start pacing. I can’t help it. “You’re saying that as soon as you can terminate your MarketingStream contract, you’ll sign with us?”

“Yes, though I might add a clause to your service agreement that all future negotiations are held in this cave.”

“Yeah, sure, umm, hold that thought!”

Rushing back into the main room, my eyes dart to every corner searching for golden hair and aqua eyes.

“Hey, you okay?” I jump when Gavin comes up behind me, wrapping his arms around my shoulders.

I turn into him. “Fine,” I answer. “Just need you.”

“What did he do?” Gavin’s gaze turns stormy.

“Nothing. All good, I swear. I just need your expertise, that’s all. Come on.”

I pull Gavin with me back toward Tristan.

“Tristan, this is Gavin Scott. He’s one of the original folks at Sizzl and I think he can help you with your problem.”

“This isGavin?” Tristan asks. It’s then I remember I told him Gavin’s name. Told him before we were actually even dating.

“Yes,” I say with enough force to get my point across.Don’t you dare. “AndGavinhas helped many of our clients navigate early terminations at other vendors, specifically MarketingStream. So if you’d like to save yourself some time, and money, and make Darnell’s team very happy, you two should talk.”

Gavin looks at me. At first, I can’t read his expression. But then I realize what barrel I’m leaning against and see him bite his lip. Is this conversation turning him on?

“All right,” Tristan says, cutting off my current train of thought. “Let’s hear it.”

Gavin goesto get his computer and we spend the next hour digging into Tristan’s contract and finding the best solution for him to terminate early.

At first, watching Gavin and Tristan interact resembled a cock fight. They each took little jabs where they could, trying and failing to be subtle about it. But I refused to engage, and eventually we fell into a professional rhythm. Thank god.

We were busy working on this as the event wrapped up and the shuttles took everyone else back to the city. I got a text fromAndie letting me know Mario and Daanesh thought the event was a huge success, then another asking if I’d ever consider joining her on the marketing team.

By the time Tristan leaves the vineyard, he has a finalized contract from me in his inbox, and a solid plan to have his current contract voided in thirty days. Somehow, by some sorcery of will, I pulled this off.

I feel amazing. I don’t even care that I had to pull Gavin in at the last minute. I did this. Me. Olivia fucking Diamond.

“Sparkles, you’re incredible,” Gavin says, once we’re finally alone. “Can we do unspeakable things to each other now?”

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