Page 84 of Loaded

“Email them to me,” I say. “We’ll see what we can do.”

“What other brands are on board?” Laurent asks.

“You know I can’t tell you that. Not without a much more firm commitment.”

“Let me get with legal and we’ll send you something.”

We’re nearly to Bea’s place. “I’m so sorry I wasted our whole drive home,” I say.

“Wasted?” Bea’s frowning. “It sounded like an encouraging call.”

“It was,” I say. “We need Barbier—the board’s flipping out about it.”

“Well, it sounds like you have a good shot of bringing them in.”

I park. “As encouraging as that was, it was a long way from the best part of my day.” I lean toward her and brush another kiss against her perfectly shaped mouth.

She’s smiling when she hops out of the car and jogs to her apartment door. All in all, even if my date ran away at the end, I think things went pretty well.

My phone bings, and I whip it out. It’s from Bea, which makes me grin.

I TALKED TO LEGAL. HERE ARE MY DEMANDS—IF YOU WANT TO COME FOR SUNDAY DINNER.

She’s such a frigging delight. I DO, I text back immediately.

1. NO MORE DROP-INS WHILE I’M AT WORK

DONE, I text back.

2. YOU WILL DRIVE THE XC90 OR 4RUNNER

I smile. I THOUGHT YOU DIDN’T LIKE IT

DAVE AND SEREN ALWAYS MOCK JAKE FOR HIS CAR

DONE, THEN, I text.

WAIT, HOW MANY CARS DO YOU HAVE?

I PLEAD THE FIFTH.

THE FIFTH ONLY APPLIES IN A COURT OF LAW.

I DON’T THINK THAT’S TRUE. Or at least, whether it is or not, the last thing I need to do is confess that I have five. Three are parked at my parents’ house anyway, so there’s no need for her to know.

FINE. She sends an eye-roll emoji, and I can imagine her doing it in person. 3. YOU WILL NOT SAY A WORD ABOUT SEREN’S FAMOUS GRANDMOTHER

BUT I ALREADY KNOW ALL ABOUT HER—ELIZABETH TOLD US

OH, FINE. I’M FLEXIBLE ON NUMBER THREE

I THINK WE HAVE AN AGREEMENT, I text.BUT I NEED TO SEE YOU BEFORE SUNDAY. I CAN’T WAIT THAT LONG. HOW ABOUT TOMORROW?

I’M WORKING

WHAT ABOUT BEFORE WORK?

I’M GOING FOR A RUN TO WORK OFF THE 9,000 CALORIES I JUST ATE

---