Page 6 of Mister Rival

“Now why would I want to go and do a thing like that?” I scoff. “The woman is a pill.”

Mason holds up another finger, his favorite thing to do when correcting someone. “You were your usual self with her, Tristan, admit it, and now she’s pissed.”

“Just sign off.” Joshua pushes off the door to take a seat on the Chesterfield in my expansive office with an amazing view of the city, spreading his arms down the back of the couch. “Stop messing with her. It’s not her fault you can’t grow a decent beard.”

He wants me to bite back, and usually it works, but I’m in a good mood today. “Funny, I don’t see the ladies complaining.” Total lie. I haven’t been on a date in…too long.

“Uh, huh.” Joshua isn’t convinced.

“Anywho,” Mason goes on. “The reunion? I’d like to RSVP today. I can arrange a new suit, book Jonas for your hair styling, heck, we could even get you that spray tan you threatened Alison with.”

Joshua snickers. “What did I miss?”

Mason sends an eye roll in Joshua’s direction. “Trust me, you don’t want to know.”

“Let’s just forget this whole reunion idea,” I grump. “Sounds like a big fat waste of my time. I hated everyone in high school, and I’m sure the feeling is mutual.”

Mason’s expression contorts in anguish. “You can’t not go! Think of all the business you could drum up.”

“Yeah, and if Alison will be there, she could steal potential clients right from under your nose,” Joshua feels the need to add, a smile playing on his lips.

“I don’t need clients in Palm Springs,” I tell them both. “I've got enough going on here.”

“You’re going,” Mason tells me with a firm nod. “Sorry, boss, this is an opportunity we can’t pass up, and if you had a plus one?—”

“Don’t even think about it,” I warn. “I wouldn’t take Alison Archer with me if she was the last woman on the planet.”

“That’s only because you think she’s a ball buster.”Why does he sound so cheery about that?

“I don’tthinkshe’s a ball buster, Iknowshe’s one.”

“Just because she shot you down in high school,” Joshua laughs.

I shouldn’t take the bait, but once again, I do. “Shedidn’t shoot me down: I shot her down, that’s why she hates me. Then she met Gareth and they sailed off into the sunset.”

Mason and Joshua exchange a look that tells me they don’t believe a word of it, but I remember very vividly. “So drop it.”

“Touchy,” Joshua mutters.

“You said yourself she’s divorced now, so I think you need to butter up Alison with this deal,” Mason says, ready to get on with the rest of my day. “The time will come around where we need a favor, and she won’t reciprocate.”

Little do they know, a plan may already be brewing for dear, sweet little Alison Archer. Reunion or not, Mason has a point, but I wanted to make her sweat for just a little longer.

Chapter Four

ALISON

I hear Lexi laughing on the phone and I know automatically it’s a man she’s talking to. A man she clearly likes because she never sounds like that when talking to me, or anyone else for that matter.

“I think it’s a great idea. No, I’m not sure, I haven’t collected the mail yet,” she says, all giggly. “Oh, you’re too funny… I completely agree, it sounds like fun.”

What the heck? Since when has Lexie got a not-so-secret admirer?

I strain to listen, trying to decipher who she could be talking to, and why she didn’t tell me about him.

The truth is, I've been like a cat on hot bricks since my conversation with testy Tristan. I want to put his goddamn pretty face on a dartboard and hit the bullseye. Several times.

I have to phone my client back today — something he damn well knows — and make an excuse as to why I haven’t closed this deal yet. Telling them Tristan Lucas is an asshole with intestinal woe, and a bad tan to match, won’t exactly cut it. Not that I believe that fake tan story. The asshole is just playing with me and for some reason I think he enjoys it. But I’m a professional,and I know I can win him over in the end. Tristan Lucas isn’t as slick as he thinks he is, and I’m going to prove it.

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