Page 55 of The Boss I Can't Stand
There was something very,verysexy about Finn Lockhart when he wasn’t completely buttoned up. I banished that thought as he said, “I found someone who will overnight a bolt of the exact same fabric down to the dye lot.”
My jaw dropped.
“Shut up!” Paisley said. “For real?”
“Yes, for real,” Finn said. “It’ll get here sometime in the early, early morning. I can’t be sure exactly when…but they’re guessing maybe three or four a.m.”
He’d truly done the impossible, but it still wasn’t enough. “Even if I drive in as soon as I get word that the fabric’s here, I don’t think that’ll be enough time. Every minute is going to count if we want this finished before filming.”
“I figured as much,” Finn said, coming to stand next to me. “Which is why we’re not going back to the penthouse tonight. I’ve already got us reservations at a hotel just off the studio lot. It’s a five-minute walk away. We can stay there and come back the moment the delivery arrives so you lose as little time as possible.”
At that moment, all the stress and exhaustion and jittery energy-drink-fueled adrenaline caught up to me, and I almost burst into tears. Because here I was about to suggest that I just crash in my office, and Finn had already taken care of it.
“I’d suggest the rest of the team head home now and try to get some sleep. Be back first thing refreshed and ready to work.”
I nodded. It was as good a plan as any. Trin, Paisley, and Carter didn’t wait around to be told twice. They gathered their things and shuffled out together like a pack of exhausted zombies. Finn waited for me to grab my bag from my office before walking me across the street to the hotel.
While we were checking in, I fought off a yawn, resisting the urge to lean against him. As I glanced around the lobby, I spotted a familiar man working on a laptop, a camera bag on the floor by his side. Paparazzi! Ugh, of all the times.
My hand curled, my thumb automatically feeling for the engagement ring. IfIcould recognize him, there were probably more of his kind milling about, which meant everything we did here could be news by morning. I relaxed my face, trying to let the stress melt away. I could only imagine the way I would photograph tonight, looking miserable and exhausted as I stood next to Finn. That wasnotthe image we needed out in the world.
I grabbed Finn’s hand, snuggling up to him and planting a kiss to his jaw so I’d have the opening to whisper, “Only one room, right?”
He turned to me, a frown dragging his eyebrows together. “No, I got you?—”
He broke off as I subtly inclined my head, pointing out the paparazzo. Finn turned back to the concierge. “Only one room.”
“Sir? We have two on the reservation.”
“Then my assistant must have made a mistake,” Finn stated coolly, adjusting the collar of his suit. “My fiancée and I only require one room.”
The concierge nodded, handing us our keycards a moment later. “The suite is all ready for you.”
Finn nodded in thanks and slung his arm over my shoulders as the two of us made our way through the lobby. He didn’t drop it until we were safely inside the elevator. “I wasn’t even thinking?—”
“It’s okay,” I said. “I didn’t expect there to be paparazzi here at this time either.” And now we were stuck sharing a room. I tried to tell myself it wasn’t a big deal. I already shared his condo with him, so surely we could manage to share a room for one night. It was already past midnight anyway.
At this rate, by the time we got upstairs and plugged our phones in, it would basically be time to go back to the studio. And I was too tired to overthink sharing a room with Finn.
It’s not like anything was going to happen.
My phone buzzed. I checked it, thinking it might be Ro. I’d been sending her updates for hours. But instead, another name flashed across my screen.Trey.
Oh, come on! Really? I deleted the message without even reading it. The man hadn’t even bothered to text me to properly break things off, andnowhe wanted to talk? Why didn’t he just go back to tagging me on Instagram? I wasn’t in the mood to deal with that. Especially tonight of all nights.
Even my fake relationship with Finn had better communication than that.
20
FINN
Since when did a king-size seem so small? I stared at the bed in the middle of the sprawling room, wondering if I was being punked.
“Right or left?” Sierra asked.
“Huh?”
“Which side do you?—”
