The man liked the sound of his own voice as much as Dad did and judged as loudly and freely. “Remind me to text Bart later and tell him to order enough tequila before I get there.”
Steph smiled until she saw I was serious. “We just got to the office. What could possibly be that bad already?”
“We just got to the office,” I stated simply. There was nothing she could do about my shitty meeting, no point in mentioning it to her. “You go on up. I’ll watch to make sure you get into the elevator ok. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”
She gave me a long look but nodded and hopped out of the car. “See you later.”
“See you,” I said, but she had already closed her door and was walking to the elevator. The black dress she was wearing clung to the curve between her hips and her breasts, showing off her voluptuous figure.
More than a few of the men who were waiting by the bank of elevators noticed her as she approached them. Couldn’t say I blamed them, though I hated seeing them looking at her like that.
Almost immediately, she started chatting to a vaguely familiar looking guy I thought might work on our floor. He was wearing a purple beret and a dotted bow tie, making wild gestures with his hands as he talked and piled into the elevator with her and half a dozen others.
I breathed out a deep sigh when they were out of sight. My head needed to be screwed on right today. Where Evan was, my father was sure to put in an appearance. I would undoubtedly be seeing him today when I had my meeting with his friend.
As expected, my day was an endless stream of meetings that very easily could’ve been emails. But everyone wanted face time with the boss, and in this chain of command, I was it. Neil and I slogged through it, but he left me alone for the meeting with Evan—and my dad. They had me seeing red twenty seconds into the hour-long meeting, and the feeling stuck with me for the rest of the day.
When I was done with my last meeting, I headed straight for Stephanie’s office. “You ready to go?”
She looked up, surprised to see me there. Glancing down at her watch, she frowned. “If you are. Your last meeting ended two minutes ago, are you sure you’re done? I don’t mind waiting.”
“I’m done,” I said decisively. Monday had kicked my ass, and I was ready to kick it right back. “Let’s go.”
Stephanie talked a bit on the way to her place, but I didn’t respond much. I needed some time to decompress after this day. I was afraid if I opened my mouth, I was going to do or say something I would regret.
The old party boy in me wanted to invite her out again, then back to my penthouse to fuck away the day. But I had my father looking over my shoulder now. I had to be smarter.
“Have a good night, Steph. I’ll see you tomorrow. Seven again?” I said when I dropped her off outside her building, just like I had on Friday. Christ, trying to be a good guy sucked. I didn’t even try to talk my way into her apartment, or her bed.
I might’ve been imagining things, but I could’ve sworn she looked almost disappointed. She hid it quickly if it hadn’t even been there at all. Smiling a little wider than what seemed natural, she opened her door and got out of the car before I could move to get the door for her.
“Bye Jeremiah. Seven’s fine.” She was gone a second later, briskly crossing the sidewalk to get into her building.
A sense of disappointment bloomed in my own chest, but I wouldn’t allow it to fester. I had drinks with the guys to look forward to. Tanner, Bart, and Shawn were a much safer bet for me tonight than hanging around anywhere near Steph.