“You’re so strong, boo. I love your ass.” Ezra smiled at me. “What? Why are you staring at me like that?”
Killian’s eyes ping-ponged between the two of us. “Holy shit. I see it now.”
“You see what?” Ezra asked, but Killian was smirking at me.
Fuck me sideways. “Please don’t do this,” I begged, but I could tell by the look in his blue eyes he would.
“Watts, man, take a good hard look at Ezra for a second. He’s pretty, right? Looks a lot like—”
“Stop fucking gawking at my boyfriend!” I jumped to my feet. “He’s mine. You’re engaged to Matthias! What is wrong with you?” I wanted to rip him over the table and smack him around.
A big smile spread over Killian’s face as he tapped his ink-covered fingers against the table. “You went after Holt because he reminded you of Ezra.”
“I hate you so much right now.” I seethed.
Watts tilted his head. “Do you two need to step outside for a minute? Have like a duel to the death or something? Kill, are you really flirting with Ezra or just trying to piss Carson off?”
“I need him to stop. Before I say or do something that gets me fired. Ezra is off limits; do you hear me? He’s mine.” I pointed a finger at Killian, who shrugged.
“Fine, whatever, he’s off limits.” But when he winked at my boyfriend, I started toward him.
Ezra sighed softly behind. “God, when you say stuff like that, it just makes me want to burst into a million pieces. I love you so damn much, CC.”
I spun around to slam my mouth over his, not caring that my bosses were in the room. Fucking Killian. He could eat shit and die. Asshole. The next time we had a meeting, Matthias needed to be here to keep him in line. How did he even put up with him? Spoiled rockstar.
“See, he doesn’t want Holt. You can relax,” I heard the Mulligan singer murmur. “I know you tried to set him up with Noel for a reason, but clearly, he was already taken.” He coughed loudly. “If you two are done?”
I pulled myself away from Ezra and sat back down, shooting daggers at Killian. “You did that on purpose.”
“Maybe, but it was all for my friend here. Like I said, he was convinced you were still after his fiancé.” Killian wiggled his brows at me.
Watts grunted. “Carson, it’s nice to see you have some fight in you when you need it. Ezra, can I see the new stuff Seth worked up?” He got up and moved to look over the laptop. “Dude, come check these out.” He motioned for Killian to join him.
I leaned over, and even though I had already seen the mockups, it took my breath away how talented Seth was. The colors, the graphics, everything was perfect. The anchor that Seth had put on the hood of the car, the swirly blue font of the Ocean View Tavern above it and the way it looked like it was written in waves around it. Damn, he was good. He was wasting his talent. He should be doing this full time, but it wasn’t really any of my business.
“Fuck me sideways,” Killian murmured. “This is brilliant. We should have Seth come here. Do you think he’d be interested in flying down? We’ve emailed him, but it would be nice to have to talk to him in person.”
Ezra nodded. “I’m sure he would, but you’d need to talk to him about that.”
Watts moved back to his chair. “Obviously we’re going to use these. Shirts, hats, a fire suit for Carson, and the crew.” He glanced at Killian. “What do you think?”
“Diecasts, stickers, everything,” he added.
A felt a thrill run up my spine. “This is actually going to happen. You want this for my car?”
“Of course, Carson.” Watts’s dark eyes met mine. “Why would you think otherwise?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“Pfffft.” Ezra blew a raspberry. “He thought you wanted to fire him. That you only agreed to hire him because you felt bad for him.”
Killian and Watts looked at one another before Watts spoke first. “Why? Because of Holt? Look, I know we give you a hard time about him, but honestly? That’s all on me. I’m sorry if I made you feel like that. H and I, we’re good. I know he loves me. You’re a good guy, man, and I like you.”
“Thank you.” It felt like a million pounds had been lifted from my shoulders.
“Now, if you’ll excuse me. I have to get going before my fiancé comes knocking on this door to take me home and tell me it’s past my bedtime.” Watts pushed his chair back. “Ezra, I hope we’ll see you at the Christmas party on Saturday. You’re part of the Brooks Racing family now. Seth, too, if he can make it down.”
Ezra nodded. “That’s the plan.”
