Shannon:I’m slammed with work for a new project. I’m dealing with a high-maintenance owner who happens to have his own PR squad and as luck would have it, they’re even more high maintenance than he is. I spend 80% of my day on the phone with these ass-lickers
Will:Fuck that noise
Shannon:Believe me. I’ve tried.
Shannon:Plus– Sam is getting an award for one of his restorations this weekend
Will:Bravo to Sam
Will:I’ll see you Friday
Will:And don’t pack any panties, unless you want to spend the entire weekend handing them over
Chapter Ten
SHANNON
Twelve months ago
Iprobably wouldn’tadmit it to anyone, but I missed insulting Will in person.
I was looking forward to enslaving his cock for the weekend.
And now…I was going to strangle him. That bastard was going down.
I’d delegated tasks to Tom that were a couple of rungs above his level. I’d bought new lingerie, even though I hated spending that much money on underwear. Iwaxed.
And Will didn’t show up.
There was some explanation that I was not interested in hearing, and I’d spent the weekend in Chicago ordering room service, drinking wine straight from the bottle, and watching aLaw and Order: SVUmarathon in my room at The Langham. All the anticipation I’d collected over the past months shattered, but I was still holding the shards. It was the worst combination of sexual frustration, abandonment, and rejection I’d ever experienced. I was totally fucking miserable.
“The Castavechias went to Scotland over the summer,” Patrick said. “They visited castles.”
And now I was listening to my siblings talk about their projects, and I couldn’t form whole words. All I had were growls.
Riley frowned and nudged Matt’s shoulder. “Why is that an issue?”
“They’d like to redesign,” Andy said. “Again.”
I tuned out the conversation as my mind wandered back to last night, when Will called. It was long past midnight and he sounded painfully tired, and he told me the only thing in the world he wanted right then was to pull my hair and lick my clit, and somewhere in the middle of all that, I agreed to meet him in New Mexico next week.
But some dirty talk, a hand in my pajama pants, and a slightly above average orgasm wasn’t erasing any of my misery. It only took the edge off. There was an obscenity-laced monologue about my dissatisfaction with the weekend, too.
“Are they being charged the dicking-around fee? What is this? Version nineteen?” Matt asked.
“Yes,” Andy said. “But the bigger problem is that we’re already halfway through a Dutch Colonial restoration. The project shouldn’t become a Scottish castle, and…”
“And they want us to go to Scotland with them.” Patrick waved his hand dismissively, and I opened an instant messenger window. “Something about recovering stones and floorboards.”
Shannon:If you go to Scotland, you are expensing every cent of that trip right back to the client. These people are crazypants…and I’m sort of expecting them to ask you to move in soon. Resident architect.
Patrick:Yeah. I know.
Patrick:Side note– you look awful
Shannon:Do not doubt that I will throw this chair at you
Patrick:I don’t but I thought you were unplugging for the weekend.
