“No, I don’t think you do.”He pointed his fork at me.“Because if you did, you’d be sweating bullets right now.This isn’t some random woman you’ll never see again.This is Morgan Starling.She works there.Her father owns the damn place.And we just tied three million dollars to their company.”
That was Simon.Telling it like it was.No filtering or softening his words.Not that he was wrong.
“I get it,” I muttered, pushing my lasagna around on my plate.
“Do you?”Simon cocked his head.“Because I’m not sure you’ve fully grasped how royally you’ve screwed yourself.And me.And possibly this deal if she decides to make your night together an issue.Christ, Liam, you need to fix this yesterday.”
I let out a rough exhale, fighting the urge to snap back.“IsaidI’ll talk to her.”
“No,” he said firmly.“Not talk.Fucking grovel.”
I scrubbed a hand over my tense jaw.“Groveling seems…overly dramatic.”
“Dramatic is ghosting a woman who obviously caught your attention enough to want to fuck then showing up in her conference room like an unexpected plot twist no one saw coming,” Simon shot back, not mincing words.“Groveling is bare-minimum damage control.”
I dropped my silverware onto my plate with a clatter, my irritation flaring hotter than I intended.“What do you want me to say?‘Sorry I panicked and had a minor emotional meltdown after having the best night I’ve had in years with a woman’?”
“Honestly?”Simon dared to smirk.“That’s not a terrible start.”
I glared at him.
He held up a hand.“Look, I’m not trying to bust your balls more than necessary, though let’s be real, you deserve some degree of ball-busting here.”He took a sip of wine, then fixed me with a level look.“But if you don’t want this to blow up in our faces, you need to make things right with her.”
“I plan to.”
“Well, you’re not exactly Mr.Emotional Availability these days,” Simon said, pointing out my flaws in a way that only a brother could.“So what do you have in mind?”
“I’ll apologize,” I said.“A real apology.Not some bullshit excuse.”
“Good,” Simon said with an approving nod.“And sooner rather than later, before she convinces HR that you’re a walking liability.”
I huffed out a humorless laugh and drained the last of the wine in my glass, wishing it was something much stronger.
From across the table, Simon studied me intuitively.“Do you…like her?I mean, beyond the sex, is there something else there?”
I didn’t answer right away when I should have replied with a swiftno.How could I explain that Morgan had gotten under my skin in a way no one had since Ivy?That leaving her that night had been about protecting myself, not dismissing her and what we’d shared.
When I didn’t respond, Simon’s expression softened, but his voice remained firm.“Look, whatever this thing is between you two?Deal with it.Apologize.Clear the air.Because if you go into that office next week with all that negative energy unresolved, you’re both going to be miserable.”
“And the investment deal?”I asked, wanting to make sure Simon wasn’t worried about my personal mess bleeding into our professional one.
“The deal will survive,” he said confidently.“As long as you don’t act like a complete idiot twice.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence.”
“Anytime.”He twirled his fork in his pasta.“Now eat before I take your plate and finish your lasagna for you.You’re clearly too stressed to appreciate a good meal.”
He wasn’t wrong about that.I picked up my fork, but my appetite was gone.All I could think about was Morgan and how much I’d earned every bit of her disappointment.And how badly I needed to make things right between us.
“So, since you’re going to be spending most of your time at GalvaTech for the foreseeable future,” Simon said, wiping his mouth with his napkin, “I’d like to borrow your assistant to help me go over the financial reports and performance metrics for Stark, Inc.If we decide to invest in that business, I want to know everything about them and I need someone competent to run those stats.”
It took me a moment to realize what he was asking.“Wait a minute, why would you need to borrow Clara for that when you have your own assistant?”
Simon shrugged.“Lisa wasn’t working out so I had to let her go.”
I gaped at him in disbelief.“You firedanotherassistant?That’s the fourth one this year.What the hell is going on with you?”
He didn’t even flinch, just casually refilled his wineglass.“What can I say.I have high expectations.”
