“I’m sorry I asked,” I said. “I shouldn’t have.”
“Don’t be.” He pressed a kiss against my lips. “It’s better that you know exactly why I hate them so much— and why I’ll never stop.”
THIRTY (B)
HARRISON
The following morning
“I’m ready for today’s sessions.” Andrea adjusted her lanyard and smoothed her dress. “I’ll do the executive level ones with potential vendors, if you like. And there are two nighttime ones with roasters we can split.”
“Hmmm…I don’t think that strategy is going to work for me.”
“Okay, well…” She sighed. “You can do the nighttime ones, but you’ll have to leave one of the tours an hour early.”
“That doesn’t work for me either.”
“How do you plan to poach the best people while we’re here then?”
“I think we can handle that another way when we get back,” I said, walking over to the door and locking it. “We’re not going to any more events while we’re here.”
“You’re not making any sense, Harrison,” she said. “We can’t get anything done if we don’t go to the events.”
“Good to know.” I pulled her into my arms, kissing her lips. “We won’t be attending any more events or leaving my suite for the rest of the conference.”
THIRTY-ONE
ANDREA
Days later
Sheets of freezing rain hammered the streets while the driver steered us away from the airport and toward Manhattan.
Harrison’s hand rested on my thigh, and his eyes watched my every move.
A palpable tension still hung between us, like the previous nights of sex hadn’t dissolved it. My heart beat to an entirely new rhythm.
Unable to take the silence, I cleared my throat.
“Peterson & Shaw emailed me this morning,” I said to him. “They want to reschedule their meeting with you due to this week’s weather.”
He arched a brow, but he didn’t say anything.
“So far, six top executives have asked to work remotely this week, but they’ve assured me everything will still be turned in on time.”
“And as far as the crisis meetings for cost measures and savings,” I continued, “I went ahead and moved them out by acouple of weeks. That way, every team will have the same travel window and?—”
“Stop it.” He leaned forward, pressing his lips against mine mid-sentence. “I couldn’t care any less about Sweet Seasons right now.”
“What about scheduling things for new investors?” I asked softly. “Aaron said we need to have at least fifteen meetings if the IPO is going to work.”
“I’m thinking about you, Andrea.” He kissed me again, and my thoughts dissolved to nothing. “I don’t want to talk about work for the rest of the day. Clear?”
I nodded, completely out of breath.
He pulled me into his lap and kissed the back of my neck, rendering me completely useless.
His hands slid under my dress just as the car came to a jerky stop.
