I chuckle. “This was very important to us, it was no problem.”
Connor looks at Ginny with a smile. “Well, it’s so nice that you can be here together, at least. I hope you’re able to enjoy the rest of your Valentine’s Day together.”
Ginny looks from him to me quickly. “Oh…no. We’re… it’s not Valentine’s Day for us.”
Connor frowns. “I was under the impression you were together? Our assistant told us that you were bringing your girlfriend so would have no trouble with our hard stop at six in time for us to make reservations with our wives.”
“Oh!” Ginny says. She smiles, but it’s a little tight. “You must be thinking of my brother. He and his girlfriend were supposed to come. She ended up having an emergency appendectomy this morning. That’s why I’m here.”
Connor nods slowly. “That must be it. I guess I just knew there was a dinner reservation on your side too so we wouldn’t feel bad about needing to get out of here right at six.”
There’s a dinner reservation somewhere tonight for Graham and Margot? I wonder if he remembered to cancel that. Reservations on Valentine’s Day in New York were very difficult to get.
“Well, we should let you get going,” Ginny says, glancing at the clock.
“Yes. We promised,” Gage says. “Family is always our first priority.” He pushes back from the table and stands.
We follow suit.
Connor does as well, but he pauses and looks at us. “You’re not together?”
I feel my chest tighten, but for Ginny’s sake, I shake my head. I promised her. “We’re colleagues.” I look at her. “And friends, of course.”
Ginny nods, her expression tight. “I don’t have a Valentine this year, but I understand what you mean about family, of course. IES is my brother’s company, with Everett, and IAS is my dad’s company. My brother Carver also works with him. This is all a passion project for my whole family.”
Connor and Gage both smile broadly. “We really like that aspect of all of this too,” Gage says.
Ginny looks over at me. “And Everett is part of our family. Not by blood, but… by heart.”
My heart kicks hard in my chest. She tears her gaze from mine to smile at the Albrights.
“That’s clear,” Gage says. “But, don’t underestimate the importance of romance too.”
Ginny’s cheeks get pink, and she simply says, “I hope you have a wonderful time tonight with your wives.”
“Thank you,” Connor says. “I hope you both have a nice evening.”
She nods. “The room service menu at the hotel looks amazing.” She laughs to lighten the moment and the men smile as they lead us out of the conference room.
But now I’m hit with the idea of her in her hotel room. Alone. Eating room service by herself. Me down the hall doing the same.
And how stupid that seems.
She’s practically bouncing as we get on the elevator a few minutes later. “That went well, right?” she asks.
“It was perfect,” I tell her sincerely. “You were amazing.”
She beams up at me. “It felt good. They listened to everything, asked great questions, took notes.” She sighs happily. “God, I love when peoplelistento me.”
I chuckle. “It was impossible not to. You were passionate and perfect.”
“I’m glad.” She sighs again. “I’m so glad they agreed right now,today, to get on board.”
Fuck, me too. This was one huge hurdle crossed to my plan to leave IES.
We get into the car a few minutes later, and Paul heads for the hotel.
“So about that room service,” I say. “We should have dinner together. In the hotel restaurant. There’s no reason to sit in our rooms alone, right?”
