He stared at the screen.
He got the deal.
They got the deal.
That goal. The one he'd been chasing since he started the company. It was happening. His brand. The Stallions. A major marketing play.
Tess: NDA in place. Not a whisper to anyone outside Wild Sacks until I talk to agents and arrange schedules. Then we loop everyone in.
He glanced across the table at Piper as she talked with Babushka, using her hands to explain something, her face totally animated with excitement.
The win landed with a thud in his gut. He'd just been handed everything he wanted and the one person he wanted to tell was sitting three feet away, completely off-limits.
His phone buzzed again.
Noah: Updates from Tess? I'm dying here.
Zach: Just heard. It's yes. NDA till briefing.
Noah: THAT'S ALL YOU HAVE TO SAY?
Zach: PARTY EMOJI LEVEL EXCITEMENT UP IN HERE.
Noah: Meet after your date.. THIS IS HUGE.
"Zach?" Piper asked. "Everything okay?"
He thumbed the screen dark, every instinct shouting to tell her.
"Yeah," he said, and the word felt like a pebble in his shoe. "Just Noah. A work thing."
"You know, Piper, if the underwear plan doesn't work out, Zach still has his job waiting for him with the family company," Dad assured, beaming. "He's got a good future."
Thing was, Dad meant that as a compliment. But whenever he brought up that Zach still had a job waiting for him as a back-up plan? He hated how small he felt.
Piper studied him from across the table, her expression level and unreadable in the low light.
He went for the joke, the half-truth. "Don't worry, Dad. We all know that men in underwear fix everything."
"You look like you either won the lottery or ate something questionable," Roman said, laughing.
"He always looks like that," Jase added.
Zach laughed, then ribbed, "Better than looking like you."
The rest of the family went back to the conversation, but Piper studied him for a second longer. Tilting her head in question.
Dammit, he didn't understand how he was feeling.
Why? Did he want to tell her because she was a convenient audience for monumental news?
No. It was more than that.
He wanted to see that light in her eyes. The one that shone with genuine excitement and a flicker of pride for him.
He wanted to hear her say, "Zach, that's incredible," in that earnest way she had of making a person believe every single word. The Stallions.
It was the biggest deal of his career, a win that should have him vibrating out of his skin.
