“I don’t want to discuss him like that,” Tristan bristled at the thought. The need to protect Dylan was stronger than admitting the truth to his best friend.
“Since when?” Landry probed.
“Since now. Did they get off okay? Were there any problems?” Tristan asked.
“Why do you care? Of course everything went fine,” Landry said.
“Then job well done. I’ll meet with the team tomorrow. Pull them together for me about mid-morning,” Tristan instructed.
“I’m not your secretary,” Landry huffed.
“Then tell your wife for me or put her on the damn phone so I can tell her myself,” Tristan shot back.
“I want in on this, Tristan. When you’re done with him, he’ll bail on us. He’s too smart not to have a clause giving him an out. When that time comes, I’ll need to pick up the pieces. Those guys he has working for him can’t hold the company together. Trust me on that,” Landry said firmly, but quietly.
“It’s not like that,” Tristan tried to explain, but hell, maybe Landry was right. If he pushed too hard, Dylan would be gone, and he’d be stuck with a division himself.
“Don’t leave me out. I’m gonna keep pushing on this one. Fifty million with the hundred we’ve already lost is too much,” Landry pointed out.
“We’re handling this strategically and very carefully. I don’t want him to bolt, but I want his success. I’m not going to jeopardize our company or our reputation.” Tristan wanted to be done with this conversation.
“If he’s contractually bound, he’ll be forced to achieve our goals,” Landry commented.
“He’s already made it clear, he wants that out clause. If he doesn’t get it, he’ll continue shopping around.”
“Then payments should keep—” Landry started.
“See? You bully your way in. We aren’t doing that with this. I’ve said that for the last six months—before we even decided who to go after.” Done with this conversation, Tristan swiveled in his chair, estimating the time. Did it take three or four hours to fly back to Dallas? He couldn’t remember. What were the chances Dylan would call him when he got home? Zero. That was the true answer and he even mentally called himself an ass for thinking of the possibility.
“Hey, you still there?” Landry’s voice broke his train of thought. Shit, he’d thought he hung up on Landry after that last statement.
“Yeah, what else?” Tristan asked.
“Nothing, I guess. Look, this is ultimately your decision, but I’m going to try and change your mind. Think about what I said.”
“Since that’s all you’ve said this entire conversation, it’s impossible not to think about what you said. Now return the favor. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Tristan did disconnect the call that time. He opened email and shot off a quick message to meet with legal first thing in the morning. Maybe he could have this contract to Dylan by Tuesday. It would be pushing things, but that seemed his nature all of a sudden.
“Two days and you have a revised, firm contract? That’s impressive, Dylan, even for you,” Teri said as she sat across from Dylan in his north Dallas office. She flipped through the pages Dylan printed for her. She somehow managed to make the formal business suit she wore look sexy as she crossed her legs, bouncing her foot while she scanned the document.
“It’s not a big surprise. You could tell he wanted the company,” Dylan replied. Just like every other time she’d brought up Wilder, he dodged the questions with simple answers, but would generally begin to fidget, which he tried to rein in by linking his hands together on top of his desk. She knew him too well, knew the signs of his distress, and would begin to question him even more to figure out the root of his unease. Since he didn’t want to talk about things, and his heart was pretty much crushed in his chest, he needed her to stop any inquisition she was considering and do the job Secret paid her to do—review the contract and make sure they were protected.
After a moment of her ignoring him, he felt safe enough to turn toward his computer and pull up his email. He needed to be sure nothing important had come through while they’d had lunch out together today. As he went through several messages, he didn’t pay her any attention when she stood, contract in hand, and walked across his office to shut the door.
His sole focus of the day was avoiding the email he’d gotten this morning when his heart teetered in his chest at just seeing Tristan’s name appear in his inbox. As much as he’d tried to avoid any thought of the man because it hurt too badly to think of Tristan, he’d almost taken a nosedive when he walked off a curb as he raced to open the email on his phone while coming into the office this morning.
He told himself he wasn’t disappointed the email was one hundred percent business-related. There wasn’t even a hint to the weekend they’d shared together and Dylan also told himself that was the way he wanted things. He’d actually demanded that of Tristan before he left.
The deep longing in his heart kept getting in the way. He looked down at the time on the computer. Two full days had passed since he’d kissed Tristan goodbye and he hadn’t heard one single word from the guy.
The fear of his future had taken on a whole new meaning. He’d fallen in love with his first gay sexual experience. Who did that besides sixteen-year-old boys? Certainly not a middle-aged man with three children. He tucked his head in his hands and rubbed his palm across his face. It took a moment, but he finally managed to school himself. His voice of reason sang a new chorus. He was emotionally attached to Tristan because he had sex for the first time in years. Nothing more. When he forced himself to think like that, all this emotion coursing through him usually settled down and gave him a couple of hours’ peace. Once he had sex with another man, his feelings for Tristan would level out.