He bent and kissed her. "We should get dressed."
She nodded, then slid her shirt back over her head. "By the way, I didn't go out with Easton last night."
His brows rose. "You didn't?"
"Nope." She finished pulling on her clothes. "I called and canceled. Then I went home, got in bed, slid my hand between my legs, and thought about you."
"Christ, Jenna."
Her smile was playful as she turned and headed toward the door. "Just thought you should know."
"You could have told me before I spanked you."
She paused before leaving the room. "I could have," she agreed, then winked. "But I didn't."
Chapter Fourteen
It was amazing what a little sex could do for one's outlook on life, Jenna thought. Before, she'd felt disorganized and lost, now she exuded confidence and ability. She was on-task, on-point, and on her A-game.
And, frankly, feeling pretty smug that she and Reece had both been dressed and business-like when Tyree had strolled into The Fix just after noon.
Now, it was twelve-fifteen, and she was seated at the long table in the back bar, which was doubling as a temporary conference room. She shared the table with Brent, Tyree, Easton, and Reece. The latter sat across from her, a position that she'd intentionally chosen, as the possibility of his thigh or hand brushing hers during the meeting had far too much potential for distraction.
After only a few minutes though, she'd had to reassess that supposition. Because every time she'd looked up, there he was, looking right back at her. Which would have been fine, except that his eyes made her remember the way he'd looked at her naked. And his hands brought back memories of the sensual warmth that spread through her body in the wake of his touch. And his mouth...
Well, she couldn't look at his mouth, because all that did was make her go soft and wet between her legs, and the last thing she needed during her very first partnership meeting was to squirm like a harlot as she tried to battle back a fantasy-induced orgasm.
Once they'd all been seated, Easton had taken point, walking them all through an overview of what they needed to do to formalize the partnership and to make sure the new business ran as planned--and that they were all working toward the goal of increasing profits and repaying the mortgage.
Easton had pulled her aside before they'd begun, and she'd apologized again for breaking their date.
"The night just went kablooey," she said, then explained about the ridiculous job interview. "I would have been terrible company."
He'd sympathized, but he'd also asked her out again. Which, frankly, Jenna hadn't been expecting.
"Oh. Well. Um." She frowned, then told a little white lie, saying that she'd thought more about it, and she just didn't feel comfortable dating him right then.
It was technically true, even while being a big fat lie of omission. It wasn't her fault that he interpreted "right then," to mean while he was acting as the attorney for the new partnership. Because, of course, the real reason was sitting across the table from her.
But Reece and Jenna had already decided that until Brent knew the truth, they couldn't tell anyone. "He'll be fine," Reece had assured her. "So long as he knows we're both all in, he'll be happy for us."
Jenna hoped he was right. Brent was like a brother to her, and the thought of messing up that relationship was eating at her.
What? Brent mouthed at one point when Easton was describing the nuts and bolts of the partnership agreement.
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She just smiled and shook her head, embarrassed to realize she'd been staring at him, dreading the inevitable moment. Mind wandering, she'd mouthed back. Legalese.
He'd grinned, and she'd said a silent thank you for having pulled off the deception.
In truth, there really was a lot of legalese. During the two-hour meeting, Easton went over the nitpicky details of the partnership as well as the various model releases and other handy-dandy agreements he'd drafted for the calendar contest. He passed around sheaths of paper to each of them, chock full of legal releases, partnership agreements, banking documents, and on and on and on.
He was relentless. To the point where Jenna was happy to sign whatever Easton thrust in front of her, just to stop the madness.
"It's a celebration, that's for sure," Tyree said, once all the ink was dry. "But we still have to pay off the damn mortgage by the end of the year, or else we're right back where we started, only worse. Because you boys will have lost your investments." His expression was tight, reflecting his ongoing fear that everything would fall apart. That they'd all lose the bar, and the guys would lose the money they'd kicked in to finance the campaigns to increase the bar's revenue, the biggest of which was the calendar contest.
A contest that just happened to be Jenna's primary responsibility.