The proposal, p.34
The Proposal, page 34
We gazed into one another’s eyes, filled with so much love and contentment, and said the words at the same time, “Ax throwing.”
Epilogue
LEO
“Stop talking over each other.” August stood with his arms spread out at his sides. “We’re all tired as hell, but we need to get on the same page for April. Who has clients booked for the next month?”
All hands went up except for Hunter. He’d been off all night.
I kicked his foot under the table.
His head shot up and he raised his hands. Ever since we’d shown up, he’d been distracted, and not by his phone like he normally was. Something else had taken over whatever madness normally churned inside his head.
August swirled the marker between his fingers, spinning it around. “Who needs help?”
All hands remained raised.
August uncapped his whiteboard marker with his teeth and walked over to the giant board beside Hunter’s ornate dining room table. “Leo, your weekend workload is light.”
I nodded. “Corporate keeps things to weekdays.”
“Fine. You can help Everest with the Final Four events and Draft Day.”
Everest’s eyes narrowed.
“Can’t wait to help.” I slapped a smile on my face. Irritating the hell out of Everest would be a bonus.
Zara walked out of the kitchen with plates and set them in the middle of the table before sitting on my lap. There weren’t any free chairs—two of them were being used as whiteboard stands.
The table was crowded with laptops, print outs, and invoices. Sprinkled in between the thick books of samples were the containers of food Zara and I had picked up on the way over.
Our weekly Chinese food dinners had become another space where work spilled over into our lives. Basketball and buffalo wings had become our official board meetings.
Zara leaned over the table to load up the plate with my favorites alongside hers. Each rock of her hips to reach another dish tested my focus and ability to think coherently.
She served as a deciding vote on something the guys were fighting about, since my brain was no longer functioning.
I squeezed my hands around her hips to keep her still.
“What? You’re not up for a tease anymore?” She looked over her shoulder and bit her lip, wriggling her ass on my lap.
“Retribution when you get back will be swift and well-deserved.”
“I can only hope.” She took a bite of her egg roll and a few forkfuls of chicken before popping up.
I shoved my seat forward with my lap under the full cover of the table.
Everest lifted an eyebrow and took a bite of his perfectly swirled noodles. “Lap dance finished already?”
My hands clenched under the table. Our truce had its ups and downs.
“Gentlemen, I leave you to your work. I’m picking up my little brother from the airport.” She pecked me on the lips. A fleeting press of her soft, full lips wasn’t enough, but it would tide me over until she got back.
She grabbed her keys and left the dining room, yelping once she disappeared from view.
I shot out of my seat, rushing.
She stood in the hall leading to the front door, clutching the front of her shirt with her keys in her hand. Standing beside her was a woman I hadn’t seen before. And she was in Hunter’s apartment.
The crowd around the doorway all turned to look between her and Hunter, who stood on the other side of the table with his hands clenched at his sides.
“Hi, I’m Sabrina.” She extended her hand. “Hunter’s new roommate.”
“Uninvited! Uninvited intruder,” Hunter chimed from the other side of the dining room.
She rolled her eyes. “I didn’t mean to interrupt. I was headed out to pick up a friend and ran into Zara. Sorry for scaring the crap out of you.”
Zara smiled back. “No problem. I’m happy to have another woman around here to help handle this crew.” She jerked her thumb in our direction.
“I can only imagine.”
August stepped forward, rubbing his whiteboard-marker-covered hands on his pants before extending his hand. “I’m August. This is Jameson, Everest, and Leo.”
She waved. “Nice meeting you all. Testosterone overload in here, am I right?” Her hand went to the collar of her shirt and she tugged it away from her neck.
Zara laughed. “It’s next level. You should’ve seen me the first time I met them all.”
“Don’t you have somewhere to be, Sabrina?”
Sabrina leaned farther into the room. “You’re absolutely right. Thank you for being so helpful, Hunter.” Sweetness dripped from her words like she hadn’t picked up on a hint of his snappiness.
“I was headed out too. You can tell me all about what it’s like to live here with Hunter.”
Sabrina linked her arm through Zara’s and they walked down the hall. “How long do you have?”
Jameson turned with his jaw dropped. “You have a roommate?”
Hunter gritted his teeth. “It wasn’t my choice.” He flopped back into his chair. “I don’t want to talk about it.” He folded his arms over his chest.
We exchanged looks and took our seats.
Everest flipped through the pages of a sample book. “She’s cute. A little mousy, but she didn’t mind needling Hunter, so I already like her.”
Jameson loaded up his plate with more noodles. “She seemed nice. How long has she been living here?”
“Three weeks,” Hunter grumbled.
August drew an hourglass on the whiteboard. “Great curves.”
Hunter glared at him and shredded a piece of paper at his seat, but didn’t say anything more.
“Back to business.” Jameson squeezed his forehead. “We’re going to have to bring on more staff.”
August cracked open a fortune cookie. “With what money? I’m never sure my paycheck will show up on the first.”
“I’ve streamlined and automated everything possible. You’ve hustled hard the past few months and our calendar is booked solid. Check this out.” Jameson flipped the laptop around. The ugly red cells of the spreadsheet transitioned to pink, then white. For the rest of the year everything was bright neon green.
I stared at the number at the bottom right hand corner. “Is that where we’ll be at the end of this year?” We’d pulled it off. By the end of this year, I’d no longer feel like I’d shoved my friends—and Everest—out onto a leaky dinghy to set out on an insane adventure.
Jameson shook his head.
And the hope took a nosedive into the sand.
“That’s our cash flow right now.” He grinned dollar-sign wide.
I jerked back so hard, my chair nearly toppled over. My hands shot out to grab onto the table and steady myself. “You’re shitting me.”
“Not even a little bit. August scored those five weddings back-to-back, and that tipped us over the edge.”
Our heads swung to him.
He shrugged. “When you know how obsessed people are with the perfect day and not an actual marriage, it’s easy to play them like a damn fiddle.”
Hunter grabbed a plastic-wrapped fortune cookie and cracked it open. He pulled out the two slips of paper. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.” Our meetings were usually overrun by Hunter and his tales from the trenches of bottle service and backstage passes, but tonight he’d barely said a word.
I leaned closer. “What’s it say?”
“Open your mind and be prepared to receive something special.”
Jameson tapped away at his keyboard. “That doesn’t sound too bad to me.”
The corners of Hunter’s mouth shot down. “The second says, ‘Your tongue is your best ambassador.’”
Beer showered the table as August choked on his drink. “How’d they know?” he wheezed. “So that’s how you score so many deals around town?”
Everest set down his beer. “Fine, someone’s living with you, but you need to chill out. She seemed nice.”
Hunter rolled his shoulders and shot up from his chair. “I don’t know how else to say this.” He stood from the table and paced, shaking out his arms like he was preparing for a few rounds in the ring. “You need to see it for yourself.” He left. We exchanged looks.
I grabbed my beer and got up, following him out of the room. “You’re freaking us all out. What the hell is wrong?”
The rest of the guys joined our apprehensive game of follow the leader.
“My grandma’s friend said she needed a place for her granddaughter to stay since she was new to the city. I told her I could get a great deal on a hotel, but she put her foot down and said she was staying here, no ifs, ands, or buts.”
We passed the living room and formal living room toward his bedroom.
“She shows up, moves in all her crap, takes over my bathroom since it has a tub, leaves her laundry everywhere, and I’m left to clean it up.”
Jameson clapped him on the shoulder. “Who knew you were so uptight?”
“She’s driving me crazy already.” Hunter stood in front of a closed bedroom door.
“I figured, it won’t be long. She’ll leave in a few weeks. But she’s making herself at home.” He pushed open the bedroom door.
Everest pushed in first and his eyes bugged out. “Holy shit.”
I nudged past Hunter and pushed Everest out of the way. Lights hung from a mini scaffolding set-up. There had to be at least ten lights set up all over the room, all spotlighting the bed.
“Holy shit.”
“Exactly!” Hunter shouted as though vindicated.
The bed was stripped down and a fresh bundle of sheets sat on the floor beside it.
“She gets like twenty sheet deliveries a week.”
Jameson stepped inside and looked around the room like he’d walked into an abstract painting his brain couldn’t process. “What is all this?”
“Hey, guys.” A sunny voice from the end of the hall broke through our gawking session.
We all bolted out of the room, but there was no playing it cool. “Sabrina!”
“We were just—” We were just shit at covering our tracks, is what we were.
“Guys, this is my friend, Rex.” Her friend was a guy who looked like he could’ve played in the pros with me. He was ripped and towered over Sabrina, who stood there in her jeans and oversized t-shirt covered in pineapples. Rex gave us the ‘what’s up’ head nod.
“Did you need something from my room, Hunter?”
His jaw clenched. “No, I was just showing the guys how little light there is on this side of the apartment, and why you needed to set up your own lights.”
“No, it’s perfect. When natural light screws with your artificial lighting, it makes editing a pain in the ass. The darker the better.” She edged past us with Rex following behind her.
He checked his phone and dropped back through the doorway. “Brina, can we get started? I only have an hour before I need to head to my next job.”
“We’ll get to work.” She set her bag down inside the room and turned back to us. “This should only take an hour, but if you’re still around, I’d love to show you our work. It’ll be a rough cut, but I try to keep things simple. I don’t do much fancy camera work. Who needs that when you’re getting your hands dirty, right?” She tapped Hunter on the chest.
I swear they must have heard our jaws hitting the floor from the lobby.
Her gaze bounced between all of us. “It was nice meeting you all again. See you in an hour?” She closed the door in our stunned faces as Rex tugged his shirt up and over his head behind her.
August broke through the silence reigning on our long walk back to the dining room. “Hunter…”
Everest flicked his lighter. “Do you think you can get a cut since you’re supplying the location? Don’t people usually get paid for that?”
Jameson pulled out his chair. “I’m sure it’s…” His mouth opened and closed a few times. “Tasteful.”
I stared at the documents at my spot, unable to focus on the words on the page. “I guess we’ll find out what she’s been up to in an hour.”
Hunter’s jaw popped. “We sure as hell will.”
Thank you so much for taking time out of your day to spend some time with Leo and Zara and the rest of the SWANK guys or are they WANKS now? :-D
There’s a treat for you with an extra special day for these two. You can get your hands on that scene by clicking here (https://BookHip.com/BJNQHW).
It was a lot of fun for me to jump back into a contemporary story, but of course, I couldn’t leave the sports completely behind. There’s so much fun in store for the rest of the guys and I hope you’ll be here for it!
Hunter’s book will arrive next year. What exactly is Sabrina up to? Hunter’s on a mission to find out.
I can’t wait for you to discover it right along with him!
Don’t miss your chance to pre-order The Sweetest Thing now!
Persephone has a list of firsts to tackle in her senior year of college and her biggest is lose her V-Card. Reece is a cocky football player who stumbles into her interview session for candidates can't help, but want to protect her and keep her from making a big mistake. He volunteers to help her with everything on her list--except her No. 1, but then everything changes.
The Perfect First is available now and in Kindle Unlimited!
I hope you’ll love your next read and happy reading!
Maya xx
Want More Maya Hughes?
Here are a few books from my backlist you might want to dive into for even more swooning and laughter!
The Perfect First - A First Time Romance
Persephone has a list of firsts to tackle in her senior year of college and her biggest is lose her V-Card. Reece is a cocky football player who stumbles into her interview session for candidates can't help, but want to protect her and keep her from making a big mistake. He volunteers to help her with everything on her list--except her No. 1, but then everything changes.
The Second We Met - An Enemies to Lovers Romance
Dear Jerk Across the Street, sorry for accidentally walking in on you and catching an eyeful of your—equipment. And hard pass on the open invitation to join you in the shower “anytime”, A-hole.
The Third Best Thing - A Secret Admirer/Friends to Lovers Romance
Looking for another sweet and steamy read?
Kings of Rittenhouse - FREE
Shameless King - Enemies to Lovers
I hope your next book hits all the right spots. Happy reading!
Maya xx
Maya Hughes, The Proposal
