My stomach sinks. I already know what he’s going to say before he even says it.
“Abby and I were talking …”
“She doesn’t want you to give up your job.”
He meets my eyes. “That’s not … Actually, she told me to take the job with you if it was what I wanted.”
“Right,” I say, nodding like a bobblehead. “Okay. Sure. So you just don’t want to work with me. I get it. No worries, dude. I’ll uh … I’ll … shit.”
“You’ll set up a meeting with me for next week and listen to my proposal.” When I force myself to meet Lance’s eyes again, they’re not full of pity or pain at letting down a friend. No, they’re actually full of fire, his face lit up in the way it only gets when he’s seriously excited about something. “I love the idea of your company, Matt, and I would be thrilled to get to come on a trip with you once or twice a year as a perk of handling your marketing. But I also like the variety of handling a whole stable of clients and working with my team to make the best use of someone’s marketing budget. We’re fantastic at our job, and I think we could make better use of your money if you contract with us to work on this for you rather than you having to hire me. Besides, man, I looked at the financials you sent over and you really can’t afford me as an employee. Not making what I’m making now. And you can more than afford the agency fee, which is one hundred percent a business write off, and you don’t have to worry about payroll taxes.”
At first I’m not sure what to say or how to react to this. I had an idea in my head of what I wanted, how I wanted to run my company, and I’d built up this fantasy of working with one of my best friends, him and Abby and Hannah and me all traveling and surfing together and having the time of our lives.
But he said no. Except not really. He’s just tweaking the parameters. I’d still be working with one of my best friends, but I wouldn’t be his boss, which, to be honest, could’ve definitely put a dent in our relationship eventually. And we could still do the traveling and having fun, too.
Blinking a few times while all the new pieces click into place, I let out a breath and nod. “Alright. I’ll call you on Monday and set something up.”
Lance grins, relief taking over his face. “Good. I was hoping I could convince you to go for it. I think it could work out well for all of us.”
He holds out a hand for me to shake, and I take it, my own grin taking over as I really take in the picture he’s painted. “Yeah, man. I think you might be right.”
“Lance! Dude, get over here,” Chris calls from his place on the couch. “We need you to settle something.” Abby and Megan are both staring at him with narrowed eyes.
“Uh oh,” Lance mutters. “Better go play referee.”
“Good luck,” I tell him, laughing. Better him than me, for sure.
Hannah steps up next to me, slipping an arm around my waist. I wrap my arm around her and pull her in close, sighing in contentment. All is right with the world with Hannah next to me, even if Lance did just throw me a curveball. A good one, but still not what I was expecting.
“What’d he say?” she asks, confirming that she was watching my entire conversation with Lance.
“He said he wants me to come in for a meeting to listen to his proposal.”
Her shoulders slump under my arm. “So he didn’t take the job?”
I shake my head. “No. But don’t worry. I think he’s right that this will work out better for everyone.” I pull her around in front of me and drop a kiss on her sweet, pink lips, still flavored with the champagne. “He’ll still run all my marketing, just from his position at the agency. He doesn’t have to give up anything, I still get one of my friends helping me out, and you still get to go do what you love.”
Her face brightens. “Really? You’re okay with not having someone in-house?”
I contemplate her question for a moment, checking in with myself, and then nod. “Yeah, I really am. It’s Lance, not some random stranger, so I trust him. This’ll be good. For all of us.”
She smiles and gives me a squeeze. “Good. Then we have even more to celebrate tonight. I’ll get more champagne.”
Before she can wriggle out of my arms, I let my hand slip down to cup her ass and use the growly voice that I know turns her on. “Oh, yeah. We’ll have plenty to celebrate later when we get home.”
Her eyes darken with lust, and she gives me a coquettish smile as she rubs her tits against my chest. “We definitely will.”
And with that, she spins away, her laugh trailing behind her as she heads for the kitchen.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Lance
Evan and Layla and Daniel and Elena are the last to leave, though they don’t linger for long after Chris, Megan, Matt, and Hannah bundle up and head out.
Abby gives hugs to Layla and Elena, promising Elena they’ll get together soon and telling Layla to be sure to plan something for the next time they’re in town. I exchange fist bumps with the guys as they settle their coats on their shoulders.
“Thanks for coming, guys,” I tell them.
Evan grins at me. “Thanks for having us. I know we’re kinda tagalongs, but we had fun anyway.”
I scoff. “You’re not tagalongs.”
Daniel gives me a doubtful look, but doesn’t verbally disagree.
Abby laughs, and squeezes between us to give them each a hug in turn. “The secret is that we’re all tagalongs. Lance, Chris, and Matt are the three who started this group. Then
