Page 126 of Hate to Love You
“What’s up, Bro,” he says, grunting into the receiver.
“This a bad time?” I ask.
“Nah, you got me on leg day,” he huffs. “So hit me.”
“I need a meeting with Giovani Ricci.”
“When?”
“As soon as possible,” I say, taking a sip of my coffee.
As I do, my eyes fall to the stain on my rug where Abby had slapped it out of my hand the day that we…
Stop it. She said no. Focus.
“Can you set that up for me?” I say into the phone, trying to get the images of Abby with her legs spread atop my desk out of my head.
“Sure thing,” he grunts again. “I’m almost finished here, so I can stop by the Tap Room on my way back from—”
“No, don’t go yourself,” I say firmly, cutting him off. “We need to get ahead of this whole situation with Al, but I’m not sure where they’re at with the whole thing. So, we need to be cautious until we know who they are pointing the finger at.”
“You mean pointing their guns at,” Lev chuckles, the loud sound of weights crashing behind him.
“Yeah. I need to make sure that it isn’t at us,” I grumble. “So, until I talk to Gio, I don’t need any of you idiots putting yourselves in the line of fire, understood?”
“You got it, Ro,” Lev confirms. “Anything else?”
“No, I think that’s—”
“So, what’s the deal with your new assistant?”
“What?” I ask. “What have you heard?”
Fuck, did someone see us the other day?!
“Well, Pol was bitching,” he snorts. “But Pasha said she’s cute and that you might have a thing for—”
“Just get the meeting set up,” I snap irritably, immediately ending the call.
Coincidentally, as I look up, I happen to see Abigail walking down the aisle toward me.…Unsurprisingly wearing yet another short skirt, like the defiant little instigator she is.
After setting her purse down at her desk, I notice her scrunching up her nose.
Probably confused by the scent of wood and fresh welding.
Conveniently, as she turns to make her way back to her desk, my cell starts buzzing and I glance down to see that Cal is calling me.
“Morning,” I say, taking a sip of my coffee. “Tell me some good news.”
“I just heard back from the representative from Stein & Company,” Cal says. “We have the greenlight for negotiations.”
“Who’s our contact?”
“Solomon Stein. You have an appointment on Tuesday morning at ten next week to discuss the Walston Street deal.”
“Excellent.”
“Also, the Pace Transport cargo will be here in the morning,” Cal continues. “Would you like me to make the transaction?”