Page 31 of Final Proposal

His chuckle is disbelieving. “Who’s the woman?”

I startle. “What do you mean, who’s the woman?” How does he know about Ellery?

“I mean, this isn’t like you, and when a guy starts changing shit this drastically, there’s usually pussy involved somehow.”

“Jesus Christ, Callahan.”

“Tell me I’m wrong.”

“You’re wrong.”

“Not buying it. Who is she? Does she live near the property? Nothing like being able to roll business and pleasure into one, right?”

“Yeah. Sure. That’s it. I just blew millions so I can be close to a woman. That’s a move out of your playbook. Not mine.” I chuckle. “Did it ever occur to you that maybe I need a change of pace for a bit, and this presented itself so I took it?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“Believe me. Don’t believe me. I don’t fucking care.”

“Testy. Jesus. You do need a change of scenery.”

“I’ll be at the office soon. I need to meet with you and Ledge on this. We want to get started ASAP on this project.”

“We?”

“Yeah. We.” I’m not sure why I grin at the thought. “It’s a long story, but I partnered with someone on the purchase, and we went in fifty-fifty on the project.”

“Partnered? I thought we were your partners?”

“You are. This just . . . just go with it. Everything will be fine.”

“Everything will be fine? Jesus. I’m already worried when you say shit like that. That begs me to ask, who’s the partner? What’s his name?”

“Her name is Ellery Sinclair.”

Callahan’s laughter echoes through the connection. “Told you a woman was involved,” he says. “Next thing you’re going to tell me is that she’s ugly.”

“Horribly. A snaggletooth. Disgusting breath. Warts all over her body,” I say in jest, while my mind is filled with the exact opposite. Blonde hair. Blue eyes. A great smile. And a killer body with curves I never noticed that first night because they were hidden by her baggy clothes.

“So there’s no need to worry about you sleeping with her and fucking up your partnership since she’s repulsive, right?”

“Never even crossed my mind,” I lie. “I’ve gotta take this call coming in.”

And just as I’m about to push the button to switch over to my incoming call, I hear him mutter, “Change of scenery, my ass.”

Ellery

“You what?” Joshua stares at me with eyes wide and expression horrified.

But my focus is on my stepfather, Garland Haywood. He sits before me with his shock of gray hair going every which way as per usual and his dark brown eyes locked on mine. There’s the slightest lift to one of his eyebrows as his lips purse.

“Starting when?” he asks in that gravelly baritone of his that used to strike fear in me as a teenager. Now it just sounds pathetic.

“A few weeks. We’re finalizing the details and schedules now. I’ll know more in the next week or so.”

He nods as a muscle pulses in his jaw. “And you’ve been using company time to do this? To meet with them and plan things?”

“No. Not at all,” I lie. It’s amazing. They don’t want me around “in their way” most days, but when I’m possibly doing something other than fetching coffee, taking calls, and filing, suddenly, where I am and what I’m doing matters. “It’s been in my free time at night.”