She laughed, but their jealousy didn’t give her nearly as much pleasure as it might have even two weeks ago. The thought of gloating or holding this over them now didn’t appeal in the slightest. She was proud of herself—she’d always been good at her job, and this coup proved it once again. But now that the deal was in the works, she simply wanted it done. If she could take care of this one last thing—get the whole thing running smoothly—she might actually enjoy having pulled it off. For now, her pleasure was ruined a bit with the mountain of work in front of everyone and the likely tens of meetings, short and long, between now and then. Further, she simply couldn’t give a damn what any of those men thought of her. Here, removed from them in space and time, they simply didn’t matter to her.

“There you go again,” Ted said.

She snapped back into reality, shaking her head to clear it. “What?”

He rolled his eyes. “You’ve been zoning out off and on all day today. I’m pretty sure I even saw a shadow of a certain someone earlier today, but I thought she left.”

Heat crept into her cheeks. “You’re right. I’m supposed to meet her and everyone else in a little while—shit. Make that a little less than two hours from now.” She sighed and rubbed her face. “I’m never going to make it that long.”

“Oh? What’s going on tonight?”

“Bachelors’ party,” she said, sighing again.

He laughed. “You don’t sound very excited about it.”

She shrugged. “After a ten-hour day, the only thing I want to do is soak in the bathtub, drink a scotch, and go to bed.”

“Well, you better get your shit together if you want to have any kind of fun. Get an espresso or something.”

She didn’t bother explaining how difficult that would be this late at night in a small town. Still, he was right. She needed something to pep herself up a bit.

“What are you wearing tonight?” he asked. “Something fun, I hope.”

“Jos, that’s one of Jai’s sisters, is supposed to bring something any minute. We’re going to get ready together before we’re picked up.”

“Good. I didn’t think you took any club wear with you.”

She laughed. “I don’t own any.”

After a knock on the door, he insisted on staying logged on while she went to let Jos inside. Jos blew into the room without saying anything, holding an armful of clothing with boxes of shoes balanced on top.

“Jesus, look at this place,” Jos said after she’d set the pile down on the bed. She spotted the open laptop and stepped closer. “Oh! And who is this?”

“Ted,” he said. “I want to see what you’re planning to dress her in.”