Page 53 of For Your Consideration

“Okay,” she replied softly. “You can stay.”

In the morning, I held in my groan as I moved to stretch. I’d been right about not fitting on the couch, so once Sutton had left me with a pillow and some blankets, I settled on the floor.

I figured I would be fine. I was in good shape—a night on the floor wouldn’t be too bad. Except my back was screaming and my knee was sore from where I’d rammed it into the leg of the coffee table when I’d moved in the night trying to get comfortable.

“You okay down there?”

I pushed myself up, my legs stretched out in front of me as I rested my arm on the couch to see Sutton standing in the doorway, a mug in her hands and a smirk on her face. I loved seeing her like this. She was wearing a light pink sweater and a pair of jeans, her hair piled on top of her head and her face free of any makeup, the freckles bright on her cheeks and nose.

She was so pretty it sometimes felt like my chest ached just from looking at her.

“Great. How long have you been up?” I’d heard her moving around about thirty minutes ago but I didn’t want to get in her way so I’d waited, giving her time.

She snorted but passed me the mug of coffee. “Not long. Sophie will be up soon and I need to get her over to Iris.”

“Would you mind if I hung out for a while before heading to work? My first meeting isn’t until nine thirty and I have a change of clothes at the office.”

She looked at me a little skeptically, probably because of how much I’d just said. “Are you going to rob me?” I just blinked up at her and her serious face melted away to a snort. “Yeah, there isn’t anything here to rob anyway. You can stay longer; just leave my key with Iris.” Sophie’s cry pulled her attention away and she turned, leaving me on the floor.

Two and a half hours later I was walking into the boardroom, having just changed in my office. The moment Sutton was gone, I’d called the plumber I’d found last night who, when he found out how much I was willing to pay in an emergency fee, showed up not long after.

I couldn’t leave without making sure it was fixed. It was the whole reason I’d asked to stay last night.

Okay. If I was being honest with myself, maybe not the whole reason, but I wasn’t dissecting that right now.

“You’re in late,” Oli commented as I took a seat, still one of the first to arrive. I didn’t bother replying as I looked through my emails.

“Shelly said he just came in wearing shorts,” Knight added as he walked in.

“Asher in shorts?” Noah gasped dramatically while I continued ignoring them.

“He wasn’t at the gym.” Jaxson came in next, slipping into a chair. “What are we even doing here?”

“I just need sign-off on the rooms for the resort,” Oli said as Will came in last and shut the door.

“Does no one care that Asher was in shorts this morning and didn’t go to the gym?”

“Seen him in them before.” Knight shook his head. “Let’s get this going.”

Thankfully that moved Noah off me and we all listened as Oli went over his plans to have twenty rooms. He gave us a quick review of his profit margins and other things he considered but I honestly didn’t care. We were going to sign off on whatever he decided so after a quick vote it was done.

“Actually,” Noah said just as I stood up, about to head to my office. “I have another matter for us to vote on. I want to add Sutton to the group chat.”

Everyone’s eyes moved to me as I looked at Noah.

“Quinn’s been bothering me about it for a week now,” Knight added.

“Do we need Quinn here for this?” Jaxson asked.

“I’m here.” Quinn’s voice came through Noah’s phone as he held it up.

“Why the fuck didn’t I get to call my fiancée,” Knight grumbled from his seat as Noah just grinned at him.

We took this very seriously. We’d voted to let Quinn in too.

“Alright, well, I’ll kick us off with a yes to adding Sutton,” Noah started. Everyone else followed, saying the same thing, including Quinn. I was last and everyone was watching me.

Finally, I nodded. “But I get to add her.” Guess my chats were going to be unmuted because there was no way I would miss her reactions to being a part of it. I still wouldn’t reply though, unlike Knight who suddenly became much chattier when Quinn got in there.