“No. I said no watch manufacturers,” Moreau muttered, shaking his head . Then he turned his back on them and followed his agent down the hall. “Everyone always wants me to take off my shirt for ads. As if I wear my watch on my left nipple, not my left wrist.”
Penny’s snort was drowned out by someone clearing their throat, and when she turned, she looked straight into the face of Thomas Lyle, who was leaning in the doorway of the conference room. “Are you finished?” he asked tensely. “We’re waiting in here.” He nodded into the interior, where an embarrassed Freddie Cravitz and a skeptical-looking Coach Gray were standing. He added softly, “It’s great that at least one of you can maintain a cool head and a friendly tone.”
Heat rushed to Penny’s cheeks and something like pride filled her chest. “Thank you. Could I have a few moments with my brother? It won’t take long.”
“Sure,” Lyle replied curtly, giving Gareth a disapproving look before closing the door to the conference room.
Gareth let out a gust of air before rubbing his temples. He was visibly annoyed — but with himself or the situation? “Shit, that escalated quickly,” he stated dryly.
“You don’t say.” She looked at him, amused. For once, it was reassuring to see him not cool or collected. “Goodness, Gareth, you’re a cold-blooded businessman, not a seething volcano. What’s wrong with you?”
“Oh, it wasn’t that bad.”
She laughed. “If I hadn’t intervened, you might have started a boxing match. What did Miss Barrow do to you?”
“Nothing,” he said, but the words came out of his mouth so compressed, diamonds everywhere got jealous.
“Okay. So, what did you do to her?”
He sighed heavily. “I’ve known her for a while. We went to the same university.”
“Wait.” Penny blinked. “That’stheHazel? The one who cheated you out of being valedictorian?” That was how Penny recognized her! She’d been in Gareth’s graduation photo.
“Yes,” he replied, gnashing his teeth.
“Wait, wait.” Penny held up a hand. “Didn’t you two have a thing?”
“Well…”
“Oh, my God, you actually dated her, didn’t you?” It just popped out. She thought she recalled Gareth mentioning a girlfriend. Which, for her brother, had been like announcing he could fly and was also half narwhal. He’d been so obsessed with being the best at everything and exceeding their parents’ expectations that he hadn’t had time for relationships.
No. No time for a personal life. Still, she remembered that one time…
“No, we weren’t really together.” He scratched the back of his neck and then frowned. “Well. Maybe. Yes. But…nah.” He shook his head. “Not really.”
Penny couldn’t help but grin. “Man, now I know why she’s so mad at you. If my ex-boyfriend had talked to me like that, he would have eaten my fist.”
“Yeah, yeah, sure, go on and take her side.”
“I don’t know what her side is, Gareth! But you can tell me, if you’d like.” She raised her eyebrows hopefully.
“Forget it. It’s in the past.”
“Aha.” She had expected that. Gareth wasn’t the communicative type when it came to his emotions or private life.
He sighed heavily. “Don’t look at me like that.”
“How am I looking at you?” she asked innocently. “Like I’m wondering why you had a girlfriend back then that you never introduced to me? The only girlfriend you ever had?”
“She wasn’t my girlfriend!”
“You weren’t sure just now.”
“I was confused. We weren’t together, we were rivals, and she hates me. Period.”
“Don’t you mean:She hates me, exclamation mark?” she asked smartly. “After me comes an exclamation mark!”
Gareth sighed. “Shut up and get in the room so we can handle this meeting already.”