I dip my chin. “Of course I did.” Among other things.
He rests back in his chair, the tension in the air thickening by the second. “What’d she have to say?”
“Not much.” I almost tell him about the shit with Spencer but bite my tongue. The only reason it came to mind was to deflect from my own fuck-up, and I’m not going to be that guy. “Seemed like she had a good time.”
“I bet.” He continues to survey me, and sweat beads on the back of my neck. There’s no way he knows what really happened unless he had her followed, and if that were the case, I’d be dead in an alley somewhere, not sitting across the table from him. “Speak of the devil,” he mutters before Tessa’s cheery voice comes from behind me.
“There you are!” she exclaims as she comes to the table.
Holden stands, reluctantly removing the death glare from his face, and greets her with a hug. “I’m sorry I’m late. Late night last night.”
“Just glad you made it,” he grumbles before he kisses her cheek and lets her slide into the seat next to me.
She’s freshly showered, smelling like my body wash, and wearing my clothes like they were made for her. The shirt isn’t anything special, just a plain gray Carhartt tee, but tied to the side like I suggested, it looks damn sexy on her. Probably because she’s also folded the waist of my sweats down a couple of times so they don’t fall off, and there’s at least a couple of inches of creamy skin showing, too.
“Hey, Dean. Fancy meeting you here.” She nudges my arm, and I nod like we didn’t just spend the nightgetting married.
“He told us you were at the same wedding.” Alana smiles. “What are the chances?”
“I know. So crazy.” Beneath the table, Tessa squeezes my knee before she turns her attention back to Holden. “Way to kick ass and take names last night, big brother.”
He pours her a cup of coffee and grins. “You know that’s the only way I do it.”
She snorts. “Okay, deflate that head a little bit, jeez.”
“I wish you guys could’ve been there. It was so amazing.” Alana looks up to Holden, and he leans down to steal a kiss as the waitress comes over for our order.
“So, anyway,” Alana speaks up once the order is placed. “I know the groom is Dean’s cousin, but how do you know the couple, Tessa?”
“I went to college with Bella. We work together now at BoCo Creative, too. Actually, the best man does, as well.”
“Wait, you work with that asshole?” She never mentioned that particular detail.
Tessa nods and diverts her gaze almost guiltily. “Yeah. Didn’t I tell you that?”
“No.” I would have been a lot more assertive with the prick had I known. “Is he pushy at work, too?”
Her cheeks turn pink, and Holden sits forward. “What do you mean pushy?”
I stare at Tessa, waiting for her to answer, but she only bites her lip and keeps her attention trained on coffee cup.
“He kept hitting on her and wouldn’t take no for an answer. I warned him off, but I had no idea they worked together.”
“It’s not a big deal…” She tries to wave it off, but for someone who’s usually so carefree and confident, her body language says otherwise.
“Wait, is this the guy you mentioned at Christmas? The one who wouldn’t let you leave his office?” Alana asks, a deep crease forming on her brow.
“What?” Holden damn near jumps across the table.
Shooting Alana an annoyed but somewhat relieved glare, Tessa nods. Turns out Spencer had cornered her in his office, refusing to let her leave until she agreed to have dinner with him. He’d gotten agitated when she refused to give in, and she’d been fearful that he might take things even further and try and kiss her or worse.
“But then one of our managers knocked, and he backed off. I’ve avoided being alone with him ever since.” She lifts a shoulder and reaches for her coffee.
Her trembling hand makes me want to haul ass over to the Venetian where the wedding party spent the night and kick his goddamn ass.
I place a gentle hand on her thigh instead, and with her head still bowed, she flicks a timid glance my way. “Tess, you’ve gotta say something to management.”
She curls her fingers around mine and squeezes. “I’ll try.”
