Tristan\u00a0<\/p>\n
78%\u00a0<\/p>\n
Thirty minutes later, we were both disheveled and trying to make ourselves look presentable\u00a0<\/p>\n
again.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou said you\u2019d be quick,\u201d I muttered, tucking my shirt back into my pants and running a hand\u00a0<\/p>\n
through my hair.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI tried,\u201d she said, her voice still breathless as she smoothed down her skirt and then her hair.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not my fault you\u2019re so good at what you do.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I couldn\u2019t help but smile at that. Even in the middle of this crazy situation, she could still make\u00a0<\/p>\n
me smile. Still make my chest feel warm and full.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cGo back to your office,\u201d I said, straightening my collar one last time \u201cWe need to at least\u00a0<\/p>\n
pretend we were working.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
She nodded and unlocked the door, peeking out into the hallway like some kind of spy.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When she was satisfied the coast was clear, she slipped out, but not before throwing me one last\u00a0<\/p>\n
heated look over her shoulder.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I watched her go, then collapsed into my office chair with a groan. My body was starting to feel\u00a0<\/p>\n
the strain of seven days of near\u2013constant activity. I was in good shape but even I had limits.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I sat back down at my desk and tried to focus on the files in front of me, but all I could think\u00a0<\/p>\n
about was Athena down the hall.\u00a0<\/p>\n
My phone buzzed with a message from Orion: Meeting in 10. Conference room.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Perfect timing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I stood up and straightened my clothes again, king sure there was no evidence of what had\u00a0<\/p>\n
just happened. Then I headed down the hall, stopping at Athena\u2019s office on the way.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I knocked lightly before opening the door. She was at her desk, staring at her computer screen\u00a0<\/p>\n
but clearly not actually working. Her hands were clenched on the edge of her desk and I could see\u00a0<\/p>\n
1\/3\u00a0<\/p>\n
15:04 Fri, Jan 16\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 250\u00a0<\/p>\n
the tension in her shoulders.\u00a0<\/p>\n
78%\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMeeting in ten,\u201d I said quietly.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She looked up at me and I saw the panic flash across her face. \u201cI don\u2019t know if I can sit through\u00a0<\/p>\n
a meeting right now.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can,\u201d I said, moving closer and resting my hand on her shoulder. \u201cYou\u2019re stronger than this\u00a0<\/p>\n
heat, remember? Just breathe through it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
She took a shaky breath and nodded. \u201cOkay. I can do this.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s my girl,\u201d I said, squeezing her shoulder gently before heading back out.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The conference room was at the end of the hall a spacious room with large windows\u00a0<\/p>\n
overlooking the repair bays.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Orion was already there, setting up his laptop and organizing papers. The potential client, a\u00a0<\/p>\n
middle\u2013aged man in an expensive suit named Richard Carmichael, sat at the far end of the table\u00a0<\/p>\n
looking at his phone.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cTristan,\u201d Orion said with a nod. \u201cWhere\u2019s Athena?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019ll be here in a second,\u201d I said, taking a seat across from where I knew she\u2019d sit. Putting\u00a0<\/p>\n
distance between us seemed like the smart choice.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Athena arrived a moment later, looking composed despite what I knew she was feeling. She\u2019d\u00a0<\/p>\n
redone her makeup and pulled her hair back into a reat ponytail.\u00a0<\/p>\n
To anyone else, she\u2019d look perfectly professional\u00a0<\/p>\n
But I could see the flush on her cheeks, the slight tremor in her hands as she set down her\u00a0<\/p>\n
notepad.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The meeting started and it was torture from the first minute.\u00a0<\/p>\n
We were discussing a major restoration project, vintage Porsche that Mr. Carmichael had\u00a0<\/p>\n
inherited from his father.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It needed extensive bodywork and a complete engine rebuild. Normally, this was the kind of\u00a0<\/p>\n
III\u00a0<\/p>\n
<\u00a0<\/p>\n
2\/3\u00a0<\/p>\n
15:04 Fri, Jan 16\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 250\u00a0<\/p>\n
project I\u2019d be excited about, but I couldn\u2019t focus on anything except Athena.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She kept shifting in her seat, crossing and uncrossing her legs. Her pen tapped against her\u00a0<\/p>\n
notepad in a nervous rhythm.\u00a0<\/p>\n
78%\u00a0<\/p>\n
Every few minutes, her eyes would flick up to meet mine and I could see the desperation there.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSo you\u2019re looking at what, six to eight weeks for the full restoration?\u201d Mr. Carmichael was\u00a0<\/p>\n
asking.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Memories Drifted Into Soft Silence by Kyx Frost 250 Tristan\u00a0 78%\u00a0 Thirty minutes later, we were both disheveled and trying […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[77],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26407","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-second-gear-of-love-novel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26407","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26407"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26407\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26407"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26407"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26407"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}