I spent the whole day glued to the laptop, double-checking every file before submitting it.
At seven o’clock, there was a light knock at the door. Mel poked her head in, then stepped inside with a plate with pizza.
“Don’t want to distract you. I wanted to bring you dinner.” She came to me, putting the plate on the desk next to the mouse. “Are you hungry?”
“Yes. For you.” I pulled her onto my lap the next second, kissing her hard and deep until she moaned. She smiled against my lips when she pulled back.
“Someone’s having naughty thoughts,” she teased.
“All day long. I can’t wait to finish this and sink inside you.”
“Oh my. Very naughty.”
“I’m taking tomorrow off, and I want you all for me.”
Her jaw dropped. “And you didn’t think about giving me a heads-up? I have sessions all day.”
“Rebook them. My head wasn’t in the game. But I bet I can convince you in record time.” I pulled her hips against mine.
She licked her lips, wiggling her ass. “I believe you have a robust case.” On a laugh, she added, “I’d better go before you lose your head for me.”
“That’s very likely to happen.”
Climbing off my lap, she headed to the door.
“Did you talk to the lawyer?” I asked.
“Yes. I’m giving her the report tomorrow.” She pointed at the laptop. “I’ll tell you everything later. Now, focus.”
With a smile, I trained my eyes back on the screen. I liked having Mel here with me, even if we weren’t in the same room. She rarely slept at her place these past few weeks, and honestly, I would prefer it if she didn’t leave at all. Her stuff was all over the condo—her book on the nightstand, her toiletries totally taking over my bathroom—but I didn’t mind one bit.
At eleven o’clock in the evening, I’d finally submitted everything. I was feeling euphoric but also exhausted. My eyes were blurry, and my plan to spend the night exploring Mel failed. She was in the shower when I went to the bedroom, and I lay down, intending to wait for her, but instead fell asleep.
The next morning, I woke up before Mel and headed straight to the living room, opening my laptop. I'd woken up with this conviction that I'd forgotten something, and I didn't like it one bit. I opened my email, checking for any unread emails from clients. There weren't any, but something was still nagging at me. I started to double-check the documents I’d uploaded yesterday on the competition’s portal.
The doorman announced that my brother was here two hours later, and I knew I’d screwed up somehow. Something had happened. I hadn’t just imagined it. He’d flown in last evening, and it wasn’t like him to show up at my place at eight o’clock in the morning.
My mind was racing as I opened the front door at the same time that I heard the elevator ping. My brother stepped out of it, and if I hadn't known before that something was off, now I had confirmation just by looking at him.
First, Ian never woke up so early, and second, he’d spent over thirty seconds in my presence and hadn't cracked one joke.
Stepping inside the apartment, he closed the door behind him.
"Spill it," I said. “I woke up thinking something's off, and I can’t figure out what.”
Ian leaned against the wall, crossing his arms over his chest. “I got a call from the jury. Our submission is missing the addendum explaining the KPIs for the first year after launch.”
"Fuck," I exclaimed. “Fuck, fuck, I completely forgot about the addendum.”
Ian didn't say anything. Yeah, it wasn't on any list either, so no one from the team could remind me about it. That was entirely my fault. I didn't always write down the things that were my responsibility because I remembered them from the top of my head.
"Fuck," I repeated. "They officially withdrew our application?" I asked. Ian nodded. I swore again. My brother wasn't saying it, but it was 100 percent my fault. This had been my responsibility. I was in charge of this.
"The question is how do we go about solving it?" Ian continued. I'd never seen my brother so beaten. I’d let him down, and I hated it.
"Honestly, I don't know," I admitted. Pacing my living room, I admitted something else. “I've been a bit distracted the past few weeks. Last night too.”
“Mel told me.”
I stopped pacing, staring at him. “She did?”
“Yeah. Me and Isabelle. She wanted to organize a celebratory dinner today. Shit. I wasn’t supposed to say that. It was a surprise. Anyway, what with everything going on yesterday? It’s understandable.”
"No it's not. We've been working on this for a year, and now because I screwed up, it's all been for nothing. I'm going to fix this as soon as I can think about a strategy."
Ian nodded. "We’ll think of something. I came to tell you because I assumed you didn't know. I didn't want you to go into the office and hear about it from the others. I'm going there now to tell them everything.”
“I’m coming with you. Give me five minutes to get ready.”
“I’ll wait downstairs and order an Uber here. Unless Jeffrey is here?”
“Nah, I told him I didn’t need him this morning. I was planning to take the day off.”
“Okay, Uber it is. See you in a bit,” he said before leaving.
I took in a deep breath, trying to gather my faculties. I was wearing jeans and a casual T-shirt, but I wasn’t in the mood to change into anything more formal. I put on shoes, doing every movement on autopilot. My mind was trying to come up with a solution for this clusterfuck.
A small noise caught my attention just as I was about to leave. Turning around, I saw Mel in the doorway of the living room.
"Hey, since when have you been up?" I asked.
"A while ago. I heard voices and didn't know what happened. Then I came out, and I didn't want to interrupt."
"I'm going to head to the office today. I know I said I’d take today off, but I screwed up, so I have to find a way to fix it."
"I'm sorry," she whispered.
"What do you have to be sorry about?" I was thoroughly confused.
"You've been bending over backward for me over the past few weeks, and then Elliot showed up. It was the last thing you needed.”
“It wouldn’t have happened if I’d documented every fucking step of the way, the way everyone else does, so I can be reminded I'm screwing up when I am. Everyone's worked on this for a year.” I wasn't too proud to admit that I felt defeated. I was failing myself, and I also felt like I was failing my parents, even though that was ridiculous. "I need to go to the office now. Ian is waiting downstairs, but I'll pick you up later, okay? So we can get together to see the lawyer."
"No. I think you should focus on your submission and your team. I’ll deal with everything else these next couple days.” Biting her lip, she looked around. “I’m going to get out of your hair too.”
“What?”
“I don’t think my being here is helping your focus. I should go home for a while.”