Sydney’s heart leaped into her throat when she saw someone else was already in there.
Not just someone.
Josh?
“Josh. Hey. Didn’t think you’d make it.” Dylan sounded like seeing her ex in his room was the most normal thing in the world.
Josh looked past him, to her. “Sydney?”
She worked her jaw up and down, trying to force something, anything from her throat.
What the fuck was her ex-boyfriend doing in her new not-quite-boyfriend’s hotel room, and why didn’t Dylan look surprised?
CHAPTER SEVEN
Josh struggled to take his eyes off Sydney. Partly because she was one of the last people he expected to see again, but also because she was more stunning than he remembered—perfect curves, and that hint of hesitation in the way she bit her bottom lip.
“Is this why you ignored my texts?” he asked Dylan. He needed something to distract him from the disquieting spike of jealousy.
She was his ex. He didn’t have a right to feel jealous.
Sydney met his gaze. “He’s helping me with my booth.”
Those gorgeous blue eyes weren’t any less distracting.
Dylan smirked. “Plus some after-hours extra-curricular activities.” He leaned closer to Josh. “I mean sex,” he said in a stage whisper.
Sydney ducked her head.
At least there was a little fun to go along with his twinge of envy.
“So... you two know each other.” Sydney said it as a statement, rather than a question. “Of course you do. You both work for Ms. Hunter.”
“I think that’s my line.” Josh ignored the whisper of venom. Sydney had never gotten along with his mother. “How have you been, Tink?”
“Good.”
Dylan held up his hands. “Tink? Like, The Tink? The girlfriend?”
“Ex,” Sydney said.
Josh hated how quickly the correction came, but he didn’t blame her.
She took several steps back toward the door. “The room is more occupied that I expected. I should...”
Would she finish the thought? Josh wasn’t stupid or blind. He’d seen the way she was looking at Dylan when they walked in. Once upon a time, Josh would have seized this opportunity. A chance to draw Sydney into one of their fantasies, of sharing her. They’d never found a situation she was comfortable with.
Tonight he was the uncomfortable part of that equation.
“I’ll leave you two to catch up.” Sydney grabbed the door handle.
Dylan strode toward her and loosely grasped her hand. “Don’t go.”
“It’s okay.” Her tone was the flat one that meant she was hiding how she really felt. “We were just going to watch movies, anyway. Are you still available tomorrow?”
Dylan stepped closer to her, and Josh clenched his jaw.
“This doesn’t change anything. I can keep you company in your room as well as in mine.” Dylan’s voice was soft.
She shook her head. “I really am exhausted. It’s not a big deal. I’ll get some sleep and catch up tomorrow.”
“If you’re sure.” Dylan trailed a finger down her arm. “He’s my roommate. I see him almost every day. He can wait.”
Great. That made Josh feel special.
“It’s all right. Stay here. I promise it’s not a big deal,” Sydney said.
“I’ll see you downstairs, tomorrow morning. And everything else we talked about still stands.” Dylan pressed his lips to hers, lingering long enough to draw a moan.
When they broke apart, Sydney glanced at Josh. “Catch you around.” And then she was gone.
That was super awkward. “Didn’t mean to cockblock.”
Dylan sat on the edge of one of the beds. “Funny how you say that now, but I didn’t hear you offer to leave.”
So much for bros before—
That wasn’t right.
Dicks before—
Josh didn’t like the sound of that one either. “I didn’t consider it. My bad.”
“As long as you’re not going to suggest I stop dating her.” Dylan unlaced his shoes, toed them off, and set them aside.
“Dating? You’ve only known her a few days. And no, I’m not going to suggest that.”
“Good. Because otherwise, I’d have to say no to you, and that might strain our friendship.” Tension ran through Dylan’s teasing.
Josh needed to back off. He should have anyway. This didn’t involve him, and his breakup with Sydney wasn’t her fault. Nothing to warn Dylan away from.
Josh was the one who fucked that up.
“That’s really Tink?” Dylan’s animosity had vanished. “You were right about those hints of naughty she’s hiding from the world.”
And just like that, the jealousy surged back. Josh had a couple of choices—he could go back to playing the bro card, with, I used to date her; you can’t, or he could grow up and move on, the way he should have already done.
He didn’t care for either solution.
DYLAN HEADED TO SYDNEY’S booth in the morning with Josh by his side. He’d explained to Josh that he was helping out with Sydney’s work all weekend, and they could catch up after the con.
Josh wanted to see the booth and promised to keep his attitude to himself.
Dylan wasn’t used to being at odds with Josh. They’d only known each other for a few years, but they got along great. Hell, they’d even explored the friends with benefits part of a relationship on several occasions.
When Dylan found out who Sydney was though, a sharp current of possessiveness coiled inside. He didn’t know what he had with her, but he wasn’t ready to give it up.
They reached Sydney’s booth, and she was there and set up for the day. Dylan gave her a hello kiss. He didn’t see any reason to hold back from how he wanted to act.
“You’re selling this? I didn’t think they had a distributor,” Josh said.
Dylan turned to see him holding one of the C&C boxes.
Sydney snapped off a laugh. “You’re kidding, right?”
Dylan added two and two, and got royally fucked with a side of conflict of interest. Why didn’t he see it sooner? This wasn’t someone else’s game. It was Sydney’s.
“No.” Josh shook his head.
Sydney grabbed the box from him and set it neatly back on the stack. “It’s my game.”
Yup. Fuck.
“It’s R.H. Pratt’s game,” Josh said.
“My maternal grandfather. I put his name on the company and the box, for credibility.”
People wander the aisles, scoping out the goods for the last day of the con.
“Well, fuck.” Dylan expected his career to conflict with his personal life at some point. He hadn’t expected it to happen on his first real case.
Sydney’s frown deepened, and she looked between them. “Care to share this bad news with me?”
Josh patted Dylan on the shoulder. “Your case. Your girl. Your news.”
“I’m one of the lawyers negotiating the distribution deal between R.H. Pratt and the new publisher,” Dylan said.
Sydney stepped back, arms crossed. This didn’t look good. “You think that might have been important to tell me two days ago?”
Dylan winced. He didn’t want to admit what his thought process had been, but he was going to have to. “It didn’t occur to me that it was important.”
“This game. This one, right here. That you’ve been selling all weekend.” She patted the box. “You didn’t figure it was crucial to mention your relationship to it?”
“Well?” Josh was enjoying this too much.
“I—” This was going to sound bad.
Sydney looked at him expectantly. “Yes?”
“I didn’t realize it was your game. I thought you were working for the guy who created it, and you wouldn’t care who he signed contracts with, as long as you still had a job.”
Sydney scrubbed her face. “Nice. Wonderful. Un-fucking-believable. I don’t even want to unpack the assumptio
ns in that statement.”
“I can still help you sell today. Our goal is the same—get your game in more people’s hands.” Dylan had no idea how to make this right. He didn’t even know if he should try.
It wasn’t that he thought his client would try to screw Sydney over during negotiations, but his job was to get said clients the best deal. He couldn’t give them his full representation if he was worried about her on a personal level.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Sydney didn’t sleep well last night. Seeing Josh again tugged at something inside she thought was gone.
It should be. It needed to be. And now that she had time to prep herself, she could ignore their past.
Except she was seeing his roommate. Was dating the right word? Probably, if they were going to keep seeing each other after the convention.
She didn’t think Josh would tell horrible stories about her—maybe she was wrong, but that wasn’t like him. She was worried he and Dylan would agree it wasn’t cool for a buddy to date his friend’s ex.
It shouldn’t have kept her up all night, worrying if she’d ever see the guy again who she’d known for all of a weekend, but it did.
When both guys approached her booth and Dylan greeted her as if everything was fine, some of her tension ebbed.
Until Josh dropped the big bomb.
And Dylan added a follow-up blow. Apparently her talking about this being her company, her game, hadn’t been enough of a clue for him.
Because he’d assumed some guy created it.
Okay, so she used initials everywhere, to perpetuate that impression, but...
“Isn’t sticking around a form of conflict of interest?” Sydney tried to keep her tone cool. “I don’t want you to jeopardize anything by hanging out with the defendant.”
“You’re not the defendant. The goal is that both parties walk away from the negotiating table happy,” Dylan said.
She looked past him, to Josh. “Does Ms. Hunter see it that way?” Sydney was certain the woman saw her as the competition even when a contract negotiation wasn’t on the table.
Josh held up his hands. “I’m not on the legal team. She booted me to a new case.”
Which probably meant the case wasn’t significant enough for the boss’s son to get his feet wet with it. Josh thought he didn’t get any special attention in the firm, but Sydney had seen numerous indicators to the contrary, even pre-law school, when he was an assistant.
“It doesn’t matter if I walk away now or in eight hours,” Dylan said. “I’m not going to enjoy your company any less. Tomorrow morning, I’ll recuse myself and ask someone else to take my place. I’m not a key figure.”
And it wasn’t a high-profile case. She hesitated to accept. That he’d offered warmed her from the inside out and automatically placed him another rung above Josh, who’d done the opposite when it came up. Several times.
But she also barely knew Dylan, and this was start of his career.
“No you won’t.” Josh broke in before she could respond. “You’re going to woo this client and kick ass on their behalf.”
“At least some things never change.” This time the bitterness spilled into Sydney’s voice. “Go enjoy the con. Both of you.” She grabbed Dylan’s hand and shook it. Might as well play it cool. “It was nice meeting you. Thanks for the fun. Have a nice life. Good luck with your job.”
Dylan gripped tight, keeping her from letting go. “Hang on. He doesn’t speak for me. Did you let him speak for you, when you were dating? His answer isn’t mine.”
She didn’t know where to go from here. The distribution offer already had her on edge. She couldn’t afford a lawyer for this negotiation. A friend had offered to go over the fine print. Josh wasn’t going to point out places for her to be wary. She wished she could trust him for that, but he’d proven repeatedly that the law firm came first.
Dylan might tell her, but that put his job at risk. She wasn’t his client.
“Listen.” Dylan dropped her hand, but his tone kept her attention. “It doesn’t matter if I walk away now. I already know you. I already like you. That conflict doesn’t vanish if I abandon you for a few hours of booth work. And there’s nothing I can do about it right this second. Let me help you finish out the day, and tomorrow I’ll talk to the people in charge about next steps.”
“Thank you.” Sydney didn’t think his talking to the boss would help, but she couldn’t turn him down.
Josh’s clenched jaw said he disagreed.
That hurt. If Dylan was a new lawyer, he wouldn’t have a big impact on a simple contract negotiation. Did Josh hold that much animosity toward her?
DYLAN HAD HOPED THAT whatever bad feelings remained between Sydney and Josh would take more than two-point-five seconds to emerge.
“Don’t go anywhere,” he said to Sydney.
She raised an eyebrow. “This is my booth. I’m here the rest of the day.”
“Right. Perfect. I’ll be back, I promise.” He grabbed Josh’s arm and yanked him down the aisle. “What the fuck? Seriously.”
Josh’s scowl deepened. Apparently, that was possible. “This is the start of your career. You spent almost a decade in college to get here. You’re going to start off on the wrong foot, for a girl you just met?”
Melodramatic much? “You mean this could be the start of your career. But you’ll have other ways to get to know the publisher.”
“Dylan.” Sydney’s plaintive tone carried over the morning chatter. “I’m sorry to interrupt...”
He glanced over his shoulder, to see a small crowd had gathered in her booth and she was telling three different people she’d be right with them.
“You’re not changing my mind,” Dylan said to Josh and turned away. He joined Sydney in the booth. “Who’s next?” He called.
He’d expected it to be busier today. Attendance would be at its highest, and people had been saving their money all weekend and would spend today.
But it was different, experiencing the crowds from this side of the vendor table. Sydney’s insistence on getting some rest last night made a lot of sense.
At one point, he looked up and realized Josh had stuck around and was helping customers too. He was even talking up the board game.
They kept busy most of the day. The five- and ten-minute lulls were enough for one of them to take a break but didn’t leave any time for chatting. Even after the vendor hall closed, attendees dawdled.
Sydney dropped into a chair when the last person was gone. Her face was flushed, but her smile looked etched in place. “Thank you for sticking around. Both of you. If it comes down to it tomorrow morning, I’ll pretend I don’t know Dylan.”
“You’d better not.” Possessiveness surged inside Dylan. “Wait. Why just me?” That made it worse.
“Everyone there already knows at least a little of my history with Josh,” Sydney said.
Josh shrugged and gave a half nod.
Of course they did. Something about the comment tickled the back of Dylan’s mind. He reached for the thought, but it flitted out of his grasp. It would come back if it was important. “I’ll recuse myself. It’s not going to be an issue.”
He expected a protest or at least a growl from Josh, but his roommate stayed impassive.
“When did the two of you meet?” Sydney stood and moved to the closest shelf. “And if you want to help me tear things down, Dylan, it all goes in the same boxes it came from during setup.”
Dylan was happy to see this through. He moved to another shelf. He’d spent the day putting together the pieces of when his meeting Josh feel in the breakup timeline. It couldn’t be a pleasant memory for Josh or Sydney. How much did he want to say?
“I needed a roommate. He was advertising,” Josh said. He picked a third shelf and started unloading games into their boxes.
That was about as direct and clean as the answer to that question got.
“So, it was literally right after...” Sydney trailed off.
Jos
h nodded.
The story Dylan knew was that Josh and Sydney were going to move in together. She broke up with him after he’d already surrendered his old to live with her, and rather than argue with her over who would stay in the apartment they’d rented together, he let her take it.
“He’s a great date, by the way,” Josh teased. “The two of you will have fun.”
Sydney looked surprised, and Dylan rolled his eyes. “Not like that.”
She studied him. “How many ways are there to be someone’s date?”
“We were...” What was the best way to phrase this? “Each other’s plus ones when an uncomfortable situation called for it.”
“Ah. If awkward at business meetings is your idea of a good date, I’ll be a blast at firm parties.” A hint of tension leaked into Sydney’s voice. She finished boxing the items on her shelf and moved on to dismantling empty racks. “But I bet the two of you made an adorable couple.” Flirting replaced her discomfort.
Dylan smiled. “We turn heads. No question.” Something occurred to him. “You know all the deep, dark secrets about Josh that he’s never told me.”
Josh raised his eyebrows.
“You’ve met his mother?” Sydney asked.
Considering the woman was Dylan’s boss. “Yes...”
“Then he probably has more secrets about me than I can tell you about him.”
Odd answer.
“I do know a couple good ones,” Josh said before Dylan could question further.
Dylan looked at Sydney. “Do I want to ask?”
“I can tell you a couple of her better fantasies,” Josh offered.
Sydney turned bright red. “No. No, no, no. Don’t you dare.”
“You sure? Fifty-fifty chance of living at least one of them out...”
Dylan’s curiosity was piqued. Given what he already knew... Memories from the hentai room rushed back. Of Sydney’s body, molded to his. The show they’d put on for everyone else. How wet she was. The way she yielded to his touch.
He was definitely curious about what else she had to share.
It was also hers to share. It killed him to say it, but— “I don’t want to hear it, unless Sydney wants to tell me.”
Roll Against Betrayal Page 5
