Chpt. 10 TPOV:
The last 12 hours has been a whirlwind. I went from looking forward to dinner with Ana and Christian and then I had hoped we would celebrate her first night "living with us." Living with us…that was something completely unexpected but when the opportunity arose I realized it was the perfect solution. I've never lived with a woman before but there's nothing about Ana that had me concerned enough not to offer for her to stay with us when I heard it was that her staying in a hotel. I had no doubt Christian would be on the same page; I knew he enjoyed spending time with Ana just as much as I did.
But instead of celebrating last night, I ended up meeting with a client until after midnight and then spending the rest of the night trying to come up with the perfect solution so we didn't lose this account. No matter how long I thought about the issue and the possible solutions, I kept coming back to one solution…Ana.
Now the only thing is to convince her to help us. I can't hire her outright, our policy is that the three of us have to interview and agree on any hiring before an offer is made. But I can contract with her on a temporary basis; it's a loophole but Christian agreed this morning that it wouldn't violate our hiring policy. Plus, with Elliot on his honeymoon and this situation needing to be resolved immediately there really isn't another option.
My only concern, and Christian's, is that Ana may not want to do this. We know she's been hesitant on discussing working for us since Vegas but we're not sure why. Even though we have a meeting scheduled with Elliot for when he returns, she's been looking for jobs and even has an interview lined up. We don't know if she thinks our relationship with complicate her working for us or if she's just decided that we're not longer a good fit for her career wise.
"So tell me about what happened last night and why you were up all night?" Ana asks pulling me from my thoughts.
"We need your help Ana," I answer simply.
"Okay…what do you need me to do?" her offer is immediate and unexpected. She didn't hesitate at all before answering.
"We've been working with a plastic surgeon on redesigning new office space that he recently purchased. The construction portion of the project has been completed, and has been for months now. The design portion is another story and it blew up last night," I explain.
"It's not the case of a difficult client," Christian jumps in. "At least we haven't thought so. We had been working with one designer from the agency we contract with for the last year and never had a dissatisfied customer. However, her husband's job transferred him to New York suddenly which meant she left in the middle of several projects. The agency assigned us another designer, however this one didn't have the commercial experience anywhere near the extent that the first one had. Since then we've had issue after issue with her work. That's why we started looking for a new commercial designer, one we could hire in house ourselves, a few months ago."
"Elliot mentioned that he…well I guess you guys weren't happy with the person you were working with," Ana says.
"At first we thought the issue was that she was picking up projects midway through and working with someone else's designs," I explain.
"I could see how that would be an issue. Designs don't always show off the designers vision," Ana agrees.
"Right, that's what we thought," Christian confirms.
"This was her first solo project," I say. "She met with the client from the beginning and presented the design to him. He approved the initial design but requested a few changes. She presented a modified designed which he loved. The plan was to have the design completed while he was on vacation so that when he returned the office could reopen on Monday. Well he went to the office yesterday and demanded to see me immediately."
"What happened?" Ana asks.
"It was a mess," I sigh remembering walking into the office last night. "I don't know what she was working on, but what was completed wasn't even remotely close to what was approved. The colors were wrong, the pictures weren't even close to what he wanted, nothing was right. Where he wanted soft, warm inviting colors she went with bold, loud colors. Where he wanted landscaped paintings she went with pictures of children playing with toys. The furniture wasn't even close to what he wanted…nothing was what he envisioned or approved."
"Wow," she whispers.
"He's giving us until Monday to find a way to fix this," Christian explains. "If we don't he not only will terminate his contract with us but he's threatening to post negative reviews on all social media pages where we're registered, file a complaint with the better business bureau and notify all of his colleagues not to use our services."
"It's not just a matter of losing a client and having to pay back everything he has paid to us thus far-" I point out.
"It's that he could ruin your business and everything you've worked this hard for," she interrupts.
"Exactly," I agree.
"And the fact that anything he would say would be true, means we would have no legal ground to stand on if he slandered our name everywhere like he is threatening," Christian says.
"How can I help?"
"We….we would like to contract with you to fix this," I hold my breath as I await her reaction.
"To fix this…" she repeats obviously trying to figure out it all out.
"We have until Monday to get his office ready to open," Christian explains. "We have absolutely no faith in the designer to have her fix her mess. I know what we're asking is huge and probably nearly impossible on such a short time frame, but we're hoping you could help us undo the fu- uh the mess she made."
"You want me to redesign the place and have the design actually completed by Monday morning?" she asks.
"Well…you wouldn't need to redesign it because we have an approved design already completed. We just need to have it carried out," I explain.
"In two days…" she says.
"With our help of course," Christian adds. "We'll do whatever you need. You need us to paint, we'll do it. You need us to tear down furniture or put together furniture, we'll do it. Whatever you need, it'll be done Ana."
"Shit guys, taking over someone else's design is hard enough but you need it to done in less than 48 hours?"
"We know Ana," I take her hand in mine. "We know what we're asking is nearly impossible, but we need…we need to try."
"I'll do whatever I can-"
"You will?" I interrupt still expecting her to say no.
"Of course," she assures me. "It's not going to be easy though. We're going to have to work with whatever stores have in stock for supplies. No one will be able to get anything specially ordered and delivered by tomorrow, especially since it's a weekend."
"I'm sure we'll be able to find something," Christian insists.
"Do you have a copy of the approved design?" she asks.
"Here," I hand her the ipad that I had brought along hoping she would ask to see it. "This is what was approved and the pictures that follow it are of what the finished project looked like."
"Wow," she whispers.
"That wasn't exactly my reaction last night, but you can see why our client was upset," I chuckle remembering the numerous four letter words that were going through my head last night when I walked in.
"What if…what if he doesn't like what we do? What if…he hates it anyway?" she asks hesitantly.
"It's a possibility," Christian sighs. "But, at least then we'll be able to say we tried. It's better than not doing anything at all."
"Oh, I wasn't suggesting that!" she assures him. "I'm just worried…you guys are putting all your eggs in my basket and you've never even seen my work. What if it's not good enough?"
"I've seen pictures of your work," I remind her.
"Elliot said he saw your portfolio," Christian says. "If he didn't think your work was amazing, he wouldn't have insisted you contact him the moment you were free to work for someone else. He wouldn't have had us set up an interview for his first day back to work if he didn't think you would be a good fit for us. I may not have seen pictures of your work or your portfolio, but if both Elliot and Taylor think your work is outstanding I have no concerns."
"Okay," she nods.
"Okay?" Christian asks.
"Let's do this," this time her voice is more certain.
We spend the next hour going over the specifics of the design proposal that was approved. Ana makes a list of everything that will need to be purchased and the stores that she has worked with in the past. She's confident we can get everything we need today, then it's just a matter of actually getting it all completed. Christian arranges for a few of our guys to start priming the entire office while we're shopping. The paint will need to try before anything else can be done, so the faster that is done the quicker we can start on the rest of the design.
It's hours later by the time we make our way across town to the upscale office complex; as always our crew did an amazing job and the primer they put up is already completely dry. Walking into a completely white space is unnerving; how the hell we're going to finish all of this in less than 36 hours is beyond me. I'm beginning to think we're screwed and it'll never be ready for them to open their doors Monday morning.
"I love walking into a clean slate," Ana sighs as she looks around.
"Really?" I ask.
"It's refreshing to see what the client disliked gone; it's a fresh slate to start the new project on," she smiles.
"It looks unfinished," I groan.
"It looks like a starting point," Christian argues.
"Let's get started," she claps her hands happily which just makes me laugh. Leave it to Ana to find a way to be happy at a time like this.
"Ana, I…I don't know how we're ever going to thank you-" I realize that through all our talking this morning that I never thanked her for doing this. I don't know how to thank someone for doing something that could save the business that has become your entire life.
"Don't thank me yet," she interrupts. "I haven't done anything and even if we manage to pull off the impossible and get this done by Monday there's no guarantee your client will even like it."
"We still need to thank you," Christian argues. "You're willing to try. You could have said no. You could have walked away. You could have said we were crazy for even wanting to try to fix this in such a short time. You could be anywhere else but here, helping us."
"I wouldn't have done that," she assures us. "I wouldn't have said no. Do I think we're crazy for even trying this? Yes. But I can't sit back and do nothing. I don't know if it'll even be enough, but I can't not try."
"We appreciate that more than you know," I wrap my arms around her needing to feel close to her. If we were anywhere else and weren't under such an unrealistic deadline, I would show her right now just how much we appreciate what she's doing for us. I don't know what it is, but whenever I'm around Ana I can't not touch her.
"When we're done fixing this disaster, we're going to show you just how much we appreciate what you're doing for us," Christian whispers as he presses himself against her back sandwhiching her between us.
"Ummm," Ana blushes at Christian's words. I love how easily she blushes and how that blush travels down her chest stopping just before her beautiful breasts. "Then we should get started….on this then."
A few moments pass before any of us move, but eventually I kiss Ana before stepping back realizing we do need to focus on this mess if we have any hope of getting it fixed by Monday. Unfortunately my dick doesn't seem to have gotten that message as it's throbbing against my zipper just from being pressed up against Ana's warm body again. I watch Christian wrap his arms around her waist and whisper something in her ear that causes her to blush before she steps away from him.
It's odd, if it were anyone else I'd be jealous as fuck right now to see my best friend with his arms wrapped around the girl that I…
That I…what?
That I'm dating? God that sounds….too casual for what we're doing.
That I'm falling for? Is that even possible?
Fuck…that's definitely possible.
Today, right here, what Ana is doing…yeah that makes it definitely possible. Her selflessness is one of the many things I like about her. I like that she worries about everyone else. Last night, coming home to a plate of food in the microwave was…it was like a reminder that Ana thought of me. That she didn't forget about me because I wasn't there. That simple gesture, fuck it meant so much. Because too often if I wasn't there…they forgot about me.
"T, man you good?" Christian asks.
"Yeah, I'm good," I'm not but I'm thankful he stopped me from going back there.
"Ana needs the receptionists desk disassembled; want to give me a hand?" he asks.
"Yeah," I grab the toolbox I had brought in before taking one final glance at Ana. She's reviewing the project details with a few guys who just arrived that Christian convinced to help us today despite them having not been scheduled to work. I'm sure he offered to compensate them for coming in at the last minute, but if it means we make this client happy it'll be worth it.
"You okay?" he asks after we've been working for a few minutes.
"Yeah," I nod.
After one drunken night I told Christian about the fucked up shit that happened when I was growing up. We both have our demons left over from the time we served which is usually what sneaks up on me; this time it wasn't that though. This shit doesn't come up often, but when it does it always hits me out of fucking nowhere. Like last night with a fucking plate of dinner in the microwave. Something so simple yet it was anything but that to me.
"You think we can pull this off?" he asks I think sensing the need to squash the silence that is giving me far too much time to focus on shit I don't need to be focusing on.
"It'll be close," I warn him. "But, if anyone can do it I think the three of us can."
We order pizza for dinner and continue working through the evening. It's after ten when the final wall is painted; looking around the office I have no idea how we pulled it all off but the office looks nothing like what it did when I walked in here last night. Hell even it looks different as compared to when we walked in here several hours ago to start this project.
"This looks amazing Ana," I say.
"I can't take the credit," she shakes her head. "The original design was done; I'm simply helping it become reality."
"Don't sell yourself short," I argue. "You picked the furniture, the paintings, the décor…the original design only provided you with colors and ideas. You did the rest."
"I guess," she yawns and I know exactly how she feels. I have no idea how many cups of coffee I've had today which is the only thing that has kept me standing this long after having been awake all night.
"I've booked us a hotel room for the night," Christian joins us in the lobby.
"A hotel?" Ana asks.
"It's better than driving an hour back to the apartment tonight only to drive an hour back tomorrow morning," he explains.
"Fine with me, I don't think I'd be able to stay awake for the drive home anyway," now that I'm standing still the exhaustion is setting in.
The guys who helped us today left about an hour ago when we were finishing cleaning up from the painting. Tomorrow will focus on putting the office back together: furniture installation and décor. As we close and lock the door behind us, I'm beginning to think we just may be able to pull off and have this finished by Monday morning. On the way to the hotel, we stop by a 24 hour store to pick up a few items since none of us were planning on spending the night in a hotel. Ana doesn't complain once; she grabs a pair of jeans, a shirt, panties, a bra and a few toiletries before meeting us at the register where we've grabbed what we need. A few minutes later we arrive at the hotel, walking passed a crowded bar, check in and head to our room.
"They only had a room with one bed available, I figured it wouldn't be an issue," Christian says as we walk into the room with one large king size bed.
"I don't have an issue," Ana giggles.
Last night was the first night in nearly a week that the three of us didn't share a bed together. If it wasn't for the fucking mess I had to clean up, I would have been in the bed with Christian and Ana last night. I knew they shared a bed last night even before Ana walked out of Christian's room this morning. I peaked in his room after I ate the dinner that Ana left for me and saw them sleeping together. I expected to feel jealous that Christian had slept with her without me. We hadn't discussed whether or not we would be together if the third person wasn't around. We haven't really set any rules as far as our relationship goes; instead we've opted to make our rules as we go.
When I saw them sleeping together last night, and saw Ana's clothes all over Christian's floor, I wasn't jealous. I was envious. I envied Christian; but not for the reasons one would think. Not because he had obviously had sex with Ana. But because he was sleeping next to her while unfortunately I had to fix the mess that I had walked into hours before. I knew I could wake him and have him help me figure out the problem and if I needed him he would have jumped out of bed and helped in an instant. But since I couldn't be in bed, I figure one of us should be able to sleep next to Ana so I left them in the room and walked back to the dining room where I spent the next few hours working.
"I forgot to grab pajamas the store," Ana unpacks her bags and says.
"That's okay, you don't need them," I chuckle.
"You definitely don't need pajamas," Christian walks out of the bathroom overhearing our conversation.
She blushes and heads into the bathroom to get ready for bed. Christian and I unpack our stuff, shoving the clothes into the drawers of the dresser. Ana comes out of the bathroom a few minutes later wearing just her shirt and a thong; I nearly groan when I take in the outline of her nipples through her shirt.
"Don't look at me like that," her eyes glance between both me and Christian. "We're going to bed; we have a busy day tomorrow if we're going to pull this off."
"Fuck," I growl knowing she's right.
"When this shit is over, we're going to spend hours in that bed," Christian says. "I'm going to be so deep inside you that you're going to feel me for days."
"Okay," she whispers as her breathing hitches.
Reluctantly the three of us climb into bed, with Ana lying between us. The sexual tension is still high; I want nothing more than to slip inside of Ana and spend the rest of the night there. But I know she's right; if we're going to pull this off tomorrow, more importantly if she's going to pull this off she needs to be at the top of her game. I know Christian agrees because he doesn't argue, instead turning off the light next to the bed. Her body tenses for only a second before she realizes I had left the bathroom light on for her. It kills me when that happens; when she starts to freak out for reasons I don't know and all I want to do is find out what the fuck has her so afraid.
"Take this off," I tug at her shirt.
"We're not-"
"I just want to feel you, I promise," I assure her.
She sits up and quickly takes her shirt off before lying back down next to us. She rests her head on my shoulder and I wrap an arm around her upper back loving how her body feels next to mine. Even though we've only slept together the last few nights, I realize in this moment how much I missed sleeping next to her last night. Christian rolls over and slips an arm around her waist, anchoring her to him as he intertwines his legs with hers. As the three of us quickly fall asleep, I can't help but wonder what's going to happen when Ana moves back to her apartment in a week?