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"Yes, is that a probleed by worry, caone to a bar and picked up a guy or two (Jeremy and Michael Bournha a thin line of eye liner, she paused a few beats before answering

"No" Why should you care? she thought But he did And it thrilled her much more than she wished it did Blusher seeer, as she checked herself out in the iven him information about herself Now he knew she lived alone, or was he fishing? Was that just a question? She ay, way out of her ele her about the trip

"And let’s talk about the hotel"

"Yes! An E of Embassy Suites? They spell it S-W-E-E-T-S"

Suppressed snicker "It got perfectly fine reviews on travel social media sites and it was the lowest priced hotel in the entire metro-Detroit area"

"That doesn’t come as a surprise," he said dryly

"One of the reasons I picked it," she said, disingenuous with great intent, "was that it said – I don’t re about the place – that ‘Sunshine brought a sht ‘that’s the place for Matt’ when he goes on his travels Saves Bournham Industries money, close to the client and lots of sunshine"

"Sunshine is the name of the local prostitute"

She covered herher voice, she said in a whisper, "You know you can't bill that cost to your expense account, right?"

Click Motherfucker! Did he just hang up on her? No way Who the hell did he think he was? Mister alphaher at hoh! Lydia just couldn’t get her swirling ure out whether he pissed her off or turned her on –

Or both

She had clearly hit a nerve, though, because whatever had happened on that trip had happened as a result of follohat he told her to the absolute letter of the law The entire two-night business trip cost less than 400 So to be overjoyed at coet

Michael Bournhaht?

She suppressed a sly smile and then realized she didn't have to; she was alone and let her face spread with a giant grin, the woo She etter The one who busted her ass to try to prove herself, not just for the sake of proving herself, but because it was the right thing to do

Because it was an internal drive that pushed her to new places

Like threesoot to the part about Sunshine, Jere By the tiround, face-up, like a turtle on rave;ce de résistance with Mike describing the feeling of being pressed against the hood of a sprite can, his face sh cold

He looked up and said, "The exact sakok once"

"I can’t one up you on anything, can I?"

"You’re about to be a billionaire, so I have to give you that"

Mike grinned "Yeah, I a out of the way and then I can focus" Once again, Jeremy had surprised him in the office, but by now his presence seeave him some street cred Made him more human No connection between Michael Bournham and Jeremy had been detected, so the triable of Mike to Matt to Jeremy wasn't a concern

"Lydia did that to you? She really bested you?" Jeremy seemed pleased A little too pleased There was a puckish quality to Jeremy, an ioofy scenarios, and ehest art form Especially when Mike was the victiood clean fun that Jerereat fan of Judd Apatow movies and the old 90’s film, Dumb and Dumber, was for Jeremy, celebrated the way people considered Fellini a master For him, it was the Farrelly brothers

As Mike described his slimy, seedy, horrific experience in Detroit, costore so he could buy lice shaed for Mike to describe Sunshine once more

"Sunshine? Her name is Sunshine?"

"Yeah," Mike said "She was quite a ray of so"

"And you were arrested because?"

"That’s the part that I don't understand, but when your face is smashed in a bum's urine by Detroit's finest, you don't ask questions Dom saved me Good old Dom" Mike had sent Doe zone where Jereal woay pride parade celebration – a party of any kind – you’d find Jereuy drunk and covered in vomit the next day Sort of a cross between Charlie from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and Otter from Animal House, Jere hell Jereed to pull off a combo of those two mystified Mike

But he’d been a hard worker – smart, suave, extremely analytical, and just a little bit unpredictably whacked When they’d cashed out their stock fro reviews about local businesses would turn out to be ahundreds of e, lean andstaff, Jeremy had taken to a life of fun while Mike had taken to a life of sticking his nose to the grindstone