I close my eyes again, because there was nothing he could do to me that was worse than what he'd already done this morning, vexxing up my babe like that for no reason. Well, for his reasons, his rivalry, his unnecessarily competitive way of life. I feel a gentle pull on my coat pocket, looks like Mr. You should quit smoking was also about to have a smoke! Standard!

I open my eyes so I can watch him be a level hundred hypocrite as he pulls a ciggie out of the pack and then waits until I put my smoke back in my mouth and leans in to light his against mine. He was looking into my eyes as he took a drag from my cigarette to his, and there was something there. I don't know if it was the jetlag or what but mate was looking pretty run over, clapped! I hadn't seen him in a few hours, what the hell happened!

This is what I meant when I said I was a joke to Earl Whitlam. If he saw me as someone even slightly desirable, as someone he would fuck for any reason other than to get back at my girlfriend for rivalry's sake, he wouldn't be leaned over me like this looking into my eyes while he lit his cigarette. He'd at least be trying to pin me against this wall, but all there was in his eyes was mischief and sorrow. The Earl was a sad boi, and I was curious, mostly because he didn't have anything to be sad about, not with the money and the successful architecture firm and the bevy of caucasian women who were nostalgic about segregation and white's only drinking fountains. I study him closely, forgetting for a second that he was a proper dickhead.

"You've had a rough day." I state, wondering if I simply hadn't noticed it before

It isn't a question, it's an acknowledgement, an open-ended invitation to something intangible. I wasn't completely heartless. I felt a little guilty about... everything. He'd been a much better boss to me than Luna.

"I had a spat with my best friend about old secrets, my car broke down, unprovoked, in traffic on my way to a sixteen hour flight which made me late to pitch a concept to my brother-in-law. I finally make it, late, to that meeting only to discover that my secret competition, the firm that has steadily been stealing my clients from me is none other than my employee, and to top it all off I'm being forced to work with...you... so yeah, my day could have been better." Lucas reveals, shaking with frustration as he speaks though his voice remains calm and somewhat detached

He takes in a deep drag of his cigarette, watching me closely for something. I mean, I thought I was hexed but he had to have won the competition! I remember hearing something about his best friend, he was a prince or something, had been in an accident, had lost his memory. Again, my innocence is solely hinged on the fact that I didn't ask him to get on the flight, to show up unannounced at the meeting! He had plenty of commissions he could concentrate on! He was just being greedy with this one!

"You've got some nerve complaining about having to work with me when it's clear that I deserve that commission and your nepotist brother-in-law is only letting you along for the ride to keep your sister wet." I shrug, my words soft and lush

The fact, that he was leaned into me, cornering me between his fit body and the ivy covered wall and that we were whispering viciously at each other, seemed utterly natural to both of us, so don't get any ideas about it. This was standard, of Lucas especially. He was just one of those guys that was so incredibly unaware of personal space I'd gotten over it quick!

"I've got plenty of nerve and yet you talk to me like I won't do anything about this mouth of yours." He hisses back

I really wanted to let him have it! There was nothing wrong with my mouth! This was the mouth all of his racism nostalgia baes were trying to get with their lip fillers and botox injections!

"Are you going to get to it or should I light another cigarette?" I softly wonder up at him, lifting an eyebrow defiantly so I don't have to kick him in the gonads

"You're obviously brilliant at what you do." he states

Was there something in the ivy, the cigarette or the long day he'd had that made it impossible to hold back his thoughts from me or was he being sarcastic? He takes in a drag, I'm left to wonder if that was a...compliment

"You didn't come here to compliment my work, did you? I know you heard us fight. So what's the real question?" I pry softly

He was bare nosy! He'd obviously heard me on the phone with Luna! Was he here to rub it in? To curate more beef?

"Are you proper lesbian though?" He softly asks, just to confirm it...

Manz was thinking I'm pretending to date Luna so I can dupe them both! I mean... He hadn't said it, of course, and I couldn't picture why I'd never thought of it before, but the audacity! The gumption! Thinking I was evil enough to date someone for three years as pretense!

"Maybe so." I shrug, laughter peppering my voice, he wouldn't get the reference and I was fine with it

I'd already told him he had trust issues, I wasn't going to be pressed by them! So here we were, smoking together in this little cove between the ivy-covered wall and his neighbour's fence. What had he really come out here to ask me?

"Well for starters, I'd really like to hear your pitch on the building we're being forced to collaborate on..." he stammers softly, quite unlike himself.

"Shall we then?" I offer nonchalantly

I take in my last drag, before expertly flicking my cigarette butt and sliding out from underneath him as if it was the most natural thing and I had done it a million times before (I had, perhaps not a million, but many times). I walk down the cove, turning to him before taking the corner, inviting him into his own office for the real meeting we were meant to have. He flicks his still burning cigarette, blows out the smoke and follows me back into his guesthouse/architecture firm office.

He was really quiet back there, probably thinking about how devious my evil plans for a hostile take over were. He seems to pull himself out of it right on time, just as I turn to him with a few words of warning.

"I don't know whatever the fuck is going on between Luna and you but I just want to make it clear that it's none of my business and I'm just here to do this job. I'm not here for the rivalry Olympics or whatever." I state as simply and clearly as possible

He nods his head, opening the door to his makeshift office behind me. I walk in and spread the plans on the table, pining them down and pulling at some joints to pop up an interior. He smiles, impressed already. I was actually very invested in this commission, for obvious reasons.

I hadn't come at it with any bias or any hurt feelings; after all the client had asked that we collaborate, the client had picked my interior architecture and his expertise and I had to have no qualms about it. I would be the first to admit I'd been slightly put off by the idea of someone else executing my ideas... the client's brother-in-law to be exact. But I did what needed to be done with these plans and Lucas would be absolutely mad to claim otherwise!

Whitlam already had a few things that Luna didn't by way of a work partner... He would never get in the way of my work or ask me to quit my job... he would never amount to a jealous lover because we clearly weren't each other's type... he was less hot-headed than Luna Solano... and he would offer me whatever it took as far as expertise went, even put me on track to having my own architecture firm as soon as I had won him over. And from the look in his eyes I could tell the plans were winning him over.

"So what do you think?" I finally asks him, looking at the floor reticently

I'd been nervous about this presentation. I'd naively thought maybe Luna was calling to hold my hand through it, not make a proposition of her own.

"Beautiful." He whispers softly

I looks up at him in awe, finding his gaze on me. I'd been expecting complaints and negotiations and criticisms.

"I'm forced to agree with you there." I say, fighting a smile

"There's a few things I'd like addressed of course... nothing too major, just the archway on Millborn and the corridor through b to s... otherwise this is a stellar job." He mumbles, maybe too excited about the project to be mad at me.

"Thanks." I shyly say, breaking our gaze to turn back to the plans on his desk.

"Would it be asking too much that you leave them here? I can bring them to you tomorrow... perhaps over lunch?" He offers with a slight smile on his lips

I sigh softly and nod, just relieved that this wasn't some shenanigans and bickering.

"Good luck with your friend." I add grabbing my bag and folder in an attempt to walk out before the air shifts between us.

"And Funke..." He calls out just as I reach the door

Here it goes, here's the madness

"I'm sorry you felt like you couldn't trust me with your plans for your own firm. I'd like to think I would've supported you." He offers meekly

Here's the thing with Daniel Craig's evil cousin that made it bare hard to hate him.