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I was ready to argue, but let it go. “You know what? It feels pretty great.”
“Stick with me, Butterfly, and I’ll take care of you in every way you’ll let me. For now, let’s start with getting some food in you.”
While it was close to noon, Brand had made sure the restaurant of the hotel was still serving breakfast. If they hadn’t been, he said we would have gone somewhere else.
“We could have lunch instead,” I offered.
He shook his head. “You love breakfast.”
Now would probably be too soon to break the no-kissing rule, but that’s exactly what I wanted to do. How did he remember that about me? More, how did he even know it?
After we ordered, Brand filled me in on the conversation he’d had with Kade and Merrigan, and that we’d be meeting with a man he referred to as Sundance and a woman with the code name Flick.
“I’m a little unclear whether Flick will be traveling to the States or we’ll be required to meet with her in the UK.” Brand hesitated. “If this is too much time away from the gallery, I understand.”
“Let me talk to the tribe. Autumn in New York is fabulous, as you know. Maybe we can come up with a way for me to schedule time off. Tara is almost always there, painting, anyway. However, now that she’s pregnant, maybe not as much.”
Brand tapped my hand. “Do not talk yourself out of allowing people to help. From what Tara said, no one expected you to run the gallery all on your own. Maybe they’ll want to be there more than you think.”
“Maybe. So, um, why are we meeting with Sundance and Flick?”
“To establish a training schedule.”
I raised a brow. “What kind of training?”
“The typical James Bond stuff. Hand-to-hand combat, surveillance, and countersurveillance. Definitely wire-tapping and intelligence gathering, and maybe parachuting, demolition, and assassination.”
My head shot up. “Wait. What?”
Brand smiled. “You seemed lost in thought. I wanted to see if you were listening.”
“So, will we learn any of that?”
He shrugged. “No idea. We’ll have to wait until our meeting to find out.”
I smacked his arm. “When do you think that will be?”
“Sooner than expected,” he said, pulling out his phone. “Doc said Sundance wants to make arrangements this week.”
“So soon? Where?”
“He lives in Manhattan.”
“On the subject of where people reside, where are you planning to stay?” I asked.
Brand could afford to live almost anywhere. His and Tara’s father had set up a trust fund for both of his kids when they were born. However, it wasn’t until he came of age that he found out about it, or even who his biological father was. He’d tried to refuse the trust, but it was irrevocable. He could choose not to touch the money in it, in which case its entirety would go to his children. If he died without offspring, it would go to Tara.
“I suppose I could look for something temporary, given I’m not sure what the training will entail or how much time it will require.”
What I was about to suggest was risky, but I’d had roommates before. Not male roommates, but this was Brand. He was almost like a brother. Except for the sex part. I shuddered at the ick factor of that thought.
“You could stay with me.”
His eyes opened wide.
“As I said when you walked me home after dinner the other night, the town house is too big for one person.” As Brand was aware, that was an understatement. It had five floors, each one thousand square feet, and a total of five bedrooms. He and I could live there and rarely see each other. Not that I wanted to avoid him. Quite the contrary, actually.
Since I inherited the place, I’d lived there alone, with the exception of a few months when Tara roomed with me. I had no interest in renting out part of it to someone I didn’t know, and it wasn’t as if I needed the money. Like Brand and Tara, I had trusts from both my parents and my grandparents. I owned the town house free and clear, and a trust had been established to pay the taxes as well as to cover maintenance.
