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She blinks her eyes open again, catching me in a glare. It’s not mean, it’s desperate. “Please? You don’t know the kind of trouble he can cause.”
“Okay.”
I don’t know why I agree. I want to tell myself that I am trying to make my friend/manager happy, but deep down, it’s probably because I want to be down in the basement again with her brother. Her older brother. Her very hot older brother.
Even though I know this is a really bad idea.
Sloan nods, a slight smile on her lips. “Thanks. I’m not sure when he will want to get started. So, dress the same tomorrow and bring a change of clothes. Okay?”
I nod, get up, and turn to leave her office. On the trip back to my desk, I stare at Eileen’s empty cubical. She and Ray are on vacation, going to some sort of conference in Orlando. Her presence is greatly missed. I need to talk to someone right now. My head is spinning. I know I shouldn’t, but I head up to the executive floor. Maybe Reese, my other best friend, and the CEO’s wife is here. She visits often.
The elevator doors open on the top floor before I can figure out what I am going to say, but luckily, I see Reese walking towards me. She smiles, waves, and brushes her long honey-blonde hair over her shoulder. For just having had a baby, she looks great. How she got her figure back so quickly, I will never know. I’m pretty sure Reese doesn’t bother with working out.
“Hey!” She stops right beside me. “I was just about to come down to see you. Want to go grab a bite for a late lunch? We could grab Sloane on the way down.”
“No!” I squeak, grabbing my friend’s shoulder. “No Sloane.” Reese looks at me with her blue eyes wide. I step back a bit and try to act like I wasn’t just panicking. “It’s just that…I need to talk to you alone.”
Reese nods and smiles at me. She slips her arm over my shoulder and turns me back toward the elevator, which is still open waiting on us. “Very well, then. Let’s get our favorite booth at that place down the block. I need something greasy.”
I don’t feel like opening up yet on the walk over to Sadie’s, our usual restaurant, so I ask Reese about the baby, Kaylyn. “Where is the little bundle of joy?”
Reese smiles and puts her head back, staring absentmindedly at the clouds. Stretching her arms up over her head, she stands up a little taller. “Kane has her. He doesn’t have any meetings this afternoon, so she is in the crib in his office.” My friend turns to me with a blissful smile on her face. “I didn’t know that he was going to be such an involved father. Most business guys just disappear into work, leave you all alone.”
An unwanted set of brown eyes comes to my mind. In my imagination, I can see my ex-boyfriend Jered smiling at me. One side of his lips was always slightly higher than the other. It made him look like he was constantly smirking. At the time I found it sexy. Now the thought turns my stomach.
I shake my head a little, trying to clear it of his unwanted presence, and realize that Reese is staring at me. She raises one perfect eyebrow. “Where’d you go just then? You got real pale.”
The grin I give her is fake. I’m sure she knows that, but I keep the act up as much as I can. “I’m fine. I just have something weird going on at work.”
“Hmm?”
“Did you know that Sloane’s big brother is working for the company now?” It’s a stupid question. Reese knows everything that Kane does. But I can’t think of another way to broach the subject.
“Christian? Yeah. He is a bit of an odd duck, but I don’t think you should be worried about him.”
I want to tell her what happened. I want to tell her how crazy it was and that I am dying for it to happen again. But I also don’t want it to happen again because men are cruel and Christian is Sloane’s brother, and foremost, I don’t date! My head is spinning.
Reese folds her arms, raising one hand up to her chin and holding it. She stops on the sidewalk. “Wait! You think he’s cute, don’t you?” Her lips pull up into the biggest smile. Reese wants all her friends in relationships and as happy as she is. What she doesn’t realize is that she and Eileen got the only good guys.
“No! I don’t like him,” I protest too loudly. “I don’t like him at all.” I sound like a third-grader. I stop myself from shrieking, take a deep breath, and relax my shoulders. “Mr. Keeley asked that I help him run cables in the basement.”
