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That seemed to distract my brother. “Really? How did you accomplish that?”
I’d slept with Morgan’s PA and she penciled me in right after I gave her the best sex of her life. Her words, not mine. “I simply made an appointment.”
“Sure,” he said. “And I’m still a virgin.”
I shook my head. Yeah, right.
Since we were teenage boys, my brothers and I only wanted one thing more than getting out of our foster parents’ house, and that was sex. Blessed with our birth father’s last name and good looks, it was never a problem. Until our exploits started hitting the tabloids, then we all agreed to be discreet about it. No one liked it when a client brought up the morning’s headline at a meeting.
“Is there a reason for your visit, Ryan?” I asked, reopening my schedule for the day.
“Yes. I came to tell you that Luke wants to host a dinner at his place next week. You should be there, Colton.”
Luke had remodeled and now lived in the home we grew up in before our parents died in a car accident. I hadn’t been back at the house since I was nine years old.
“You can’t keep avoiding it,” he said. Then, in a softer voice, “You were just a kid. We never held you responsible for what happened.”
“Not yet,” I said, and opened an internet browser. “I’m close to fixing the past. But not yet.”
Even though I faced away from him, I felt his eyes on me. “Don’t turn him down,” said Ryan. “Promise me you’ll think about it.”
The thought of disappointing my baby brother didn’t sit well with me, so I conceded a little. “I’ll think about it.”
Standing, Ryan knocked on my desk and walked over to my door. “I think I’ll stop by the new girl’s desk and make sure she’s settling in all right.”
“Stay away from my assistant,” I shouted.
Ryan laughed and walked right past Ava, but not without giving her a nod. Even from this distance, I noticed a blush creep onto her cheeks. She’d done the same at the deli. I wondered if she was the type that blushed with every emotion, be it anger, embarrassment… excitement. Did it spread down her neck and lower? I groaned. I was entirely too distracted by my PA. It would be much easier if I could take her out, give her the best night of her life, then get her out of my head.
Stupid bet. Stupid company rules.
I swiveled my chair to face my laptop again and typed the address of an auction site I checked regularly into the search bar. Nothing. I tried another site, then the last one. Still nothing. I rubbed the back of my neck, feeling my muscles tighten. Twenty years—and I was still searching for two more pieces of jewelry. Then it would be over. Then I could return to my parents’ home.
By eleven, Ava had brought me up to speed with the latest client reports. She had itemized the ones that needed my immediate attention and had taken notes while I shot back the calls to action for her to handle. I didn’t have to slow down or repeat myself. She had kept her nose down and scribbled on her notepad. Then, when I sent her an email to look into last year’s numbers and get back to me by the end of the day, she hadn’t told me I was unreasonable. No. She sent me an email with all the information before lunch.
A part of me was disappointed. She was really good at her job. And other than keeping to herself, I didn’t seem to intimidate her. She wouldn’t quit today, and probably not tomorrow either. I had to learn to think of Ms. Ava Grady as just my assistant.
I checked the time. It was nearly noon and I had another call starting in a half-hour. It wouldn’t be enough time to grab my usual coffee and a bagel, so I decided to head downstairs and buy a coffee from the café inside the lobby.
“I’ll be back in thirty minutes,” I told Ava as I walked past her desk for lunch. She was on the phone, so I didn’t expect a response.
Walking past the front desk receptionist, I said, “Have a good lunch, Erika.”
She stared at me as though I’d spoken a foreign language. Then she peeked down the hall. “You too, Mr. Crawford,” she said, rising from her seat.
As the elevator doors closed, I spotted Ava hurrying toward me.
“Wait!” she called.
I pressed the button to hold the doors open.
Her chest heaved as she raced to reach me, and I glued my gaze to her face or else risked rushing up to her and truly taking her breath away. I banished the image of a panting and naked Ava Grady.
“I ordered your lunch,” she said when she’d finally caught her breath.
“You did?” I’d heard of other PAs ordering lunch for their bosses, but it had never happened to me before. I’d also never trusted any of them to not poison me.
“Yes. Coffee and a bagel. It will be here any minute. You’re probably holding up the elevator.”
