Testing The Boss(48)

“The Farrells? As in the real estate moguls?”

“Those ones. Walter Farrell works with a former associate of mine. Colin Carter. I’m going to see if he can help you out. Walter has lived in the city the past few years and Carter usually isn’t too far behind.”

“Great. I appreciate it.”

“Anything for Emma,” said Jace.

“You two aren’t going to elope, are you?” blurted out Luke.

“What?”

“Michael and Lori had me freaked out that they were going to elope. I mean, a destination wedding is one thing, but Emma isn’t getting married without me, Lance.”

“Michael and Lori are getting married?”

Shit. “Not officially. But they’ve been talking about it.” Luke let out a sigh of relief. Jace wasn’t planning to elope with Emma. At least part of his family wasn’t changing.

“I mean, I’m definitely going to marry Emma, but I think we’re going for something bigger. Her choice, not mine.”

“You’re engaged? Emma should’ve told me!” It was like his entire family was coupling off and they were keeping him out of the loop.

“Um, well, it’s not official or anything. But it’s come up a few times in conversation.”

Not official? You’re either getting married or you’re not. There’s no maybe about it, at least as far as Luke was concerned. Luke shook his head and figured he’d deal with that problem later. “Get Colin Carter up to speed on what we’re dealing with and pass him my contact info.”

“Will do.” Jace hung up right as Evelyn walked in holding two cups of coffee.

Luke set the phone down and tried to look normal. “Good morning.”

“Morning.” Evelyn set one of the coffees on his desk. She was at least being civil to him, which was nice to know. After the awkwardly silent drive back to the city in the early hours of the morning, he’d been half worried that this was how things were going to be between them now. But he took the coffee as a sign of good things coming.

“Thank you.” He took the large cup from her. “Did you get anything from that agent you were questioning?”

“A few things. Also I might have a phone number that will lead to a real, live person. Was Cali able to fix your schedule now that you’re working from here?”

Right back to her professional self. Even back to her mismatched pants and suit, this time beige slacks and a brown suit jacket with a white blouse beneath. “She’s been doing her best.”

“I want to have a few moments with her today. I think it’s time she knows that I’m not really an intern since I’m pretty sure she never bought that story anyway.”

“Funny. She’s never believed much of my bullshit either,” said Luke with a sideways grin.

Evelyn didn’t crack a smile.

“If you want to take a break on my couch, feel free. I know you got just as little sleep as me.”

“I can handle the lack of sleep. Just let me know if you need anything.”

“And what if I need privacy?” If Colin Carter called him back, he’d rather Evelyn not be in the room when he talked with someone about going over her head.

“Keeping secrets?”

“My biggest client is the US government. Secrets kind of go along with the territory. If you saw the size of the nondisclosure agreements they make me sign, you’d understand.”

“You should see some of those I’ve seen.” She took a seat on the couch at the other end of his office.

She didn’t say anything else, and he tried to go back to work. Which was difficult considering a majority of his work involved phone calls and meetings. She didn’t seem to mind the constant noise in the background. She’d moved from his office sofa to the table in the corner for more private meetings in his office. She had her computer set up and stared intently at the screen every time he glanced over to her.

During a fifteen-minute lull in calls, the silence finally got to him. “Did you have any thoughts on dinner?” he asked. “I was thinking about making reservations at a nice Italian place down the street.”

Evelyn met his eyes from over her computer screen, but she seemed unenthused with the idea. “Whatever you want.”

“Do you have a preference? Everyone likes Italian, right?”

Evelyn lowered her laptop halfway so Luke could get the full effect of her frown. “I’m here on protective detail, Luke. Just go about like you normally would.”

“I don’t normally have a smoking hot FBI agent following my every move. So there is no normal here.”

“If you want to go out to dinner, that’s fine. But not a date. From now on, things between us will be strictly professional.”