What You Need(97)
“Lennox, who—?”
“I told you. She’s no one to me.”
He sighed into my hair.
Despite my emotional state, I loved these little pockets of sweetness he gave me. I didn’t even mind that we were in the lobby, where any of my coworkers could see us together.
“Come upstairs with me.”
“I can’t. I’m on phone duty for another hour and a half.”
“Someone else can take over.”
I faced him and tried to put myself back together. “While I’m happy you want to be my loving, protective man, right now I need to keep up a false front. I can’t afford to fall apart.”
“And it’s too much to ask me to hold you together? That’s what I’m supposed to do, dammit. That’s what I want to do.”
“Later. Okay?”
He retreated and ran his hand through his hair. “Okay. But you’d better be on your way up to my office at five oh one.”
*
I got a text from Brady fifteen minutes before five saying that he’d be on an overseas conference call that would last a while and I shouldn’t wait around for him.
He didn’t mention me going to his place to wait, so I was at loose ends. I’d been prepared to lean on him, tell him why my mother had shown up today, but now he was occupied. I could ask Sydney if she wanted to grab a drink . . . but then I remembered she’d said earlier that she had a date tonight.
I’d decided to go home when I saw Brady’s sister, Annika, leaving the building. I called out her name.
She turned around, her eyes searching the crowd until she saw me. She smiled. I hadn’t noticed before that she and Brady had the same smile. “Hey. What are you doing down here?”
“Subbing for the desk clerk.”
She whistled. “Who’d you piss off to score that crap job?”
“No idea. Are you done for the day?”
“Yep. I was debating on whether to head for the gym or the bar.”
“I could use a drink or twenty, if you don’t mind me tagging along with you to the bar.”
“Thank god. I always feel pathetic drinking alone.”
“People act like you’re just sitting there, waiting for guys to hit on you.”
Annika nodded. “Let’s avoid the usual places around here. There’s a piano bar six blocks over, if you don’t mind walking.”
“I could use the fresh air.”
“Cool.”
We didn’t talk while we walked, but it wasn’t weird.
Or it wasn’t until we were seated in a corner with our two-for-one drinks, away from the hipster happy hour crowd, and I caught Annika studying me.
I’d never played the shrinking violet very well. It occurred to me that maybe Annika didn’t know that. I’d been quiet and efficient when I was assigned to her department. At the Lund family thing, I’d been more watchful than talkative. So she probably didn’t know what to think of me and maybe that put us on even ground.
“Let’s get the personal stuff out of the way first.”
“Shoot.”
Annika leaned in. “I like you. I like you with my brother. He’s been all business for so long I’m happy to see he’s having a life. You get him, don’t you?”
“You mean, do I call him on his shit? Yes. I see the man beneath the power suits and the haughty attitude and the math brain. But it’s only because he’s chosen to show me the sweet, sexy and kinky sides. I appreciate how rare that is for him.”
Her eyes widened. “Kinky? Umm, TMI, Lennox. He’s my brother.”
I grinned. “Just seeing if you’re paying attention.”
“Jerk.”
“I’m glad you like me. Your mother . . . not so much.”
“She’s playing a part. She’ll get tired of it, trust me.” Annika slurped down her drink. Then I watched a change come over her. The same kind of Let’s get to business expression Brady had.
Uh. Oh.
“You’ve been in the office temp department for almost a year. Is that where you’re the happiest? Because it’s something different every day?”
“That’s part of the appeal. Why?”
“Where do you see yourself in five years?”
Why did people in positions of power ask this question? Was it supposed to prove loyalty? “I see myself on a houseboat in the Philippines cooking empanadas and fried plantains.”
Annika laughed. “Points for creativity. Maybe you should be applying to Marketing instead of PR.”
“Applying?” My heart jumped into my throat. “This is a job interview?”
“I told you I wanted you on my team, Lennox. You’ve had almost eight months of floating to other departments. And tell me, did you feel overqualified to sit at a desk in reception and answer phones? Did you feel like your potential was being wasted?”