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“I suppose we did.” She gazed at him thoughtfully. “Did you speak to Paul?”
“Yeah, I did. He wants to meet up with us both at your place for dinner—is that okay?”
“Sure, and don’t worry about your bank account. I promise you I’ll get that all sorted out.”
Luke snapped his fingers. “Oh, right. Can you lend me your cell? I need to make a call.”
She handed him her cell just as the phone on her desk rang. “I have to take this. Bring the phone back with you, tonight, okay?”
Luke blew her a kiss and sauntered out into the parking lot. He flipped open the phone and entered a number he knew by heart, smiled when a familiar voice answered.
“Mike? Yeah, I know it’s been a while, but there’s something you can do for me. It’s about my bank account.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
Julia slammed the oven door shut on the chicken casserole she’d hastily constructed for dinner and turned on the timer. Paul and Luke were due at any moment and she wanted her hands free and all sharp cooking implements put safely away before she saw them. She heard them talking and laughing as they walked up to her condo and folded her arms over her chest.
Paul’s smile was warm as he came across to hug her, Luke’s just as bright. Julia held up her hand.
“No hugs, yet. I need to ask Luke something.”
Paul’s smile faded. “Is this about what happened in the barn this morning? I told Luke I’d sort it out with you, there’s nothing to worry about.”
Julia opened her mouth to continue and then stopped to refocus on Paul. “What happened in the barn?”
“Paul fucked me,” Luke said. “And now he’s worried you won’t approve.”
“Why would I mind? It’s not as if it’s a complete surprise.” Julia let out her breath. “And I’m also totally okay with the idea that you two are meant to be together—without me.”
Paul straightened. “Hold on a minute, it’s the other way round, isn’t it? Luke came back for you, Julia, not me. Me having the hots for Luke is neither here nor there.”
Julia glared at Luke. “You have a lot of explaining to do, buddy. Perhaps you’d like to start by telling me what you did to get Mr. Glynn fired.”
“Me?” Luke raised his eyebrows and sat down on one of the kitchen chairs, legs crossed. “What the hell did I do?”
“Don’t lie. This afternoon I got a call from a Mr. Mike Pritchard. He said he managed your business accounts.”
“Oh, hell,” Luke groaned. “I told him not to call you directly.”
“Well, I’m glad he did. Apparently, he’s on good terms with one of the guys on the bank’s board, and ‘apparently’ Mr. Glynn denying the application of a multimillionaire client of his pissed him off.”
Luke shrugged. “Well, it would, wouldn’t it?”
Julia pointed her finger at him. “You said you sold your juice bar and just dabbled in stuff.”
“That’s true, I did.”
“I thought you meant you’d lost all your money.”
“I never said that.”
“Hold on a minute,” Paul said. “Luke’s a millionaire? So, how did you make all this money?”
“I owned a juice bar in the heart of Silicon Valley. Over the years, I met all kinds of geeks and computer geniuses, even invested in some of their companies, you know, like eBay, those Google guys, that kind of stuff.”
“You made enough to sell the shop and just focus on managing your portfolio?”
“Yeah, I did, and then last year I realized I was tired of just doing that and looked around for something else to do.” Luke looked at them both. “And I realized I wanted to come home.”
