“What the hell, man?”
“Holy crap, B!Were you just watching Abigail here?That’s who I just was on the phone with!”
“What?I don’t know.Wait, you were just talking to Abigail Bellrose right then?”
“Yeah.She wants to sit down with us.She was totally professional on the phone, but I think she’s irked that we aren’t immediately continuing our agreement that we had with Bill.”
I am tempted to say something snarky, but the image of her sexy, curvy body stops me.
“Anyway, she pointed out how she’s already working on the Edison Street site.She didn’t want Bill’s previous obligations to fall behind.Which I, for one, appreciate.So I agreed we’d obviously honor that contract.And we can meet and discuss our future together as partners.”
“Bernie.”I know I sound irritated, but I don’t care.“We make these decisions together.”
“Well, I made an executive decision for that.Why do you care so much?From what I’ve seen when looking her up, she seems awfully talented.”
“I just want to be smart.”
“Good thing you have me as your older brother to model that for you, then.”
Rolling my eyes, I grab my phone back.
* * *
On Thursday morning, I pick up a variety of breakfast pastries from Black Bear Bakery before heading into work.Abigail is coming into the office to meet with us and I woke up wanting to make a good impression.Which confuses me, since we are the ones deciding if we want to continue our contract with Bill’s replacement.
To be honest, I have become a bit of an internet sleuth regarding Abigail Bellrose and have been eating up her various work through the years.Her social media page is public, and she has regularly posted her completed jobs the last several years.She appears to be big into water-efficient landscaping and sustainability.Two things that are important to Bruin Brothers Construction as well.
Walking in with the box of goodies, Bernie beelines to me.
“Hold up, let’s keep these fresh for our morning meeting.”I say.
“What?Why?”he whines.
“I don’t know, but this new relationship may be important for us.I just want to put our best foot forward.We can put the rest out for the staff afterward.”
“First you seem anti this new woman and now you want to win her over with sweets?”Bernie teases.
“Shut up.I just have seen some of her work now and it looks like Bill made a wise choice when selling his business to her, is all.”
I ask Beth to brew a new pot of coffee for our meeting and set up the room.Bernie watches me through the large windows with a knowing smirk painted on his face.I give him a What-the-Hell look as he walks into the room.
“She’s a hottie.”
“What?”I ask.
“Abigail Bellrose.I looked her up.That’s why you’re acting like this.”
Horrified that I am being that obvious, I growl at my brother and turn to finish setting up what we need for our portion of the meeting.
“I know I’m right,” my obnoxious brother says when Beth raps on the window.
We look up to see her mouthing that Abigail is here for the meeting.
Bernie and I head out to the reception area.Abigail stands as we enter and my entire body sets ablaze.She is tall for a woman, but I still hover over her by several inches.Her clothing tightly hugs her voluptuous hourglass figure.I watch her shake hands with my brother and when she turns to me, I feel my tongue get fat and my mind go numb.
“Hello, I’m Abigail Bellrose.It’s nice to finally meet you.”
I shake her hand, staring at her stupidly, until Bernie kicks my ankle to wake me up.
