Brooklyn sighed and pulled her knees up to her chest. She wasn’t sure what to do about Alec. In the moment when he’d kissed her, she’d been so into the idea, but that was her sex drive talking. Once her brain got involved, a few red flags had popped up. Or really, only one. The baby flag. “No. He told me he cares about me and thinks we should try again. Which was about the last thing I was expecting.”
“And what did you say?”
“I told him that he needed to spend some time thinking. Because I haven’t changed my mind about having a baby, and he told me that he no longer wants to be a dad.”
“That’s what’s commonly referred to as a hurdle.”
“Tell me about it.” Brooklyn’s other line beeped and of course, it was Alec. It was as if he’d known she was talking about him. “Hey, Virginia. I have to go. Alec’s on the other line. But we should talk later. I offered my doorman a job at Posh Post last night.”
“You offered a job to Cy?”
“Yes. He did warehouse management and logistics in the garment district for more than twenty years. I asked him if he wanted to come and work for us. Oversee operations.”
“I swear to God, I need a scoreboard to keep up with you.” She grumbled, a sure sign that Brooklyn was going to have to sell her sister on this idea. “We can talk about it later. Good luck with Alec. Let me know what happens.”
“Always.” Brooklyn ended that call and accepted Alec’s. She pulled the blanket up around her neck. “On a scale of one to ten, exactly how freaked out are you right now?”
“So you know.”
“I just got off the phone with Virginia. She told me.”
“Glad I don’t have to get you up to speed. And since you asked, I’m at a twelve.”
It would have been so easy to launch into a tirade against Alec and point out that he was the reason he was freaking out, but Brooklyn didn’t have the desire to hold him over the coals. Of the many peculiar moments Brooklyn had lived through yesterday, the kiss was by far the best. “Talk to me.”
“It’s over. I’m sunk. The network is furious. Georgia Carle wants to pull my interview for the news division. They got my agent out of bed, which is never good.”
“Because of a kiss?”
“Because the network and the film studio are owned by the same corporation. And the guy they’re considering for the news division kissed a woman he interviewed on the network while she was on a date with the star of their hottest film franchise.”
“Oh. Yeah. I can see how that could be bad. I hadn’t really thought about it that way.”
“Me neither. I was too caught up in the moment.”
“It seemed like it came out of nowhere.”
“I guess the threat of Jason Adams was too much for me to take.”
Brooklyn had worried that Alec had only acted on impulse and that he didn’t really have feelings for her. Not anymore. “Threat? You’re the one who was reminding me that he’s just a guy.”
“Funny, but in my head, that argument only goes one way.” Alec let out a sigh that morphed into a low groan. “Maybe this whole thing with the news division isn’t meant to be. Maybe I need to accept that. It would definitely make my life easier if this was over. If I didn’t have to wait anymore to find out my fate.”
Fate.That word had a way of creeping into everything. “You can’t give up on your dream. If you don’t do this interview, you’ll always wonder about what might have been. Then if it doesn’t work out, you’ll at least know that you tried.”
“I don’t know if I’m even going to have that chance. Not anymore.”
Brooklyn wasn’t willing to accept that. “This is ridiculous. It was a kiss. There has to be some way to explain it away.”
“Like what?”
A solution was percolating in Brooklyn’s head. “What if you told Georgia Carle that we’re a couple? You can’t reprimand someone for kissing their significant other, can you?”
“How would that work, exactly?”
“I don’t know, Alec. You tell me. You’re the one who said you wanted to try again.”
He was quiet for a moment, making her wonder what he was thinking. “I said that because I want to. That whole thing about unfinished business, it’s looming over me like a bad hangover. And that kiss last night, Brooklyn. You have to admit it was spectacular.”
