“Sure, but what good will that do?”Tilting her head, she stared at me.
“Because it might give me some insight as to how the Winter Brothers ran their business compared to Rustic.”Over the years, I’d seen a lot of companies bought out or a merger that went downhill very fast.
“Rustic has been around for over seven years now,” Marcus said.
“Yeah, they pre-date you,” Valerie offered.
“How do you know that?”Lucas asked.
“I’ve read up on FI, as well as Rustic, over the last two weeks, and FI is impressive.”
“Lucas, you need to keep this one.She belongs with us,” Marcus said.
“I’m working on it.”Lucas smiled at me, and my heart melted.
“Enough work talk.”Emma clapped her hands.
“What would you like to talk about?”Asher asked.
“I’d like to know more about Valerie,” Josh said.“How did you become a forensic accountant?”
All eyes turned to me.I swallowed.Being in the spotlight wasn’t my favorite thing.
“Valerie has always liked numbers,” Lucas said, slipping his arm over the back of my chair and giving my shoulders a squeeze.
“I was a math geek in high school.”Not that it wasn’t true.Numbers didn’t lie, and I’d had enough lies as a child.
“Lucas mentioned you met at a company welcome party.Was he a party boy?”Miles commented.
“Hey.”Lucas glared at Miles.“I’m not a party boy.”
I laughed long and hard and was about to stop but noticed Lucas glaring at me, and my laughter started all over again.Finally sobering up, I said, “Lucas finished his MBA in record time.Of course, he was a couple of years ahead of me in college.A lot of the professors talked about him.”
“You never mentioned the professors talking about me.”
“I wasn’t about to inflate your ego.”
“So, you met at a work party and…” Asher leaned forward.
I smiled as the memory played out.“We did.I was a nervous mess, but Lucas came up to me and introduced himself.I knew who he was, and the others followed his lead.Including several of the other accountants, some of whom asked me out.”
Lucas frowned as everyone else burst out laughing.
“I’d found the prettiest woman in the room.I had no idea my co-workers were trying to poach on my territory.”
My heart fluttered at his words.“No one poached me.”I lowered my voice.“You’re so sweet to call me pretty.”
Lucas’ arm tightened around my shoulders.“You are beautiful,” he said, his voice gentle.“I was a fool not to see what I had in you, but now I do.”He leaned closer.“I’m not letting you go again.”
I could barely breathe.While his voice was soft, the others could still hear him.
“Another one of us has bit the dust,” Marcus said.
I froze.What did Marcus mean?
“Don’t be an ass.”Cassie slapped Marcus’ arm.
“It’s too early for that kind of talk,” Emma commented.
