Skepticism flowed through me.“Where and who?”
“In Chicago, it’s the Reynolds Group.”
My gut told me something wasn’t right.“Let me do some research.”
“Lucas…”
“Let me do this, baby girl.I want to protect you.”
“Stop calling me baby girl.I need to decide by Friday.”
I sighed.It was habit for me to call her baby girl.I’ve always used that nickname.“Can do.Anything else?”
“Nope.Love you.”
“Love you too.”I ended the call, wondering what kind of opportunity this might be and whether it was worth it.
My overbearing conscience played out all the arguments about backing off and letting her live her life.She’s an adult.You taught her well.You gotta let her make her own mistakes.Yeah, well, smartass, if she didn’t want my help, she wouldn’t have called me, would she?
Conscience aside, as her big brother, I had a responsibility to keep her out of trouble.
Chapter Four
Valerie
I stood frozen outside the office when I heard the words “baby girl” and “love you.”It solidified to me that Lucas was off the market.Not that I was thinking about getting back together with him, I wasn’t.But… What?I wasn’t ready to have my heart broken again.
Lucas was free to date or be involved with anyone he wanted.Enough.Pushing away my inappropriate thoughts, I walked into the office and straight to my desk, shoving annoyance at who he’d been talking with to the back of my mind.
I had no right to be annoyed or upset.
“Find what you needed?”he asked, barely glancing up from his computer.
“Yes.Thank you.”My words were clipped, but he didn’t seem to notice.Damn man.
I congratulated myself for smacking down the urge to throw the ledger paper at his head and, instead, placed it on my desk as though it was a fragile treasure and reopened the file I’d been working on.Time to get to work and ignore Lucas.Like that was possible.His energy flowed around me, and I felt a pang of resentment at the energy I knew it would consume to ignore its pull.
Some things never changed.
* * *
Three hours later, I came up for air.That wasn’t unusual for me.When I dove into accounting records looking for discrepancies, I zoned everything else out.Usually, I set an alarm on my phone, so I didn’t sit too long or forget to eat.Today, I’d forgotten.
I shook my head, stood, and stretched.
“Welcome back to the world of the living,” Lucas commented.
“What?”When I glanced over at him, he was staring at me.The intensity of his gaze made me forget to breathe.For several seconds, I even questioned reality.Was I reading something that wasn’t there?
“You were concentrating pretty hard.”
“I get lost in my work sometimes.”I stretched, arms extended, hands over my head, and leaned side to side.The amount of tension confirmed I’d been sitting way too long.As I lowered my arms, I glanced at the computer monitor.One-fifteen.Whoa!My stomach rumbled, the sound loud to my ears.
“I was beginning to wonder if I should interrupt you or not.”
“Don’t.I get a little snappy when people stop my flow.”Some of my co-workers found that out when they tapped me on the shoulder or waved their hand in front of my face.My reaction was to swat first and ask questions later.Well, I didn’t hit hard, more like swiping a fly away.
“I remember.Ready for lunch?”
