“There you are,” she says brightly. “I’m getting your office ready. You’ll be able to check it out later this morning.”
“That sounds great.” I give her a bright smile. “I’m just going to freshen up and then get breakfast. See you in a bit.”
Lydia nods and leaves. I stare after her. I know she likes Lucas; there would be no point in her denying it. It was all over her face yesterday. The fact that she can still smile so politely after witnessing Lucas kissing me makes me wonder how he explained it away.
I head to my room. After taking a shower, I grab some breakfast and explore the estate grounds. A Silvercrest pack member points out where Lucas’s office is, and I watch the open window idly. He’s not inside, but according to the gardener I asked, he almost always is.
I thank the man and walk away.
Lydia is waiting for me again when I walk back inside. “I have your office ready whenever you want to see it.”
“Lead the way.”
The space is on the second floor of the west wing, two doors down from a small conference room. It has two tall windows, both wide open; a heavy desk; filing cabinets; and a credenzawith a coffee machine already set up. Someone has put fresh flowers on the desk. Someone has also thought to leave a small basket of Moonvale-roasted coffee beans for me, which is a thoughtful touch I’ll remember.
“It’s perfect,” I tell Lydia, and I mean it.
“It’s easier for you to have your own space that you can actually work from,” she says. “Alpha Steele suggested this corner office.”
I make a noncommittal sound inside my mouth.
“Now,” she continues, tapping her tablet, “about the pack members assigned to assist you. Lucas said you could select two of our people to work with you for the duration of your stay. Administrative support, runners, general assistance, whatever you need. I have a list of available candidates with their backgrounds. Would you like to review them now?”
“Please.”
She hands me the tablet. Twelve names. Photos, roles, years of service, skill sets. Six women. Six men.
I scroll slowly, as though I’m being thoughtful. I am being thoughtful, just not about what she thinks.
I walk to the window as I scroll. The office looks out over the rear gardens, and from this angle I can see three other windows down the curve of the west wing. One of them I recognize from earlier as Lucas’s.
It’s open.
I smile to myself.
“This one,” I say, turning back and tapping a photo. “Jason Vance. His background in logistics will be useful for the integration mapping.”
“Good choice.” Lydia makes a note.
I scroll again, taking my time. “And…this one. Eric Cole. Pack communications. I’ll need someone who knows the internal channels.”
Lydia’s pen hovers just a second too long above her tablet. “Jason and Eric,” she repeats.
“Mm hmm.”
“Both excellent choices,” she says, recovering smoothly. She makes the note.
“Can you have them come by this afternoon? I’d like to brief them on expectations.”
“Of course.”
Jason and Eric arrive with Lydia at two o’clock. They are exactly what I expected: polite, competent, and both extremely easy on the eyes. Jason is tall and broad with a quick smile. Eric has a runner’s build and a dry, observant manner that I can already tell I’ll enjoy. I walk them through the scope of the assessment, hand them their NDAs, answer their questions. They leave forty minutes later with their first assignments.
Lydia lingers after they’re gone, straightening a stack of papers on the credenza that doesn’t need straightening.
I tilt my head and let my tone go warm and confidential, the way a woman does with a friend in a coffee shop. “They’re both so handsome.”
Lydia’s hands stop patting the perfectly aligned papers. She looks at me, and the uncertainty in her face is exactly what I was hoping for. She glances at the door, then back at me, and lowers her voice.
