Page 10 of The Big Fix

“Thank you again, my friend. And Talia thanks you as well and wants to cook for you the next time you are in DC.”

“I’ll take her up on that,” I promised. “Give my best to your family, including your mother-in-law.”

His noise of disgust made me smile. “Fine,” he said like he was pained. “Take care, my friend, da skorava.”

Once I hung up, I was sitting there, staring out the double stack of windows that framed a fantastic view of the skyline when Hasana Shepherd, one of my two assistants, buzzed me.

I got up and walked to my office door, opened it, and looked out at her. “Yes?”

Her sigh was long. “Why didn’t you answer me on the intercom?”

I grinned at her. “Because I wanted to see your beautiful face.”

She absently rubbed her extended belly, seven months pregnant with her second child. “No. No you did not. You got up because you don’t know how to use the new phone system.”

“Lies,” I assured her. “My watch told me I needed to stand up, so I’m standing up.”

Her expression made it clear she wasn’t fooled for an instant. “This is because Owen’s not here to make you a cheat sheet.”

“I—what?”

“You don’t like to learn new technology because, and I quote, ‘it’s just gonna change in six months, so why should I get used to it,’” she finished, doing a horrible impression of my voice.

“That doesn’t even sound like me,” I informed her.

“Uh-huh. My impersonation skills should not be your takeaway.”

I scowled at her.

“You don’t like to learn new technology.”

“That’s a gross oversimplification of the facts.”

“God, I miss Owen,” she whined.

I did too, and his radio silence was eating away at me, a constant worry at the back of my brain. It wasn’t doing anything for my heart either. I missed his smile, his laugh, the way his brows scrunched up when he was looking at me like I was driving him nuts, and really, simply the sound of his voice. I was so much better, nicer, calmer when he was around.

“What do you want?” I snapped at her.

“Aaron Sutter’s on the line. So I’m going to do you a favor and forward it to your cell so I don’t have you fumbling around with the phone on your desk while he tries to talk to you!”

“I could fire you,” I said flatly.

“And how would you train someone new to use the phone system?”

When she finished, her voice rising, she accentuated each word with a tip of her head that, because it was shaved, somehow made her irritation more noticeable. The fact that she was right about the phones didn’t help anything.

“Fine,” I grumbled, turning and walking back into my office, grabbing my cell off my desk when it rang. “To what do I owe the pleasure?” I tried not to growl.

“Can we meet?” Sutter asked quickly, not exchanging pleasantries.

“Business related?”

“Very much so.”

Sutter, the CEO of Sutter Limited, was a billionaire real-estate mogul who put up resorts and high-end hotels and office buildings all over the world. But most importantly, at the moment he was Owen’s boss.

“I’m in Paris,” I informed him, “so we can just talk and—”