Page 5 of Mr. Perfect

Mr. Sowards extends his hand, and I have to sidestep to see the stranger’s face. His eyes are still on me for some reason, even as he returns my boss’ gesture and shakes his hand. “I’m sorry I was late, Mr. Stonewall.”

“Stonewall?” I say.

The new Stonewall smiles at me.

“That’s right,” Mr. Sowards says. “McAllister Stonewall. We’re so happy you’re here, Mac…”

I lose track of the conversation for a few seconds as I put the pieces together. This is Heath’s brother.

Wow. I study him. My future brother-in-law. They do kind of look alike, now that I know who he is.

“Don’t mind Ellie,” my boss says with a chuckle. “She’s just the concierge for the guests.”

Just the concierge?

I open my mouth to say something about that remark, but they have turned and are already getting into the golf cart, not even glancing back at me.

Chapter Three - Ellie

“He has a brother?” Ming says. “Why didn’t we know that?”

Good question. Ming and I have worked here for seven years. I’ve never even heard of McAllister Stonewall. “Sowards called him Mac but his name is McAllister.”

“Sexy,” Ming says. “He’s sorta dreamy, right? I saw that shoe move. Wow.”

“Yeah, I guess. I wonder if Heath knows his brother is here?” I pull out my phone and start texting.

Ellie: Just met my future brother-in-law. Why didn’t you tell me you had a brother? I can totally picture him with us in the dream house at Christmas. Six bedrooms means we can have a ton of guests for the holidays. I bet his girlfriend is some uptight model, right? :)

Ming is still talking when I press send on that message. I wonder how one family can stand to have two beautiful sons? Stonewall Senior is also very handsome, even for an older man. And Mrs. Stonewall is stunning. They come from money. It’s very obvious she’s had the best of everything her whole life.

Ellie: Do you have any more brothers? I can’t even imagine how perfect your family photos are. Your brother is almost as hot as you.

Actually, I think the new brother is hotter than Heath. Maybe even way hotter. He’s taller for one. And his hair is lighter. I think his eyes were blue, too. Heath has dark eyes. McAllister Stonewall has a chiseled square jaw, while Heath has a more rounded one. And McAllister has perfectly groomed facial hair while Heath’s looks like he just forgot to shave.

I think both can be hot, but… yeah. Wow. I might be lusting over my future brother-in-law.

“Are you daydreaming about Mr. Perfect again?” Ming asks.

Before I can answer I get an inter-office message on my phone from my boss, Mr. Sowards.

Boss: Executive conference room. Immediately.

“What’s he say?” Ming asks, leaning into my space to see my phone.

“Meeting in the executive conference room? That wasn’t on the schedule.”

“Neither was Mr. Fancy Jet. Maybe it’s got something to do with him?”

“Maybe,” I mutter. “Or maybe it’s got something to do with the fact that I almost killed Brutus the rock star this morning.”

I think the second one is far more likely.

I make my way over to the train depot, which is through the back of the office and down an escalator about a hundred feet. Over here at the hangar the station is pretty small. There’s two long benches made out of stone, a vending machine filled with water and soda, and the digital company announcement board. You have to tell the train to stop here if you need a ride, so I push the call button and stand in front of the announcement board to wait.

Hmmm. There’s a big write-up about the Asian office on the board. No mention of Heath though. Strange. When he disappeared two months ago I took it a little personally. After all, we’ve known each other for seven years. He was a junior executive back when I first started. We became good friends that year and have been close ever since.

We just never dated. Never got around to it. But I know he’s the perfect one for me. It just sucks that he got sent away so suddenly.