AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She sure seemed impassioned, which impressed me, but I also had the distinct feeling she’d bitten off more than she could chew. Excitement was one thing, follow through another. However, she’d piqued my curiosity as to her credentials. That was first on my agenda. Attempting to keep my cool would be the most difficult part of enduring this day.
The first woman who’d attempted to drive me out of my own office knocked on the door. This time she had a sheepish look on her face.
“Mr. Masters?”
“Yeah?”
“I’m Jackie Sloan, your office manager. I just wanted to apologize for my earlier behavior. I had no idea that…”
Why wasn’t I surprised she couldn’t finish her sentence? The first thing I’d noticed after walking into my brother’s office had been the pictures taken with his wife and Lily, the three of them, and just he and his daughter together. The man had gotten his shit together. He reminded me of some Wall Street banker with his casual yet elegant attire, not a single tattoo on his body. Yet he’d carried the same loopy grin, which accentuated his dimples. Not a single person on this earth would be afraid if he walked into a room.
I put the fear of God into men who were equal to my size.
And I enjoyed doing so.
“That you should expect a monster.”
She was shocked at my response, her eyes narrowing, the blush crossing her face not nearly as heated as the one I’d seen on Harlow. Goddamn, my mouth watered to taste the feisty female again.
“You’re not a monster, at least according to your brother.”
“Oh, yeah? I’d be curious what the man had to say about me.”
I crossed my arms, noticing every person who passed by the open door peered in, gawking at the stranger.
Her expression softened. “He mentioned you were a hero.”
The single word struck me hard, like a jagged knife driven into my gut. “I ain’t no hero. The woman who was in here, what’s her story?”
“Galen, I mean Mr. Masters was very excited about hiring Ms. Fox. She’s from a huge firm in Virginia. Her credentials are amazing and just the spark we need at this difficult time.” Her entire body tensed. “I’m sorry. I have no idea how good you are. That came out wrong. I mean…”
Her laugh was as nervous as the way I’d felt getting up this morning. Thank God Lily had pointed me in the right direction as far as getting her to preschool. She’d even handed me the phone number of what she called ‘the nice older lady who smelled funny’ who kept her after school was let out. A damn four-year-old had to tell me what to do.
“No need to be nervous, Jackie. I’m not an advertising executive.” For some reason, the news seemed to delight her.
“Well, don’t worry, Mr. Masters. There are plenty of people to get you started. Can I get you some coffee?”
“You’re not my maid, Jackie. All I need in a copy of Harlow’s resume to start.” I’d eyed the bar when I came in. A shot of whiskey might be in order to get through the damn day.
She smiled tentatively. “I’ll get that right away for you. I’ll also have our tech people get you set up on the computer so you can begin to see what we do.” She moved to the door, hesitating just like Harlow had done before. “Let me just say it’s good to have you here. The team was devastated about the accident. It was so strange how it happened. Anyway, I’ll get that for you.”
Strange. To me the word meant wrong. Perhaps I needed to check the accident report.
For now, I’d bury myself in paperwork.
If I could stand it.
What I had to do was keep a distance with Harlow. The last thing she needed was the kind of baggage I was bringing to the table. Given I wasn’t the kind of man to take no for an answer, all I could do was hope she considered our experience impalpable.
The one thing I could do was get under a person’s skin.
After a few seconds, I headed for the credenza, staring at the beautiful photographs all in etched or personalized frames. ‘I Love My Daddy.’ ‘Our Vacation.’ Everyone appeared so damn happy. I yanked one into my hand, staring at my brother’s face. While the photograph had captured him smiling, Lily in his arms, given Lily’s appearance, it was obvious the picture had been taken recently. My brother had aged, the loss of the woman he’d called the love of his life taking a significant toll. I couldn’t stand to be in this office living in his shadow.
I gathered every one of the photographs, finding a mostly empty drawer and tossing them inside. The memories we’d shared were bittersweet.
I shook my head then headed for the bar. This was such a bad idea.
* * *
