AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Not me,” he said. “It’s not that I hate kids or anything. But I know I don’t want to have them.”
I couldn’t understand it at all. I was a model—my figure sometimes felt like the only thing I had going for me— I knew I wanted children someday. When I realized how serious Jared was about it, I decided to end our relationship and moved to Hawaii. I used my modeling career as a getaway. After all, it didn’t seem fair to be dating him when I had no intention of getting serious with someone who wasn’t willing to someday settle down.
I shook off my sad thoughts of the past and tried to focus on what was in front of me right now. Was I really about to talk to Jared’s brother? I knew for sure we’d never met, but if so, should I tell him? And what was Alex like, anyway? I’d noticed he was conspicuously absent from family events and occasions—a real lone wolf. I felt sure I’d seen a photograph of him at least once, but I couldn’t remember where and certainly didn’t have it now.
Finally, the elevator arrived and opened. In front of it, stretching down into a dark lobby, was a plush red carpet. Across the room, beneath a beautiful arched glass window, was a desk.
I nervously stepped out into the lobby, and immediately the cooling blast of one of the overhead fans hit me. On the walls were old-timey paintings of the luscious jungle forests and their animals. I got the feeling that Alex Alson, whoever he was, was a fan of the past. Everything about his hotels and their design seemed tinged with nostalgia. I kind of appreciated that.
When I got to the desk, I introduced myself and asked for the waiting room.
“It’s just through there,” said the receptionist. “Mr. Alson will be with you shortly.”
I stepped into the waiting room. To the right, was a wide window overlooking Honolulu. Below me I could see the beaches thronged with tourists, the cars passing beneath in miniature. From up here everything looked like a toy version of itself.
I took a seat on one of the comfortable sofas. In front of me were two doors flanked by a desk. The desk, curiously enough, was unoccupied. I wondered why there was no one there until I realized that this was where I’d be sitting if I got the Personal Assistant job.
The job. I’d been so wrapped up in my thoughts about who Alex Alson was that I hadn’t even thought about it. Even if I did get the position, I knew I couldn’t accept it. After all, I couldn’t work for my ex-boyfriend’s older brother!
I had no more time to think, because just then, the door opened, and in the light cast from the window behind it, a dark, shadowy figure loomed. I held up a hand to shield my eyes from the brightness of the sun shining through and stood up. And before I knew it, the figure had approached and reached up to grip my hand in an impossibly gentle, very large, and rough hand.
I looked up into the shimmering blue eyes of the stranger.
“Good afternoon, Miss Chambers,” he growled.
There could be no doubt about it. The resemblance between the two brothers was striking. But what astonished me was the way that something in Alex Alson’s face seemed to remind me of his brother’s, while still looking different.
His dark hair was trimmed neatly, and I noticed that at the temples his hair was a light, steel-grey color. He was older than Jared, by at least five years or maybe more. I would have guessed Alex was close to forty. But he was the more handsome brother, I felt sure of that and more mature. His strong jaw clenched a little as he looked me up and down, and I almost shuddered to feel those blue eyes surveying me.
He turned and went back into his office, and I followed mutely, stunned by the rolling motion of his strong back and firm shoulders. I thought he looked like some kind of lion or jungle cat, patrolling his territory.
In the office, I was stunned, not just by the size of the place but by how opulent and elaborate it was. On a long, glass desk stretching almost the entire width of the room, an enormous white Mac glowed in one corner. In front of the desk, on top of a hand-stitched rug, were a pair of armchairs, and he motioned at one of them.
“Can I get you something to drink?” He purred, and at once I felt an inner rush of excitement to hear the voice again. It seemed to go right through me, and I was shocked at its depth and the sonorous tone of the vowels.
“I’m fine, thank you,” I whispered. “Mr. Alson, it’s a pleasure to meet you …”
“Please,” he said, with a wave of his hand.
“Alex is fine.” As I blushed at his manners. It was rare to meet someone, even of his age, who exuded an old-fashioned gentleman’s way. And yet there was something crisp and clean in his speech, which immediately made me think of what Jared had told me about his brother.War hero.
I had to be sure. There was still a chance it was all a coincidence.
“Mr. Alson … I mean Alex,” I said, noticing that clench of irritation in his jaw again. “Were you … I mean … were you in the army?”
“Navy,” he said. “As a matter of fact, I was in SEAL Team Six. How did you know?”
I stammered and stuttered. “I was just reading a little bit about you on the internet,” I chuckled.
“Right,” he said, smiling and revealing a straight, white set of teeth as he rested a hand on the dark skin of his tanned neck. “Well, don’t believeeverythingyou read. People like to talk a lot in this town.”
As he said these words, his eyes flicked to the left, and I followed them. There were his medals for his military service, encased in glass on the wall. My eyes widened as I noticed the stripes and stars and gold bands.
“Are those all yours?” I said.
He nodded. “So. Lena—may I call you Lena?”
A flirtatious feeling of attraction rose in me. For a moment I was tempted to tell him that he could call me whatever he liked. I knew at that moment I’d never met someone as attractive as Alex Alson—in looks, in bearing, in demeanor—in my whole life. But I suppressed the feeling, the rampant desire that his shining eyes and strong, muscular frame lit within me.He’s Jared’s brother, you idiot!
