Page 59 of Angel In Armani

Besides which, this was the woman who’d roped herself the golden, glowing Alex Winters. Anyone would be curious about that. The man was hot. Sara had read stories about his companies and their aeronautical research and she remembered the pictures of the man who accompanied the articles. Tall and chiseled with piercing green eyes and brownish-blond hair.

Of course, she leaned more toward near-black hair and blue eyes, but Lucas or no Lucas, she could appreciate other guys. Maggie Jameson was obviously no one to be underestimated if she’d scored herself Alex Winters.

It almost made Sara have second thoughts about the whole keeping-herself-and-Lucas-under-wraps thing. If anyone could give her tips on how to handle a man with piles of money like Lucas, it would be someone like Maggie.

Of course, Maggie had grown up with piles of money herself so maybe it was no big deal to her. Still … girl talk. With moving to back to Staten Island and Viv settling into her new job, it had been weeks since she’d had any serious girl time. The brief chats with the women who worked at the various heliports didn’t count. She couldn’t let herself confide in them because the helicopter charter world was small and she had no intention of letting her private life be the subject of its grapevine.

So yes, she wanted to meet Maggie and talk girl for a little bit, if there was a chance to do so. She could talk girl without giving away the fact she was seeing Lucas. Of course, if Maggie was as baseball-mad as the rest of them, they might not have a lot in common, but Sara would cross that bridge when she came to it.

The corridor went on for a while, its path slightly curved. The white walls had rows of black-and-white pictures of both teams and individual players breaking up the space between doors leading to other rooms or offices. Sara didn’t pass anyone coming in the other direction. Gardner had said the office at the end of the corridor so she just kept walking until she came to a set of doors marked CEO with a discreet silver plaque.

She pushed one of the doors open and stepped into a large room with another set of doors at its far end. Those would be the actual office, she figured. The room she was in had several cubicle-style desks that held computers and various knickknacks and pictures but were currently uninhabited. One of the doors across the room was open and light spilled out, along with the loud sound of guitars and drums.

Sara smiled when the drums faded a bit and a guy started singing and she finally recognized the song. Springsteen. She’d grown up with Springsteen, Jamie having formed a small obsession with the man’s music at an early age. Maybe she and Maggie had something in common after all.

She reached the doors and paused at the threshold. The office was big with an impressive desk centered against the far wall. But the decor was less interesting than the tall brunette wearing dark skinny jeans, battered pink Converse shoes, and a Saints hoodie, who was shaking her booty to the music as she studied a row of figures scrawled down a massive whiteboard.

As Sara watched, she executed a twirl when the guitar riff screamed into life then stopped when she saw Sara. She looked embarrassed for half a second then just laughed, her dark eyes bright. She pulled out a small white remote control out of her pocket and pointed it at the computer on the desk. The music died.

“That’s what I get for getting my groove on.” She tucked the remote away again. “I take it you’re Sara?”

Sara nodded, wondering if she’d just put her foot in it by surprising Maggie. But she would worry about that another time. Right now she had to act like a normal person and make nice with Lucas’s best friend’s girlfriend. Who was also one of her bosses, in a way.

“Hi,” she said. “Sorry to interrupt you. Gardner had to take a call.”

Maggie shook her head with a smile and beckoned Sara into the room. “Trust me, you aren’t interrupting anything exciting. That’s why I had the music on.”

Given how intently Maggie had been looking at the figures on the whiteboard, booty shaking or no booty shaking, Sara wasn’t sure she believed her.

She hovered near one of the leather chairs set opposite the desk. Maggie perched on the edge of the desk, tapping on her pink shoes. Her casual clothes made Sara wonder if she’d misjudged her outfit choice. She’d gone with a neat black pantsuit and white shirt with her usual black flats. But Gardner had been in a suit as slickly cut as any of Lucas’s, so maybe not.

“Sorry about the outfit.” Maggie must have noticed the uncertainty on Sara’s face. “Mal wants to drag me around the bowels of the stadium later. I’ve learned it’s safer not to wear heels and a suit for that.” She smiled, but curiosity was plain on her face. “So you’re our new helicopter pilot.”

“Yes.”

Maggie nodded approvingly. “Very cool.”

“You like helicopters?”

“Absolutely. Dad had one for a while in the late nineties when he was running way too many companies. I used to love it. Being up so high, seeing everything laid out below you. I used to nag him into taking me on flights whenever I could.” She grinned, looking nostalgic. “How did you become a pilot?”

Sara smiled at her, finding her enthusiasm contagious. “My dad is a pilot. So was my grandfather.”

“Ah, the good old family business,” Maggie said. “I know a bit about that. It can be hard when something’s in the blood that way.”

“Hard, but good,” Sara said. “I love flying.”

“Well, with the current state of crazy around here, there will be plenty of that.”

“I’m happy to do other things, too,” Sara said. “I already asked Lucas about it in Florida. I’m not very good at just sitting around, so if there’s other stuff I can do for you when you don’t need the helo, you should let me know.”

“What sort of thing did you have in mind?”

“I did a lot of office work for Charles Air—that’s the family company—so I know my way around a computer and admin-type stuff. The amount you’re paying me, I want to be useful.”

Maggie’s expression turned approving again. “Well, there’s always plenty of paperwork and stuff to be dealt with. And Lucas said you’d been in the army, so Mal might find a use for you with what he’s doing with the security stuff.”

“I just flew in the army, I didn’t do anything too exciting,” Sara said.

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