Page 28 of Business or Pleasure

It was a pleasant experience and would have done wonders to clear my head if I was able to stop thinking about Harlee.

She left before I woke and didn’t give me any contact information, which didn’t surprise me, though I was disappointed. I supposed that answered the question I didn’t ask. If she wanted to see me again, she would have waited for me to wake up or left me a way to contact her. But she didn’t. Which meant she didn’t want anything more than what we already had.

Perhaps that was why Brigh was being so quiet. She barely spoke at breakfast, only asking if I was prepared for today. I said I was and that was the last of what we said. Maybe her reticence had more to do with my own silence than anything on her own part. Once we finished at MIRI, I’d suggest lunch and initiate a conversation. Going on a last-minute international trip with no definite end date was definitely above and beyond her job description. I didn’t want to make her miserable simply because I was in a gloomy mood.

I glanced over at her as our car pulled up to the curb, but Brigh was staring straight ahead, not looking anywhere or at anything. She didn’t look upset or even displeased, and that must be enough for right now. Unlike yesterday, we had work to do. It was, after all, why we were here.

Alec once took me to the MIRI offices back home. As impressive as it was, it paled compared to the Seattle offices. Tall, made of steel and glass, it was modern and efficient looking without being cold. It was a place that inspired confidence.

Inside the lobby, we confirmed our appointment, and the smiling receptionist directed us to the elevator. When the doors opened, a pleasant-looking woman with short ash blonde hair was waiting. Though I hadn’t met her before, I suspected I knew who she was.

“Good morning, Mr. McFann, Ms. Flitton.” She held out a hand. “I’m Tuesday Boswell, Mr. McCrae’s assistant.”

“He didna come to meet us himself?” Brigh’s question was low and perhaps she meant for it to be for her ears only. Unfortunately, our surroundings were quiet enough that both Ms. Boswell and I heard it.

Ms. Boswell’s light brown eyes narrowed slightly, and her smile tightened, but her response was perfectly polite. “Mr. McCrae is finishing up a few emails that needed to be handled immediately. If you’ll follow me, I’ll take you to him.”

“Sorry,” Brigh muttered. “I was just wondering.”

It sounded like a valid reason for what was still a rather rude question, but considering the sorts of comments she made when we had lunch with Alec on Saturday, I didn’t think she was being entirely honest. This, however, wasn’t the time to discuss such things. Maybe that would be a good place to start a discussion over lunch, though not as pleasant a subject as I hoped to broach.

Ms. Boswell knocked on a half-opened door at the end of a corridor and I heard Alec call for us to come in. We had a moment or two of greetings and offerings of chairs and drinks before we were all settled, and Ms. Boswell left to get us tea and coffee.

“You’ve brought your ideas?” Alec set his elbows on his desk, lacing his fingers together.

I nodded. “I’ll admit, there aren’t many of them.”

“That’s all right,” he said. “It’s our job to come up with those sorts of things. It’s always nice to know where a client’s already thinking, but we can work from nothing.”

“Well, I’m not sure what I have is any better than nothing,” I said wryly. “All of the businesses I’ve worked with in the past, I haven’t needed to be an idea man.”

“We all have our strengths,” Alec said, smiling at his assistant as she handed each of us our requested drinks. “Thank you, Tuesday. If you’ll get Ms. Sumpter now.”

“Of course.”

“Once I introduce you to Ms. Sumpter, she’ll take over.” Alec grinned at me, more the friend than the businessman for the moment. “And, don’t be forgetting, no flirting. It’s her first day.”

I glared at him. “You donna need to worry about that. I’m not here to date.”

If Brigh wasn’t here, I might’ve told him that I already met someone I would have wanted to spend time with if she felt the same. I wasn’t about to have that conversation in front of my assistant though. She was loyal to me, but a single stray comment back home could easily get to my family, and they would assume that my irresponsibility followed me across the ocean.

“Here she is.” Alec stood.

Automatically, I did the same, turning toward the door as Ms. Boswell entered the office with a short curvy blonde in a smart charcoal gray business suit. Her hair was pulled back and up, leaving her relatively make-up-free face easy to see. I had a moment to think that she was pretty and then my mind finished processing what I hadn’t recognized the first time.

The dark blue streaks in her hair.

The familiar line of her jaw.

The shape of a body that my hands knew.

Fuck me.

Ms. Sumpter was Harlee.

Thirteen

Harlee

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