Page 70 of Fierce-Zander

Was she more detached or emotionless?

No, he wasn’t going to think that. Dr. Regan Philes had plenty of emotions and he got to see them when the two of them were together.

Just like her humor in this whole night.

“They’ve told me. To my face. At Royce’s wedding, they were joking about setting me up with Royce’s sister, Elise. Mind you, I’ve known Elise my whole life. She’s like a little sister to me. It was never going to happen and they knew it. It was just their sneaky way to get Elise to admit she was dating Gabe McCarthy.”

“Gabe, as in one of the other owners of the building?” she asked. “Did the Fierces know the two of them were dating?”

“Yes,” he said. “But Elise had no clue her father and the Fierces were trying to match her up. Gabe knew. Gabe figured it out right away and asked them to back off and let him handle it on his own so Elise didn’t get upset. She didn’t like the idea of anyone setting her up.”

“I find that very sweet he cared for her enough to stand up for her. I’m going to assume they are a couple now?”

“They got engaged in July,” he said.

“Good for them,” she said. “I’m sure you’ve got no problem telling the Fierces you aren’t interested.”

“I have and I will continue to. Did I tell you Janine was in on it with Trent and Roni? She was their inside source and reporting back with any bit of information she could find?”

“No,” she said. “That’s funny.”

“Your smile just dropped. What’s wrong?” he asked.

“They don’t know me,” she said.

“They know enough,” he said. “Do you get where I’m going with this? How much are they talking to Miles?”

She pursed her lips. “More than I realized. I didn’t think much of it before.”

He wanted to laugh at her reaction now. “They talk to Betsy all the time. I know it. I just play along and she knows I do.”

“And Miles and Betsy are close. Those two talk all the time. Have these SOS meetings in the hallway a few times a week.”

“What is an SOS meeting?” he asked.

“I know something you don’t. Situation Outside. That is what they call it and text each other to catch up. Miles tells it like it’s gossiping about people in the building. They’ve sussed out someone having an affair in the building on different floors but meeting and using the bathroom on our floor.”

He laughed. “Betsy loves her job. She’s good at it.”

“She’s got Miles in on it.”

“I believe they are in on it a lot more than you realize. You said Miles brings my name up a lot.”

She ground her teeth and he laughed. “Now it’s not so funny and cute.”

“No,” he said. “It’s not. But the good news is. We started to date before I realized this.”

“Are you positive?” she asked.

“Yes,” he said. “They’ve never said your name to me before other than one day asking if there were any noise issues. But it was also the same day Grant asked me to do some work for him.”

Which he realized had been part of their plan.

They probably weren’t getting anywhere with him and nothing from Betsy that they sent Diane over to work on it.

Regan all but walked into Diane’s lap being in Trent’s office today.

One of those stupid fate things he didn’t think much of in life.

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