Page 78 of The Attraction File

“Uh, nothing. Absolutely nothing, Edgar.”

I sniffed her neck. Then I licked it. Finally, gave it a tiny nip for good measure.

“I smell and taste fear on you. What are you hiding, Evaleen?”

There was a knock on the door before it opened. Morgana popped her head inside.

“Hey, you guys. Time for the last meeting.” She gave a cartoonish frown.

“Oh, Drake, there you are. Why don’t we walk to the meeting together? We can talk ‘girl stuff.’” Evaleen shoved me aside and raced toward the open door. Morgana appeared perplexed by Evaleen’s sudden request.

“Girl stuff? Since when do you ever want to talk girl stuff with me, Evaleen? Are you feeling all right? Did you get Mad Cow?” Morgana’s voice echoed through the hallway as Evaleen pulled her away.

I followed. Evaleen kept glancing back and picking up her pace when she saw me draw near.

“You do realize we are going to the same location, Evaleen? You can run but you can’t hide.”

Once we made ourselves at home in the small conference room, Jacob closed the door to start the meeting. Most of this trip didn’t concern me, but I needed to be here as an executive with the company. I knew my brother was nervous.

Changes in the laws with Great Britain and Europe made it almost impossible to continue distribution for our company. Since we are a retail company, distribution was a major part of everything we did.

We had lawyers go over the new laws, but we had yet to find anything that would help us.

I tuned out most of the meeting and was about to pretend I was reading a memo while really getting some shut eye when I heard Henrik.

“Can I just ask why Ms. Bechmann is here on this trip? Last I checked, she was the head of HR. Are we hiring someone that I don’t know about?”

I quickly scanned the table and noticed confusion on everyone’s face, except Evaleen’s. Hers was cracking. Before I could say something, she began to laugh, loudly. “What? Why would you ask that?”

Oh no. Evaleen was laughing. Not a good sign. Even Jacob appeared unsure. I told him some vague excuse before we left why Evaleen needed to come on the trip, but Jacob still had questions. And, like the smart brother I was, I dodged every single one.

There was no getting around it now. Henrik hated Evaleen, and I knew the feeling was mutual. If this could harm Evaleen, he wouldn’t stop until he saw blood.

I gazed over to her and she was sweating. It made me think of this morning in bed, and last night on the floor, and yesterday after lunch in the broom closet, and all the places we had been together since arriving in this sex-inspiring city.

“Yeah, why are you here, Ms. Bechmann? I’m a little curious myself,” my brother said.

Think, Edgar. Think!

Maybe I could beef up the candidate story I used back in Chicago. The one I lied to Evaleen about. That’s what I’ll do.

I’ll tell my brother we might have found a candidate for the job and wink at him.

While my wink had the power to get women into bed, it wielded a much greater power on my brother. It confused the hell out of him. He liked to see himself as someone who knew what was going on, even when he had no idea. When I winked, he pretended he understood.

Perfect.

Only I didn’t have to do anything. Henrik used his weapon instead: Business Jargon.

“I’m sorry, Jacob, I forgot that Ms. Bechmann came along to help coordinate with HR here regarding individuals working in both locations and their taxation. The synergy—” Henrik stopped when my brother cleared his throat.

I exhaled in relief. Glancing at Evaleen, I noticed she was nodding to Henrik, who nodded back.

What in the hell was that about?

First, she mentioned she caught Henrik doing something. Then Henrik saved her from Jacob’s question. And now they nod at each other like they have a secret club where members nod at each other in greeting?

I needed to get to Evaleen and find out what was going on.

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