Page 36 of Once upon a Summer Night

Colin, however, knew all about love—it was his business, after all, and a successful one at that. If he was backing away from their mutual interest, maybe he had a good reason.

She just wished she had more experience so she could understand it.

Maybe it was jet lag, or maybe she was more curious than she should be, but she needed to know why. And he did say that they would be honest with each other…

Before she lost her nerve, she headed to the office and knocked quickly on the door. She didn’t wait for an answer and opened it.

“How exactly do you know that there are forty…oh my God, what happened in here?”

He glanced up from behind a stack of papers that looked as though they would fall over if he breathed the wrong way. A laptop sat atop a large desk, the surface of which was covered with various papers, folders, pens, pencils, coffee cups, and sticky notes.

Lots and lots of sticky notes.

The floor also had piles of papers everywhere she looked. The only things in the room that weren’t overwhelmingly messy were the two chairs in front of the desk, and the man sitting behind it, who was looking at her with a sheepish expression.

“Turns out, I am terrible at filing. But I’ll get to it eventually.”

Ellie blinked. This room, so very different from the rest of the house, was a disaster. Terrible at filing? Did he even know the meaning of the word?

“Is this your company’s headquarters?” she finally asked, her eyes everywhere at once.

He laughed. “No, believe it or not. Most of this stuff is personal. Taxes and other boring stuff.”

“How many years’ worth?” she replied, a touch of amazement in her voice.

“A lifetime.”

“Ever thought about joining the twenty-first century and going digital?”

He sat up straighter. “I plan to eventually hire someone to come in and organize all this for me.”

She rolled her eyes. “Famous last words. I can see the advert now: Organizer wanted. Must love sticky notes, filing, and deep cleaning. Rubber gloves required.”

“It’s not as bad as that.”

She raised an eyebrow and pointed to a plate on top of a filing cabinet. “That looks rather...unclean.”

He peered at it. “I’ll give you that one. Chinese food from a couple weeks ago.”

“Ew, Colin!”

“My housekeeper doesn’t come in here,” he admitted.

“No,” she replied in mock seriousness. “I’d have never guessed.”

“Are you offering to file for me? If so, have at it.”

Ellie didn’t mind clutter. She definitely wasn’t the most organized person in the world at home, but in her bookshop, she had everything in its place. No one should have to work in these conditions.

And it smelled a little. Time to make her escape.

“While that does sound scintillating, I would prefer a walk right now. Happy working.”

“Happy wandering.”

It took her until she left the house to realize she never got an answer, much less asked her question.

Later that afternoon,Colin sat back in his chair in his downtown office, mentally and physically drained. Celtic Connections didn’t need the investors stateside anymore, but he certainly needed them if international expansion was going to happen. And his current investors were not pleased with him.

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