Page 29 of Brooke
Even Brooke glanced over at Axel. Now she understood his allusion to being away from civilization. A woodland retreat…
Hadn’t he said remote? As a New Yorker, she sometimes forgot there were places on the planet without communication. He probably hadn’t had cell phone reception. She bit her lip. There she’d gone again, putting a dragon in her path when there wasn’t one.
“Why don’t I have a woodland retreat?” Dean asked, snapping his fingers. “Kyle! We need to find one for PRG. For retreats and?—”
“I’ll add it to the list, Dean.” Kyle rolled his eyes. “Axel, please continue.”
His mouth was twitching with humor, and Brooke took that as a good sign. “I’d still like to meet with each of you individually and observe you as a group?—”
“You should come to Drink and Divulge,” Thea blurted out. “It’s a drinking game Brooke invented when we all first came to Paris ten years ago where we have to share our deepest thoughts. Right, Brooke?”
A wince started tugging at her cheeks. “I’m?—”
“He should totally come.” Dean walked over and slapped Axel on the back. “There’s no better way to know us than when we’re?—”
“I’ll only agree if Axel chooses to play with us,” Madison interrupted, putting her hand to her hip. “Drink and Divulge is not a spectator sport.”
Brooke could see the challenge in Madison’s gaze. Thea and Dean had practically wrapped their arms around each other in delight. Sawyer shot her a look before saying, “I’m cool with those terms. Kyle?”
Kyle glanced over. “Perhaps everyone is right. There is no better way to learn about a person than Drink and Divulge.”
Since Brooke knew what Kyle wanted to know—namely, whether Axel was interested in her and what kind of man he was—she wasn’t surprised by his opinion.
Axel’s mouth tipped to the right. “And you, Brooke? What do you want?”
His warm blue eyes held hers. She realized she wanted to know him fully and see him interact with her friends. “I did invent the game, after all, so of course I’m in favor.”
“Wonderful.” He rubbed his large hands together. “It’s decided. You tell me when, and I will be here.”
Brooke wouldn’t have been surprised to see a tumbleweed roll through the entryway. Because for Kyle—and likely Madison—inviting Axel to their roommates-only game was like inviting him to a shootout at high noon. Not even Jean Luc and Jacqueline had played Drink and Divulge yet.
“How about tonight?” Dean practically rocked on his Italian leather shoes as Thea gave out a yelp of encouragement. “We can have our meeting and then roll into the evening. Dinner’s on me.”
“I’m down with not cooking after all the training at the restaurant today,” Madison announced.
Sawyer smacked his lips. “Make it good, Dean. I’m going to be starving after all this design talk.”
Suddenly Brooke was in a roller-coaster car, racing toward the unknown. “Axel just got back?—”
“Tonight is perfect, actually,” Axel interrupted. “My style with clients is full immersion, so you’re my exclusive focus right now. Does tonight work for you, Brooke?”
She wanted to give her usual response so badly she couldtaste the words in the back of her mouth.We’ll discuss schedules and get back to you, Axel.But everyone was staring at her and making a thing of it. “We can do tonight if that works. Kyle?”
“Fine by me.” He unbuttoned his suit jacket. “Exclusive access is what we agreed to.”
Was he reminding her?
“Then it’s settled,” she said with a determined nod. “How would you like to begin today, Axel?”
He shifted his weight to his right side, looking more relaxed than she was at the moment. “How about we sit down with Thea’s lovely bread and have a café while I share some initial impressions with you? I was going to ask for some one-on-ones today, but Drink and Divulge sounds better. Brooke knows you all better than I do, but my advantage is fresh eyes. Also, many of you are in transition, so you are changing from what she knew to something even you do not yet fully know.”
“Wow, that’s amazing!” Thea breathed in awe, sinking against Dean’s side.
“Totally.” Dean finger-gunned Axel, making Brooke want to put her head in her hands. “You nailed it, man.”
“Okay, dude. Axel. You have my attention.” Sawyer pushed his glasses back up his nose, his eyes narrowing with seriousness. “Now you’re speaking to my soul.”
Axel bowed slightly at the waist, a graceful and compelling move for such a large man. “The highest of compliments. The soul is our truest guide, after all, but so few of us are in touch with it. I understand you appreciate quotes, Dr. Jackson. This one is for you. It came to me as I was walking along the river at sunset.Everything passes over us like it never happened. We are so focused on always more, always better, always bigger that we don’t see the beautiful things that happen to us anymore.”
