Page 69 of Brooke
She was tapping her fingernails together, her tension apparent. “Yes, isn’t it?”
Her voice was almost breathless. “Kyle, what do you think?”
Golden Boy shoved his hands in the jeans he’d thrown on. “She’s a beaut. One of the largest commercial spaces I’ve looked at. Sawyer?”
“The artist in me loves the amount of space, and with the floor-to-ceiling windows, the light would be incredible. You could see the street from the inside, making you feel like you were part of things but also tucked away. You know?”
“I do,” Kyle answered thoughtfully.
Dean decided not to disagree. Sometimes Paris was too much in your face with its throngs of people. He was glad he and Jacqueline would be getting away to France’s wine country frequently.
Kyle continued to give the building his undivided attention. “Brooke, what are you thinking for it?”
She worried her lip. “I told Axel I thought he could use it for a concept store, but like I said, he didn’t feel it was right for him.”
“It’s too big for a restaurant,” Kyle observed, resting his hand on one of the trees planted along the sidewalk.
“Or a wine depot,” Dean concluded. “But maybe you could use it for your design company.”
She blanched immediately and shook her head. “Me? That’s ridiculous. I’ve barely started dipping my toe into that world. I have two clients—both friends and family. There is no way I have enough business for a three-floor store like that.”
“And yet you had afeeling,” Dean pointed out.
“But for Axel! Not me.”
Except she glanced back at it with such frank interest, Dean began to frown. Why not for her? She felt something. He knew what such an inner response meant—hadn’t he been an angel investor and business coach? He ran with it. “Maybe you should buy it anyway.”
Brooke’s head swung around as Sawyer’s mouth gaped. “That’s insane,” she protested.
He lifted his shoulder and nodded to Kyle. “She’s got some feeling here, man.”
Kyle raked his hand through his ash brown hair. “Which I respect. But without a clear reason to buy it, especially given its mammoth size, I can’t say I think it would be a sound decision.”
“Me either.” Brooke raised her arm to hail a cab. “I was hoping you guys might— Let’s forget I mentioned it.”
Dean had hoped they’d be able to jump-start Brooke’s imagination so she could share the reasons for her gut feeling, but he wasn’t deterred. He decided to remind the others about his last big gut feeling. It had kinda started like Brooke’s. He nudged Sawyer. “C’mon, Doc. Look how that whole kismet thing with Pierre turned out awesome. You were against bringing him home from the pet store, but magic brought us there. He was Jacqueline’s family parrot, for Pete’s sake, and we met because of him. Because of a feeling!”
“You know I respect inner urgings, but this isn’t a parrot. It’s a huge building with a big price tag with serious upkeep.I can see how it would make sense for Axel, but not for Brooke. Not right now. She’s still working in fashion and just starting out as an interior designer.”
“Exactly!” Brooke said pointedly as a cab pulled up to the roadside. “Dean, I have a five-year plan. It’s going to take a while to develop myself into enough of a sought-after interior decorator that I can shift from fashion full-time.”
“But Axel can help you with that, right?” Dean asked as Kyle opened the door to the cab and talked to the driver.
Something came and went in Brooke’s eyes before she lowered her gaze. “He has his own business and reputation. I need to forge mine.”
“Becausesome peoplemight make assumptions about him helping her, Dean,” Sawyer informed him as he slid into the cab. “Especially with them being a man and a woman.”
Sawyer’s voice dripped with philosophical emphasis while Kyle gave them all a worried look before walking around the front and taking shotgun. Typical. Best seat in the crowded car. Dean wedged himself in next to Brooke, whose whole entire frame was stiff.
“I’d like to point outsome peoplecan go jump off a cliff in my opinion,” Dean continued, shifting to get comfortable. “Axel seems like a good guy. Besides, I thought Kyle’s arrangement with Axel was mutually beneficial to you both. Why wouldn’tsome peoplethink the same about you helping him make connections in fashion?”
He’d bet his next café crème Axel didn’t have a five-year plan when it came to achieving his next target. The man looked like he could rip trees out of the ground and arrange a new forest to his liking. If he wanted something, he probably damn well went for it.
She clutched her satchel to her stomach. “Because I’m a woman, and he’s not.”
“Jeez, Dean, don’t you know anything about the doublestandard?” Sawyer asked in exasperation. “Silicon Valley is full of it.”
“I know about it.” He turned halfway in the cramped space, his back pressing against the car door. “You know me. I’m always about doing things another way. Let me remind you, Brooke, so do you. Five years feels like an eternity, and since you’re my friend, I’d like you to be happier faster.”
