Page 32 of Alpha Geek

Amelia couldn’t veil her smirk, noticing a side-eye look from Tripp sitting next to her.

“How do you …” Tripp began.

Nick tapped the side of his nose and brought back his signature smug grin, then took a long sip of his beverage.

“Don’t worry, the secret is safe with me. Not my first rodeo.”

Amelia held Tripp’s hand under the table as she detected the increase in his heart rate. They were bound almost as one form, and she felt every change in him like he was the water and she the magnificent voyager.

“I don’t think you have anything to worry about,” Nick continued. “We haven’t been able to locate him, but we are working at it. You two will be the first to know.”

Tripp and Amelia’s movements were mirrored as they nodded, then raised their glasses of gin and tonic to their lips.

“Well, I’ll leave you two love birds alone,” he said, sliding out of the booth. “I’ll meet you at the airport pronto tomorrow morning, eight a.m. sharp.” Nick used the moment to down his own drink and make a hasty departure in his usual method of business talks … drop a bomb and go.

Amelia knew Nick better than Tripp did, so she took a moment as Nick walked away, telling Tripp that she would be right back.

“No problem, baby,” Tripp said, planting a hot one on her cherry-shaded lips.

She got up quickly, glad to be decked out in her office heels once more, and trotted up to the front of the lobby where Nick was looking at his phone.

Amelia spun him around by the shoulder and gave him a harsh tone.

“What the hell was that?” she said, fighting the urge to whisper.

He cocked an eyebrow, that clown-like grin coming to life. Christ, he was annoying sometimes.

“What was what?”

Amelia stepped closer to him, making sure Tripp wasn’t watching them, then murmured a few inches from Nick’s face.

“You’re just going to leave us with that kind of information?” she sneered. “He’s got a brother he never knew about after him, who nearly killed us both.”

He toyed with the phone in his hand, pursing his lips with a look of impatience.

“What are you asking me, Amelia?”

“You know something else, don’t you?”

Nick began to chuckle in a rare expression of near hysteria. A part of Amelia wished to clock him in the face, but alas, he was still her boss.

“You don’t know how to be happy, do you?” he said after settling down. “You are both so madly in love. I’m surprised I didn’t come here and find two sets of songbirds hovering over your heads.”

Of course, he was right, so she let her irritation drain out of her body. She relaxed her muscles and sighed, bringing two fingers to pinch the bridge of her nose.

“You’re right.” She sighed. “I’m sorry. I just have this feeling that something bad is going to happen.”

Nick took her shoulder and squeezed it with affection. He looked at her the way a loving father looks at his child when they bring their first boyfriend over for dinner.

“Do yourself a favor; go with it. There is nothing more magical in this world than falling in love and allowing yourself to be truly in love. Trust me.”

Nick let her go and headed for his cab while flicks of snow began to fall. Amelia felt a glow in her heart when she recalled the day he’d called her into his office in the states; it had been snowing in the same subtle, romantic fashion.

She spun around and raced toward her beloved. After slamming down some money, Amelia took him by the hand, then ran her lips along his ear. In her best sultry voice, she told him to go upstairs and get naked.

EIGHTEEN

TRIPP

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