you, chained up in the basement with one of those old-school visors?”
“Please don’t tell her I’ve escaped. I just wanted a bit of sunlight.”
“And a sticky pad, apparently,” Brooke said, gesturing at his left hand.
“So I can write my SOS message,” he replied.
Brooke giggled. Yes, giggled. She’d always been a sucker for accents. What woman wasn’t?
“Seriously though,” she said, “how come I haven’t seen you around?”
He shrugged. “Alexis and I meet twice a week, but always before eight. It works best for both our schedules.”
“An accountant that does house calls. I’m impressed,” Brooke said, taking a sip of the latte she’d picked up on the way in.
“Most clients come to my office downtown. But Alexis and I go way back.”
“Huh,” Brooke said, studying the man more closely. His tone was completely professional, but there was something there . . . an intensity when he spoke of Alexis.
And speak of the devil . . .
There was the familiar click-click-click of Alexis’s stiletto heels coming down the staircase. “Logan, did you find—Oh! Hi, Brooke.”
“Morning,” Brooke said, drawing out the word and searching her boss for any sign that there’d been hanky-panky with the handsome Brit but finding none. Alexis was every bit as put together as always. Not a strand out of place, no lipstick smudge, no misaligned buttons.
Disappointing. Highly disappointing.
“You’re early this morning,” Alexis observed.
“And a good thing, too. Otherwise I wouldn’t have known that we have a handsome British accountant working with us.”
She said it casually, flirtatiously but harmlessly so, and was doubly intrigued when Logan blushed. God, he was cute.
“A handsome British . . .? Ohhhhhh,” Alexis said. “You mean Logan.”
Logan gave her an exasperated look. “Really? You have more than one accountant?”
Alexis shrugged. “I guess I’m just used to your accent.”
“And his handsomeness—you’re used to that, too?” Brooke teased.
Alexis only blinked at her in semi-confusion. Brooke snorted. For a woman who was so on top of things, sometimes her boss could be strangely obtuse.
Either that or she had a damn good poker face.
Maybe a bit of both.
“Well, much as I’d love to sit and crunch numbers with you two, I should probably get to work,” Brooke said as she lifted her drink in farewell and headed toward the stairs. “But Alexis, whenever you’re done, I was hoping we could chat before the day gets too crazy.”
“Of course,” Alexis said, studying Brooke with that too-sharp gaze. Brooke had the most unsettling feeling that Alexis somehow knew what she wanted to talk about, which made no sense.
But then, that was Alexis for you. One step ahead of everyone.
“Lovely to meet you, Ms. Baldwin,” Logan said.
“Lovely to meet you, too, Mr. Harris. Hope you’re allowed above board long enough to see the sun come up.”
“Above board?” Alexis asked.
“Inside joke,” Brooke said with a wink at Logan.
Alexis’s eyes narrowed, and Brooke hid a smile. Maybe her friend wasn’t quite so unaware of Logan as she was pretending, because she clearly wasn’t loving the fact that there was an inside joke she wasn’t in on.
There was a story there, with Logan and Alexis, but Brooke would bet serious money that Alexis didn’t even know it yet.
Up in her office, Brooke booted up her computer as she sipped her latte and stared out at the chilly New York morning that was just beginning to show the first traces of life as people trudged to work and started on their daily post-weekend grind. She was still struggling like hell to get used to the frigid weather, but Brooke was surprised to realize that she liked having an actual winter.
The year-round sunshine in California had its benefits, certainly, but there was something lovely and quiet about a true winter. The short days and cozy nights curled up under a blanket were relaxing and reflective, allowing her a chance to sit and contemplate in a way that the long LA days and nights hadn’t really permitted. Not that Brooke allowed herself to do much of that lately. It had been hard enough to keep her feelings about the Clay situation at bay, and now there was Seth Tyler muddying things up even further.
For starters, the man was too damn serious. Yeah, he had a sense of humor lurking under that sharp gaze, but he also wasn’t easy. He’d demand more than she was willing to give just by being him, but he wouldn’t give anything back.
Pleasure, certainly. She was positive that they’d do just fine in bed.