British Black Sheep - Lauren Smith Page 0,47

before he slipped away. He tucked the covers over her since cold drafts could still seep through the older window casings. After quickly dressing, he exited Brie’s room, only to collide with someone right outside the door. Simon.

“Aha!” Simon hissed in boyish glee. “I knew it. I knew it.”

Alec steadied himself with a grunt. “It’s not what you think.”

“Oh? And how do you know what I’m thinking?” Simon crossed his arms, grinning. Friends or not, Alec was resisting the urge to sock his friend right in his smug jaw.

“I know you, Simon. You always assume the worst about me and women.”

“Actually, I’m hoping for the best.” His friend’s smug smile wasn’t reassuring, however.

Alec dragged his friend into an empty bedroom across the hall from Brie’s. “Get in here.” He shot Simon a death glare, but his friend only found it amusing.

“You had me convinced that you didn’t like Brie. Even when Bridget told you about her plan to hook Brie up with Morgan, you played it cool. You had me fooled. You like her.” Simon drawled out the word “like” as though he were in primary school teasing his fellow classmate.

“Simon, you can’t tell anyone about this. Anyone.”

His brows furrowed. “Not even Bridget? We don’t keep any secrets from each other.”

“This isn’t your secret to share. It’s mine and Brie’s. We’ve decided to keep this casual and at the end of the week we’re ending it.”

Simon was no longer teasing. “Why? If it’s a good thing between you, you should want to continue it.”

“Simon, can you honestly see me giving up my career? I’d have to in order to have any decent long-lasting relationship. Brie doesn’t want to either. The woman has no desire to be in a relationship. And if you tell Bridget, it will get back to my mum and that’s the last bloody thing we want. She could lose her job if her publisher found out.”

Simon held up his hands in surrender. “Fine. Mum’s the word, mate.”

“Good.” Alec relaxed slightly. He trusted Simon to keep his word once he gave it.

“Word of advice, Alec. Set an alarm and sneak out of her bedroom much earlier. Some of us wake early these days.”

“Why are you awake? It’s only six.”

“Brendan and cartoons. It’s our manly ritual to eat breakfast and watch them together.”

“Ahh.” Alec couldn’t believe Simon had taken so well to being a dad to the boy but he had. If Alec hadn’t known better, he would have assumed that Simon was the boy’s biological father.

“You’re welcome to join us,” Simon offered.

“I might. I need to shower and change first though.” He ran a hand over his slightly wrinkled sweater.

“Good idea. Best to get your walk of shame over with.” Simon chuckled.

Alec flipped him off, though he smiled doing it.

They stepped back into the hallway and parted, Simon heading downstairs and Alec back to his room to shower. By the time he was ready for the day, he checked his phone and winced. Over seven missed calls from the office and thirty emails glared at him in bold font about the new transaction he was supposed to handle. Alec collected his iPad and headed down to the dining room.

Brendan, Simon and Morgan were all gathered around the tablet, which was propped up and streaming cartoons. The three of them laughed as they ate fresh blackberry scones and porridge.

“Morning.” Morgan said, a hint of amusement in his voice that Alec chose to ignore. His little brother had a habit of finding even the most unamusing things funny, especially if they somehow irritated Alec.

Alec settled into a chair and one of the footmen brought him a bowl of porridge. “Morning.”

“Thank you.” He nodded at the young man who returned to the kitchens.

Alec spent his breakfast working and ignoring the trio at the other end of the table. He got the transaction started, gave his notes on the various elements that the lawyers would need to handle, and then pulled up the Wall Street Journal on his tablet and started scanning the articles. Even though he was a London investment banker, it was important to keep a global perspective in mind. Barclay’s conducted business on multiple continents.

After that, he caught up on his emails, those about the current project and those from his clients about raising capital to help them grow their businesses. Emails completed, he now noticed the dining room was full. He checked his watch and realized he’d been working for almost two hours. It was just after nine.

“Alec,