Regan went back into her office and closed the doors. She was feeling horribly nervous and thought she would hide until she had rehearsed what she was going to say to Alec about last night. Maybe he wouldn’t bring it up. Then again, maybe he would, and she wanted to be prepared.
She knew she was being foolish. What happened last night wouldn’t happen again; they had agreed on that, and Alec surely wouldn’t mention it today. Besides, he was on duty. He probably wouldn’t even be thinking about it.
“I can do this,” she whispered.
She took a deep breath, straightened her shoulders, and opened the door again. She was going to find Alec and say hello. The sooner she got through the awkwardness of seeing him for the first time after… oh, God, she was doing it again. Getting all flustered and panicky. If this is what love felt like, she didn’t want any part of it. She certainly didn’t want the broken heart she knew was coming either, but she couldn’t do anything about that now, could she? She had no one to blame for that misery but herself.
She walked past Henry and said, “Go have some fun. It’s Sunday. The mail will be here tomorrow.”
“I’m leaving,” he promised. “I just want to do a little catch-up. I won’t stay long.”
Time to get the moment over with, she thought as she walked out into the hall. She stopped short. Aiden and Alec were standing in front of Aiden’s office at the end of the hallway. Aiden was doing most of the talking, and Alec was nodding every now and then. She stood there a long minute, waiting until they finished their conversation. She assumed Aiden wanted the latest update on the investigation.
They both noticed her at the same time. Aiden nodded, then walked around the corner to the elevators. Alec started toward her.
He looked wonderful. And sloppy, of course, but comfortable sloppy. He had a five o’clock shadow, so he hadn’t bothered to shave this morning. And did he ever comb his hair? No man should be this sexy. She swallowed and tried to block out the memories of last night. What was it she was going to say to him when she saw him? What had she come up with? She couldn’t remember. She had to look over his shoulder in order to concentrate.
“I thought you weren’t coming in today.”
Good. That worked. She’d sounded quite normal, and she was sure nothing of what she was feeling was showing in her face.
“I told you I was.”
She nodded. Okay. The awkward moment was over. They were now having a normal conversation. She began to relax. Definitely okay. He wasn’t going to say anything about last night, and neither was she. She could stop worrying.
“Regan?”
“Yes?”
“Did it feel good?”
She was mortified. She knew her mouth dropped open. The question so shocked her. She couldn’t believe what he’d just asked, and so she made him repeat it.
“I asked you if it felt good.”
In seconds her face was burning with embarrassment. “Alec, I think it would be best if we didn’t discuss last night.”
He laughed. “I was asking if it felt good to stand up for yourself with your brothers.”
“Oh.” Instantly flustered, she said, “Yes, of course it felt… wait a minute. You did that on purpose, didn’t you?”
He pretended not to know what she was talking about. “Did what?”
“Phrasing the question the way you did, asking if it felt good but not explaining… oh, never mind.”
He loved how easily he could embarrass her. “So did it?”
She sighed. “Yes. I think maybe fighting with my brothers occasionally is a nice outlet for all my pent-up nervous energy.”
He shook his head. “I think maybe we found a better outlet last night.” He grinned as he added, “and I’m not going to ask you if that felt good. I know it did.”
His arrogance was totally out of control, and he certainly didn’t seem to need any confirmation from her. But then, why would he? Last night had been incredible. He didn’t need her to tell him so. He was there, after all. Oh, boy, was he.
She really needed to think about something else… anything else. She wanted to kiss him. She stepped back instead. “I think we should change the subject.”
“Yes, okay.”
“And please, stop looking at me that way,” she whispered.
“What way?”
“Like you’d like to find the nearest closet.”
“I wasn’t thinking closet. I was thinking-”
She interrupted. “We are finished talking about this.” She folded her arms across her waist. “Okay?”
Before he could argue, she asked, “What were you and Aiden talking about?”
“I asked him if there were any grudges against your family, any disgruntled employees, any threats, lawsuits, et cetera. He said he’d already talked to Wincott about that, but he’d set it up for us to talk to your family attorney. I’m just trying to cover all the angles, and I want to know what the legal problems have been.”
“With my brothers?”
“And you.”
“Oh.” She was taken aback by that admission. “I doubt you’ll find anything.”
“I’m still going to talk to Sam.”
“Yes, of course.”
“Are you hungry? You want to get something to eat?”
The abrupt change in subjects jarred her. “Yes… okay.”
She walked around him and headed for the elevators. He caught up with her in two strides. “By the way, the answer is yes.”
She glanced up at him. “What was the question?”
“You asked your brothers if anyone was ever faithful, and I’m telling you yes, some are.”
She reached to push the button for the elevator. He grabbed her hand and forced her to look at him. “I’ve got a lot of examples,” he said softly. “But there’s only one you need to know about.”
“Oh? Who?”
“Me.”
She didn’t know how to respond. “Why are you telling me this?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. I just thought you ought to know that I’d be faithful.”
“If you ever married.”
“That’s right,” he replied. “If.”
The conversation was cut short when his cell phone rang. Henry was calling, and he sounded frantic.
“Where are you?”
“Right down the hall. What’s going on?”
“You’ve got to get back here right away. You’ve got to see this.”
Alec had already turned around and was pulling Regan along as he strode back to the offices.
“What’s wrong?”
He didn’t need to answer her because Henry was standing in the doorway, and as soon as he spotted Alec and Regan coming around the corner, he blurted, “I opened this letter. It’s on our hotel stationery, and it came in one of our envelopes. You know what that means? He was here. He was in the hotel.”
Alec let go of her hand and went to the desk. She touched Henry’s arm and said, “Take a deep breath.”
“Regan, he was here.”
She nodded. “Yes, I heard you. And he sent a letter?” she asked, but she was already walking over to his desk.
She leaned against Alec and looked at the sheet of stationery Henry had put on the blotter. He’d placed a long silver letter opener on the edge of the paper to keep it from folding up again.
