The elevator bell dinged, and the doors opened. She couldn’t spend any more time thinking about whatever was on Alex’s mind. Hopefully, he would work it out before she had to pry it out of him. That wasn’t the type of girlfriend she wanted to be.
Her day was packed tight with meeting after meeting and a deposition in the afternoon. Braylee casually stepped off the elevator feeling happy. When was the last time she’d been happy? Apparently, too long ago to remember.
Braylee breezed into her office carrying a box of sticky buns and wearing a broad smile. A couple of her employees looked up from their desks and stared as if she had two heads. It tickled her. Had she honestly been that bad? Probably. Regardless, she could finally leave one of her damn Masks at home. However, while she had gone through a lot of changes over the past few months, change didn’t happen overnight. She still had a long way to go and, therefore, kept a spare Mask in her office desk just in case.
She decided to lay it on thick. “Good morning everybody! I brought treats.” Braylee held up the box and put them on one of her paralegal’s desks. “Can you put these in the conference room?” The paralegal nodded. Braylee continued to speak. “Please make sure you get one.”
Her trusted assistant, Nate Lansbury was where he’d always been for the last seven years; sitting behind his desk outside her office focused on whatever was on his computer. He looked up over his glasses, made a musical production of looking at his watch, and shook his head. “It’s bad enough you come in here late, but then you walk in here with a box of death too. I work too hard to get this chiseled physique to let you ruin it because you’re all in love.” Nate smirked as he looked her up and down. “Considering, I’ve never been able to get you to a gym consistently, if you don’t watch it you won’t be able to wear that fitted all white pencil suit showing off those toned legs and those badass shoes.”
Braylee cut her eyes at him. “Your lady love must still be out of town. My goodness, you’re downright evil this morning.”
Nate got up out of his chair and followed Braylee into her office. “You know I’m not a morning person, and I’m not evil, I’m busy working. Remember that…work…working? Anyway, I have several messages for you. Your sister, Stephanie called twice, and Lisa wants to know if you are still on for dinner tonight.”
Braylee sat down at her desk as her brows furrowed together. “She called twice? Why didn’t Stephanie just call me on my cell?”
Nate shrugged nonchalantly. “Who knows why your sister does what she does? Just be glad she’s not marrying what’s his face.”
Braylee rolled her eyes. “I thank God every day that nightmare didn’t happen.” While turning on her laptop, she looked questioningly at Nate. “Hey, before I forget and the day gets crazy, I was wondering when Cara gets back into town maybe you, me, Cara and Alex can get together for dinner.”
“I can ask her. But, you know how crazy her schedule is so it’s hard to nail anything down.”
“Yeah, I know. She works like a maniac just like us. The few times we were actually in the same room was by accident.” Braylee rubbed her chin and playfully asked, “Are you trying to keep us apart on purpose? What secrets does she have? Does she work for the CIA or Homeland Security? I mean everything is always so hush hush. Is her name even Cara Smith?”
Nate couldn’t believe the effect Alex was having on Braylee. She was trying to joke around. “Are you done being silly? We have a lot of work to do today. And, we have that deposition at 1:00 PM.”
Braylee laughed. “I think you both work for a secret agency. See how easily you evaded that question. Where did Cara go out of town to this time?”
“I work for a slave driver named Braylee Hinsdale, who taught me well. I don’t know what you’ve done with her but…” His words hung in the air before he winked and cracked a half smile. “But when you see her tell her, I’m glad she’s happy and that she might have that great love and kids after all.”
Braylee turned serious. “I am you know, happy.”
“I know you’ve been skipping around and walking on cloud nine ever since the first day Alex took you to his house.” He laughed. “I haven’t had to change the batteries in your Violator once since you met him. That’s always a good sign.”
Unabashedly, Braylee opened the drawer where she used to keep her toy. Proudly she spoke. “See, it’s gone. Packed away. I have absolutely no need for it.”
Like the wind, Stephanie Hinsdale in a pair of fitted jeans and a white t-shirt blew into Braylee’s office. Her hands were on her hips. “I’ve been trying to call you all morning!”
Braylee quickly closed her drawer.
Nate chuckled. “That’s my cue. Braylee your first meeting is in forty minutes.” He left the room closing the door behind him on his way out.
“Why didn’t you just call me on my
