There is only two hours left of the day, as Barrett canceled our afternoon meeting. He must be busy on a job or making plans for the celebration dinner tonight. Brady enters my office, and Ris stands up from her chair, acting like my bodyguard.
"What are you doing here?" he asks callously.
"We are working on details of the Christiansen project if you must know," Ris fires back at him.
"You can do that from your own office," he barks as he glares back at her.
He steps farther into my office and makes his way over toward me. I cannot stand him, even more so now. He needs to back the fuck off. Ris walks in front of him, and I get up from my chair. My assistant knocks on the frame of my open door, and we all look in her direction. Thank goodness she has broken the tension building in my office.
"Ms. Garrett, you have a visitor," she says gleefully.
A visitor? Behind her stands, Luke and I instantly light up with joy. He steps into my office looking at me, then to Ris and Brady. His smile is as perfect as I remember. He's wearing dark wash jeans, a tight white t-shirt, and his hair lays neatly up top his head. He looks smoking hot, as usual. I instantly melt.
"Hi!" I shout in excitement.
I walk out from behind my desk toward him, forgetting the intensity that was taking place in my office.
"Who are you?" Brady asks rudely, puffing up his chest.
"Ali's boyfriend!" Ris chimes in with pure attitude behind her voice.
I love Ris and her bluntness. Words can be sharper than actions. I look at Luke to see his reaction to the words that just spewed out of her mouth. His smile doesn't change one bit. He looks at me then turns to Brady, extending his hand out to him.
"Yeah! I'm Luke. Nice to meet you, and you are?" he says.
Luke looks Brady in the eye as he formally introduces himself while firmly shaking his hand. Brady better watch out as Luke will turn him into a cheese sandwich and eat him in one bite.
Yeah! Luke said, yeah, not denying Ris's claim calling him my boyfriend. Holy shit!! I smile.
"Brady, Brady Adams. Senior Designer," he boasts.
Luke is quite a bit taller than Brady, and their bodies look evenly bulk, but Luke makes him look small. Brady seems a little intimidated and slightly taken off his macho high horse. It is funny to see him not be the main attraction.
"Ris, you need to get back to your own office now," Brady snarls.
"It was nice meeting you," he says sharply to Luke.
Then he leaves my office. Ris sticks her tongue out behind Brady's back while flicking him off. Ris will be Ris, and I love her for it.
"Well, ain't he just a pocket full of sunshine and rainbows," Luke chuckles.
"Oh, you have no idea," Ris mumbles angrily.
"It's nice to see you," she says to Luke, giggling, then waves at me as she leaves my office.
Luke nods, then walks closer to me. I throw my arms around him, gripping him tight and resting my head against his chest. I'm so happy he is here; I take in his smell as we embrace, and he rests his chin against my head. I can see Brady staring at us from his office; I turn my head away and close my eyes.
"Oh my God, I'm so excited you are here!" I say in pure glee.
"Me too! This building is insane. So amazingly cool," he states.
I let go of him and check the clock on my desk, it's twenty after four.
"You made good time," I say with excitement.
"Yeah, I left a little earlier than planned. I wanted to see you. I messaged you when I left about ten-thirty or so," Luke replies.
"Sorry, we've been swamped, and I haven't had the time to check my phone at all," I say.
I haven't checked my phone in all the mess of today with how shook I've been until Luke showed up, and now it has all disappeared.
"No worries. I figured you were busy, and I enjoyed the look on your face when you saw me. That was enough for me. It was better as a surprise, anyway," he smirks.
"We've got time for a tour if you'd like one," I ask.
"Hell yeah! Let's do it!" he replies in excitement.
We stroll out of my office, hand in hand. I let my assistants know where I am going after I introduce them to Luke. It's rather amusing watching all the ladies drool over him and not Brady for a change. I grab Ris from her office to accompany us on the tour; she does a lot better job as a tour guide than I do. Showing Luke where I work and the fantastic architecture in this building will be a lot better than the earlier melodramatic experience he encountered.
Chapter Fifty-Eight
Luke is doing exceptionally well with driving in the afternoon traffic in downtown Milwaukee. I forget that he is from San Diego, so he is used to the crazy driving and traffic jam scene. I did not miss it while I was back home. I like being able to go from point A to point B without having to stop a million times along the way. Since I am not behind the wheel, I'm content in this congestion in front of us, plus it gives me ample time to study more of his gorgeous face.
Luke kissed me as soon as we got to his car, I was worried I'd freeze at the gesture, but I didn't. The kiss was so heavenly, with a genuine and sincere passion behind it. The longer he is here; the more what Brady did to me last night fades away to the back of my mind. I also mustered up the courage to tell
