Brothers of Paradise Series

“What else would you change?”

Faye sweeps her hair back and looks up at me. “With the design?”

“Yes.”

She bites her lip slightly, watching the model with glazed eyes. It’s a look I recognize. She loves the design process just as much as I do.

“I’ll have to think about it,” she says slowly. “Adding the wood… I stand by that.”

“I tried it.”

“You did?” Her eyes widen with excitement. “In AutoCAD?”

“Yes.” I open the digital building program on my computer and show her the design. “But I’m not convinced.”

“No, no, not like that… add wood here instead.” She leans over my shoulder, pointing at one part of the design I’d struggled with since the start. The back of the curving steel, where the two pieces join together. “It would anchor the whole thing.”

“Hmm. I’ll try it,” I say. This close, her hair brushes against my cheek. She smells like woman, like warm skin and flowers and heat.

“And here… you could make this into greenery. It’s a small change, but it’ll give the impression that this steel wave is rising from the ground.” She’s right. Her changes are small-but they could give the whole thing more balance. This is exactly the second pair of eyes I’ve been needing for this project.

“Miss Alvarez, when I hired you, I made it clear that I couldn’t offer you any architectural work.”

Faye takes a step back, taking her hair and scent away. There’s a small furrow between her dark eyebrows. “I’m aware.”

“Despite that, you’ve proven to have valuable input. I’ll send you the AutoCAD blueprints tomorrow, and when you have time, I’d like your feedback on the structure.”

Her eyes light up with excitement and creativity combined. “It’ll be my pleasure.”

“The deadline is in less than two months.”

“We can do it,” she says, nodding to herself. I’m silently amused at how fast it became a we, but I don’t comment. “And no one else at the firm is involved, or even aware, correct?”

“Yes.”

She nods again, a smile playing on her full lips. It’s one I recognize-the love of a challenge.

“Let’s do it.”

Faye

Jessie stretches from side to side, both of us sweaty from our spin class. “All right,” she says. “So Travis won’t work out.”

I almost laugh at her summary. “No. Which I think you knew in advance.”

“Nope.”

“Jessie.”

“Okay, so I figured he wasn’t your usual type. I knew it wouldn’t be a love connection. But that doesn’t mean you can’t have a little bit of fun, you know.”

I bend over, stretching out the back of my legs. “I can’t have fun with someone I don’t connect with.”

“Of course you can. The only thing Steve and I have in common is incredible sex.”

This time, I do laugh. “And that’s awesome, but I can’t do that.”

“Why not?” She puts her hands on her hips, her workout shirt bunched at the waist. “When was the last time you had sex with a man?”

“I don’t miss it.”

“Don’t lie to me, Faye Alvarez.” She takes a seat, bending at the waist and reaching toward her toes. The class had managed to clear my head, as it always did.

“All right,” I say. “I do miss it. I haven’t had sex in over a year.”All content © N/.ôvel/Dr/ama.Org.

“A year.” She throws her hands up dramatically. “A year.”

“You already know that,” I say. “It’s not news.”

“Yes, but you need to be reminded of how rare that is-and that it’s time to do something about it. Work is great, but it’s not everything.”

I lie back on the yoga mat and stare up at the ceiling. “Trust me, I know. It’s so bad, I’m starting to get attracted to my boss.”

“The asshole who somehow decided to give you a shot?”

“Yes.”

Jessie’s sitting upright now. “Who calls you on a Friday evening when he knew you were out on a date?”

“Yes.”

“Sorry, but he should respect your working hours.”

“I’m a personal assistant to someone who probably makes millions of dollars a year. My working hours are all the time. Lord knows he’s paying me enough to be on standby.”

“Still, he shouldn’t have called.”

“I know.” And especially not about something so minor. For an absurd moment, I suspected he hadn’t called about that at all, but rather to interrupt my date.

“See, if you had been getting regular sweet loving in between the sheets, you wouldn’t be developing a highly inappropriate crush on your boss.”

I groan at Jessie’s phrasing. “I don’t know if your logic is brilliant or deranged.”

“Brilliant. You’ve always been a glass-half-full kind of person.”

“You’re right,” I say finally. “He shouldn’t have called.”

“Exactly.”