Would Brody even be willing to meet her dad and her brothers? She didn’t know. The thoughts had brought down her spirits faster than finding out Brody had committed a crime. Being in love with him on a private island was easy. Loving Brody in Boston, surrounded by six-hundred thousand other people, was another matter.
How exactly did she imagine their relationship to work in the real world? She had no idea.
“Sam?”
She looked up from her sandwich and tried to remember what Amanda had asked her. She opted to ignore the question about Brody’s name. “I think he’s busy Friday. Maybe another time,” she said, knowing full well there wouldn’t be another time.
“Okay,” Amanda said, looking a touch disappointed. “Let me know when he’s available.”
“Sure.” Sam took a deep breath, relieved that Amanda hadn’t pressed the issue. She didn’t want to lie to her friend, but it wasn’t like there were a hundred Brodys working at ESS. She tried to focus the rest of their conversation on Amanda’s romance, which was easy to do. She was all too excited to fill the time talking about Matt.
When they were finished, she ordered Brody’s food and headed back to the office. Despite the cold, she took her time walking down the sidewalk to her building. She couldn’t make herself move any faster even as the icy sleet pelted her face. The lightness in her heart from the past few days had deflated, and all it took was the suggestion of a double date jabbing it like a sharp pin.
Brody had been an enigma to her. A puzzle she wanted to put together. The more she learned, the more she was determined to learn. Ever the meddler, she not only wanted to know Brody but to help him. He didn’t seem very happy locked away in his tower. She had done her best to help where that was concerned. But now what? Had she thought her love would change him? Give him the courage to step into the light?
As she stood dripping onto the rug in the lobby, she realized she simply hadn’t thought that far ahead. When Sam had held Brody’s lunch hostage and forced him from his office, she had never expected things to go this far. She never dreamed she would kiss him, much less sleep with him or go away on a romantic vacation. And she certainly never imagined she would fall in love with him.
But now that she had…what was she going to do? If Brody wouldn’t live his life in public, was she willing to live her life in the shadows with him?
Sam watched the numbers climb on the elevator as it spirited her up to the top floor. By the time the doors opened, she knew she had her answer. Yes, she would. If—and that was a very emphatic if—he was happy. And she really didn’t think he was happy hiding from the world. Even with her in his life. So now what?
At her desk, Sam slipped out of her coat and hung it on the rack. She didn’t even bother to knock on Brody’s door. Instead, she slid his lunch through the silver drawer she’d ignored since nearly her first day on the job. Slamming it shut, she slumped into her chair and started reading her new email.
When Brody’s door opened and his head peeked around the heavy wood, she immediately felt guilty. His eyes were wary as he watched her from a distance. Apparently thrusting his lunch at him through the drawer after all this time had set off alarm bells in his mind. “Everything okay?”
“Yes,” she said, pasting a smile on her face that she hoped looked authentic.
He didn’t seem convinced but came out from behind the door. He was looking very handsome today in a gray pinstripe suit and smoky blue tie. Sam still didn’t understand why he dressed so nicely when no one would ever see him. She preferred him in jeans and barefoot.
“Lunch go all right?”
“Yes,” she repeated, then shook her head. She might as well be honest about how she was feeling. “No, not really. My friend Amanda asked if you and I wanted to double date with her and her new guy on Friday.”
His brows shot up. “Your friend knows about me?”
Was that enough to cost her five million? She hoped not. “Not much. Not your name or who you are. She just knows that I’ve been seeing someone at work. And that I’ve been very happy.”
“You don’t look happy,” he noted.
“At the moment I’m not.”
“Why?”
Sam sighed. “Because you were too distracted by what I might’ve told Amanda to hear the rest of the sentence. She wants us to go out with her, but we can’t. And we can’t go out to dinner or a play. Or go Christmas shopping together. Ever. Because you don’t go out in public.”