She nods. "Not too many people in your position would do that. Plus, you seemed to know a lot about his family."
"He’s an old friend," I raise a shoulder.
"Don’t know of many billionaires who’d call a security guard their friend," she comments.
"How many billionaires do you know, anyway?" I shoot back.
She glowers at me.
"That’s what I thought." I turn to face forward again. "There are fifteen more seconds to go until we reach our floor. You should put them to good use and get through the emails, which I’m sure are hitting your inbox as we speak."
Her frown deepens. She opens her mouth to speak, when her phone buzzes. She glances at me, then a small smile curves her lips.The fuck? Who’s messaging her? Is it my son? He has a right to, though, after all. She’shisgirlfriend.Hisgirlfriend. Andmyemployee. That’sallshe is.
The elevator slows down and comes to a stop. The doors swish open. I indicate for her to go through, and once more, I follow her to the reception desk in the corner.
"JJ," the hostess greets me. "It’s been a while since we last saw you." She walks over to me, and reaches up on tiptoes to press a kiss to my cheek.
Behind me I hear her inhale sharply.Good, she’s jealous. I hope she’s jealous. Why the hell do I care if she’s jealous?This is not like me. So focused on a woman. And one who belongs to my son, no less.
I wind my arm around the hostess’s waist with more gusto than necessary and kiss her on both cheeks. "Daisy, my dear, you’re looking as gorgeous as ever."
Daisy blushes, then pats my cheek. "You’re a charmer, JJ." She steps back then tilts her head in Lena’s direction. "Miss, welcome to H2O lounge. Is this your first time here?"
She nods.
"May I take your coat?" Daisy asks.
Lena begins to take off her overcoat and I step forward. "Allow me."
Lena stiffens, but she allows me to ease the coat off of her shoulders. My fingers brush against her palm, and she shivers.
"You cold?" I frown.
"A little." She glances away.
It’s April but the weather has turned chilly the way London often does in early spring. "Could you turn up the heating in here?" I hand Lena’s coat to Daisy, then shrug mine off and hand that to her, as well.
"Of course, JJ." She turns and hands our coats to another uniformed girl who has come up to stand behind us. Then, she leads the way to the low table in the far corner with chaises on either side of it. A couple is already seated on one of the sofas.
Daisy smiles at me with more warmth than the situation demands. "I’ll leave you to your guests." She turns and leaves.
The man on the sofa rises to his feet. He glances between us, his gaze assessing, then he holds out his hand. "JJ.”
"Sinclair," I shake his hand. "Good to see you again.”
10
Lena
"So, how long have you worked for him?" The pretty pink-haired woman leans in toward me. Her name’s Summer and she’s Sinclair’s wife. Sinclair, as I’ve learned, is one of the owners of 7A Investments, one of the leading financial service companies in Europe, as I gathered from one of the emails sent to me earlier. Good thing I scanned through it before leaving the office. JJ could have warned me this meeting was about a potential merger. Not that he’d have thought to do that, of course.
"Would you believe it if I told you today is my first day at his office?" I raise my glass of water to my lips.
"No." Summer glances from me to JJ, then back to me. Her eyes gleam. "He’s hot, eh?" she says in a low voice.
The water goes down the wrong pipe, and I burst out coughing. I spill some of the water on myself.
"Ohmigosh, I’m so sorry." Summer uses her napkins to dab at the front of my blouse.