“I told you, I don’t know her at all. Will you get to the point?”
“Alright, bossy. Well, okay. Her twin sister works as Apollo’s receptionist.”
Forest froze, his brain ticking over with possibilities. “What does this mean? Jenni is an agent of Apollo?”
I considered it, and shook my head. “I can’t say for certain. But like I told you, I have a good intuition about these things. When I asked the Jenni-twin about Jenni, she pulled a face, which indicated they aren’t on good terms. There is something going on here, but I don’t think Jenni’s an enemy.”
“Because of your intuition? Which I’m supposed to trust and just... let Jenni remain at my company?”
“Let me get to know her. We’re on good terms, me and Jenni. I’ll take her out for a drink, try and find out more. If sheisn’ton Apollo’s side, and I strongly suspect she isn’t, she might be useful. For intel or for... espionage.”
Forest nodded slowly. “Okay. Sure. I’ll give you a bit of time. I can get someone to keep an eye on her. Or invent an excuse to temporarily take her away from the reception desk – a training course, or something like that.”
“Sounds good. And that’s all, really. It was a brief meeting. I’ll be checking in with him tonight, actually. After the date.”
Forest frowned, as if disappointed, but what he said next didn’t match his expression. “Good. Sounds good.”
As soon as the ‘business’ side of our meeting was over, and the food started arriving at our table, Forest brightened back up again. I was glad – I’d been worried I’d ruined his good mood.
We ate, Forest drank, and we prodded fun at the stuffiness of the wait staff and laughed into our napkins. When Forest was relaxed, as he seemed to be, he was actually good fun. I already liked him even when I thought he wasnevergood fun. But getting to see this angle of him made my heart ache just a little for what could have been.
And I was going to have to play out blow-for-blow ‘what could have been’ for Apollo’s viewing, knowing it could never be real.
But the lines between reality and fiction were already blurring. At the end of the meal, we departed the restaurant hand in hand. Forest helped me into my coat as we walked out into the cool evening breeze.
“Thank you, Ria. I had a very nice time tonight.” He leaned in close to me and winked. “Even if it was all for the public eye.”
“Oh, I don’t know.” I leaned in slightly closer, practically whispering into his ear. “If you ask me, I think we had eyes for each other a little, too.”
He smelled very good. He always looked very well-put-together, even when he’d been sleeping in his office. I wanted to scrape my nails over his scalp just to see his hair out of place again. Well, not just for that reason...
Forest jerked away as abruptly as if he’d been struck by lightning. He scratched his chin then folded his arms briskly in front of his chest. I could see what he was doing: trying to maintain self-control.
Still, his tone was somewhat teasing and breathy when he spoke. “No playing games. You have a meeting to go to, Ria Moon.”
I grinned and hailed a cab as I had been instructed to by the other Brock in my life.
Pulling away from the curb, I looked out of the back of the taxi. Forest looked slightly lost, standing there by himself, watching me drive away to meet with his nemesis. I smiled to myself and slid down further into the back seat.
I was a little bit high on my chemistry with Forest. It’d taken a temporary dip while he’d been pondering my betrayal. But I was glad it was back. I felt strangely electric whenever I was around him.
Unfortunately, the shine was taken off my evening by having to go directly to Apollo. Why he was still in his office at this time of the evening, heaven knows. Maybe he slept there, I wondered, hanging upside down from the ceiling like a bat.
That image provided me with a good giggle for the remainder of my journey. Before I knew it, I was filling Apollo in on the evening we’d had. Minus the part where we’d been scheming against him.
He was pacing the office, appearing to think over what I’d said, though the updates had not been particularly thrilling. “Do you have any obstacles with getting to know my brother? Any challenges I might be able to provide intel for?”
“Challenges?” I did have my challenges with Forest, it was true. “Getting him to loosen up.” Maybe Apollo could actually provide some help on that front. I was doing a good job, but there were still some defenses remaining, I could tell.
Or not. “Ah, yes, I can’t help you there. He’s always had a stick up his ass, as long as I’ve known him, anyway.”
My frustration here was genuine. “I’ve gotten close a few times. But he pulls back.”
“Yes. Well, that’s a good sign that you’re getting through to him. If he’s resisting. And if he does ever fully pull away... you’ve always got that trump card up your sleeve.”
“Trump card?”
“The pregnancy, of course. You weren’t planning on telling him yet, were you?”