He had been Drew’s best friend since infancy. His sister Amy’s fiancé, before her death in the crash. The one constant force in hislife.
And he was the only man Drew had everloved.
He sighed. “Let Margaret know I’ll handleit.”
Peter nodded. “Last thing on the list is the Macauley case. Katrina handled the depositions last week. You’ll find everything on the drive. But Turner is handing out Federal subpoenas like candy, so I’m pretty sure there’ll be anotherround.”
Drew rubbed the spot between his eyebrows where a headache was starting to brew. Never a good sign this early in the day. “Get Devi on it, too,” he instructed. “He needs the practice, and Crista’s going out on maternity leave in February, so it’s time to bring him up tospeed.”
Peter nodded at his tablet again, and Drew tapped his pen on the desktop impatiently. “I have a bunch of HR stuff to work on today - personnel requests and employeereviews.”
“Thought the reviews were due to HR before Christmas,” Peter countered. Drew pursed his lips and pretended to make a note on the pad in front ofhim.
“Mr. Kelley. Consistently. Challenges. Authority,” he said aloud, and Peter snorted but didn’t move from hisseat.
“Something else?” Drew asked, nodding toward the tablet, and Peter hesitated, butnodded.
“You got an email from a MarkCharbonnier.”
Charbonnier… the name was vaguely familiar, but Drew couldn’t place it. He shrugged as he pulled the top file from the short stack at the side of his desk. “Is he from one of those charity things my mother contributes to? She’s in Martinique through the New Year, so they’ll have to wait for adonation.”
“Not a charity, aman. Apparently he met you atThe Stationback in November,” Peter saidblandly.
Drew’s eyes flew to Peter’s, a clash of brown on brown, and he felt an unaccustomed blush climb hischeeks.
The Station was an upscale gay bar not far from Union Square. It was, as its name implied, not a place where you’d want to linger, but a quick stopping point between loneliness and a fast fuck. The kind of place Drew generally avoided, except when he was desperately trying to gain a little perspective on the stupid, juvenile, ridiculous brush of lips that had turned his mind inside out onHalloween.
Spoiler: it hadn’tworked.
Drew could barely remember the guy who’d approached him that evening - couldn’t recall his features well enough to make a police sketch. Had they even exchanged numbers? Had Drew really been distracted and foolish enough to give the guy his full name?God.
“What the hell is he emailingyoufor?”
Peter gaze was implacable. “You likely told him your name and where you worked, and he looked up your email address in the business directory so he could ask you out to dinner. Sounds pretty resourcefulanddedicated.”
Ugh. Or desperate and stalkerish. Drew opened the file in front of him. “I have no idea who he is. Tell him thanks, but nothanks.”
For once, Peter remained still, making no move to note anything in his tablet ofdoom.
“Or forward the email to me and I’ll handle it,” Drew sighed. It wasn’t fair to ask his assistant to clean up his personal messes, afterall.
“I have no problem taking care of it. But I’m wondering if… Don’t kill me, but there was a picture with theemail.”
Drew blinked and looked up. “Apicture?”
“The guy is quite good-looking,” Peter continued matter-of-factly, though his own face burned scarlet. “Like…” He cleared his throat. “Well, if I’m being frank, he’s hot ashell.”
Drew threw his pen down on the desk and leaned back in his chair. “Oh?” he drawled, reluctantlyamused.
Peter nodded, clearly beyond all propriety now. “Insanely so. Hot enough that I forwarded the picture to my boyfriend, who confirmedit.”
“Thoughtful of you to undertake independent confirmation,” Drew saidwryly.
“How long have I worked here?” Peter demanded, sitting forward, his serious eyes locked on Drew. “Never mind, I’ll tell you. It’s been over a year. And in all that time, while I’ve been keeping your schedule, do you know how many guys you’ve dated for any length of time? One: Cam Seaver. And evenIknew that was some kind of crazy grief-inducedinterlude.”
Drew bristled. After the crash, it had seemed oddly right and normal to him that he and Cam, his best friend’s brother, would turn to each other. Comfort each other. Cam had just lost his parents, the same way Drew had lost Amy. And Sebastian… well, Sebastian had checked-out on both of them for a longwhile.
But Cam had realized how wrong they were for each other long before Drew had - Drew’s need to protect and comfort had driven Cam batshit, and the wordcontrol freakhad been tossed back and forth more than once. All in all, Drew was happy that Cam had found his boyfriend Cort, and that their friendship had survived intact, but he didn’t appreciate being reminded of hismistakes.
