“Lucky Brad,” he said.“But I wasn’t talking about him.”
She rolled her eyes.“When I said we had to talk, I didn’t mean about me.I brought up the marriage thing.Sorry.My bad.It was an accident.”
“Doesn’t bother me.I like getting to know you.Tell me about your husband.”
“Tell me about your work.”Because it was more relevant to the moment… and their relationship.“What do you do?Or more to the point, what do you want me to do?”
“I’m an architect,” he said, moving from the front door to the living room.“How old were you when you got married?”
“An architect?”Her face scrunched.“Don’t architects work from fancy offices in intimidating high-rises?”
“Not this one,” he said.“I take on unique projects and see them through from inception to turnkey.”
“Really?”she asked, picking up her coffee when the machine was done.“That’s unusual.Do you have a team?”
“Yes,” he said.“People I trust.”
“But you don’t work from an office?”
“Why would we?”he asked.“I don’t pick people based on geographical location.If we have to come together on a site, it can be anywhere on the planet.What does their permanent zip code matter?”
“Fair point,” she said, raising one shoulder in a half shrug, going around to turn one of the island stools to sit down.“So what do you want me to do?”
He came over to sit perpendicular to her.“Tell me about your husband.”
She turned her stool to him.“You don’t want to know about him.”
“I do.I really do,” he said.“I’d love to learn more about the guy who got you down the aisle… and how he fucked it up.”
“How do you know he fucked it up?”she asked, raising her cup to her lips.“Maybe I fucked it up.”
“That where your affair with the married guy comes in?”
“Can we talk about work?”she asked, putting down her cup to cross to the closed patio doors.“Can I open these?”
“You could try,” he said, getting up to join her.
It was only when his arm came between her and the doors that she noticed the fingerprint lock.
“All this tech not cost a fortune?”
“A friend owed me a favor,” he said, returning to the island.“You don’t like talking about yourself.”
“And you don’t like talking about your work.What do you need an assistant for?”
“Brooker came about through a friend of a friend… of a brother.”
She inhaled the fresh air.Having such outside space was a rarity in a busy city.It would be at a premium.This guy had to be worth plenty… Nice that he didn’t come across as one of those money flashing guys.
“What does that mean?”she asked.
“That I only employ Brooker for a friend.”
Still, she didn’t get it.“So you don’t need Brooker?”
“I don’t tend to use agencies,” he said.“I like to get my own measure of a person.”
“That why you keep scaring Brooker people away?Your aversion to agencies?”
