Harper walked among them, her honey-blonde hair bouncing with every step. She headed to a modest, gray sedan and slipped behind the wheel. I stayed at the window, keeping watch over her until she left the parking lot and disappeared from view.
“Nice view?” Julian appeared beside me, a broad smile and cackling laugh bringing joy to an otherwise boring day.
Alexander knocked once and walked in, his strides long and purposeful. He marched straight over to the liquor cabinet and took out my oldest Scotch. He poured a full glass, much to Julian’s amusement.
“What the fuck, Alexander?” I marched over and took the decanter from him. “This is a thousand-dollar bottle and you’re drinking it like cheap beer. Do youwantto be knocked on your ass? Because this stuff packs one hell of a punch.”
“I do believe our friend is having a mental crisis.” Julian crossed his arms, his smile growing wider by the second. “Thinking about last night?”
Alexander flipped him off and gulped the Scotch. His throat worked in a series of swallows that took down half the glass before he lowered it. “We need to talk about last night.”
“When can we do it again?” Julian arched a brow when I swiveled to face him. “Don’t give me that fucking look. We had the time of our lives with Harper. One night is not going to be enough. We all know it.”
“It has to be.” Alexander ripped the decanter from my hand and topped off his glass. Once he filled it to the brim, he slammed it back, refilled it again, and marched over to the couch. He sat on the edge, his gaze tearing around the room. “She’s fuckingeverywhere.”
“It was a hell of a night.” I poured myself a drink and raised the decanter toward Julian.
He nodded and pushed away from the window. “So when do we see her again?”
“We don’t.” Alexander stopped gulping Scotch like it would save him and took a leisurely sip. He leaned into the sofa and draped his arm over the back, in the exact spot where he’d bent Harper over the edge. “We need to stick to the rules. No in-office relationships. We made those rules, and we need to uphold them. If we don’t, how can we make anyone else?” He shook his head in a slow side to side motion. “We never should have broken them in the first place.”
“The hell with that.” Julian took the whiskey I’d poured for him and dropped onto the couch next to Alexander. “Did you see her last night? Did youhearher?”
“I heard everything,” Alexander growled through clenched teeth.
I’d never seen him like this. Not once in our long friendship.
“We’re supposed to be setting an example for our employees. Do you have any idea the repercussions, how this would tarnish our reputation if word got out that we”—he circled his finger to include all of us—“the CEOs are screwing our staff?”
“Just one.” Julian held up a finger and clinked his glass against Julian’s. “We’re screwing one employee. And you’re being a fucking goody two-shoes.”
I stayed out of the exchange long in favor of watching Alexander’s reactions. They were too hot, too emotional, and they didn’t match the fact we’d broken a rule that we created so we had an excuse to brush off too-eager employees who wanted to make names for themselves by sleeping with us.
“Alex.” The nickname punched through the silence and brought both men around to stare at me.
He turned the crystal glass around in his hands. “What?”
“What’s really bothering you?” I paced the room without really seeing any of it. I’d spent enough time here to know every nook from the slightly off-center bookshelf in the corner to the tiny crack in the drawer of my desk from the day I’d kicked it so hard I broke my toe. This room was more home to me than our penthouse.
“Nothing.” He took another swig of Scotch.
“Bullshit.” I swirled my drink around the glass and perched on the windowsill. “We’ve known each other since college. We’ve lived together for years. I know you. We’ve shared women before, so I know that’s not the issue. And we all know we’re not above breaking the rules whenever we fucking well please. So…what is this really about?”
Julian shot me a confused look but settled into the couch, crossing his ankle over his knee as he waited for Alexander to break.
Because he would. Alexander was a lot of things, but he never kept secrets from us. The world, yes, but not Julian or me.
I sipped my whiskey and remained perfectly still. Images of Harper danced through my head. I tried to push them aside to focus on Alexander, but she’d worked her way under my skin and it was all I could do not to shatter the glass in my hand with my need to touch her again.
Alexander palmed his mouth and sat back with a frustrated groan. “This is more than some forbidden office romance.” He sat forward and smacked his knees. His sudden inability to control himself said more than his words. Frustration reached a boiling point and tipped over. “She’s Peter’s daughter.” He spat the sentence at us like it was the worst kind of curse.
Julian’s foot bobbed up and down, concern digging a trench between his eyes.
These were their tells. Familiarity with them after years of friendship gave them both away within seconds. Julian ached to say something sharp and sarcastic, but he realized that wasn’t going to help Alexander.
I waited, patiently sipping my drink and giving Alexander the chance to speak the rest of his truth.
He dragged in a heavy lungful of air and stood, running a hand through his silvering hair over and over again. His gray eyes went distant and dark. “Is it an insult to his memory? What we did last night?” He paced toward me then turned on his heel and marched away. “We slept with his daughter. That has to break some kind of code.”
