“With whom?”
“Would you believe me if I said I mistook her for Snow?”
His eyes widened as he gripped my arm. “You can’t be serious. Do you think it was her?”
I leaned an elbow on the balustrade, recalling the meeting with the student. “I have no idea, but the resemblance was uncanny, just as my mother described.”
“Please tell me she was sexy, fuckable, at least.” His eyes flashed interest for someone he didn’t even know, let alone saw.
I laughed, shaking my head. “You’re an arse, and I’m going to be late. Now bugger off so I can get ready for work.”
“Why the fuck do you work? You’re fucking royalty at best,” he grumbled.
“The same reason you do, to—”
“I doubt that,” he snorted. “You don’t let titles and money get to your head. I, on the other hand, live for that fucking shit. I’m pretentious, you’re not. You have this nerve-wracking way of just being so bloody calm about everything. How the fuck do you do that?” his last words were more an accusation than admiration.
“Practice makes perfect, Rhett.” I shrugged, knowing that wasn’t the answer. My life was too complicated to let every little thing worry me. “Work. Fuck. Gym. Easy distractions.”
“See. So, fucking calmly said.” Face angled downward, he fiddled with his tie, hiding his expression. “I wish I had half that tolerance. Nothing goes my way, and I become a barking lunatic. You’re so goddamn unshakable.”
I frowned, sensing something else behind his words. “Why the fuck are you on my arse. What’s eating you? Besides the case, of course.”
“I want to live free, Seb.” I knew what he meant.
Sighing, I tilted my head back and looked heavenward, praying for a resolution to his bouts of despair. “Ease up on yourself, Rhett.” I glanced at him. “Soon, you’ll find a distraction. If nothing else, live for the moment. I do.”
“Until you meet her, right?” His smile was slight.
My brows furrowed inward. “Who?”
“Snow. The girl you saw.”
Throwing back my head, I let out a garrulous laugh. “Firstly, she was a student. You know my rules about the girls I fuck. Secondly, it was a mere glimpse, nothing concrete.” I squeezed his shoulder once more and walked away.
“Seriously?” He followed me indoors. “That’s all you’re giving me? Fuck, man, you know I need more. Our future depends on this.”
Clapping him lightly on the back, I walked him to the foyer. “We shouldn’t get our hopes up, Rhett or Murphy’s Law will fuck us in the arse, stand back and say I told you so. We need to let it all play out like—”
“We’ve been doing for years?” his tone dripped honeyed sarcasm.
“Squash on Friday?” I asked, pulling him out of his descent into regret and knowing he loved to challenge me at the game.
“You bet and you’re buying drinks after.”
I waved him off with a nod and then took the stairs two at a time to my bedroom on the third floor, wondering what the day had in store for me.
