Blade was still in the meeting come lunchtime. I ordered him his typical meal—salad and strip steak—and set it in the mini fridge I kept at my desk then continued to work. Being a personal assistant wasn’t difficult, though I would rather be planning weddings. I arranged for several of Blade's suits to be taken to the dry cleaner and made sure that groceries had been delivered to his condo. Even though I hadn’t ever thought about being a personal assistant, I found the work soothing. I had an elaborate spreadsheet of Blade’s dislikes and preferences. It was comforting to have that all planned out months in advance, and I did feel an odd sense of pride that I was able to keep his life running smoothly. It was almost like having a husband, just without having to literally pick his clothes up off the floor.
A faint whiff of cologne bumped me out of my fantasies.
“You still smell like a sixteen-year-old boy,” I said, not looking up from my screen.
Blade grunted. I handed him his lunch.
“I need a car this afternoon to go to Svensson Investment.”
“Already ordered and waiting for you downstairs.” I gestured, the watch twisting on my wrist. It had originally been made for a man, another clue that my father had just rummaged in the garbage for my graduation gift. He, of course, had bought my half sister a house.
Blade was still standing there. His gray eyes were intense, fixated on the watch.
“Where did you get that?” he asked, voice a low drone.
“My father.”
“He must like you.”
“Look at you making a funny! Aren’t you clever?”
Blade tilted his head in confusion. I shrugged.
“I guess my dad thought he would hurt me by giving me a crappy present. Joke’s on him! I just pretend that it’s the best thing ever!”
Blade grunted.
“You better go. Don’t want your brother Greg to worry. Eat in the car; you don’t want to deal with your brothers hangry. And hydrate,” I added, standing up and handing him a bottle of water. “Also, just wanted to let you know that I have a family event tonight, so I won’t be here.” I smoothed my skirt.
Blade blinked at me. He truly was a man of very few words.
“You might want to work from home tonight. I haven’t yet demoralized the new crop of interns,” I said dryly.
I thought I saw a hint of a smirk on Blade’s face as he nodded. I’d never actually seen him smile, let alone heard him laugh. I twisted the watch as I watched Blade leave, tall form cutting gracefully through the open office.
Too bad you couldn’t bring him as your fake boyfriend. Cassie would lose it.
2
Blade
How had she acquired that watch?
That was the thing with Avery. Every time I thought I had her figured out, she did something to surprise me.
When she had first come in for an interview, she had been friendly and slightly snarky. The thing that had caught my attention, though, was that she had lied about everything on her resumé. Actually,liemight be too strong—it was more that she had so embellished the truth as to be insane. A one-day volunteer gig in a dog shelter had been exaggerated to her starting a completely new outreach initiative. It was blatant, audacious, and intriguing.
One could not deny, however, that Avery was a good assistant. Though she talked to me as if I were a preschooler or an unintelligent puppy, my life ran a lot more smoothly now that she was around.
At first, I had thought she had been a plant from one of the Holbrooks. They were after the Harris & Schultz contract, same as my company. But then I had discovered that she had applied there too. There was no way the Holbrook cousins would have let her leave with that watch. Grant Holbrook would have bought it from her first chance he had.
I loved watches; I collected them, especially Patek Philippe, the brand of Avery’s watch. I owned almost every model—millions of dollars’ worth of watches. There was something comforting about them all lined up in the drawer. Unfortunately, I didn’t own the one on Avery’s wrist. There had been only a few made. A pilot’s watch, the stainless steel, pre-World War II utilitarian design was unique in comparison to the elaborate compilations Patek Philippe usually created. Grant Holbrook owned one of those watches. Several others were thought to have been lost. Now this one had resurfaced. I had to have it.
The intern, Kitty, appeared next to me, jarring me out of my thoughts.
“Mr. Svensson,” she said with a high-pitched giggle, lightly resting her hand on my arm. “I was trying to find you this morning!”
I glared at Kitty, and she jerked her hand back. That was the other thing I appreciated Avery for—she kept the women away. My brother Weston, my Irish twin, was my total opposite. Even when we were teenagers, he had gone through women like he went through alcohol. You would think that they would flock to him and leave me alone, but they had used any excuse to show up in my office. Especially when I worked late, a gaggle of them liked to hang around. I had mentioned it offhandedly to Avery once, and she started staying late if she knew I was. I had found it an oddly touching gesture.
