Subject Request for Anton Betz: He broke up with me because his mother just died. Any advice on how to navigate this? —Member 37
Response from Member 258: He broke up with me more than a year ago...because his mother just died.
Need to Know admin staff: His mother is alive.
FOREST SAT AT his desk and turned his pen end over end, tapping each tip against the desk blotter as he stared at the note he made at the end of last week’s chain of phone calls—Jordan McAdam. Exactly five days after leaving the wedding, he discovered her full name. Getting her attention took another four days of planning, but today was the day.
He arrived at the office just after seven and two hours later he knew where she went to college, her job history and her current address. The receptionist at Jordan’s temp agency switched from chatty to oversharing without much prodding. Forest made a mental note to warn Jordan about that issue.
He spun his chair and stared out over the Potomac River through the wall of windows behind his desk. From his office on the Georgetown waterfront, he could glance to his left and see the famous Watergate and look across to Virginia. Expensive real estate in a historically protected former warehouse turned sought-after office building. Forest knew every inch of the place because he’d developed the property, leaving the top floor of the four-story structure for Redder Investments headquarters and carving out the best view dead in the middle for himself.
With all the information and resources at his disposal, he’d expected to locate Jordan sooner. He refused to see the unexpected delay as failure. It wasn’t as if he could ask Ryan what service he used to hire his office temp, though the guy did call often enough. Basically, every single day. He’d started with begging and now had entered the threatening phase. Not exactly a tactic that worked with Forest.
A sharp knock had Forest turning his chair around again in time to see Wen stroll in. He shut the door behind him while performing the same combination of frowning and head shaking he’d perfected more than fifteen years ago as captain of their prep-school lacrosse team.
Forest didn’t find it any less annoying now. “Problem?”
The frown deepened as Wen walked over and unbuttoned his suit jacket. He dropped down into the chair on the other side of the desk a second later. “You forget to tell me something?”
“You probably need to be more specific.” But Forest knew. His plan depended on Wen, even though Wen didn’t know that yet.
“I have an office temp sitting outside my door this morning.”
So, Jordan had risen to the challenge. Forest expected as much. Still, a wave of satisfaction spilled through him and he didn’t try to beat it back. “Yes.”
“Care to tell me why?”
Forest wasn’t really prone to explaining his actions, not even to his best friend of more than twenty years. He didn’t plan to start now. “No.”
“Let’s try it this way.” Wen exhaled and the chair creaked as he eased it into a balance on the back two legs. “My assistant has been assigned to some sort of project that, up until twenty minutes ago, I’d never heard of, which is strange since I’m a VP here.”
Forest glared at said VP until the front legs of the chair hit the carpet again. Then Forest jumped back into the conversation, or more appropriately, waded in, since he didn’t go in very far. “True.”
“Did I miss a meeting?”
“No.”
Wen rolled his eyes. “You care to explain what’s going on? Maybe use more than a one-word answer this time.”
“Not really.” Forest couldn’t help but smile as he fired that one off.
The tension that had been building on his friend’s side of the desk whooshed right out again when Wen started laughing. “Smartass.”
Forest sat back, prepared to duck any questions Wen lobbed his way. “As I’ve told you for years, I’d rather be a smartass than a dumbass.”
“I’ll refrain from responding to that,” Wen said. “But, really, what the hell is going on?”
The man was entitled to an explanation, edited as it may be. “Penny is working with the design team for the next week. She has the background and I know she’d eventually like to make the leap into that department, planning interiors and all that. I thought this might be a good time for her to try.”
“Interesting.” Wen’s smile didn’t falter. If anything, it became more pronounced.
Forest didn’t care for that at all. “Is it?”
“Please, don’t let me stop you.” Wen swept his hand out in an exaggerated flourish. “Keep providing this illuminating explanation.”
Yeah, not good at all. “With Penny gone, you needed a temporary assistant.”
“And?”
“That’s it. Now I’ve explained.” Forest brushed a nonexistent piece of lint off his sleeve to signal his general disinterest in the conversation.
“You skipped over the biggest part of your riveting tale.”
Forest’s head came up. Yeah, Wen’s stupid smile hadn’t slipped an inch. At times like these Forest wished Wen didn’t know him so well.
Wen finally shook his head. “You’re annoying as hell today.”
“Feel free to leave. You might want to take a look at the title on the door as your ass hits the hallway.”
“So, this is about Jordan.”
Jordan? Since when did Wen call her Jordan? She’d been in the office less than an hour. “Excuse me?”
“You think I didn’t notice you drooling over her back in Ryan’s office?” Wen scoffed. “I’ve seen you in action with women, including girlfriends and your fiancée.”
“Former fiancée.” Stella was very much an ex and would remain that way forever unless he lost his mind, and even then Forest had left orders for Wen to shoot him first.
“Point is, I know the look. You saw Jordan and your antenna went up.”
“Now, there’s a disturbing image.” Almost as annoying as the thing where Wen kept calling Jordan by her first name.
“Imagine how I feel having to watch you.”
“All I did was get you a temp.”
Wen’s eyebrow inched up. “You did? Last I checked, you barely know my assistant’s name.”
Damn it. “Human Resources did.”
“Uh-huh. And the temp in question just happens to the very hot brunette we met at Ryan’s office a week ago.”
Forest waved that one off. “Coincidence.”
“Yeah, stick with that response. It’s totally believable.”
“She needed a position and we had one open.” Never mind the fact she turned down the position the first time HR made the request to her agency last Friday. It wasn’t until Forest personally called and insisted on Jordan—like, pointed out any use of the temp agency in the future depended on this assignment being filled as requested—that she suddenly became available.
He could hardly wait to hear how Jordan’s office made that happen and what they promised Jordan to get her to show up today. And he would, because he intended to spend some time getting to know Jordan.
He had no idea what it was about her that tugged so hard at him. The D.C. metro area wasn’t exactly at a loss for pretty brunettes with shapely legs. But this one caught his attention in a way that kicked his ass. He hadn’t expected it and sure didn’t want it.
He blamed the wedding setting. Something about seeing her there, skulking around and evading questions, intrigued him. So did the fit of her body against his when they danced.
The way the energy thrummed off her and fire lit in her eyes as they exchanged verbal jabs. So fucking hot.
No doubt she would be wild in the bed. He could sense it. He sure as hell had played a fictional movie of it in his head enough times over the past week. Those legs wrapped around his waist and—
“In other words, you wanted to see her naked, so you stuck her in my office space.”
Forest almost jumped out of his chair when Wen’s voice screeched through his thoughts. It took two throat clearings before Forest trusted his voice. “What did you just say?”
“You do not want her here for business. Well, not Redder Investments business. Personal business.”
“If that were true, I would have put her outside my door as my temp. Close to me in my private office suite.” And the idea did have merit.
“No, you’re more subtle than that.”
In this case, just barely. “Not usually.”
“So, you don’t mind if I ask her out.”
The words bounced off the cherry bookshelves lining the wall. It took a second for the noise pounding in his head to die down, and a few minutes longer for Forest to wrestle the heat burning through him back under control. “She works for you, so yes. I would mind. She is off-limits because I’d prefer not to be sued.”
Wen barked out a laugh. “Damn, I’ve never seen you this transparent before.”
Forest had more than enough of Wen’s amusement for one day. “And you should get back to your office before I find someone else to fill it.”
“I agree.” Wen stood and rolled his shoulders back, generally making a show of heading out.
Forest knew that battle ended too easy, and when Wen spun around again, Forest hated being right. “Damn,” he mumbled under his breath.
“I’m just wondering how long it will be before you make up a reason to come visit me today.”
“I do own the company.” Though, at the moment Forest didn’t feel as if he was in charge of anything.
“But you’ve never used it as a dating service before.”
“I’m not now.” But the comment struck a little too close for Forest’s liking.
This was not about finding a date. This was about getting to the heart of the mystery that was Jordan. And if that included sex—and it better or he might lose his mind—that was just a bonus.
Wen’s stupid smile came roaring back. “I’m betting I see you by noon.”