by Ann, Natalie
“You. You are such a little homemaker. You’re going to make some lucky man the perfect wife.”
“Sure. Someday. If I can find someone that isn’t such a jerk.”
Brynn laughed. Carly did have bad taste in men. Brynn never really understood why Carly was so hard to please. Those that were close to her would have never figured her as the picky type.
Either way, Carly was the settling-down type. She loved kids, loved to cook and loved taking care of people. Someday someone would appreciate it and not take advantage of it at the same time. At least she hoped, because that was the one thing she always noticed with the men Carly dated—they took advantage of her caring nature.
“Anyway,” Carly interrupted Brynn’s laugh. “How was your day?”
“It was great. I can’t thank you enough for telling me about this job. I don’t want to jinx myself, but it seems too good to be true. The Harpers seem almost too perfect.”
“They’re nice. Not too cocky or full of themselves. They may seem it to some people, but they’re pretty down to earth.”
“How do you know?” Brynn asked, frowning.
“I grew up here. So did they. They grew up on the lake.”
“But they’re older than us, right?”
“Yeah. Six years, I think. One of my friend’s sisters dated Alec. Ellen is four years older than us, so I’m pretty sure he is two years older than her.”
“When did they date?” Brynn asked, not sure why she was suddenly annoyed to find out Alec dated someone Carly knew. It’s not like she was interested in him.
“High school, sometime. Why?”
“Oh. No reason.” Brynn looked away and picked up the fork to dish up some salad, hoping that Carly didn’t notice the heat rising in her cheeks at the thought of him.
“I’m just going to throw this chicken on the grill. I’ll be back in a minute.”
True to her word, Carly returned a minute later and sat at the table where she could keep an eye on the chicken grilling on the deck. “So tell me more about your day.” Brynn giggled again. “What?” Carly asked, not doing well at hiding her annoyance.
“Sorry. It’s just funny. Kind of like ‘honey, I’m home.’ It’s cute; don’t worry about it.”
“Cute.” Carly snorted. “Great, cute.”
“I need a glass of wine. Do you want one?”
“Sure. And since you’re determined to laugh at me, I’ll let you get up and wait on me.”
“Deal,” Brynn replied with a little snicker.
Once seated back down at the table and sipping her wine, Brynn started. “I spent most of my day organizing my office. Alec is kind of a slob. Not so much the office as a whole, but his desk. He didn’t seem to mind that I was rearranging things. Surprisingly, he was pretty nice about it and said he would try to put everything back in its place.”
“How did you feel about the mess on his desk? Did your eye start to twitch like it normally does when something isn’t organized just right?”
Shaking her head, Brynn said, “No. But when I climbed in his truck it did.” Brynn was trying not to remember how messy Alec’s truck was. She opened the front door and saw an empty coffee cup on the seat along with a few pieces of paper scattered about and some discarded food wrappers. When he grabbed the empty cup and tossed it into the backseat of his four-door truck, she’d tried not to cringe. She wished her eyes had never followed the cup into the backseat.
More empty balled-up food bags, papers and empty coffee cups, along with empty water bottles, were rolling around haphazardly. To his credit, he did have the grace to look embarrassed. He actually flushed slightly, but then shrugged and laughed.
“You mean you didn’t start cleaning it up for him?” Carly joked. “How did you contain yourself?”
“It was hard, but I managed. I just hope he is true to his word and puts things back in the office. Though, he isn’t there that often, so it might not be that big of an issue.”
“Why are you blushing?”
“I’m not blushing,” Brynn rushed out.
“Yes, you are. That is the second time I caught a blush when you said something about Alec.”
Damn. Brynn forgot there wasn’t much she could hide from Carly. “It’s just a bit warm in here,” she lied.
“Bull.” What was Brynn thinking, that Carly was a pushover? She wasn’t, at least she never was with Brynn. Carly pointed a finger and said in a sing-song voice, “You think your boss is cute.” Carly spent way too much time around young kids. Right now, pointing her finger and jumping around, she looked like one of her students.
“Grow up,” Brynn said, trying to keep a straight face, but she couldn’t, and gave in and smiled. “So what? What’s wrong with thinking he’s attractive? I’d have to be dead not to notice.”
“And there are two of them, you know?” Carly said back, wiggling her eyebrows.
“Ha, good one.”
“Are they single? Maybe we can double date,” Carly said on her way to check on the chicken.
When she returned, Brynn answered, “I don’t know. It’s not something you usually ask your boss, or any co-workers, because nothing can or will come of it. He’s my boss. He is really nice. So far, everyone has been. This is my dream job, so there is absolutely nothing I’m going to do to blow this. Besides, he’s not even my type. You know I steer clear of men like him and you know why.”
She refused to be pushed out of another job, and she’d be damned if she’d let a good-looking guy mess anything up for her.
***
“Thanks for coming over to help, Phil,” Alec said to his brother. They’d had a long day, but Alec was itching to finish up the last bathroom in the house he was flipping, and he needed another set of hands. He could have easily paid one of the guys to put in some more overtime, but he always asked Phil. He could count on Phil when needed.
“Not a problem.”
Together they lined up the glass doors while Phil held them and Alec secured them in place. “The house is coming along.” Phil wiped his hands on his pants now that he wasn’t holding the glass up.
“It’s getting there,” Alec said. “It’s always nice to get the kitchen and baths done. Having the master suite finished before I moved in made it easier. I can live here and work at my own pace, but now things are moving faster.”
“How long are you going to stay here when it’s done?”
“Don’t know yet. What do you think? Sell or rent?” He was always buying and flipping houses. Even though they were Alec’s side projects, they still fell under Harper Construction. In the end, they would decide together whether to sell for a profit, or hold on to it and add it to their rentals.
“Have you priced out houses in the area? Do people rent around here?” Phil asked.
Alec loved the old two-story house when he bought it, but Phil made a good point about there not being any rentals that he knew of in the area. They were all single-family homes. Though he wouldn’t know personally if someone rented a house or not. “Maybe I’ll have Brynn look into it for me.”
“That works. She seems to know her real estate. I’m sure she could find out easy enough.”
“You know, Phil, hiring her might have been the best thing we’ve done.”
Phil laughed. “After one day you can say that?”
“What, you don’t like her?”
“I didn’t say that,” Phil replied. “I just think that is a pretty bold statement to make after one day.” Phil held a hand up. “Yes, she is very organized. I noticed that today and I’m hoping it rubs off on you.” Phil ducked when Alec tossed the tape he pulled off the glass at him. “Anyway, I do like her, and I’m pretty sure she is Sean’s favorite person right now with her HOA suggestion. All in all, I think it’s going to work out just fine.”
Knock, knock, knock. Alec heard Sophia, Phil’s girlfriend and their sister Kaitlin’s best friend, walking into the house on some seriously high heels by the sounds of the clicking on the floo
r.
They both turned to see her standing in the doorway carrying a pizza box and looking gorgeous in her business suit. His brother was one lucky man. “Hey there, shorty,” Alec said, fondly calling her that.
She replied back with her usual, “You wouldn’t think I was so short, if you weren’t so tall,” then walked past him and leaned around the pizza box to kiss Phil.
“Where’s my kiss?” Alec asked.
“Dinner’s not enough?” But she laughed and walked over, then gave him a kiss on the cheek. He really did love her. He’d never seen his brother so happy. Ever. Sophia was perfect for Phil and he tried to fight back the bout of envy that rose high in his chest.
“Dinner never compares to getting a kiss from a gorgeous woman.”
“You’re a smooth one,” she said, laughing and tossing her hair over her shoulder—flirting with him a bit. Just like old times. “The place looks great, Alec. The kitchen is beautiful, but you’ve got no appliances.”
“It’s not like he needs them,” Phil said. “He doesn’t cook.”
“I don’t need to cook. I can buy what I need already made, or I go bum dinner off of Mom or Kaitlin, but I was supposed to have them by now. When the delivery came last week they were the wrong ones.”
“You are more than welcome to come to dinner any time you want, Alec,” Sophia offered and his heart swelled.
“Thanks. I might take you up on that.”
“I’ll go set the pizza in the kitchen and let you two finish up what you need to in here, then get out of your way.” She stopped and leaned up for another kiss from Phil. “I’ll see you at my place in a bit.”
“Bye,” Phil said as she walked out. “How did I get so lucky?”
“I don’t know, but tell me if you ever figure it out,” Alec told him.
A Keeper
A few days later, Alec stopped in the office midday. He’d been by a few times, but it was before or after office hours, so he hadn’t run into anyone. Now he needed to stop in and get some paperwork taken care of and reply to some emails.
He stood in the doorway, astonished. It looked completely different. The paint colors were the same, the shelving units were the same, but everything was neatly lined up on the shelves with labels under each binder or box, if not on the binder or box itself. The windows had curtains on them—not frilly girly curtains, but more neutral and looking just about right.
Brynn was typing away on her computer, facing the doorway. She lifted her eyes up briefly, offered him a smile, and stopped typing. “I’m sorry. Is it too much change?”
He walked in and sat at his desk. “No, not at all. It looks great in here, it really does.” Looking down at his desk, he saw all the neat piles of papers lined up perfectly and sectioned off by topic.
“I didn’t touch your desk. So if there is something you need, or can’t find, you’ll have to ask Mary.”
Before Alec could reply, Mary could be heard yelling from the reception area, “You are on your own if you mess that up. I’m not doing it again.”
He laughed and said back, loudly, “I never asked you to do it in the first place. But thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” Mary replied after she snorted.
Alec glanced over and saw Brynn trying to hide her smirk before going right back to her typing. While he booted up his computer, he pulled out a bunch of scraps of paper that had notes on them he had scribbled on during the week from calls he had received. One by one he arranged them in order, smoothing out the wrinkles as best he could.
He turned sharply when he felt Brynn’s stare on him. Just as fast, she dropped her head. Arranging the pieces some more, and trying to figure out what each message meant, he looked over at Brynn. “Could you show me that app that you used on your phone?”
“Excuse me?”
“That app that you used on your phone the other day. You said you take notes on it, along with your computer and tablet, right? They all link together?”
“Yes.”
“I have a tablet on site with me. I hate typing on my phone, but I don’t mind the tablet. I could just use that and it will all show up on my computer, right?”
He saw her fighting to keep a straight face. “Yes,” she replied. “It works like that. I’ll be happy to set it up on your computer and tablet if you want to bring that in from your truck.”
“Thanks.”
“We can link all of us together, too, so if you are on-site you can send me a message and it will show up on my phone, computer or laptop, whichever device I have open. And if none are, I’ll get a notification when I do open it. Instant messages of sorts. Or you can just send me notes that way.”
“Really? Hey, Phil,” he yelled. “Get in here.”
He could hear Phil’s chair push back from the office next to his, then a second later Phil was in the doorway. “What’s up?”
“Brynn has this app that we can all use and link together for notes and messages. What do you think?”
Phil shook his head. “I think you are way behind the times.” Then he turned to Brynn. “Which app do you use?”
The name meant nothing to Alec, but next thing he knew Phil and Brynn were exchanging information to link together. He didn’t care, as long as it worked. Then maybe he could get rid of all these pieces of paper.
“Are you all done schooling me on technology now?” Phil asked, lifting his eyebrow.
“Yes. Go back to your hole in the wall and hide away from the rest of us.”
“He doesn’t hide from everyone,” Alec heard his sister, Kaitlin, say from the hallway. She walked up to the doorway, followed by Sophia and their mother.
“What are you doing here? Don’t you work?” Alec asked as he watched Kaitlin cradling her belly that was much bigger than it seemed the last time he saw her. Which was less than a week ago.
“I had a doctor’s appointment and dragged mom and Sophia with me. They wanted to see the babies fighting.”
“What, pretty boy didn’t want to see his kids?” Alec asked, laughing. He and his brothers Phil and Ben always called Kaitlin’s husband “pretty boy.” They grew up together and were close. Ryan had always been prettier than most.
“He had court today.”
“Besides,” his mother interrupted, “I don’t get to go to that many appointments. We decided to make it a girls’ day.”
Isabel stepped into the room, followed by Kaitlin, and then Sophia walked up and gave Phil a kiss. “Brynn, this is my mother, Isabel Harper, Phil’s girlfriend, Sophia, and my sister, Kaitlin. That big watermelon in front of her is my niece and nephew, waiting to make an appearance. Which by the way, looks to be any day now.”
“Bite your tongue,” Kaitlin scolded. “They aren’t ready yet. They need to cook another four weeks at minimum; then it’s safe. Eight more weeks would be perfect, but I’m not sure I can make it myself. All they do is fight,” she said pouting.
“Get used to it,” his mother said.
“This is Brynn Palmer,” Alec said, before his mother could go off on a tangent on how they were as kids.
“It’s nice to meet you,” Brynn said, standing up and walking over attempting to shake hands, only Isabel pulled her forward and gave her a kiss on the cheek.
“We’re like family here, no need to be so formal.”
Brynn looked slightly uncomfortable, but as always, Isabel put her at ease. “It looks wonderful in here, so I hope Alec can keep it this way. Don’t look in his truck.”
Brynn’s eyes twinkled mischievously, then she said, “I’ve been in his truck already.”
“And you’re still here. She’s a keeper then,” Isabel said, turning to Alec.
“Yes, she is,” Alec replied, turning his grin back to Brynn.
***
Brynn was watching the byplay around the room. She didn’t know what she was more shocked at: Phil’s girlfriend, who looked more like a pin-up model in a business suit, Kaitlin, who was just as stunning and looked like her brothe
rs, or Isabel, who didn’t seem old enough to be their mother, or look like someone who had four adult children.
But Alec was right when he said Brynn’s mother and Isabel Harper would have gotten along just fine. Isabel was friendly and sweet and quick to put her at ease. Not to mention not afraid of putting her son in his place.
And the look of love in Alec’s eyes while he teased his mother and sister just warmed her immensely. Who didn’t love a guy that had a soft spot for his mother? Or his entire family for that matter. Alec was turning into someone that was sweeter than she imagined.
The women quickly said their goodbyes, Phil following them out of the room. She could hear them laughing in Phil’s office and making fun of Alec being such a slob. She was glad to know she wasn’t the only one who thought he was. At least he seemed to be able to take it in stride.
Even better was the fact he was trying to be more organized. His inquiring on the app was a step in the right direction in her mind. She intended to suggest it at another time when she was more settled in the office, but this worked out just as well.
Looking over at Alec, she saw him typing an email and went back to sit at her desk. “Can you let me know a good time when we can meet and talk about a few things?”
“Now’s good,” he said.
“I’ll let you finish what you’re doing first.”
“Thanks. I won’t be long.”
Twenty minutes later, he pushed back from his desk and placed his hands on his stomach, tipping back in his chair. “Shoot,” he said to her.
She wasn’t used to the casualness of things, but if he was fine with it, so was she. “Sean gave me a list of projects that he and Mary have open. Things they thought I could take care of. I ran a few of them by Phil, and he told me to deal with all the new builds, so I’ve got a few calls out and some appointments set up there, but right now I also have five rehabs and remodels. I wasn’t sure how you wanted to handle them. Do you want me to set up an appointment that works for you? Or do you want to take care of it?”
