I'm in It (The Reed Brothers 10)

I take her fingers in mine and clasp them loosely. “Do you have a purse?” I ask.

“No.”

“No?” I look at Henry and talk out the side of my mouth. “Don’t women usually carry purses?”

Henry chuckles. “Never doubt that a woman knows what she’s doing.” He taps his temple. “Particularly when she’s as smart as this one.”

“Your phone?” I ask Wren.

Her eyes twinkle at me. “Everything I could possibly need is in my bra.”

Henry shoves his fingers in his ears and sings out loudly, “I don’t want to know about your undergarments!”

“You wanted to know all about mine,” I remind him.

He laughs and rushes to open the door for us. “Don’t keep her out too late,” he says. He takes the flowers from her hand and says, “I’ll deliver these to your kitchen counter and I’ll put them in that pretty blue vase that’s in the cabinet.”

“Thank you, Henry,” she says, and she kisses him on the cheek. He preens under the weight of her attention. “I’ll see you tomorrow for lunch.”

A man falls into position behind us.

“Do you mind if we take my car and driver? He’s going to go with us.” She jerks her thumb toward the beast that’s walking about ten paces behind us. He’s as wide as a building and looks about as strong. “Security. Just in case. I promised my dad…” Her cheeks turn pink and she looks everywhere but at me.

“I love chaperones,” I tell her, although I really am not sure what to think about his presence. “Are we supposed to acknowledge that he’s here?”

“No,” she whispers back. “Pretend he’s not here. He likes it when we do that.”

I catch him rolling his eyes at her.

He walks around to the driver’s side and gets in.

She reaches for the door handle, but I cover her hand with mine. “Allow me,” I say. She pulls her hand back and looks at me through the fall of her hair.

“Thank you,” she says quietly.

“You took my breath away when the elevator doors opened,” I admit.

“Good,” she says. She grins. “Because I kind of sort of kind of maybe a little bit thought I was going to faint when I saw you standing there.”

She gets in the car and I stand there on the sidewalk trying to catch my breath. I scoot in and sit next to her.

“So, what’s our story tonight?” she asks. “How did we meet?”

“Well…” I scratch my head. “We could say my brother is married to your sister.”

“That’s boring.”

“So, you don’t want to just be two people on a date?” I kind of like that story.

“Snooze fest.” She makes a snorting noise through her nose that makes me laugh.

“I could tell them you’re a high-priced call girl.”

“Oh!” She claps her hands together. “I always wanted to be an escort. How much money do I make per date?”

“Thousands?”

She claps her hands again. “So, have you hired me before?”