Her exasperated sigh was punctuated by a half laugh. “You’re persistent, aren’t you?”
“Competition junkie and ex-lawyer,” he confirmed.
“Why would you want to spend the day with me?” She seemed well and truly baffled by the idea.
“Well, apart from the fact that you’re interesting, intelligent, and quite willing to dish out as good as you get—which I appreciate, by the way—you remind me of how I used to be, and I consider it a personal mission in life to save workaholics from themselves. Travis is a lost cause today, but you’re not. So, how ’bout it?”
~*~
“Where are we going?” asked Isabelle.
“Equipment rental to check out our options,” he said, zipping up the jacket she’d given back. “Under ordinary circumstances, I’d take you ice skating, but there’s nowhere to do that at this particular resort.”
“Too bad. That I can sort of do without breaking anything vital.”
“Doubly too bad,” said Brandon, flashing a flirtatious grin. “I’d enjoy teaching you.”
“Do a lot of that, do you?”
“Not especially, but it’s a classic winter move for a reason.”
Isabelle made a non-committal hum but found herself rather unwillingly charmed. She couldn’t figure out how he’d done that, how he’d convinced her to spend this time with him. Hot, flirtatious guys were Leah’s department, not hers. Yet here she was.
“So,” he asked, “is there anybody special who’s going to be upset by my monopolizing your time today?”
That was as good an opening as she’d ever get to test him. Better to find out now that he was typical before this went any further. “Well, there’s Devin.”
“Devin?”
Isabelle felt her lips quirk. “Mmm. He’s a firefighter. Has some issues, but he’s working through them. Heart of gold.”
Brandon actually stopped.
Isabelle tried to hold back the grin as she pivoted to face him. “Of course, he’s in love with Tess, which, if pattern holds, means he ought to be admitting it to himself in another ten or twelve thousand words. But probably not until her life is threatened by the serial arsonist on the loose.”
“I—” He didn’t seem to know how to reply to that, and the look on his face had her laughing.
“Devin is my current book boyfriend.”
“Book boyfriend?” Brandon repeated.
“Devin’s the hero of the sub I was reading before you clocked me. Pretty sure I’ll be making an offer on it if his author nails the ending. But that depends on how she handles the arsonist.” Isabelle smiled sweetly. “One of the perks of being a romance editor. I get to change boyfriends as fast as I can read and don’t have to worry about them leaving dirty socks in the floor.”
She waited for the sneer and smart ass remark that denigrated the genre and implied that no breathing man could live up to the fictional hype and expectations.
Brandon seemed to consider her words. “So what I’m hearing is there’s nobody who will fly into a jealous rage and try to kick my ass?”
“Not presently, no.”
He nodded and fell into step beside her again. “Good.”
Huh. So not the reaction she was accustomed to getting from guys about her job. Wonders will never cease.
“So romance, huh?” The question was casual.
Isabelle didn?
?t buy that for a minute. Next it would be Why don’t you read real books? “Yep.” I knew he was too good to be true.