ended his call. “Get everything you need?”
“I sure hope so.” She lifted her chin in the direction of his carts. “I see you must have gotten one of everything.”
His eyes crinkled in the corners. “A few things.” He stepped away toward a cab that was lined up at the curb. The driver got out and opened the trunk.
“You think there will be enough room?” Alexis asked with a laugh.
“We’ll make it fit. Won’t we?”
Her eyes leaped to his face, but he was concentrating on getting the bags into the trunk. The muscles of his arms and back flexed as he lifted and deposited each sack. A lick of heat flamed in the center of her stomach. She swallowed.
“All in,” he said, turning toward her with a glimmer in his eyes. “Off we go, eh?” He shut the trunk and opened the cab door for her. Alexis slid in and moved over to make room for Graham.
Gone was the scent of his enticing cologne. It was replaced with a cool water fragrance that was even more alluring in its subtlety. She licked her lips.
“Liking the flat so far?”
She blinked rapidly and focused on him. “It’s fabulous. More than I could have ever imagined. I can’t thank you enough for arranging it.”
“You do a good job for R.E.A.L. and that will be thanks enough.” He smiled ever so slightly.
Alexis linked her fingers together on her lap while her gaze flicked across his face.
Within moments the taxi was pulling up in front of their building. Glen hurried toward the cab with a luggage cart and helped to unload the bags of groceries and wheeled them inside.
“Don’t know whose is whose,” Alexis said.
“We can sort it all out upstairs.”
They followed Glen onto the elevator. “Where to first?”
“Stop by my flat first, then you can help Ms. Montgomery.”
“Sure thing, Mr. Stone.”
They rode the elevator to Graham’s floor while Glen whistled some off-tune melody. Exiting, Alexis followed the two men down the hall to Graham’s apartment. He opened the door. Alexis lingered at the threshold.
“Come on in. You can help sort through.”
Alexis came in and looked around. The set up was similar to hers but the decor was decidedly different. Graham’s furnishings were in a deep chocolate. A leather sectional that could easily seat ten dominated the living space. At least she thought it did until her gaze landed on the mammoth television. She held back a laugh. Boys and their toys. One wall was covered from floor to ceiling with a bookcase that held at least two hundred books. Impressive. She wondered if he’d read them all. The tabletops held framed photos of Graham in a variety of situations. Most were with people who she believed were students, in others he was at banquets, and there were several with senators and one with President Obama.
Graham and Glen sifted through the bags and deposited all that belonged to Graham on the kitchen floor and on the counters.
“All done,” Graham announced by the time Alexis made her way to the unloading zone. “Glen will take yours down to your place.”
“Thanks. When did you get to meet with the president?” she asked while Glen wheeled her groceries to the door.
“I was on his education committee during his first term. That particular photo was taken during a fund-raising dinner for his second term.”
“You travel in pretty high circles. I had no idea you were part of the education committee.”
“It’s not something that I broadcast.”
“Why not during his second term?”
“As much as I wanted to help President Obama further his agenda, it took me away from mine. My focus needed to return to R.E.A.L.”
She nodded her head in understanding. “Good choice.”
He grinned. “I’m glad you think so.”
“Good night.”
“Good night.”
Graham stood in his doorway and waited until the elevator door swished closed. He slowly shut his door and hoped that he hadn’t made an awful mistake in hiring Alexis Montgomery.
* * *
Alexis had finished putting away her groceries, seasoned a piece of salmon and was waiting for it to finish broiling when her doorbell chimed. She frowned, wiped her hands on a towel and went to the door and pulled it open.
“Graham. Mr. Stone.”
“Graham is fine.” He held up one of the Gristedes bags. “This was mixed in with mine.” He extended the bag that was filled with salad greens.
“I thought it might be with your things. Thank you. I could have come up and gotten it.”
“Not a problem. Mmm, something smells good.”
“I have some salmon broiling.” She paused. “You’re welcome to join me if you want. There’s plenty.”
“Thank you but I’d probably fall asleep. Jet lag is beginning to catch up with me.”
She wanted to run her fingers across the expanse of his chest...just to see if it was as hard as she imagined. She smiled instead. “I totally understand. Get some rest.” She took the bag. “Thanks.”
“Enjoy the rest of your weekend.”
“You, too.”
Alexis slowly closed her apartment door then rested her head against it and shut her eyes. They were going to wind up in bed together, and there was nothing that either of them could do about it. That she knew for sure. What she didn’t know was if she’d be able to keep her job the morning after.
Chapter 4
“Finer than Ian?” Naomi squeaked in disbelief.
“Yes. They haven’t invented the word to describe the man.” Alexis put her feet up on the couch and snuggled into girl-talk mode. She reached for her glass of wine and took a sip.
“Details, details. Let me live vicariously.”
Alexis giggled and then began to fill Naomi in from the moment they met in the car to his dropping off her misplaced groceries.
“Sounds yummy, and a Brit accent, too. Got a little Idris Elba thing going on. Is he single? No, forget that question. You know that mixing business with pleasure is always a disaster.”
Alexis sighed. “I know. Bad business for all concerned. Great if it works, a nightmare when it doesn’t.” She finished off her
