“What kind of a favour?”
“I ran out of time to buy Rune a birthday gift, and my flight doesn’t get in until late tonight.”
Rune? Birthday? Alaric checked his watch just in case Ravi was wrong, or joking, or… Sure enough, it was May twelfth. Oh, sweet mother of fuck. How could he have forgotten?
He managed a weak, “That’s tomorrow?”
“You forgot your daughter’s birthday?”
Alaric wasn’t Rune’s biological father, but that didn’t matter. It was his name on her fake birth certificate, which meant he had certain responsibilities, albeit shared with the other men of Sirius. If it weren’t for Rune, there would be no Sirius.
“I’ll get a gift. Of course I’ll get a gift.” What was the time? Almost four o’clock. “Or maybe I could ask Barbara to pick something up.”
“Uh… No.”
“Why not? Running errands is literally part of her job.”
At first, they’d done all the admin themselves—organised meetings, answered the phone, booked travel, typed up reports—but as they got busier, they’d missed calls, missed flights, and missed spelling errors. A shared PA had seemed like a worthwhile investment, although they’d been through four in the last year thanks to Judd.
“Judd didn’t tell you?”
“Tell me what?” Alaric asked through gritted teeth.
“Barbara quit.”
“What? When? I spoke to her yesterday afternoon, and she was fine.”
“This morning.”
“Say he didn’t…”
Judd had managed to drive away every single one of Barbara’s predecessors, mostly by sleeping with them and then breaking their hearts, but occasionally by not sleeping with them and breaking their hearts. This time, Alaric, Ravi, and Naz had banned him from participating in the recruitment process entirely and hired a sixty-year-old spinster who hadn’t been genetically blessed in the looks department. Surely there wasn’t enough alcohol in the world for Judd to make a move on Barbara?
Ravi snorted out a laugh. “No, he went one better this time. After he got back from Brazil, he forgot to reset his watch, so when he woke up jet-lagged at eleven a.m., he thought it was seven o’clock and went downstairs to make himself a coffee.”
Alaric couldn’t hold back his groan. “He got dressed first, right? Threw on a robe or something? Underwear?”
“What do you think?”
“I’ll speak to Barbara. Promise it’ll never happen again. Did she run screaming?”
“No, she fainted and hit her head on the kitchen table. After Judd drove her to the emergency room, she made one of the nurses bring her a sheet of paper and a pen so she could write out her resignation letter. Judd said he’d pay her three months’ severance. Apparently, she needed eight stitches, and she’s moving to Sheffield to recuperate with her daughter.”
“We need to get a proper office.” Using Judd’s spare living room wouldn’t work anymore, and they were making decent money now. “There must be enough in the budget. Judd can hire someone else to water his plants and feed his cat while he’s away, and maybe, just maybe, we’ll be able to keep an assistant for longer than three months.”
“There’s enough in the budget, but don’t you think an assistant would get lonely on her own? None of us would ever use an office. At least at Judd’s place, there are people to talk to.”
That was a fair point. Judd had a constant stream of people going in and out of his Kensington townhouse. The cleaner was a regular fixture, and then there was his personal trainer, the decorators that always seemed to be working there, and an endless series of women. When Barbara wasn’t being treated to the sight of Judd’s bobbing cock, she’d spent half of her mornings organising cabs and occasionally providing a shoulder to cry on. Something else she hadn’t been happy about, and who could blame her? She’d signed up for typing and filing, not counselling.
“So what do you suggest? We just carry on as we are?”
“What about some sort of chastity device?”
“Sirius is an intelligence agency, not a BDSM club.”
The echo of a tannoy drowned out whatever retort Ravi made, and Alaric caught the words “gate” and “boarding.”
“Is that your flight?”
“Yeah, and it’s already late.” A woman said something to Ravi in the background. “What, I can’t take the water with me? But I just bought it at the kiosk right here.” More muttering. “Okay, okay, I’ll drink it. Alaric? You there?”
“Still here.”
“So, can you get a gift for Rune? I looked in duty-free, but I figured she’d get expelled if I brought her a bottle of Jack Daniels and a carton of cigarettes.”
“I’ll find something.”
“And we need a new assistant too. Could you call the agency?”
“Why me?”
“Because you’re the most diplomatic. Or do you want Judd to turn a job interview into a date again?”
Alaric sighed. “No, I don’t.”
“Then you’ll call?”
“Yeah, I’ll call. See you tomorrow.”
As Alaric hung up, he glanced in the mirror again. Maybe there was a better solution? Bethany was organised and she needed a job, but Alaric would be damned if he’d let Judd get his dick into her. The woman had been through enough already this month. Which meant he’d have to train her himself, then find her an office. Did he have the time? He’d kept his schedule light after the Emerald lead came in, so technically he did. The bigger problem? Alaric would have to keep his own hands off Bethany. Firstly, he didn’t shit where he ate, and Judd would never let him forget it if he scared off an assistant. Secondly, he didn’t need any emotional entanglements, not when he was focused on building up Sirius and finding Emerald. Trouble was, his hands seemed to have a mind of their own right now. Should he make the offer or not?
CHAPTER 23 - BETHANY
“I HATE TO ask this, but can we take a rain check on dinner?” Alaric said as I hurried towards him in Emmy’s parking garage. “I’ll still give you a ride home.”
I’d spent the trip back from Chaucer psyching myself up to spend an evening with a man for the first time since my divorce, so to hear he’d changed his mind felt oddly disappointing. Not really surprising, but disappointing.
At least he’d come through with the parking space, and that was the more important thing. A safe, brightly lit underground spot beside a rather nice Aston Martin, which left me more worried about accidentally scratching a supercar than about venturing into a deserted parking garage. And I hated skulking around London alone. Once, I’d tripped over a slumbering homeless man in the yard behind the gallery, and I’m not sure who was more startled—him or me. Certainly I’d dropped the leftover cupcake I’d been carrying.
“Of course, it’s not a problem. I’m sure I’ve got something in the fridge at home.”
“Tomorrow night instead?”
Huh? Usually, asking for a rain check meant “I want to cancel, but more politely.” Alaric really did want to go out? That was unexpected.