Chapter 34
brOOKE
It had been ten days since I sent Roy away. Ten miserable days.
When I returned to work the Monday after the money laundering fiasco and the fling, the human resources manager pulled me into her office.
I expected to be fired because I’d broken into the building after hours to steal digital documents of a client that wasn’t mine.
Instead, Eileen had patted my hand in a motherly way and wanted to make sure I was all right.
An agent with the DEA had contacted her and said that the government appreciated the participation of two of the company’s employees–me and Eugene–in bringing down a notorious drug dealer.
Instead of being fired, I’d been offered a raise, which I assumed was a peace offering from the owners in the hopes that I wouldn’t sue the company for an unsafe work environment or something. Especially since our client, Mr. Burke, was found dead after the meeting we’d attended together.
Two days after that, I got the results from the accountant exam.
I passed.
Which put me back in Eileen’s office and ensured even more that my job was secure. They even got me a cake that was shared in the break room.
I should have been thrilled and eager to celebrate. I’d worked for years to pass. Four years of business and accounting classes in college. Then two years of work and studying.
This was what I’d wanted. The secure career with a solid paycheck and good benefits.
But I wasn’t thrilled. I… didn’t even care. There was a blip of relief when I saw the result, but then I thought about what it meant. Forty hours a week in my tiny beige office. Doing the same thing every day. With each day that passed, the walls started to close in on me. I felt claustrophobic.
Which made me think of Roy.
Which made me miserable.
I couldn’t stop thinking about him. The weekend we had together. The connection. I saw him in my sleep. Or lack of. I would swear I saw him outside my gym. At the coffee shop. In my rearview mirror. I wasn’t sure how I was going to get past this. Past him.
I pictured him in Montana–running in wolf form up a mountain. Howling at the top.
Maybe it was almost being killed twice. Maybe it was Roy. The orgasms. The fact that I knew there were shifters out there. Any or all of those reasons had me questioning my life. What I wanted.
Did I want to work on people’s taxes for the rest of my career? Finding deductions and tax loopholes for the next thirty years? Did I want to be like Eugene where the most exciting thing that ever happened to me was getting hit by a delivery truck?
Why had I thought stable and consistent was a good idea? My life was white bread. Plain and unexciting. It went stale so fucking fast.
Roy had shown me what it was like to be spontaneous.
To jump and ask questions later. I’d changed my mind so many times about whether breaking up with him was the right thing.
I’d even looked up Cooper Valley, Montana online and gotten directions on how to get there.
How long it would take by car. How much a plane ticket would be to the nearest airport.
Because like the dummy I was, I never got his phone number. It hadn’t been necessary because we’d been with each other the entire time we’d been together. We hadn’t needed it. Or thought of it.
I had no idea how to get in touch with Roy Banner other than making Casey get it from her spy friend. I’d been so close to doing that, having typed a text and deleting it multiple times.
I was doing the right thing. I was safe. Secure. Stable. I knew where I was going and where my life would be for the long haul. Why had I been so eager to hear about my test results two weeks ago, and now, it only made me want to cry?
I looked at the bookkeeping software on my monitor and approved a few entries when my desk phone rang.
“Brooke Lee,” I said.
“Hi. I’m Caren O’Toole, a broker with Mortimer and Zeilen.”
“Hi Caren. I’m not familiar with your company’s tax paperwork, but I can connect you to the receptionist who can help you find the right person.”
She laughed. “I’m not a client. The reverse, actually. You’re a client of mine.”
I frowned, still staring at my monitor but no longer seeing any numbers.
“Oh?” I asked, totally confused.
“Yes. I wanted to let you know that the closing documents will be signed on Friday, and the papers will be filed with the courthouse before close of business, so I can drop off your keys around six. Will you be at work then?”
I swiveled in my chair and set my elbow on the desk, propping my head up. “I’m sorry, what keys?”
“The keys to your loft in The Vista Towers.”
“I don’t have a loft there.”
“You do now!”
I shook my head even though she couldn’t see. “I think there’s been a mistake.”
“No mistake. He was very clear about everything from the start. I admit, this was one of the easiest transactions I’ve had in a while. It’s not often someone buys property sight unseen. Good thing we have amazing photos on our website!”
My heart skipped a beat as I swallowed. “He?”
“Roy Banner. He saw the listing we had in that building and wanted to put an offer in. He didn’t even want to consider any other properties. That it had to be that building.”
I sucked in a breath. Oh my God.
“I, um, I’m afraid I can’t afford a loft there. The mortgage will be too much.” Even with the raise I’d gotten and a future one once the licensing was finalized, I still couldn’t swing that monthly payment. Either way, it didn’t make any sense.
“There is no mortgage. It was a cash sale.”
I blinked, trying not to cry. My throat ached from unshed tears. “Roy bought me a loft?”
“Congratulations. May I say that that man is fierce for you. You’re a lucky woman.”
“Um… thanks.” I hung up after agreeing to meet her Friday afternoon.
Roy bought me a loft. In the building I’d pointed out one time from his hotel suite. One time!
Why? Why would he do that? I’d dumped him.
Yet he’d still bought me the place of my dreams. He gave me exactly what I said I wanted even though we were no longer together.
I put my finger to my lips and tried not to cry. It was impossible these days.
Roy bought me a loft. My loft. In cash. I would have something permanent. Something mine, no matter what happened. Or who I met. Or who I fell in love with. Or if I went off with a guy, and it didn’t work out, like going to Montana with a fling.
My desk phone rang again. Absently, because I was still lost in my thoughts, I picked it up. “Brooke Lee.”
“Hey, Brooke. It’s Mark Ruhl.”
“Hi.” My mind was still swirling because of the loft and all the questions I had about it.
“Listen, I’ve finally dug myself out from all the paperwork on the Lazano case. I wondered if you could come down to the office and give your sworn testimony, so I can close it all down.”
“Oh, um, sure.”
Wait. Mark knew Roy. Mark was a shifter. He could probably answer my questions that had been swirling in my head since I saw Roy shift the first time.
“Great. We’re at the corner of–”
I popped to my feet. Suddenly, for the first time since I saw Roy last, I felt something. It was… hope. “I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”
“Don’t you have to work?”
I grabbed my purse. “Oh, they’re not going to fire me.”
He chuckled again. “Yeah, I guess they’re not. I’ll see you soon.”