14. Andrie #2
If he’d been upset before, he was practically apoplectic now. He rose, fists clenched, mouth open, and I braced for the yelling I was sure to be subjected to when the door to my office—the one I’d locked—opened.
“Dr. Andrie, are you—oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t realize you were with a patient.” Lessia looked completely clueless and apologetic before glancing down at her watch, her forehead wrinkled in a state of confusion. “Didn’t you say we were on for lunch and office shopping?”
Apparently, I had more than one person watching me, or she’d bugged my office building. Either way, unlike Hardy, Lessia was a welcome sight and so was her lifeline.
I raised an eyebrow at Hardy, but before either of us could speak, Lessia strutted toward him, hand extended.
“Lessia Accardi. Again, I’m so sorry.” She batted her eyelashes as she spoke, making me want to laugh at Hardy, who was half in awe of the powerhouse beauty and half steamrolled by her.
“As you might have heard, Dr. Andrie will be opening up a second office in our building soon. You simply must insist on having all of your future appointments there. It’s so nice to see a man still wearing a uniform …
” she continued to flirt as she walked him out of my office and into the lobby.
Before I could blink, Lessia was back, looking quite pleased with herself.
“What? Did you shove him out the door?” I asked dryly.
“Hey, now.” Her normal, no-nonsense demeanor back in place. “You’re lucky I didn’t kick him out of it. What was Hardly doing here?”
I snorted at the nickname. “Hardly?”
“As in, ‘Hardly worth the uniform.’ He might take pride in being the latest in however many generations to have served, but the man has never seen a single second of combat and takes more pride in bullying those around him than being effective in his job. If it weren’t for his father pulling strings, he would’ve been reassigned to counting paper clips or filing papers a long time ago. ”
Following the wave of her hand, I went to grab my purse, then froze. Seeing my face, she held a finger up in the air, rummaging around in her own purse before coming up with a small metal box. Pressing the side of it, she waited while it turned on and began pulsing green.
“We’re clear. Even if Hardly bugged your office, this baby will scramble any listening device permanently unless he brought in the really high-grade stuff. What’s up?”
“Hardy knew about Xander. And he’s pissed about the second office, though I’m surprised he flew here to talk about it. But I sweep for surveillance equipment daily, so there’s no way he should have heard us talking about it at any point, nor about Xander at all.”
She nodded. “Chances are he’s bugged you somewhere else.
Either your car or home. But I think he learned about the second office just through Pentagon gossip.
After all, Gideon’s efficient and likely made calls right after you agreed so he could get everything above-board, as did our ‘other’ boss.
Still.” She paused, taking stock of the room around us, and put her hands on her hips.
“I would do a few unscheduled sweeps over the next week or so. Just in case.”
After throwing the little device into my bag, which was laying open on the desk, she motioned to the door hurriedly.
“Keep that with you for a few days, and it’ll kill any device in the vicinity until it runs out of batteries.
I’ll get it from you later. Now, come on.
If we don’t hurry, we won’t have time to actually eat anything, and I’m starving. ”
“Lessia, I wasn’t actually planning on going to lunch with you, you know. But speaking of lunch breaks, how did you know I had an unexpected guest crash mine?” I narrowed my eyes at her, but she didn’t look concerned.
“A little birdy told me about Hardly’s travel plans, and when he didn’t show up at Gideon’s office, I assumed he was coming here.
And being a good friend, I figured I could pick you up.
I know where you’re planning on going,” she said over me when I tried to speak.
“It just so happens I’m heading there as well.
Plus, knowing the men’s culinary skills, I decided a catered lunch for everyone was the best option. ”
“How are you going to explain your presence there? Even if you weren’t famous, it’s not like you fit the mold of hanging out with an MC.” We stepped into the elevator, pausing our conversation when a man got on from a different office.
“I’m not a part of the MC,” she said once we were in my car. “But I am a woman who just recently—and publicly—announced a passion for helping victims of sex trafficking. As far as they know, I don’t know the MC at all, just heard about what happened and am a do-gooder wanting to help.”
“And if they ask how you came to hear about their rescue, especially considering it was done off police radar?” I wanted to know.
She shrugged, not looking concerned at all. “Good news,” she said, changing the subject. “We aren’t being tailed.”
“Yay,” I deadpanned.
Lessia cracked a smile. “I heard you and Xander had quite the date two weeks ago. Any others I should know about? And, please tell me you let that man take you to bed at least a few times since then. He looks like he could loosen up anyone, no matter how uptight they think they are.”
The word “date” had me bolting upright. “I did not have a date with Xander. I don’t date.
You know that. I simply showed the man around town.
You know, being neighborly.” I wasn’t about to tell her just how right she was about Xander’s prowess, nor that he’d spent almost every day with me since he’d arrived in Texas. She’d read too much into it.
“Girl, you two shared ice cream. Literally fed each other. Kassie said it was swoon worthy, how cute y’all were.”
“We traded a taste of each other’s ice cream. It’s not like I kissed the guy. We aren’t dating,“ I emphasized, crossing my arms in front of me.
“If you say so,” Lessia agreed blithely.
“You know why we’ll only be casual,” I said quietly, not letting myself feel the pang of regret that wanted to twist inside me.
As if anyone could replace my Demi. Xander could, the little voice inside me said.
Not replace, but love you just the same.
If you’d let him. Ruthlessly, I pushed the thought aside, not wanting to examine that fact anytime soon. Never would be better.
I anticipated Lessia rolling her eyes and lecturing me about moving on and forgetting the past, but instead, she braked for a red light, turning her entire body to study me.
“Just because you don’t want to lose loving one person, doesn’t mean we don’t have room in our hearts for another,” she said quietly.
Floored, I could only stare at her, mouth slightly open.
“You only have one life to live, Andrie. He did as well. If he’d have lived, would you really expect and want him to have lived it alone? ”
“Of course not,” I said automatically.
“Then why do you think you need to in order to prove your love for him?”