2. Elliot
ELLIOT
Sitting in Julian’s office the next morning, I continued researching my malfunction under the cover of my phone screen.
So far, I’d come up with two potential solutions. Option one: track down the blonde and fuck her out of my system once and for all. Option two: take a complete sabbatical from sex and focus on other hobbies to see if my appetite returned. Find my joy, as the self-help articles so helpfully put it.
I kept scrolling. How many uncomfortable questions would Rowan ask if I ordered him to track down a woman based solely on her eyes and a first name that may not even be real?
Rowan was our tech and security director at Northwell, and the ultimate vault.
We’d all ended up at the same elite boarding school, Blackridge Academy, where the ultra-rich shipped off their sons to become men just like their absent fathers.
We hadn't bonded in the traditional sense; we’d survived side-by-side through forgotten holidays, ignored pickups, high-society scandals, and the understanding never to ask for more than someone was willing to give.
Life was a transaction, and we’d learned to negotiate early.
Julian already looked completely done with our presence in his office.
As Northwell’s lead legal counsel, he was the spine of our dysfunctional makeshift family.
Theo, his younger brother, lived to push his buttons, constantly branding him the Tin Man or the Ice King.
It wasn't that Julian lacked blood in his veins; it was just that every suffocating expectation from their father, Richard North, rested solely on Julian's shoulders.
Theo, as the ‘spare’, survived on deflected humor and weaponized charm.
We all had baggage; some of us were just better at hiding it behind bespoke suits.
I glanced up, catching Rowan tapping away on the tablet that was practically surgically attached to his palm. I wondered whose life he was destroying today.
Realizing I’d tuned Julian out completely, I figured he was already halfway through his agenda for the week. Shit.
Right on cue, the door swung open and Theo strolled in, sporting his signature cocky grin. Physically, he and Julian shared the same striking genetics, but their posture was night and day. Unless you knew the oppressive weight of the North surname, you'd never guess they were brothers.
“Wow,” Theo announced, looking around the room. “You’d think someone here worked for a living.”
What does Theo actually do for a living? I wondered offhandedly.
Caleb glanced up from the couch, immaculate as always. “Do you?”
Theo smirked. “Debatable.”
Julian glared, his jaw tight. “You’re late.”
Late? Late for what?
“Dinner with Dad left a bad taste in my mouth,” Theo said, pulling a face. “I had to go out last night for a palate cleanser.”
Richard had been riding Julian hard lately about settling down. Julian rarely mentioned it, but I usually got the unfiltered play-by-play from Theo.
“How was it?” I asked, looking up from my screen.
Theo grinned, speaking right over Julian's low murmur, “It went as expected.”
"She was magnificent," Theo chimed in.
“That’s not an answer,” I chuckled. Julian was deflecting as usual, but I was genuinely curious about Theo’s night.
Theo flopped into the leather chair across from Julian. “Dear old Dad just threatened him with legacy again and heavily implied Julian's biological clock is ticking... You know, who doesn't love a good chat about breeding and reproduction before the main course?”
Before anyone could comment on that delightful mental image, my phone buzzed. An email from HR requesting senior management's presence at an event planning kickoff. Thank God I already have a PR meeting booked.
“Can anyone sit in on a meeting? We’re finalizing the internal holiday event,” I asked, tapping the notification. “HR needs confirmation on the scope and executive presence.”
“Christmas party,” Theo corrected. “Call it what it is.”
Julian looked ready to bite his brother's head off, but his gaze suddenly locked on something past the glass walls of his office. I looked back down at my screen, clearing a couple of unread emails and accepting my PR calendar invite.
When I looked up again, Julian was still staring out into the corridor. Theo was tracking his brother's line of sight.
“No way,” Theo muttered under his breath.
Intrigued, I locked my phone. “What?”
Theo grinned, that unhinged smile that signalled Julian was about to be tormented. “Tell me I’m not hallucinating.”
Following their gaze through the glass, I spotted her: a gorgeous woman with honey-brown hair pinned in a low bun. Even fully covered in tailored trousers and a fitted sweater, it was obvious she had an incredible shape underneath.
“Well, that’s promising,” I remarked.
"Sure is," Theo agreed, his tone practically dripping with mischief.
Glancing around, I noticed Caleb watching her, too.
Fuck, I almost forgot he was in the room.
While Rowan was a silent observer by nature, Caleb carried an almost kicked-puppy energy most days.
It had changed little since we first met when I was twelve and he was fourteen.
He ran our financial empire brilliantly, but sometimes I genuinely thought the guy just needed to get laid to burn off the melancholy.
Maybe I could send him... shit, what was that brunette's name from last night again?
Theo cut into my thoughts. “She was at the restaurant last night. Julian couldn't keep his eyes off her, stared like she was a hostile takeover.”
“Coincidence,” Julian snapped, his voice tight.
Theo winked. “Or fate.”
I took another look through the glass, then checked my schedule. The pieces clicked into place. “She must be from the event planning firm. Karen said she was sending a senior coordinator.”
“She’s leading?” Julian asked, his posture stiffening.
Rowan didn't even look up from his screen. “Yes.”
Theo leaned forward. “You know her?”
Rowan finally raised his head. “I know everyone who sets foot in this building.”
God, that guy can be a grumpy bastard.
My calendar alert chimed, forcing me to my feet. Tucking my phone into my pocket, I smoothed my jacket. “I’ve got a meeting with a PR firm in five, but I’ve got time to say hello.”
I had no intention of making a move on her. Julian looked ready to combust, but I couldn't resist seeing how far I could push his buttons.
Theo popped out of his chair. “I’ll walk with you. Moral support.”
“For flirting?” I grinned, catching the flare of tension in Julian's shoulders.
“For entertainment,” Theo replied smoothly.
Escorting baby North out of the office, we strolled right up to the woman who carried herself as if she were bearing the weight of the world. When we reached the group, she turned, offering a soft smile.
I offered a warm handshake and introduced myself. She returned the grip with easy confidence. “Lucy Bennett.”
Before she could pull her hand back, Theo snatched it up, flashing his most dazzling smile. “Theo. And can I just say how much I like the sound of Lucy North?”
Lucy let out a small laugh; it was polite, controlled, and deeply practiced.
Excusing myself, I headed down the hall toward the main conference room where my team and the new PR agency were waiting.
Theo peeled off toward the elevators while I veered left.
Stepping inside, my team introduced me to the agency executives we’d hired to overhaul Northwell’s public image, shifting us from high-flying playboys to trustworthy, family-minded leaders.
I hadn’t exactly run the full strategy past Julian, Caleb, or Rowan yet, but once I field-tested it, they’d see the vision. It was for the greater good.
“Our apologies, Mr. Vale,” a stuffy executive with blindingly white teeth said, stepping forward. “The account manager assigned to your team is running slightly behind. Her flight was delayed, but she is en route now.”
“No problem,” I replied smoothly, slipping my phone out to clear a few more emails while they ironed out account logistics.
I had just tucked my phone away when a sudden prickle hit the back of my neck. The double doors of the private elevator chimed open. My gaze drifted toward the glass partition, and everything else instantly fell away.
Stepping off the elevator was a woman with vibrant ice-blonde hair and piercing blue eyes. She paused, surveying the floor before making her way toward the admin desk.
It’s her.
A surge of adrenaline shot through me. I turned back to the room, ready to cut the meeting short so I could intercept the ghost of fantastic fucks past before she vanished again.
Before I could speak, the room’s focus shifted toward the doorway.
“Ah, here she is,” Mr. Too White Teeth announced with relief.
I turned, ready to deliver a quick apology to the incoming manager, and froze.
“Mr. Vale, allow me to introduce our lead Account Manager, Harper Lane.”
Harper’s ice-blue eyes flared with a microsecond of shock as they locked onto mine, but her expression smoothed over so fast I almost missed it. She stepped forward, extending a slender hand with flawless poise.
As I took her hand, feeling the spark leap between us, a slow smile spread across my face.
Option Two was officially off the table.