Reeve can’t even cook.
I snorted out a laugh as I looked over to my brother. He had the phone in one hand and a takeout menu in the other.
Nothing much has changed there then.
“Do you eat pizza Q?” Reeve asked.
“Pssh. Do I what! Whatever toppings you want is fine with me.” Quinn called out as she walked into the lounge and flopped down on the white couch.
“You too El?”
“Sure, same old. I still eat just about anything.”
Reeve ordered the pizza while I continued studying the space around me. If the free apartment was anything like this one we would be jumping at the opportunity to lease it. It was one of the most amazing spaces I had ever set foot in.
“It’s something else right?” Reeve asked as he began shutting the floor to ceiling white drapes.
“It’s flawless Reeve. It really is perfect. I actually can’t believe you live here.” I giggled. “And I can’t believe that everything is still so white, you’ve obviously improved your cleaning habits.”
Reeve looked back sheepishly “I actually have a house cleaner come by once or twice a week.”
“That sounds more like you.” I laughed. It felt amazing to be here with him, talking and laughing. I felt as though a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. I knew my problems with Baxter weren’t going to disappear – but at least here I wouldn’t be reminded of them every time I walked down the street.
And damn that is a good feeling.
***
Reeve had showed us the rest of his nearly 3000 square foot apartment. It was all as stunning as the living space. The theme continued through to the three bedrooms, and bathrooms. Reeve’s master suite had a walk in closet and private bathroom. The other two bedrooms had their own walk in closets and a shared bathroom between them. The guest bathroom was located nearer the living area. There was a laundry area and a lot of storage space. It was so spacious and luxurious. The bathrooms were tiled floor to ceiling and had glass showers with fittings that rained water from the ceiling. The deep bath looked so relaxing and I crossed my fingers that the place we were looking at had one even half as big. Reeve had said that each level had a private terrace – we had decided to wait for daylight tomorrow to appreciate it fully.
We sat around the dining table and stuffed ourselves full of pizza and beer. The food was great, but the company was even better. I settled back in my chair and listened to the easy banter that was going back and forwards between Reeve and Quinn. They really did get on like a house on fire. I think this was the first time since the shit hit the fan that I felt truly at ease.
Happy – I feel happy.
I felt like I just might have the strength to move on from my cheating ass of an ex-husband and my slapper ex-friend. The sudden silence snapped me from my thoughts. Quinn and Reeve were both looking at me, clearly waiting for an answer to a question I hadn’t heard. “Sorry, what?”
“Reeve wants to show us the free apartment, are you ready?” Quinn asked.
“Sure am.” I smiled in excitement. “If it’s even half as good as this one, we’re taking it.”
“Hell yeah we are.” Quinn grinned back.
Reeve used another card to take us back down two floors in the elevator. The free apartment was on level 3 of the building. “It’s a slightly different colour scheme than mine, but I think you both will like it just as much.”
The lift slowed and stopped, and the doors opened into a living space that was just a huge as in Reeve’s place. The hardwood floors were a washed out Oak that looked stunning against the crisp white walls. The space had the same classic French inspired mouldings, and floor to ceiling drapes although these were a charcoal instead of white. Moving through the space, I looked towards the kitchen. It was the same layout as Reeve’s but the marble benches were light charcoal colour – tying in with the drapes, the cupboards were white, and rather than a tiled floor, the Oak flooring continued through. It was everything I loved. The large windows were all the same as upstairs and I couldn’t wait to see what there was to see out there in the daylight.
“It. Is. Perfect.” Quinn shrieked as she ran back from the bedrooms. “God, please tell me you love it El.”
“I love it.” I couldn’t help the massive grin that spread on my face at the thought of this being our home.
“Come and see the bedrooms!” Quinn called over her shoulder as she skipped out of the living area.
The rooms were perfect too. We would have a spare room for guests and the other two rooms were both huge – with walk in closets and bathrooms each. The thick luxurious charcoal carpet on the floor made them feel comfortable and cosy. All three bathrooms were the same layout and style that Reeve had, but instead of the white, the tiling was the same light charcoal as in the kitchen.
I cannot wait to get in that bathtub.
Reeve interrupted my drooling. “Well girls, what’s the verdict? Do you want it?”
“We want it” Quinn and I both quickly said.
Reeve had a shit-eating grin on his face.
“What?” I asked him.
“I’m just glad to hear that.” He shrugged. “Since I’ve already rented this place for you for the next month.” I gaped at him as he continued. “… You’ll just need to set up the lease from then on. I’ll let Cassie know that she did a good job on the colour schemes too shall I?” He smirked.
I was so confused.
He did what? Who the hell is Cassie?
Holy shit the designer. No wonder this was all my taste.
It all clicked into place. “Holy shit, did you do all this for us?”
Reeve’s smiled dropped a little. “If you don’t like it, we can change it El, or we can find you somewhere else-”
I interrupted Reeve by launching myself at him and squeezing him as hard as I could.
I felt Quinn join the bear hug and heard Reeve chuckle. “Okay, okay that’s enough of that.” He pulled back and gave us both a shy smile. “So you’re happy El? I just want you to be happy. You too Q, you’ve been so good to my sister – I owe you so much for that.”
I couldn’t believe that he had done this. It was so far beyond anything I had ever expected from him. He certainly learnt kindness and generosity from our parents. I felt tears building in my eyes and I quickly blinked them away.
“I love it Reeve, I’m so happy. Thank you so much for this… but it’s too much. I promise I’ll pay for all the work and the rent you paid. You don’t need to spend money on us.” I knew Reeve had a lot of money. He was an attorney and he owned a law firm with his good friend Harrison Hunt that he had met at Harvard – I still didn’t like him spending his hard-earned money on me.
I’ve got more than enough of my own money anyway.
Business was doing really well. I owned a 30% share of Rush Communications, and on top of my very generous salary, I had more money than I knew what to do with. I didn’t live a hugely luxurious lifestyle though. It wasn’t my style to flash money around unnecessarily. I drove a nice car, now I had this beautiful apartment in a very desirable area to live in, and I sometimes had a weakness for nice shoes and handbags – other than that I just brought things that I liked, not things that gave me a certain status.
Reeve just brushed off my comment with a wave of his hand and a shake of his head.
I have the best big brother in the world.
We headed back upstairs to get to bed. It was late, and we still had so much to see in the morning.
***
I woke to my mass of blonde curls sprawled out all over my face and pillow. I had slept like a baby for the first time in months. I brushed them off and peeked over at Quinn.
Sound asleep.
I don’t think either one of us had barely moved since our heads had hit the pillow last night. I reached around on the nightstand for my blackberry. 9.10am. We were both going to have to adjust to this time difference – quickly.
“Q. Wake up bitch. It’s lat
e.” I shoved Quinn lightly on the shoulder. I grinned as she sleepily opened and shut her eyes before groaning and covering her head with a pillow.
And she accuses me of not being a morning person.
“Urgh. I knew I should have slept in the other room.” She whined. We had told Reeve we would share a room since we would only be staying the one night. All of our stuff would be in Boston later today, and now that we had an apartment sorted we could move it all straight in.
I laughed and pulled the pillow off her head. “Seriously though Q, it’s already after nine. We need to go and check out Lawson’s building and decide if it’s the right fit for us. All our stuff is arriving about 2.00pm so we need to be back by then.” I clapped and bounced on the bed a little – just for effect.
I bounded off to the shower and let the hot water calm my nerves. I really hoped this building would be a good option for us. It would take a fair bit of time to find somewhere else, especially in such a convenient location. The office space was only about a 10-minute drive from here, which was probably only about a half-hours walk.
I decided on a pair of black tights, knee high black boots, and a fitted grey dress that scooped low in the front, looking outside I knew I would definitely need my coat and scarf if I had to go outdoors. I headed down the hall to where I could hear Quinn and Reeve talking in the living room. I smiled as I listened to them bantering back and forwards. I was so glad that they both got on so well, it would be so awkward if they didn’t like each other.
An unwelcome thought hit me.
Shit. I hope Lawson and I get along okay.
I didn’t know hardly anything about his personality. I knew Quinn loved him madly, but of course she did – he was her only brother.
My thoughts were interrupted by my phone pinging in my hand. I opened the new message. It was from Quinn, a link to a song called ‘Open Happiness’. I quickly loaded it and smiled when it played aloud through my phones speaker, it had been on a Coke commercial and I quickly recognized the lyrics.
‘C'mon and lift me up it's a brand new day. Open up a little happiness today. So I can be someone new’.
It was perfect. I laughed and went in to see Quinn and Reeve, the song still blaring out of my phone.
“Thanks Q.” I hugged her around the shoulders as she sat on a stool at Reeve’s bench.
“No problem girl, I thought you might like it.”
We decided that Reeve would drive us over to the building since our cars hadn’t arrived yet. Secretly I think he was keen to check out the offices as well – he was such a protective brother. It would be good to have Reeve look over the rental agreement too, so I was glad he was coming with us to meet the agent.
***
We arrived at 11.15am with 15 minutes to spare before we had to meet the agent. Lawson had given Quinn the access code to the underground car park and told her we could use his parking space since he was out of town.
We parked and headed up the elevator to the ground floor. There was a large front desk with half a dozen young women doing various tasks. We approached and were greeted warmly by a woman called Alisha.
“Good morning, how can I help you today?”
“Hi, I’m Ellerslie Rush, and we are meeting a Mr. Graham so he can show us around the vacant offices.”
Her eyes lit up in recognition. “Of course. He has just arrived, and asked if you could meet him on level 10 please. He left this for you.” She handed me an access card. “If you just take an elevator from over there…” she pointed across the spacious lobby to a bank of elevators near the back “The card will allow you access up there.”
“Thank you Alisha.” I smiled politely at the extremely efficient woman before me.
“Have a lovely day, and I hope the offices and facilities are to your liking.”
We moved towards the elevators as Quinn snickered. “Holy shit, I bet every one of those women was handpicked by Lawson, he loves efficiency and she absolutely reeked of his preference for office staff.” She giggled. “Poor bloody girls, I can only imagine the agony his puts his personal assistant through.”
Huh, Lawson is a high and mighty businessman is he? Interesting.
We took the elevator up to the tenth floor. The doors opened out into a large area that I imagined would be a perfect space for the reception desk. A man who I assumed was Evan Graham strode towards us.
“Miss Rush and Miss Pierce I presume?”
I stepped forward to meet him. “Please call me Ellerslie, this is my business associate Quinn Pierce, and my brother Reeve Rush.”
He smiled warmly at us and a deep dimple appeared in his right cheek.
This guy is not bad looking.
I quickly let my eyes flick over the rest of his body. He looked around 30 years old. He was a little taller than I was, had brown hair and eyes, and was dressed in a grey shirt with black trousers and shoes.
I bet there’s a decent body under there too.
Shit El, pull it together. You’re at fucking work.
It had clearly been far too long since I’d got any.
I pulled myself from my ogling and smiled at him again. Looking back at Quinn I could tell she was assessing the view too.
Reeve stepped forward and shook hands with Evan. “I’ll be acting as their lawyer today. I’ll have a look through the documents you have if you don’t mind Mr. Graham?”
“Please, call me Evan. That sounds great, I’m glad you’re here. It will shorten the process considerably if Ellerslie and Quinn decide to lease.”
He handed Reeve a daunting looking file and signalled with his hand for us to explore the floor ahead of us.
“Shall we?”
I walked and took notes and photos on my blackberry, Quinn did the same. The office space was set up really well. There were numerous dividers already in place, creating about a dozen office cubicles. There were bathrooms, storage, a large area for office equipment and two large offices with that were closed in with glass walls. The view was beautiful too, two sides of the building looked out towards the harbour and waterfront, and the other sides had a view of the city surrounding us.
As we moved around Evan explained to us, if we took the space, this would be our lowest floor. We would have five in total, levels 10 through 14. The four lowest levels were all very much the same as this, whilst the top floor consisted of large self-contained offices. That would be the floor that Quinn and I would work from, along with the other members that made up the board of directors.
By the time we reached the fourteenth floor I was already sold on taking the lease. It was everything we needed for an office space. We hadn’t seen the gym or conference room yet but none of that really mattered anyway, it was a bonus to have access to all of that.
“This is perfect El.”
I grinned as I turned around to look at Quinn. We were on the top floor of the building and the view from the offices was amazing. Each had its own bathroom and storage room, and they were huge. Quinn and I had both called shotgun on the two offices that had the best views of the water.
“I know” I breathed. “I’m so relieved. This is exactly what we need Q. When Lawson gets back into town we definitely owe him dinner. And drinks. A lot of drinks. We really lucked out with this place.”
I turned to catch Evan’s eye and waved him over.
Was he just checking out my ass?
He had been hanging back, giving us some space to discuss our options.
“It’s perfect Evan, If Reeve is happy with the contracts then we’ll sign on today.”
“That’s fantastic Ellerslie. If you like, we could head across the road and have a drink to sign and celebrate?” He had a slight smirk on his face, almost as if he was daring me to say yes. I felt my face filling with heat.
Is this guy hitting on me?
Of course not you idiot. This is his job. I bet he acts like this towards all potential clients.
“Thank you for the invite Evan, but unfortunately we have to
get back to meet our moving truck. I’ll just catch up with my brother and check on the contract.” I heard Quinn chuckle – quietly enough that Evan wouldn’t hear.
Bitch was laughing at me.
“Another time then? You’ll have my number.”
“Um… sure. Another time.” I nodded and blushed again. I figured I wouldn’t be seeing him again in the near future anyway – what was the harm in giving him a maybe-yes for an answer. I really needed to get my libido under control before I even considered going out with anyone, let alone a guy that was connected to work.
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