Jamie laughed and snorted before clamping her hand over her mouth. "That does sound like a better deal."
"Right?" Gina brushed her hand over her dark hair and let out a short sigh. "Speaking of drinking... we still on for happy hour later this week?"
"You know it. I wouldn't miss it for anything." Jamie turned as Alex's voice stole her attention.
"There you are. I swear I'm going to get you the next time you set up a meeting with someone and forget to tell them the time. Stop scheduling things in the morning if you know you’re going to be late." He stopped just behind her, his eyes moving across her face as a smile tugged at his mouth. "You look nice. Really nice."
"I'm right here, guys." Gina tapped her desk, causing all of them to share a quick chuckle.
"Where is he?" Jamie turned toward her office and nodded. "Did you send him in to talk to Paul like I said?"
"Yes, boss. I did." Alex wrapped his arm around her shoulder and walked down the hall, stealing a quick kiss before they got to her open door. "You don't look nice. You look edible."
"We should test out the theory later." Jamie lifted to her toes and gave him one more kiss before walking into her office and dropping her stuff by her desk. Paul and Mark were in a deep conversation over something to do with football, which wasn't surprising, but had nothing to do with business. By the look on Alex's handsome face, he was calculating just how many dollars he'd wasted on Paul's salary that morning thanks to him having to entertain Mark.
"Hey guys." Jamie moved to stand beside them as their conversation stopped.
"Jamie! My girl!" Mark stood up and moved to give her a quick hug. "My flight got in early this morning, but I figured it would be best just to come down here instead of heading out to Alex's place."
Jamie turned to ask Alex about the security system, but found him gone already. She made a mental note to email him about it later. "It's all good."
Paul stood up and rolled his shoulders. "I have a meeting I'm already running late for. I'll catch up with you later, Jamie."
"Sounds good. Oh... Alex told me last night that they'll be moving you into your own office over the weekend. Finally, right?" She offered a warm smile.
"I was just getting used to working in here together. Might get lonely." Paul walked to the door and paused. "You guys need anything?"
"Nope. I'm as right as rain." Mark smiled and moved to sit down at the small round table in the middle of the room.
"I'm good. Just close the door on your way out." Jamie brushed something from her skirt and moved to sit down in front of Alex's brother, who didn't actually look anything like him at all. He was built like a football player, his features similar, but more chiseled. "Flight go okay?"
"Oh yeah. Divorce is final and the house is on the market. I'll have to go back and forth a little on the weekends, but I'm here for good now as far as I'm concerned." He clasped his large hands and relaxed a little. "I'm going to start moving into the apartment this week, right? You sure you're good with that?"
"That's right. We’re both excited you’re coming to live here." She glanced back at the clock. "I have an eleven o'clock meeting, so let's talk about what skills you have and get you started on new employee paperwork before then. We can shoot the shit tonight at the house."
"That sounds great." He got up and walked back across the room to grab his briefcase as Jamie stood.
"I'm going to grab a quick cup of coffee from the breakroom. I just realized that I hadn't had a cup. That's not going to be good for anyone." She smiled and walked to the door. "You want anything?"
"Naw. I'm good." He pulled out a few papers as she nodded and slipped out into the hall.
The breakroom had a few more people than normal, but they were gathered around one of the interns, who was talking rapidly.
Jamie started her coffee and moved toward them, not sure that they were aware that Alex would shit bricks if he saw everyone hanging out and talking during work hours. The boss was a party and a half in the bedroom, or on vacation, but at work? He was a complete stickler. He had to be. He was in charge.
"Hey, guys. What's going on?" Jamie paused just outside of the tight circle as they turned to greet her.
"Lisa was just telling us that her parents got robbed last night. Crazy shit is going on over in Delphia Hills." One of the younger interns turned and shrugged his shoulders. "You would think th
at neighborhood would be crawling with cops. It's one of the wealthiest in the city."
"Oh, wow. That's horrible." Jamie made another mental note to talk with Alex before going back to work with Mark. His house was in Delphia Hills, and between the news broadcast and now the interns all standing around talking about the robberies, she was uneasy. It seemed unlikely that anything would happen, but she didn't want them to be caught off-guard. It was more about the thought of anyone hurting or stealing Jake than it was about all of Alex's electronics and stuff. He could buy a zillion more things, and none of them would matter, but the dog mattered to them both. A lot.
"Well, I hate to ruin the party, but it’s time to break it up. You guys can talk at lunch. You know the boss- man will have a fit if he sees us hanging out during work hours." She offered a friendly smile as they nodded and broke up the crowd.
"I'm going to go home, if that's okay." Lisa moved toward Jamie as she tugged her stringy red hair into a bun. "My mom just called about twenty minutes ago and is frantic."
"Of course. Just tell Gina, and she can let Alex know." Jamie moved back to get her coffee and make it more like a dessert than a beverage.