A Dom Is Forever by Lexi Blake Page B

Asia. Thomas insisted on being very hands-on. She’d been told he would take a lot of meetings in Dubai. Many more than he took in London. He had only taken three donor meetings since they had crossed the pond.
    Three meetings. And they hadn’t been the biggest donors. What had made Thomas take those meetings? What really made her boss tick? It was a question she’d wondered about more and more, ever since his brother had died. Brian had been the one to introduce them. She’d only really known him for a few months, but he’d been very nice. She’d stood at Thomas’s side at the funeral.
    She was still waiting for his inevitable breakdown. It would come. No one was so strong that he could lose a brother and not cry.
    “I’ll be ready. Besides, this is a yearly trip, right? We’ll be back in London next year.”
    His voice went low, slightly intimate. “We will, Avery. We’re settling into a nice routine, you and I. Next year I’m going to schedule in some free time so I can see the sights with you. I don’t know that I like you running around London on your own.”
    Who else would she run around with? “I’ve had a lot of fun.”
    “I know you have, and I’ve enjoyed watching you bloom,” he said. There was a silent moment before he spoke again. “I was wondering if you were a little lonely today. Perhaps we could have lunch. I’m afraid the Tower would be a bit much for a man of my age.”
    She couldn’t help but laugh a bit. “You’re not much older than me.”
    “Oh, not in years, dear, but in all the other ways that count, I’m an old man. I have to meet that Bates fellow on Monday, so that means I won’t be back in the office until Tuesday. Why don’t you come over and keep me company?”
    She sniffled a little. It didn’t look like she had anything better to do, and Thomas did sound lonely. Perhaps she could help him prepare for the meeting with Bates. It was odd. He usually kept her close to his side, but he always insisted on meeting the donors he chose to meet alone. Her boss had some weird peccadilloes, but then the rich really were different. “Well, I don’t think my friend is going to show up, so I guess I could stop by for a while and let you decimate me at chess.”
    “A friend? I had no idea you were meeting a friend. Is it Theresa? She seems nice enough.”
    Theresa worked in promotions and outreach for the UOF . She was ten years older and spent all her free time with her husband and five kids. “No. It’s not Theresa.”
    She could hear his disapproval over the phone. “Well I hope it’s not the younger girls, Avery. They can be rather wild. I don’t like the thought of you getting involved in their antics.”
    Sometimes he sounded like an overprotective father. “It’s no one from the office. It’s a man I met yesterday at the museum, but it doesn’t look like he’s going to show up.”
    There was a long pause. “I had no idea you were looking for male companionship.”
    What was wrong with Thomas? His tone had gone positively glacial. “I wasn’t really looking. I sort of fell into him.”
    “Well, it’s probably best he didn’t show up. Men take advantage of women like you.” His voice went right back to silky smooth. “So I’ll be expecting you in twenty minutes or so? I’ll have chef make a nice luncheon.”
    His words sort of faded into the background because Lee was standing right in front of her. There was no mistaking him. He was staring at her, the heat from those emerald eyes nearly scorching her. She couldn’t tell if he was still flaming mad or happy to see her. She just knew that she was so very aware of him.
    Her heart sped up. Was this lust? Love at second sight? It didn’t really matter because she felt something for the first time in forever. She’d fooled herself that she was fine, that she was over the tragedy and starting to live again, but everything she’d felt had been echoes of real emotion.
    This was what she’d missed for